“Born Free” is a 9-minute epic allegory (if you can call something so blatant in its symbolism an allegory. It’s more like a political cartoon) about a genocidal government, that rounds up and systematically murders ginger kids. This would be shocking and eye-opening if there weren’t already a South Park episode that skewered the exact same topic. To be fair, the “Born Free” video, though unnecessarily long and almost insultingly obvious symbolism, is visually slick and features some truly haunting imagery. It’s hard to forget the image of a 11-year-old kid’s head exploding, even if you do realize that the video might as well have a blinking neon sign on the bottom that reads “THIS IS WHY RACISM IS BAD!”
For all of the video’s problems, at least “Born Free” has a somewhat comprehensible narrative and doesn’t just throw a bunch of incoherent, politically charged images against the wall just to see what sticks, like “No Church in the Wild.” “No Church” the song is a fitting opener for Watch the Throne,exploring the record’s themes of the contradictions of status and what it means to be a powerful black man. ”No Church” the video is an intense, politically charged statement about…something. Gavras seems to take Frank Ocean’s line “What’s a mob to a king?” at face value, featuring a violent standoff between riot police and an angry mob, though we’re not really sure what they’re angry about. Again, Gavras has a unique visual style and, if you don’t think about what the images on the screen are implying, the images are somewhat poetic. Unfortunately, the substance of the message does not support the song or express a coherent ideological ethos.
The video starts with a vaguely Kanye-like figure throwing a molotov cocktail at the cops and ends with an elephant rearing up on its hind legs (I don’t understand either). In between, there’s a whole lot of pepper spray, guys on fire and I think one cop has a grenade launcher. Sure, the cops are violently reacting to the riot, but since the rioters attack the cops first and we don’t know what they’re rioting about, it’s hard to sympathize with the message. There doesn’t even seem to be any substantial message beyond “rise up,” and that’s frankly not very interesting on its own.
Gavras is clearly aiming towards some type of universalism, incorporating images from lots of citizens’ movements from the past year and a half (Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, London Riots, etc.), but he fails. The lack of specificity makes the video less powerful. If you want to make a video about Syria, then make it about Syria, and for God’s sake don’t associate the revolutions in the Middle East with the London Riots or Occupy Wall Street, which are totally and completely different.
The bigger questions: What do Kanye and Jay-Z gain from this? Does this fall squarely into the “Nobody knows what it means, but it’s provocative” camp? Do they understand the irony of airing ads for Mountain Dew and Snow White and the Huntsman before their “anti-establishment” statement? Why does the cop with the snarling German Shepherd at the :57 mark look so much like Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead? Is this really all about the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse? Why are Jay and Ye pandering to those less fortunate, noting that they identify with the little guy even though Watch the Throne’s main conceit was how much better they are than everybody? Are they trying to make sure they’re not the first against the wall if a revolution does come?
Ultimately, it doesn’t even matter what it’s about, or whether or not Gavras’ video is good or even coherent, because people are talking about it and that’s really all anybody cares about anyway.
