The intention for curating this clip of the fatal shooting of laquan mcdonald was to further defame the chicago police department for they're extreme actions & point a mirror to our disconnected society. Although the dashcam video has been resurfaced since 2014, I felt it proper to do a remix tribute for Laquan to a song that conveyed the emotions well. The graduation photo of Laquan reminded me of rapper lil wayne's carter 4 album and i was able to make an important cultural connection. I only wish healing and justice for laquan & his family respectively and the video was an idea to expose the ignorance of our culture that can only fight with hashtags & instagram clips. i hope that something tangible will happen by creating shock value disguised in a medium the internet is used to seeing on twitter because i myself am not willing to indulge in worthless legislative action.
I will now offer a few ways that this video does more for "the cause" than any black lives matter hashtag, cnn analysis, or policy that any group could take:
1. Shock:
The social media world has already been exposed to propaga in this form and the difference is that those where funny vine remixes; Now what happens when it's portraying sensitive (& graphic) content that is more than relevant.
2. Misunderstanding:
I predicted the video begs the an uncomfortable question as to why someone would make this and it's likely to be misconstrued. while the real message will be only taken at face value being distasteful: people will get angry, that anger will hopefully fuel a rebellion against the skewed justice system.
3. Closes Hashtag discussions for real change:
The undertone of the video will be taken by many as disrespectful & thus will get negative attention, but in doing so accomplishes it's function. By criticizing the video you have to accept that you are in the wrong for taking all the other black lives too lightly and passed it over with a quick tweet.
4.Mirror at society
A video presented in a meme form will undoubtedly leave a bitter taste in the mouth's of those accustomed to to laughing at them. Everyone who hates on this really hates themselves for not taking these matters more seriously because if ya'll can make fun remix's on vine for far less impactful subjects over & over then i should be able to do the same & fet a similar reaction. right?
5. Takes the power out of fake social media activism
There can no longer be any serious consideration for more empty #blacklivesmatter tweets because those who choose to get mad can only admit that that there is serious disconnect for what is important to us as a society. If there are people (like me) who are willing to go so far to create a seemingly cynical clip that takes the seriousness out of the loss of innocent life but all our online conversations consist of the funniest vine or insane worldstar challenges; wich one are we really more concerned about? The amount of energy it takes to go campaign & challenge the justice system that kills your fellow human being so regularly is instead put towards endless hours scrolling timelines & liking drake memes.
No comments:
Post a Comment