I’m not completely sure, but I think this week is our last “That’s Questionable” assignment. In regards to this possible celebration I have decided to do something different. I am going to pose a topic that some of “YOU” may find questionable. The topic is along the lines of what we have been discussing in class about hidden meanings in film. I am giving you my ideas about the video, which some of you may find questionable. Hopefully this will create some sort of “great debate.” Or some of you will think I’m lame. Either way, this video is major-league-kickass!
I always though of this song as a statement on the difficulties of a relationship, but the video completely flips that idea on its head. The video starts with Pat Benatar riding on a buss. She is contemplating, but what? The video jumps from a fight she recently had with her father to her walking through a prostitute ridden area of a city. So, is she remembering why she left her father’s control, or is she regretting leaving because she is finding how hard city life is. Either way I don’t think it goes along with the lyrics. In these early scenes she goes in to the subway in the same innocent closes that she left her home and rode the buss in. Then she emerges the subway an empowered woman in total kickass 80’s clothing and it seems as though she has possibly taken a job as a prostitute. When she is in the bar I think she is making a statement that she no longer needs a man in her life to make her own decisions. The city life has freed her from her father’s control. That’s the reason for the clothes. She also pushes a man who she is dancing with away, showing she does not need a man’s protection through love to be strong. She goes on to challenge a man (pimp) who is mistreating one of the girls in the bar. Her challenging of him empowers the other women and they kick his ass in an epic 80’s dance battle. “He totally gets served.” And the women take to the streets, free from male domination. So is Benatar making a statement about male oppression in relationships? I see this as a statement that men are oppressive figures in society, especially toward women. Because of an aggressive nature, men turn everything into a battle over power. This is true of love, thus creating love as a battlefield. The women in the video recognize this and know they must fight back to free themselves from men’s oppression. What is interesting about their revolt is they use their femininity to defeat their oppressor. This is shown through the dance battle. The women defeat the men using their femininity to their advantage. Their display of female power causes the men to retreat and women are saved by this. Or is this Benatar’s feminist answer to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.
What do you think is going on? Being a part of male society, I may have it all wrong. Either way enjoyed the video because it made me smile.
