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Kanye debuts short film Runaway

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Saturday evening in millions of homes and across three networks Kanye West’s highly-anticipated short film “Runaway” debuted.

The short film focuses on Kanye’s relationship with a phoenix (in this case a bird/woman) that has plummeted to Earth. As the story line continues, West’s relationship is destroyed as others discriminate against the creature’s curious behavior, awkward manners and overall different appearance.

The plot begins with West rescuing the phoenix, played by Selita Ebanks, who is lying in the middle of a concrete road running through a forest.

He lifts the phoenix from the ground, carries her to his car and then the film cuts to Ebanks on a couch in a minimalist-inspired living room in front of a television watching a news broadcast.
Captivated by the television, the phoenix crawls toward it in curiosity. The television is powered off and in the first line of dialogue in the film West tells her, “First rule in this world baby, don’t believe anything you see in the news.” The dynamics of the hidden messages in this film play to the story of West’s life as a respectable rapper and a voice whose opinion is heard by millions.

The short film is filled with subtle metaphors and scored with a host of tracks that are slated to be on the artist’s next album “My Beautiful Twisted Fantasy.”

There are also a few songs West has been gifting his audience with every Friday which are released via his web site.

While the cinematography is stunning, the most apparent and perhaps even more beautiful thing is the manner in which this film opens people’s mental space. It expands ones’ capacity to think differently and to see things from a different perspective. While the entire film makes indirect references to issues West has dealt with in his life, it also shows the limitations we place on our own thinking.

In one of the most powerful scenes shown, West and the Phoenix enter a white hall and proceed to an elegantly set dinner table where all of the guests are brown skin and clothed in White garb. The Phoenix is engaging the best she knows how, but her manners are a bit rusty and strange. Eventually, the other diners become disgusted. One man leans into West saying, “Your girlfriend is really beautiful.”

West replies, “Thank you.” The gentleman continues saying, “Did you notice she was a bird?” West responds “Nah, I never noticed,” and his face turns blank, The gentleman continues ” I mean, like, leave the monkey in the zoo.”

While this disgusted West, it did not change his attitude toward the Phoenix in the film as it might have for many people in society today. Although we have grown mentally as a society, we still struggle with finding beauty in differences.

Everyone who views this short film will discover their own meaning.

After the film debuted, West took questions from the audience via Twitter to assist their understanding of the movie.

DISCLAIMER: The beliefs and viewpoints expressed in opinion pieces, letters to the editor, by columnists and/or contributing writers are not necessarily those of Our Weekly.

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