Domestic Violence has never looked more glamorous

Eminem’s smash hit “Love The Way You Lie” featuring superstar: Rihanna addresses the issue of Domestic Violence… in the most inappropriate way possible. Though both artists have first handedly experienced such difficulties dealing with their own abuse in their relationships, it astonished me that they would create an expressive song with hyper sexualized lyrics. Most importantly, the music video displayed a very dark and narrow one-sided point of view towards the issue of domestic violence.  “In all, domestic violence has never looked more glamorous (in the media)” (Conte, 2011). Both song and music video included a series of incongruous metaphors gendered violence while simultaneously portraying such acts as “sexy”. As public relations major, this song poorly demonstrated the real dangers of domestic and gendered violence and instead “serves as a warning to the women who are beaten rather than the men who choose to beat them” (Lind, 2012).  

With Rihanna being a survivor from her relationship with Chris Brown, Rihanna has delegitimized her endurance with the following lyrics: “well that’s alright because I like the way it hurts”.  Additionally, these lyrics glorify domestic violence by representing that women “ask” to be beat.   Further, the Music video delivered that the violence between the two parties were equally at fault… The Director showed this by Megan Fox enacting violence to her partner. In theory, it leads the audience to believe that violence between men and women are comparable when in fact, that is not the reality.  This interpretation of violence between men and women being a two-way street is problematic because statistics reveal that men are far more likely to inflict moderate to serve physical injuries against their partner.

To summarize the video, it was a great attempt for Rihanna and Eminem to raise awareness of domestic violence and illustrate the cycle of intimate partner violence. However, both song and video perpetrated the problem (in a PR prospective). The music video was not only a misrepresentation on male violence against women; it also failed to show how to exit the cycle of intimate partner violence.  Instead, it alludes that such violence between partners is addictive and functional.   “Because pop culture has the ability to shift our understanding of what is “normal” or even accepted and/ or defining our norms” (Conte, 2011), the audience is almost forced to believe that domestic violence is no longer a “male issue” but instead a two-way street. The video was very powerful in a negative limelight and should not have received adoration and praise. As a Rihanna fan, I can’t help but to question her credibility when speaking on the issue of  gendered domestic violence.

Conte, K. (2011, August 06). Domestic violence has never looked like that [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/107648/Love_the_Way_You_Lie

Lind, R. (2012). Race/gender/class/media, 3.0. (3 ed., pp. 263-267). Old Tappan, NJ: Pearson.