The Atlantic has released “4 Ways of Looking at the Solange/Jay Z Fight Footage,” a list featuring four perspectives on Solange assaulting Jay Z.
One of the ways The Atlantic includes in its list is “As Divine Tragedy.”
“Getting a glimpse into what appears to be a truly private, personal moment for these three is alluring enough,” the publication says. “But then you have Solange appearing to angrily attack Jay Z and being restrained by a bodyguard, as Beyoncé stands more or less composed off to the side. All of this is happening at one of the most glamorous celebrity events in the world. And, as there’s no audio, there’s an irresistible mystery: Why did this happen? This is epic-level drama. This is the stuff of fan fiction. This is as good as Game of Thrones.”
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Another way the publication looks at is “As Human Tragedy.”
“Then you remember: These are real human beings with real inner lives and real relations,” the site says. “Whatever happened in that elevator was undoubtedly painful and sad. You can find plenty of speculation already; most of the non-jokey theories involve loved ones betraying one another, or substance abuse, or mental illness. That inherent ugliness, of course, is a big part of what’s fascinating. There’s almost comfort in it, as with reality TV—it’s the kind of drama we each personally have known in our day-to-day lives turned into a collective, pass-the-popcorn viewing experience. You can’t defend that impulse, really, when you remember that mass attention can only make life more difficult for the people you’re paying attention to. But I don’t know how well you can fight it.”
The Atlantic also says people can look at the assault as “As a Culture-War Kickoff.” “What’s in the video inevitably will be interpreted in relation to those abstract ideals that Beyonce, Jay Z, and Solange are seen as standing for,” the site says. “Already, people are raising the notion of a racial element to the discussion around the video, with the music critic Brandon Soderberg worrying that some will use it to vilify those involved as conforming to ‘ghetto’ stereotypes. Gender relations will be at issue. Some commenters have praised Jay Z for not hitting Solange back; others have said it’s screwed up that anyone would need to praise a man for not hitting a woman. As for political implications? Well, Jay Z and Beyoncé are famously friends of the White House. It’s probably only hours until we hear from Bill O’Reilly on this.”
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The fourth way the site says people can look at this is “As Evidence We’re Living in the Panopticon.” Citing this video and the Donald Sterling tapes that surfaced weeks ago, the site says: “It makes you wonder where they—the Internet-enabled scandal-reporting complex—don’t have eyes. Writes J. Tinsley at Uproxx, ”Pac and Biggie’s murders would have definitely been solved had [TMZ] been around in the ’90s.'”
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