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Hot on the heels of yesterday’s release of ‘Piss on Putin’, Bête Noire has released a music video for the anti-Putin anthem.
The music video, which was created by performance artist Benjamin Sebastian and is only for mature audiences, takes its inspiration from old art house films from the 60s and 70s. The video uses black and white vintage footage with overlays of colorful and often explicit images.
Throughout the video, Bête Noire likens the current (and potential) situation under Vladimidir Putin in Russia to what happened to marginalized groups under Adolf Hitler in Germany. Black and white footage that can be seen include footage of soldiers marching, the Nazi salute, and the smoke clouds from the bombs that were dropped during World War II. There is also dark imagery of attacking viper snakes and skeletons to represent deception and death. Other images used to compare Putin to Hitler are the upside down pink triangle and upside down cross, which directly contrasts his efforts to make it seem like he is creating these anti-LGBT matters for the betterment of society.
To contrast the dark and maddening imagery, images and video clips of gay pornography are inserted (no pun intended) throughout the video. The explicit imagery, which may prove too much for some, serves as a direct ‘fuck you’ to Putin’s law against ‘gay propaganda’. In addition, distorted images of Putin are also placed throughout the video with one showing him in drag and another replacing his head with a skeleton. In addition to the explicit imagery, footage of transgender activist Sylvia Rivera is featured in the video as well.
Bête Noire got a lot off its chest and made a strong statement with their song, and now they’ve made an even stronger one with this bold and subversive video. I’ll be closely watching to see how ‘Piss on Putin’ will make waves in the discussion about anti-LGBT laws in Russia and around the world. And even if it doesn’t, at least no one can ever question where the band stood when Russia’s LGBT community was facing persecution.
The video for ‘Piss on Putin’ can be viewed on Facebook here.
NOTE: THIS VIDEO IS STRICTLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK.
