This applications essay is based around the ideas of Jenny Gunn, “a Lecturer in the School of Film, Media, & Theatre at George State University” (Gunn 396). Specifically, this essay revolves around her article titled “The Outside Meets the Institution: The Carters’ ‘Apeshit’ Video”. In this article, Gunn analyzes the music video of “Apeshit”, a song produced by The Carters. She identifies the issue of the concept of blackness and its relationship with canonical archival methods. To dive deeper into this relationship, Gunn explores “blackness in relation to ontology, capitalism, and aesthetics” (Gunn 385). From the exploration of blackness and its relationship with the concepts that were mentioned, Gunn claims that “the genre of the contemporary music video emerges as a form of radical archival practice” to add on to The Carters’ claim that blackness is “an aesthetic and affective force of sociality incompatible with canonical archival methods” (Gunn 385).
Gunn approaches the analysis of this music video by separating her article into five parts. These parts would consist of the introduction, the relationship blackness has with ontology, speculation regarding the Carters’ motive for the production of the music video, the aesthetics behind the music video, and the conclusion. Gunn first introduces her audience to the subject at hand, the song “Apeshit” and its music video. At first glance, it’s observed that the music video “illustrates a new willingness to stand aside and celebrate the talent and success of Beyonce as [Jay-Z’s] equal” (Gunn 385). The second section of the article is where Gunn brings up the idea of blackness being incompatible with the concept of Being. This is tied with the historical context of slave culture, where “the black ‘subject’ cannot be easily slated into the position of the substitute master-subject celebrated in the history of art as archived by an institution such as the Louvre” (Gunn 390). Despite the era of slavery and colonialism being over, there remains a tension considering the censorship of historical context regarding art. This transitions over to the speculation of the relationship between blackness and ontology being observed by the performances within the music video, where the Carters “highlight the illegibility and incompatibility of black performance to the art historical archive” (Gunn 392). The aesthetics behind the performances within the music video furthermore symbolizes the concept of blackness being that of a force and “as a form of capital production” (Gunn 393). As two completely different cultures collide in the music video, with one representing black culture and the other representing western white culture, it essentially becomes “the outside meet[ing] the institution” (Gunn 395). Gunn concludes her article by mentioning how this culture blend really had the effect of “writing a counter-history” as the Carters’ performance showcasing blackness serves to highlight “the troubling invisibility of practices of black care to the archive of western art history” (Gunn 396). Ultimately, this idea of creating a counter-history is what’s most important about Gunn’s analysis. History as a subject is taught through a lens. Everything is seen from a certain point of view and it’s easy to forget about other perspectives that may have been present during a specific time period. As a reader, it’s important to realize this, to know more sides to a story than just one. By learning about different perspectives, the individual opens their mind up to discover new insight. Without this, no further insight is acquired. The idea of learning from the past would be condensed as this perception of history would be viewed from a one-dimensional perspective.
Gunn’s analysis of the aesthetics behind the music video is what I connect to be the “lead-on” for what makes her argument so strong. Analyzing not only the lyrics, but the visuals behind them as well serve as a strong foundation for what makes Gunn’s claim. Although I don’t agree with this possibility, one could maybe ask if this thought process, like dual marketing, is too deep of thought. It may be harder to argue in terms of the lyricism behind the song, but as far as the visuals go, what if it actually were too deep of thought to be thinking about their performance in relation to the relationship between blackness and ontology? I would like to take this analysis towards other works, whether it be music videos, movies, or TV shows, and observe if the idea of a counter-history can ever be related to the aesthetics behind the work. Just like all my other suggestions, more examples, more support.
Works Cited:
Gunn, Jenny. 2019. “The Outside Meets the Institution: The Carters’ ‘Apeshit’ Video”. Indiana
University Press. Volume 11(1): 385-398.
