Kanye West finally debuted his 35-minute film, "Runaway" on television today simultaneously on MTV, MTV2 and BET.



In my opinion, the film, directed by Kanye and written by Hype Williams, is completely brilliant! It's a dark, poignant, otherworldly, passionate love story between Kanye (Griffon) and Selita Ebanks (The Phoenix).



It's pleasing both sonically and visually. Artistically, it pushes the envelope. Kanye fuses different types of music and art, including my favorite scene which incorporates classic ballet and modern African dance. And the music featured is primarily from Kanye's upcoming album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" which I'm so excited about!



It's wrought with symbolism from the Michael Jackson tribute scene (which Kanye says represents our "cult"-like obsession with pop culture) to the "Last Supper" scene where black guests are catered to by white servants and Selita is attacked for being "different" (a guest asks "Do you know your girlfriend's a bird?).



Kanye interpreted the love story between him and Selita for New York Magazine: "It's the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth and I make her my girlfriend, and people discriminate against her and eventually she has to burn herself alive and go back to her world."



Some speculate that the love story between Selita and Kanye is a reference to his relationship with Amber Rose, who as a former stripper was certainly considered different within the Hollywood crowd Kanye operates in. Despite my (and everyone else's) Amber Rose comparisons, Kanye says every woman in his life is represented in the film, including his late mother, Donda West.



His relationship with Amber is an interesting parallel since after Kanye brings Selita into his world (the dinner scene) and she doesn't conform to fit in, she abandons him in a fiery blaze to go back to where she feels comfortable and free.



The scene in the beginning and near the end of the film is him desperately running after her. Pretty haunting and sad if you think of the Phoenix as his Mom, who died trying to conform. In his XXL cover story, Kanye hints at that by associating Los Angeles (and the Hollywood lifestyle) with his Mom's death maintaining that she wouldn't have died anywhere else. And Los Angeles is the world he brought her to, like how he brought the Phoenix to the dinner party...but I digress...

Kanye revealed that the phoenix represents him as well, particularly when he retreated from the public eye after famously embarrassing Taylor Swift at the VMA's and re-emerged a wiser, more tactful Kanye. In that way, if the Phoenix is indeed Amber Rose, it's less about Kanye bringing Amber Rose into his world but more about them existing in a parallel universe where they can both be free and different. That's fascinating to me because it means that Kanye doesn't "fit in" to his world either. He hinted at this on MTV.com yesterday saying he is "an artist that was made a celebrity." Hmm...



Anyway, I could go all day trying to read Kanye's mind! If you missed it, take a moment to watch it, admire the visuals and fashions (by Phillip Lim) and delve into the meaning behind Kanye's symbolism. Tell me what you think about the film.











Kisses,



Coutura



Photo Source

Kanye West promised to be more tactful in a Twitter rant following the Taylor Swift incident at last year's MTV VMA's...but you didn't believe him, right? Me either.



And truthfully, I don't want him to change. His tweets deliver daily entertainment ("I jog in Lanvin." "Being nice is my whole sh*t now") to my blackberry.



And only Kanye can write a whole amazing song about modelizing (Christian Dior Denim Flow) dropping names from "friend" Selita Ebanks to Lara Stone to Jessica Stam to Glamazon favorite Sessilee Lopez and make it funny and endearing. (P.S. every Good Friday song he's dropped is pretty amazing. All I listen to these days...).

So the fact that he compared Lindsay Lohan's design stint at Emanuel Ungaro to 9/11 is not at all surprising. Sure, he's exaggerating a bit but in Kanye West world, I'm sure it all makes sense.



To be fair, Lindsay's line last season was a disaster of epic proportions. And the fact that British designer Giles Deacon got rave reviews for designing Ungaro this season makes her look even worse. But 9/11? That's harsh, even for Lindsay (we just called the glambulance on her, we had sympathy).

Kanye's modelizer anthem, appearance at Kim Kardashian's Dash NYC, Fashion's Night Out cameo, red Peter Hildalgo suit at the VMAs and remarks on Lindsay for Ungaro are just the latest moves in his plan to penetrate the fashion world. He's studied under Marc Jacobs, gave a Yale dropout the opportunity to style him and facilitated Amber Rose's climb from exotic dancer to exotic fashion icon in a little over a year.

Also, lest I forget, he screened his film, Runaway, in the fashion capital, Paris, though not enough fashion people came out for his liking: "Last night at my Paris premiere of 'Runaway,' what hurt most was the people who weren't there. People look down on celebs doing fashion," Kanye said of the fashion folks who skipped out on the show.  (Uhhh...where was my invite? I would've came Ye...).



Not to worry, I'm sure it will be only a matter of time before Anna Wintour dances it up with him at the MET gala. And in the meantime, with his hilarious critiques of fashion lines like Lindsay's, he can always moonlight as a fashion blogger.



What do you think of Kanye's comment? And that Christian Dior Denim Flow song? Will he ever be embraced by the fashion industry?



Check out a sneak peek of his Runaway video and Paris screening below.





Kanye West - Runaway - Video FROM PARIS

Uploaded by FROMPARISCOLLECTIF. - Explore more music videos.



Kisses,



Coutura