Music

Lena Dunham criticizes Kanye West's 'disturbing' music video

by Jeremy Mersereau

Last week, Kanye West let his controversial, fake nude celeb-filled music video for “Famous” loose into our cultural Thunderdome, and public reactions have ranged from disgusted Baseketball gifs to “he better watch his fucking mouth.” Quite the digital gamut, in other words.

With one notable exception (OK, two, but the less said about that guy the better) the celebrities actually depicted in “Famous” haven’t yet offered up any commentary on their naked, disturbing likenesses. Girls creator Lena Dunham isn’t impressed with the video, however, railing against it on her Facebook page.

Dunham has some harsh words for the clip, which she says is “sickening” and “one of the more disturbing ‘artistic’ efforts in recent memory.” Harsh, especially if “recent memory” means “post-2007.” Dunham expresses her disgust at seeing the “prone, unconscious, waxy bodies of famous women”, especially in the wake of sexual assault crimes like those of Brock Turner and Bill Cosby.

“At the same time Brock Turner is getting off with a light tap for raping an unconscious woman and photographing her breasts for a group chat… As assaults are Periscoped across the web and girls commit suicide after being exposed in ways they never imagined… While Bill Cosby’s crimes are still being uncovered and understood as traumas for the women he assaulted but also massive bruises to our national consciousness… Now I have to see the prone, unconscious, waxy bodies of famous women, twisted like they’ve been drugged and chucked aside at a rager? It gives me such a sickening sense of dis-ease.”

She states that as the child of two artists (painter Carroll Dunham and artist Laurie Simmons), she’s perfectly aware of “art’s job to make us think in ways that aren’t always tidy or comfortable” but that Kanye’s “Famous” video “feels different.” Dunham is especially uncomfortable with seeing the fake nude Taylor Swift, “a woman I love”, cheapened into a disturbing mannequin.

“I know that there’s a hipper or cooler reaction to have than the one I’m currently having. But guess what? I don’t have a hip cool reaction, because seeing a woman I love like Taylor Swift (fuck that one hurt to look at, I couldn’t look), a woman I admire like Rihanna or Anna, reduced to a pair of waxy breasts made by some special effects guy in the Valley, it makes me feel sad and unsafe and worried for the teenage girls who watch this and may not understand that grainy roving camera as the stuff of snuff films.”

Dunham concludes with some encouraging words for Mr. West, letting him know that whatever else he is, he’s cool in her books, even if the “Famous” video isn’t:

“Here’s the thing, Kanye: you’re cool. Make a statement on fame and privacy and the Illuminati or whatever is on your mind! But I can’t watch it, don’t want to watch it, if it feels informed and inspired by the aspects of our culture that make women feel unsafe even in their own beds, in their own bodies.”

Painter Vincent Desiderio, whose 2007 work directly inspired West, had some more flattering words: “I was absolutely floored and incredibly flattered and incredibly happy to see the video, which I think is really beautiful.”

Also weighing in: Seinfeld Current Day, for what it’s worth.