naked truth

I was not mtv's audience when it originated. a homeless 20-something with no disposable income and less inclination to watch commercials of radio songs I didn't like, I think the network could be excused for letting people like me fall between the cracks.

but the fact is that mtv was a great boon to the vagabond. when I was on the road, nearly every lonely rural laundromat television was tuned to it, nearly every roadside store clerk staffing a register had it on, nearly every bar television tuned to it between waves of laid-off factory workers. it was where I learned about what was happening or what mtv wanted me to know was happening. I can't diss it: I saw my first images of tiannaman square and tank man, heard my first strains of james mcmurtry, saw my first glimpses of the twisted weirdness whose existence warmed me in the remote dark. mtv, while not the revolution people like me had hoped for, was televised at least, and enough people appreciated it that wherever I went, I could witness it.

this is to say that while I'm not a child of the video age, I am alive to it and to its messages. the latest video to catch my attention, and that of a lot of other people's, is erykah badu's "window seat." I love nudity, of course, and while badu isn't nearly as naked as I might like her to be, it's the statement she makes by appearing as naked as youtube will allow that is important.

badu shows, in shot after shot, she has got some back and sags and her belly juts out where most women are taught to pull in. this is a real person stripping down on dealey plaza, and badu has opted to share the truth of her naked, common-woman body with the viewer. she struts, she rolls, she has folds and she jiggles and she is not ashamed. the song itself is pleasant way to spend time and not likely to be remembered in a year's time. but it's the act of taking off her clothes--and the sudden, jarring, dispiriting ending that most viewers seem to ignore or forget--that resonates for me. (the fined leveled against her by the city is a minor reminder of the truth of her ending statement.) I am the audience for this music video. they have finally caught up to me.