A few days ago we had a submission to the database that was a sort of remake of "Smack My Bitch Up" by The Prodigy. We weren't able to add it to the database, unfortunately, since its an unofficial video, but here it is if you would like to check it out.
After seeing the remake, I realized I had never really sat down and watched the famed Jonas Åkerlund-directed video. I remember when it came out in 1997 and all of the press it got for being too controversial for TV, but 16 years later in internet times, we can watch it on YouTube any time we want. So, why don't we?
Before a video for this song was ever made, it had a running start in the fact that "Smack My Bitch" up is a song with a provocative title and even if the video was Care Bears dancing around a may pole there'd be some rumbles. Jonas Åkerlund really goes for the gold here, though, and makes a video that makes the lyrics seem sort of tame by comparison, throwing in violence, drug use, binge drinking, graphic sex, vomiting, and (my favorite) pulling a dude out of a bathroom stall. That is an unforgivable crime.
Warning - spoliers ahead! The basic concept of the video is we have the visual perspective of someone who is going out for a night on the town. They get some food, go to a club, and then things get messed up really fast. After doing three (or more?) shots of vodka, our protagonist gropes women, vomits in a sink, pushes and hits people, ruins a DJs setup, and does other things too numerous to get into here. A stripper is met, a car stolen, and sex is had. At the end of the video, we finally get a glimpse at whose perspective we have been experiencing and it turns out - its a woman.
The first time I watched this video, I was really confused as to how our main character was not getting the shit kicked out of him almost immediately after groping the first woman. I'm not exactly a big club guy but I'd imagine that pulling all of the stunts that this person pulled and getting out without a bouncer or anyone else grabbing you and giving you your commuppance is extremely unlikely. Yet this person seemed to just sort of shock people - they never really react swiftly to take down our havoc-causing main character.
So the fact that we are in fact looking out of the eyes of a woman makes more sense, I think. If you were in a bathroom and a young, attractive woman opened up the stall door and violently pulled you out, what would you do? (I'm speaking to dudes here, I have no idea what another woman would do). I would be shocked and react in much the same way that guy did, just sort of act stunned a let it happen. The only one who really takes a swipe at our protagonist is the DJ, and it was a pretty weak swipe.
This video has been cited from time to time as a reminder that women too can be abusers of people, alchohol, and drugs. While that may be true, I think it also may be somethig of a satire on the way culture sometimes galmorizes women breaking behavioral norms. Remember, this is only a year after we saw the Spice Girls in "Wannabe" running through a fancy hotel disrupting things, dancing on tables, and causing havoc. People adored them for it, and by taking being disruptive to an absolute extreme, this video challenges us to rethink what we saw once we reverse the gender in our head. Do we think it's awesome now that a woman is doing it? Do we feel disgusted where we once thought it was awesome? If you like Baby Spice ruining someone's dinner party, how about if she got blackout drunk and stole a car?
There are a lot of ways I think this music video is more than just a controversial video - its concept and reveal at the end have some real merits as a video that has some interesting issues to bring up about gender roles and even the male gaze. Just goes to show you that music videos and feminism topics are never going to be too far apart.
