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Wow. I’m not the biggest Justice fan around, but the video for their new single “Stress,” is simply remarkable.
For the cinematography alone this should win an award. If you don’t know, the people you are seeing in the Justice “cross” jackets are from Paris’ infamous suburbs, who decedents from second and third generation African immigrants who are, for the most part, completely ostracized from French society. You may think that the US has a race problem, but personally I think that our problems are far better than those of Europe, where the .
I don’t know if this Justice video plays on the feelings of disenfranchised youth or makes fun of it. It’s definitely a topic of discussion. I don’t know how I feel about this. As a person who indirectly knows someone who got beat up by a bunch of Black kids because they were White “gentrifyers” here in DC, I have to put on the record that I think these actions are wrong. But I don’t think that this video glamorizes these youth at all, but instead makes their actions all too real. The small touches, such as the sound guy getting in some of the shots (and eventually catching fire) and the youths kicking the radio when Justice’s “Dance” come are what put this video over the top.
If you want to know more about the situation in the Paris Suburbs, check Wikipedia or watch the movie La Haine. What do y’all think?
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5 comments
Lady Glock
The video was directed by Romain Gavras who is part of a French film collective called KOURTRAJME. If I’m not mistaken, Kourtrajme is connected to La Haine actor Vincent Cassel and director Matthieu Kassovitz.
Those projects were also featured in JR’s photo project 28 Millimetres.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zWu-BSIUs2E
Just some dorky side info.
Comment by Lady Glock on May 3, 2008 at 4:29 am
himalaya
this video is more “hip-hop” than most hip-hop videos claim to be…
Comment by himalaya on May 4, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Superbizzee
This shit is raw! I like it, but the problem is I think the inherent message of the video may be lost on most people because of the way it was presented.
There was no background on the systematic social injustice against the immigrant community in France. From the point of view of someone not clued in to national politics, it just looks like a bunch of Black and Arabic roughnecks wreaking havoc on law abiding French citizens for no reason. If they had 6 minutes, they had plenty of time to show both sides.
Comment by Superbizzee on May 5, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Stone
Yeah, I feel ya….I know some things about the racial situation in France….enough to understand the video, yeah it does represent the thug stereotype without context. But I think (or hope) there is some deeper level meaning to it esp. with the camera crew being present.
Comment by Stone on May 5, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Hypnosis Melbourne
Great post, thanks! It is something to think about
Comment by Hypnosis Melbourne on August 30, 2008 at 4:50 am