Laurie Penny

Pop culture and radical politics with a feminist twist

Join Beyonce's sexy revolution

The singer's latest video gives new meaning to the term "riot porn".

By Laurie Penny Published 29 May 2011 15:21

Anarchist philosopher and revolutionary feminist Emma Goldman is rumoured to have written that she didn't want to be part of any revolution if she couldn't dance. Well, we all know who can dance! That's right, Beyonce! In her latest video, 'Run the World (Girls)', multi-millionaire popstar Beyonce Knowles brings the spirit of Tahrir Square to MTV, celebrating the two most crucial elements of the Arab Spring: state violence and arse-wiggling sex-appeal. Any implication that this might be a strategy to distract attention from the fact that Knowles was paid $1million by the Gaddafi family for a private performance in 2007 is, of course, the work of liars and reprobates.

The video, which has had almost thirty million YouTube hits in its first month of release, gives a new meaning to the term "riot porn". In a fast-paced, soft-focus extravaganza of cultural stereotyping, Knowles leads a scantily-clad army of sexy ladies against some genericmale oppressors in an unspecificed desert location. The singer and her stocking-bloc wear a bric-a-brac of vaguely Middle-Eastern exotica, all jingly-jangly headdresses and flowing scarves and jungle cats on leashes. It's a kinky riff on the current political narrative whereby revolutions only happen in mysterious, far-off oriental lands, with deserts and lions and stuff: they can't ever happen in the West, and certainly not in America.

Let's not get too snooty. In some ways, it's great that the idea of revolution is going mainstream. An important distinction must be drawn between preventing the profit machine of pop culture from cannibalising the romance of popular resistance, and just getting petty because some people were having running battles with the cops before it was cool. Watching this video, however, one can't help wondering precisely which part of the anarchist handbook puts quite so much emphasis on bitches and bling. 'Run the World' is a child's collage of revolutionary aesthetics: there are banners, a burning car, illegible slogans daubed on the scenery, menacing lines of surprisingly hunky riot cops bashing their shields, and Beyonce in a big spiky dress made of crystal. Every dictator's favourite diva might have been of some use if she'd actually showed up to the popular protests in Egypt, Spain and London this week, but only as a very expensive missile to be bodily thrown at lines of advancing state heavies.

Any hint of actual violence is conspicuously edited out of this stylised uprising. There is no blood or broken glass, only Knowles wriggling in a leotard on the sandy floor, and when the police andbacking-singer protesters actually do clash, they just run around a lot with their fists raised, like some sort of anarchic Morris dance. Knowles, now clad in clingy black rubber, gyrates around a gang of riot cops with their truncheons raised, pulls their hair and gets pushed to the floor and menaced, which she seems to enjoy rather a lot.

This knowing nod to sado-masochism is probably the most offensive part of the whole four-and-a-half minute horrorshow. In real life, there's nothing fun or sexy about getting your head kicked in by the pigs. Just ask the peaceful protesters of Placa de Catalunya, Barcelona, who are, as I write, being beaten by the Spanish police. Just ask the family of Ian Tomlinson. Police violence is not kinky, it's not edgy, and it's not cool: it's scary. This year alone, hundreds of protestors around the world have been savaged by armed officers of the state: hundreds have died; it is highly likely that more will die before the end of the year. There is absolutely nothing erotic about that at all. The rest of the dance is a feat of militaristic choreography and pouty faux-feminist empowerment. Nubile young zealots in army caps and suspenders hump, stamp and writhe on the floor towards dumbfounded lines of black-clad police stooges in what appears to be a glorious ritual display of female sexual aggression. At one point the whole group splay their legs and advance in a synchronised wobble that suggests that they might be about to eat the police with their vaginas. The application of this brilliant tactic may be more aesthetic than practical, although it would probably get the thumbs up from Mark Kennedy-Stone.

One suspects that long-skirted, bespectacled, thick-limbed Emma Goldman would not have been allowed to be part of this porny pastiche of popular struggle were she alive today, however much she may have wanted to dance. Goldman was a sexual revolutionary, but Beyonce is a *sexy* revolutionary, and that's what the kids are buying today. The ones who aren't getting battered in Yemen, Bahrain or Catalunya, that is.

And then we come to the song itself. Thematically, 'Run The World (Girls)' is the same old Beyonce-branded pseudo-empowerment bullshit: a muted call for the sort of mitigated female insurrection that responds to the quotidian lassitudes of patriarchy with a variety of sexy dances and some lipgloss. Its attempt to stitch together the glitzy girl-power rhetoric of Beyonce's Single Ladies alter-ego, Sasha Fierce, with the rather more urgent fierceness of the Arab Spring is embarrassingly unsuccessful: the single has failed to make the impact its producers hoped for in the US charts.

Most fascinating, however, is the track, which is no stirring revolutionary heart-sweller, but a quiet, clickety hip-hop number that heavily samples Major Lazer's minimalist Pon De Floor. It's jerky and uneven, all stops and starts and bitten-off gasps, the sort of sound an anarchist might make if she were being slowly, rhythmically strangled by a paranoid pop culture that has no idea in hell what is happening to its former target market.

At 1:58, as Beyonce is having a lovely time being savaged by sexy MTV coppers, along comes the following gem of a lyric, just in case you
thought she might have been serious about that whole rebellion thing: 'I'm just playing/ Come here baby/ Hope you still like me/ If you pay me'. To the barricades, ladies: the feminist insurrection is here. Revolutions are inherently romantic, and that romance can always be co-opted by the unscrupulous to turn a profit. It's easy to imagine the death-knell of any movement for change starting to ring when its agitators find their slogans appearing on tshirts and mouthed by wealthy popstars with a history of shakin' it for dictators. Not everything, however, can be appropriated. There are elements of this new, networked uprising that will never be easy to swallow,even when sliced up into four-and-a-half minute bitesized chunks of sexualised, sanitised anti-sentiment.

More from Laurie Penny

157 comments

Tue, 2011-05-31 09:13 — Daniel Taghioff (not verified)

But Laurie how are you so very different from Beyonce?

You talk about what Beyonce hints at, the selling out of the revolution, whilst it is actually happening in Eqypt. Structural adjustment in Egypt is being accellerated as we speak. The IMF and World Bank are circling and negotiating.

Do you have a riff that is not drawn from ODW? Could you venture to be something other than a [very] intelligent young woman talking about sex?

Wed, 2011-06-01 14:18 — postgrad protester (not verified)

I'm always staggered by the lack of sympathy displayed in the comments beneath Laurie's articles and I only hope that she doesn't pay any heed to all this vitriolic bullshit. It is essential that we analyse these examples of pop culture; the 'it's just a pop video' argument is totally redundant, any GCSE media studies student could tell you that...

Overall I thought Laurie's observations and criticisms were spot on. I may not agree with everything she says, but I feel no desire to be downright mean about it.

Sun, 2011-05-29 23:36 — Bluedangermouse (not verified)

Lets be honest the music industry will never go against the sociological norm as it makes to much money of this. The only two art tits who have are bob Dylan and David Bowie and that's because they were too good for the music industry to get rid off.

Sun, 2011-05-29 23:45 — bebe (not verified)

I find the overt sexuality going on in this, and Ms B's other horror of a video 'Single Ladies' just nauseating. It is all verging on porn, in my opinion. Apart from the proven and documented rip-offs of other photographers, set-designers and songwriters, as presented recently in www.jezebel.com

Fri, 2011-06-03 12:58 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Alf Ford, age about 80
Ex-chairman of the Cardiff Branch of the Acrow Group Organisation, a worker's 'co-op.'

33 Voss Park Drive
Llantwit Major
Cardiff
South Glamorgan
CF69YE
UK

He has no email or website but has some self published books. I don't know how much they cost because I was given it. You write to him and maybe you'll be lucky to know what he has to say.

Sun, 2011-06-12 14:51 — And the Ivy (not verified)

This feminist youtuber sums it up
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/05/26/we-heart-youtube-response-to-...

Fri, 2011-06-03 22:51 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

@Spud: 'And I am the messiah'

Like Alf Ford wrote, "Everyone wants to be the Boss'

The Venezuela Syndrome.

Fri, 2011-06-03 23:04 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Alf Ford was one of 13 children growing up in a standard mid terrace house in Bootle, Liverpool, now the cheapest area in England to buy a house. His dad worked at the Gas Works 12 hours a day, and also grew his own veggies on three big allotments. On occasions he would be brought home in an ambulance because he had been gassed. He came home for good when he fell and broke his back.

Alf went to grammar school until the war interrupted his education and he went to work at 13 in a bicycle shop, the start of his engineering career; the end being as a chairman of an engineering company run by workers.

Do you honestly think that Chomsky, Luxembourg, Gramsci, and Orwell has anything to say about workers and working life in comparison to this bloke?

Fri, 2011-06-03 23:07 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Is it a push bike you're talking about Spud?

Mon, 2011-05-30 01:45 — PhilDuval

It always amuses me how the same critics lambast Laurie Penny's articles and then keep coming back for more. If she is so ridiculous why bother engaging with her?

Mon, 2011-05-30 01:49 — PhilDuval

As for my own thoughts on 'Run the world', well it's just more crass egotism isn't it? On the part of the performer and on those who might take its 'message' seriously. Another little wedge driven between men and women in the politics of divide and rule.

Feminism would be unnecessary in a truly egalitarian society. And we can start building that right now by recognising the humanity and worth in each and every one of us.

Tue, 2011-05-31 12:08 — sean drew (not verified)

another pile of utter drivel from miss 'bitter and twisted' penny.

you really need to get a life, laurie darling...

Sun, 2011-06-05 01:08 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Yet he carried on working full time on his shift job on the railway. In his spare time he worked in the bicycle shop but he would set his hours and pay because the owner couldn't get anyone else. Alf also grew flowers and sold them to shops.

In his holidays he would bicycle around England on his tandem with his wife. Sundays in the 40s and 50s were the greatest days of our proud history. Thousands of cyclists will pour out onto the roads with their mates and clubs to celebrate their day off. People would think nothing of cycling from Liverpool to the Lake District and back for the day. The roads had no cars but thousands of talkative cyclists free from the perils of war and their jobs.

Tue, 2011-05-31 12:44 — Gavin (not verified)

This is the best article I've read in a while. Seriously! I get it so sorry some can't.

Tue, 2011-05-31 12:46 — olivia (not verified)

do you suck the fun out of everything in life.....?
you must be a complete BORE.
why cant this video just be about women showing strength...? - in some amazing clothes.
why do you have to dig further and try to expose it to mean something it doesn't?
its a POP MUSIC VIDEO.
get a grip and learn to dance (and write) and i'm sure when you can enjoy music and dancing like most people you'll make more mates.

Tue, 2011-05-31 13:00 — veganpanda (not verified)

I agree with this article, such a shame about your 'pig' comment though. I'm totally against the police state, but likening the cops to "pigs" makes no logical sense, as pigs are innocent, enlaved animals - totally the OPPOSITE of what the brutal police are!!

Sun, 2011-06-05 02:10 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Alf Ford would sometimes be amongst those riders. People from different cycling clubs would met up with other clubs at predetermined spots, up in the hills of North Wales, by Lake Windamere have a few butties, a cup of tea and a natter. Then they would get on their push bikes and ride home.

Lots of people knew Alf in the Merseyside area as he worked on the railways, in a bicycle shop, and was one of 13 children. Everywhere he went people would greet him, "Alright there Alf."

Train drivers would let him drive the train. He would toot the whistle and wave out of the window.

Mon, 2011-05-30 02:45 — Property is thefty. (not verified)

Hmmm, nearly. Right on LoriA; Laurie, you're usually better at acknowledgeing your own priviledge. You mustn't stop doing it.

Sun, 2011-06-05 02:55 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Lets' not forget the greatest hero in all this, Ann Ford, the woman who brought up 13 children in a mid terrace house in Liverpool with an invalid husband, cold water, and a scrubbing brush.

Sunday wasn't her day off. She didn't really have one. There was little time for this woman. She was a former domestic servant so for you could say she was ideal for the job of housewife. Still that doesn't distract from the amount of toil and labour she put in. This was truly heroic. Knock down the Beatles Statue and put up a statue of Ann Ford.

Wed, 2011-06-01 17:50 — Tom (not verified)

Try and get the lyrics right next time?

Mon, 2011-05-30 03:14 — beyonce stan (not verified)

just to clarify, you miss quoted the lyrics in the song ''run the world'' ''girls''. The proper lyrics are '' F*** you pay me'' not ''if you pay me''. Clearly beyonce was not contradicting herself...

Mon, 2011-05-30 04:34 — Troy (not verified)

beYAWNcy and her revolutionary imagination to surpass or be like Michael Jackson, Rhianna, or Lady GaGa has gone to her head. She needs to reflect on how hideous her career is and how much of a fool she makes of herself trying to compete with the masses of younger artist, just to stay relevant and steer clear of back tracking as she started this crazy trend with the likes of trying to duet with Lady GaGa. People give this woman too much credit where credit is not due, beYAWNcy is an insecure opportunist who will do whatever it takes to stay relevant in an already dispicable industry, sell her soul, yes she has and with the poor taste of this video and her trying to reinvent herself at the age of er-um, she says 29, she needs to start to look ahead and realize that her attempt to try and use the old Madonna and Lady GaGa tactic of shock value does not work for her and never will. In fact her whole career has never been decisive or polished, who is she...is she Diana Ross, is She Tina Turner, Barbara Streisand, Sasha Fierce, who the hell is she...One minute she's Michael Jackson the next minute she's Etta James maybe we should call her the many faces of Eve. beYAWNcy, word of advice, if I where you, I'd quit while I'm ahead, you whole ideal as was your father was to bring you fame, well fame eventually cost and it will come at the price of your career when you fall off that pedestal back down to earth, either you'll hit rock bottom or go out gracefully...whatever the case, every one starts off at the top of their game and everyone eventually falls.

Mon, 2011-05-30 04:50 — Bosco (not verified)

Stop spreading dominant Amerikan culture!

You are hurting the revolution.

Sat, 2011-06-04 00:53 — Yere

I like Laurie's articles. After all she has not been brainwashed yet. And although I don’t agree with all that she writes, she is certainly the kicking ass journalist that will make our politicians spit bile. So I hate unjustified criticism from people who think they are better because they've gone to some good school. That does not make them more intelligent either. And here we come to this Spuddy chap who gets all wound up for nothing really. He asks me to elaborate. Do I need to? Did he elaborate ? Does he deserve that? Does he know anything better than elaborate? He's got some brain when it comes to talk shit but for f**k sake don’t give up your main job Spuddy boy please. And by the way “when I knew, just looking in the mirror, that I was in the presence of greatness” this is serious mate go and see your doctor.
I am shit at golf. But used to play good football 30 years ago. What about that spuddy boy?

Mon, 2011-05-30 05:35 — frankchant (not verified)

I'll ask my 2 teenage gals what they make of it...and then get back.
but yeh, mother fukcin bad taste...which says a lot about US mind set where they Run The World and no one gets hurt. Its just TV dude!

Thu, 2011-06-02 22:18 — Yere

"just looking in the mirror, that I was in the presence of greatness.."
You know about confirmation bias?

"It’s a psychology term used to describe the way we filter out any information which doesn’t support how we see the world and allow in everything that does.

It’s a pretty nifty little trick that our minds use to make us feel good.

And it’s pretty good at it too!

But it’s also really good at hiding the underlying causes of ..having ..relationships with women."

Sun, 2011-06-19 14:29 — isabelle (not verified)

don't know if anyone cares at this point, but the 'walking vagina' dance moves aren't just a product of pop porn - they're classic moves from southern african dances like Kwaito, very much in keeping with the street riot theme of the vid (however misguided)
In fact, the two male dancers at the beginning are a kwaito group called tofo tofo who Beyonce's team tracked down. how about thinking about that? I feel sorry for laurie, intelligent and heart in the right place and all that, but writing for deadlines sure doesn't do her any favors.

Sat, 2011-06-04 01:45 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Alf Ford became a signal man when he 14 and electrocuted himself on the live rail once by messing about with water. His work mate was a Lancashire man with a thick accent. This is what he wrote:

Wed, 2011-06-15 02:08 — obamarocks (not verified)

Everybody go to Youtube. Theres a remix of this single produced by this guy name Fyuchur. Its Hot!! Even her fans love it

Sat, 2011-06-04 01:49 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

"Ow much wilt thar bet me thee will play wi' watta and t'live rail agin" he said.

Mon, 2011-05-30 08:27 — Jack (not verified)

Ian Tomlisnons family might be "scared" by seeing Riot cops in the Beyonce video, So it's sexist,

Well Taxi Driver David Wilkies Widow Might be scared by aseeing Striking Miners In Billy Braggs Power in the Union ,promo Video, so thats bigotted too,
Clever original Comment about calling Police Pigs. Too ,Miss Piggy

Thu, 2011-06-02 23:16 — help! (not verified)

sorry, i didn't know where to put this, but fuck, fascinating article here that needs countering/trolling/shredding to bits!!

go go go-------->>>>

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2011/06/catherine-marcus-why-...

Sat, 2011-06-04 01:53 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

@Yere, 'I am shit at golf'

You need to practice more. Haven't you got much free time?

Sat, 2011-06-04 01:54 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

ET: "I am sane"

You're bullshitting us again ET.

Mon, 2011-05-30 08:36 — Cindy Lee (not verified)

Beyonce could have contributed much more to "girls" by donating the money it took to make this video of extremely questionable artistic value to a women's shelter or a child abuse prevention & recovery programme.

Mon, 2011-05-30 09:15 — eazy-e (not verified)

The police are pigs though Jack. So deal with it..FUCK THA POLICE!

Jay-Z is a twat!

Mon, 2011-05-30 10:18 — hugh markey (not verified)

Traditionally, young women have been used to sell things - even make-up to older ladies.
Hollywood sold the world the American Dream and video and now the internet are carrying on with promoting this commercial, firmly terrestrial, paradise.
The guys with the big bellies and the big cigars discovered long ago - well maybe in the last century - that earthly paradise sells a lot more effectively to the gullible. Religion is still a rival but is gradually becoming obsolescent.
Beyonce a revolutionary? We think not! Her promotion is meant to induce a psychedelic and not a pharmaceutical state of reality.

Hophead

Sat, 2011-06-04 02:56 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

I can vouch for your sanity ET.

The match is a bit late in the season.

Sat, 2011-06-04 02:57 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

A week later after nearly being electrocuted to death Alf Ford had to get a dog off the live rail with a wooden paddle.

Fri, 2011-06-03 01:07 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Spud, you've missed out Ken Dodd and his DiddyMen from you list of greats. Doddy's dance routines were similar to Beyonce's as they too had policemen with truncheons suppressing the naughty revolutionary DiddyMen. Was multi-millionaire Ken Dodd and his back up team merely commodifying the revolutionary students of the 60s?

Mon, 2011-05-30 10:45 — Jack (not verified)

Hi easy-E thought you were dead, didn't you record a record with Axl rose,I seem to recall he a thing to say about pigs and other people, P.S The is spelt with A "e" not A "A"
and Hard knock life's a classic.

Wed, 2011-06-08 23:04 — jay-z (not verified)

Calm down dear, it's a just a music video.

Wed, 2011-08-17 04:47 — Anam (not verified)

When this video came out and after I first watched it, I was struck by the overwhelming desire to slap Beyonce in the face. That is some heartstopping nerve, to attempt to profit off a genuine movement for genuine freedom, human rights, and dignity...especially when her entire existence is defined by trying to keep ordinary people distracted or asleep. I'm glad I finally came across an article that echoes my sentiments. Someone should slap Beyonce, really, first Etta, now this.

Tue, 2011-05-31 16:28 — betterdeadthanred (not verified)

What was the previous meaning of 'riot porn'?

Fri, 2011-06-03 05:28 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

I don't know why you've got Rosa Luxembourg in the same league as Messi. Rosa was crap at footy. Ali too spent most of the game in the nets doing his rope a dope act. Besides BJ Penn from UFC UnLeased is a miles better fighter.

Tue, 2011-05-31 16:33 — betterdeadthanred (not verified)

Pigs? Wonder why Ms Penny does not use this expression in her increasingly frequent broadcast media apperances.

Fri, 2011-06-03 05:31 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

And you have to be kidding about Orwell. Just because he spent a bit of time washing dishes and writing about it doesn't mean jack shit. M. Peake is the greatest British writer ever. Titus Alone.

Fri, 2011-06-03 07:40 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Besides I'm not into philosophy or traditional English literature any more. I like biographies of people, some famous, some just 'ordinary' . The Diary of a New South Wales Welshman (a Welsh farmer labouring in Australia in 1880s) ... it beats anything Orwell ever wrote.

Currently I'm reading an autobiography of a scouser called Alf Ford. It's called 'Corrugated Gold' and its self published. This guy has had an amazing life and he was chairman of a workers syndicate in South Wales. He recalled some of his time growing up at Number 5 Ash Street in the 1930s. You can hear his voice and his jokes. His boyhood stories are like partly mine, and so rich and deep, and yet as light as a joke. He makes you laugh and smile.

Reading Orwell you feel like you're reading it as an outsider having a peep in. With Alf Ford you've got the insider living and then finally telling. And telling it in the voice of the time, not some public school boy's prose from the South or an impersonation of Black Adder. Real words about real things.

If this book had the right publicity it would break all records.

Mon, 2011-05-30 12:28 — anon (not verified)

Maybe she's trying to do a m.i.a. thing. At least it's better than another love song.

Fri, 2011-06-03 07:49 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

Alf Ford, 'Corrugated Gold'

He's my all time great writer. James Joyce, he's really crap in comparison. Joyce was too muddy and didn't quite get it. Lawrence just ranted on about on crap. Orwell had a few moments when he was drinking in Burma and gazing at the sea in Cornwall. But Alf Ford. He talks about what he used to 'nick' scam, beg and sell as a kid to get enough food. He used to get beat up by his mum if he got in trouble. It's ace. You've got to read it. It's dead funny as well.

'Oh yea I had to get a few soap suds on my hands and woe is me' George Orwell.