Window Seat is Brilliant, Not Perverted

Today was supposed to see me post a review on Erykah Badu's new album. I wanted to post on how I thought it was a great cd, but not her best. Yet there is no attention being placed on her music because people are caught up in her ass baring video for 'Window Seat'. There have been complaints and such about it, yet the people complaining haven't seen the clip for what it is: a piece of art. So I'm going to break the video down for you to understand and appreciate the message. We are going to run through the JFK analogy, the stripping, and the meaning of "group think".

Before we start, the video opens with the voice of a radio announcer talking about JFK coming to Dallas, Texas and describing the excitement of Texans on the day JFK was killed. We, then, see Erykah pull up and park a car. It is assumed to be the same make and model of the one Kennedy was riding in. She steps out and walks down the street stripping off her clothes. Passersby stare. By the time we get to the end of the clip, she's fully nude with the word "evolving" written on her back. We hear a gunshot and she falls to the ground and the phrase "group think" bleeds out of her mind.

The JFK analogy is there because Erykah Badu is touching on the issue of a rebirth. During the 1960's, America was rife with civil and political unrest. Kennedy was the one trying to get more Americans to open their minds when it came to certain things, the ending of segregation being one of them. Once Americans felt there was some progress, he was gunned down. She was speaking to us now about conformity and accepting things at face value, instead of asking questions.

When she gets out of the car, she has on shades and about three layers of clothing. The shades symbolize us walking around oblivious to the problems around us that have nothing to do with us. Her shedding her clothes piece by piece signifies her learning, growing, and coming out of her ignorance with each step she takes. That's why when she's down to her bra and panties, you see "evolving" on her back because she's letting the people and things left behind that she had to do it in order to grow.

Her being shot reverts back to the JFK analogy. But the phrase "group think" bleeding from her head means an to conformity and thinking and living like everyone else. She's doing what feels right to her and not caring about the thoughts of her peers. Plus, the first to being reborn is to die. She died in the video, now she can be reborn and live her life the way she wants to lead it.

That in itself is brilliant.