In the middle of a gender equality and self discovery discussion that has the entire country questioning what gender equality we stand for as a country and as individuals, our friends BRAIDS release a video that really hits the nail on the head. Subjects such as what makes a woman a woman or what makes a man a man after Caitlyn Jenner’s transformation was revealed has stirred up conversation as of late in the U.S. ‘Miniskirt’ is a pleasant message to hear in the middle of such a discussion, the song has an inner message of anti-misogynist beliefs that are portrayed in the most eloquent and understanding way.
And now we have the visuals for such a powerful song, Director Kevin Fun manages to capture front-woman Raphaelle Satandell’s interpretive performance of the song with some colorful and tropical scenery in the background.
The Director’s Statement was released with the video which explains a little bit of the relationship between the two visionaries:
“I’d been a huge fan of Braids long before I was lucky enough to be a collaborator, an element that made this video special from the outset. They came to me with a handful of very precise visual ideas that they had in mind, which in turn became my jumping off point to shape the rest of the video. I remember the first time I heard the song, I was simply kind of awestruck by the gravitational power that it seemed to [be] imbued with and its bold, incendiary beauty. It’s a rare sort of source material to get the opportunity to work with. I wanted to create something that could compliment the track as opposed to trying to compete with its power. When thinking about the song and its content, I began very interested in the idea of commodification and control of femininity in a patriarchal societal construct, and liberation from that restraint. A central consideration that emerged from that was a historical relationship to nature, in terms of the patriarchal and imperial societal impulse to control, conform and dominate. That dynamic and the song’s authorial resistance to that entitlement is what ultimately formed the thematic core of the video.”
We recently caught up with the band outside The Bomb Factory during their tour with Purity Ring where they blew the audience away with their mystical pop like performance, and we have the full interview coming up in our 2nd Issue. So keep your eye out for that!
(Video via Pitchfork)
