The diversity of blackness is demonstrated in Janelle Monae’s “Screwed.” The video and lyrics take the viewer through the oppression of the black body and the erasure of black history. Monae uses Afro futurism as a metaphor to address the issues that young black people face in the world today.
In the video, Monae transports the audience into a futuristic gallery that is under the inspection of what we interpret as the gaze. The theme of the video is that despite all the disheartening things happening in the world. The flying robot follows Monae and her companions around: even when they think they’re alone, they still being watched. The trumpet (disguised camera) that Tessa Thompson is a metaphor of how the gaze infiltrates the way that black people live their lives. This is a reminder of how the gaze infiltrates our most sacred spaces through our ideas and our culture. In one of the first scenes Monae and her companions freeze when they see surveillance robot coming. This is a direct reference to the original thought behind policing the black body where the point to reduce us to nothing. Say nothing. Be nothing.
In the lyrics, Monae uses “screwed” as sexual innuendo and as a way of describing the current state of her context which is being a queer black woman in the United States. She also reclaiming her gender and sexuality as a source of power the same way that Lorna Simpson uses hair in her work.
Let’s get screwed
I don’t care, I don’t care
You fucked the world up now, we’ll fuck it all back down
Let’s get screwed
I don’t care
We’ll put water in your guns
We’ll do it all for fun
Let’s get screwed
Janelle Monae is telling the story of her sexuality in conjunction with the story of American society. Both are in a state of chaos and instability controlled by outside forces i.e Russia influencing the election and the patriarchy influencing the way women view themselves. Monae addresses these issues again in the outro of the song:
Hundred men telling me cover up my areolas
While they blocking equal pay, sippin’ on they Coca Colas (oh)
Fake news, fake boobs, fake food—what’s real?
Still in The Matrix eatin’ on the blue pills (oh)
The devil met with Russia and they just made a deal
We was marching through the street, they were blocking every bill (oh)
I’m tired of hoteps tryna tell me how to feel
For real
In this verse, Monae addresses the gaze and the oppressors. She alludes to the stigma around and overt sexualization of the female body, especially the nipples. The verse line is talking about the straight white men that make laws that block the feminist agenda. “Sippin’ on they Coca Cola,” means that they are doing this in a relaxed setting without caring about the people that they are hurting. The most striking line in this verse is, “I’m tired of hoteps tryna tell me how to feel,” this is a direct critique of the division within the black community. The Hotep is a black man that strives to replace the white male patriarchy with black male patriarchy. On a much deeper level, she is asserting that freedom will be worth fighting for if it is freedom for all people.
