Rihanna and her “Man Down” Controversy

Rihanna has been through her own version of ups and downs in life. Her battle for justice against the abuse scandal from her ex boyfriend Chris Brown made the whole world watching. She had become the instant role model for anti-violence for women. The whole scandal made her famous and up to now, Rihanna has become better and stronger version of herself.  But, lately when the BET premiered her latest song, “Man Down”, Rihanna faces the controversy again, saying that her latest video promotes violence and crime.

The “Man Down” video begins with Rihanna shooting a man in a crowded train station. This man later on was revealed to be the same man that raped her. The video tells a story about a woman coming out for revenge. It depicts the value of woman independence and strength.

 If you are a Rihanna fan, you would agree that her Man Down video is one of her best music videos to date. She looks stunning and the song is good to the ears. However, music critics and even parents from all over the world, have other opinions about the video.  They say that the video is not promoting good morale to the youth. It implies violence and harm. Others even say that the video should be banned.

In my own perspective, the Man Down video is a perfect example of a woman taking a stand on a relationship abuse. The message of the video is about revenge. Also, the video tries to impart a lesson to many women out there to always be careful in relationships. For me, Rihanna’s video is very timely, powerful and realistic.

Regarding to the issue of violence in the video, I say killing someone out from revenge could be a bad thing to do. But if people will try to put their feet on many cases of women who have been raped and suffered physical abuse from a boyfriend or family member, then they would think otherwise. Maybe Rihanna’s intention is to make the whole world notice that rape and physical abuse to women is now one of the biggest problems in the world but is just taken for granted. She had been to an abusive relationship in the past so she definitely knows how it feels to be physically ridiculed and hurt. Rihanna and her Man down video is not promoting revenge and crime as a good thing, she just tries to expose the reality that women has also rights and they deserve it.