Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? Especially when that success story involves the underdog (insert marginalized) not only getting their revenge but seizing back the power that has been long robbed of them, usually by violent force in the traditions of the empires and colonies that have written and guard the accounts of social history. Take Django burning down the plantation where his wife was enslaved in Django Unchained, the Jewish soldiers taking out the leaders of the Nazi party in Inglorious Basterds, or a former assassin rescuing her stolen child and murdering the people who took her from them in Kill Bill. All these tales brought to us by Tarantino and all shining, beloved examples of revenge fantasies and the power they have to inspire.
Megan thee Stallion’s latest video for the single Thot Shit is a black girl’s revenge fantasy against the very white, very misogynistic powers that seek to stamp out ass shaking, sexually unapologetic, strong and loud woman of color. An affront not just to the white systemic control of black bodies but also to the male imagination of superiority and woman sexual expression for the sole purpose of male fulfillment, Thot Shit is the mobilizing of the black ass and figure against the male supremacist gender agenda of current society.
Riddled with classic cinema references, lyrical and visual vulgarity, and so much camp horror influence you have to watch it multiple times to catch it all, Thee Stallion’s latest work literally smacks conservative political ideologies and stagnant ideas about respectability and women’s value in the face with ass. The ass is a weapon. The ass is an object. The ass is keeping record of those who seek to shame it for existing. Ultimately vaginas reign supreme over those who seek to lambast it while using it for their pleasure behind closed doors. Just as Janelle Monae stated that “this pussy grabs back” in her Pynk video released in 2018, Megan thee Stallion is asserting that the pussy catches back on those who look to vilify it for personal, political, or social gain.
From twerking on a police car to chasing a mostly nude conservative Senator with a garbage truck (peep the usage of these tools of working-class labor to offend and victimize an upper-class politician) Megan and her army of dancers are clapping back on the power structures of our day. So tip of the hat to you Megan. Using the tools of revenge fantasy (there’s even a Fight Club reference in the video), horror, and black girl magic to make a statement that women are the backbone of society and that time is up for all those who believe lower SES, womyn bodies of color are simply voiceless venues for mass consumption and nothing more.
B.Alexandra's Cosmos 