What do other media sudents think about Rihanna's video Hard?

Rated R

The song Hard is by Barbadian artist Rihanna is also featuress American rapper Young Jezzy.Hard is the secong single from her fourth studio album Rated R.Most of Rihanna's songs would mainly focus on the genre of R&B but on this particular record there is also Hip-Hop.In June 2010 Hard won Rihanna her second BET Awards ( Black Entertainment Television).

How does it make you feel?

It makes us feel like there is a domination of woman power throughout this video. This could be a good thing for a video in this genre as usually R&B videos mainly consist of male lead vocalist and their friend dancing with attractive women in a sexual way but in this video we see Rihanna as the main “character” in the video, it’s all about her and the power she has as a female commander over the male military solders (dancers). Also we see a vulnerability and innocent side to Rihanna in the part of the video when she is wearing a Mickey Mouse hat on a pink tank with girly natural tones for her make-up all of these thing make us feel that she shouldn’t be there as it is not safe for a women who is wearing almost nothing in the middle of a desert in unknown land.

Is there any correlation between the lyrics and visuals?

While Rihanna is sing the line “I'ma rock this shit like fashion, as in goin' til they say stop “ she is wearing a dress that is very feminine with spikes on it to maybe represent arrows or some kind of military equipment. The next line she sings is “And my runway never looked so clear ,But the hottest bitch in heels right here ,No fear, and while you getting your cry on ,I'm getting my fly on” while she says this she is walking confidently and with no ear through the desert towards the camera with land mines going off all around her also she mentions there  “while you getting your cry on” this is visual show with no other people (being then men) no being there and being scared. When Rihanna “I need it all, The money, the fame, the cars, the clothes” she is at the end of the poker game where she wins.

Are there an references to any other media form?

We think there is a clear reference to a Arabic country as at one point in the video there is Arabic writing on the wall this indicates war and military is associated with Islamic country’s and that she as an artist might think this because of the terrorist attacks around the world and dominantly the Islamic faith has been blamed for this all over the media like newspapers and websites .also there is a reference to Walt Disney’s Mickey mouse with the helmet.

Do you think there is a reason to why Rihanna made this video as she did?

In February 2009 Rihanna was abused then boyfriend Chris brown as this event occurring I think she expressed her feeling in her next album called Rated R. for this album there were many dark and sinister videos such as Russian Roulette ,Hard and Te Amo.all these videos all contain representations  of love  and strength. so we think Rihanna made this video as she did so she can express herself about her feelings and domestic abuse.