The topic of today’s lecture was Jesus films, and the
representation/ the presence of Christ figures in films. This post won’t talk
about a specific Jesus figure in film, but in a recent music video. Lil Wayne
and Bruno Mars just released their newest single called “Mirror” where in there
are many images of God and Jesus, and even relating Lil Wayne to Jesus.
Throughout the video we see Lil Wayne painting or throwing red paint on a wall,
in what we can assume to be a mural. 
Not only that but we see his tattoos, of the words like “Fear God” on his inner eyelids, a subtextual image of the tools used to make the mural (familiar with the tools used to bear the cross, like the nails, hammer, and crown of thorns). Most notably, if you can go through the entire video, Lil Wayne stands in the cross-bearing pose, and his mural is of him, in a cross bearing position with a microphone in one hand, and I believe a stack of cash on the other (the image isn’t very clear).
I personally did not go into watching this music video
thinking that I was going to have material to relate it to Kozlovic’s
twenty-five characteristics of a Jesus figure, or looking for characteristics,
but I did. Lil Wayne’s pose of the cross bearing related to the characteristics
of the Jesus Figure that Kozlovic goes into depth with (although I think I can
assume that no one would really associates Lil Wayne with a Jesus). What do you
think the intention of Lil Wayne was? Opinions…
Heres the link to the music videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZLUa8JUR18&ob=av3e
http://getsavedordietryin.tumblr.com/
ReplyDeleteToday we spell redemption ” L-I-L’ W-A-Y-N-E”.
This is in response to Felicia’s post “Lil’ Wayne A Christ Figure?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZLUa8JUR18&ob=av3e
In all honesty I didn’t know anything about Lil’ Wayne before your post. However, being an Art History major, I can’t help but bring my visual analytical skills to the table. Here’s what I get from the video after doing a crash course on Lil’ Wayne:
The paint (red and black) seems symbolic of sins and evil. Lil’ Wayne has used his unique life experiences as inspiration to create music, represented as a mural in the video. Lil’ Wayne is aware that, like in Macbeth, his sins will never come off his hands – his past is with him forever. His constant references to a cruciform pose draws likeness to the Christ “type” as Christ the Redeemer (the obvious example is the statue in Rio Di Janero). All of these visual cues instilled by the art director are intentional, telling us that Weezy is seeking redemption.
Lil’ Wayne, more recently, seems to be more interested in cleaning up his act and getting his moral code in order. Weezy claims to be a devout Christian, well versed in the teachings of the Bible, publicly proclaiming his belief in God and Christ in 2008. In a radio interview from March 2011, Lil’ Wayne announced that at age 35 (6 years from now) he will retire from making music to be a more supportive father: “I have four kids […] I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it’s such a vital point in their lives”.
Although Weezy has been charged four times (possession of narcotic drugs for sale, possession of a deadly drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possessions for drug paraphernalia) and incarcerated for three of the charges and has had his drug-hazed days (purple drank, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol etc.), he seems to be trying to pull himself together through accepting his not-so-admirable past and trying to do right.