Runaway (Kanye West & Hype Williams, 2010)

The Fifth Element meets Victoria's Secret in Kanye West's continually problematic relationship with women. His approach has softened since the infamous and banned album cover for My Twisted Dark Fantasy, as well as the infamous and not banned video for Monster, but is no less "uhhhhhhh......." inducing. He wants to explore ideas of the exploitation of innocence and the way social conditioning, especially among the upper-class, strips people of their messy uniqueness, but the video never reaches the power promised by the unexpectedly haunting and apocalyptic first shot of West running through the woods, ominous red fog seeping through the background.

Kanye vocalizes his troubles with women, singing about his status as a douchebag and his inability to talk to women (also referenced in the We Were Once a Fairytale video), but this is only a small piece of the problem. The romanticized ideal of a sweet, untouched woman lost in an ugly world is just as chauvinistic as the issues he is attempting to address. At least in Monster and the banned album cover it seemed to be suggesting something about outward social perceptions of black men and white women, rather than West's own idyllic views.

As a piece of frustrated, confused, self-indulgent confessional it is often visually striking and freed from commercial film's narrative constraints by its dubious status as a music video, though I wish it had gone even further with this idea -- stretching comfort and not being afraid to use his literal self as the cipher, rather than asking us to identify with the awkwardly depicted lingerie model angel. It makes sense from a cinematic perspective, as years of conditioning have taught us to sympathize more readily with vulnerable women than men, but, in the interest of moving forward, we should please try to get away from relying on that, especially without any real attempt to acknowledge that convoluted past. His detachment throughout the film, right down to his monotone delivery, makes connecting artist to product much harder than it should be and, when it comes to the baring of heart and soul and making people give a shit, this is more necessary than all the pretty pictures stylists can conjure.