Kanye West’s music videos of the song “Jesus Walks” became very controversial in society when it came out because of its references to Jesus Christ. I can see how some people could become very offended with one of his videos because it showed a man dressed up as Jesus.
The video I am going to talk about is the Church version of the video. This video depicted the stories of three different people: A prostitute, an alcoholic, and a gangster. All three of them seem to be at a low point in their lives when some angels come and kind of usher them to a church where Kanye West is preaching.
The prostitute is the first of the three I am going to talk about. From the looks of it she doesn’t like what she is doing or where she is going with her life, she is looking for a change or something and that’s why she takes the unknown journey to the church.
She is faced with climbing over a fence but when she goes to climb the fence two angels appear and help her get over the fence. I think that symbolized her drive to keep going and that sometimes we are not alone and just need a little help.
The alcoholic is an older man that looks like he is homeless. I would guess that it is a very hard time in his life and he is using the alcohol as an escape from reality. When he takes his journey to the church I don’t think he knows where he is going he just knows it is time to change.
The angel helps the old man walk across a very busy street downtown in a big city. When he arrives at the church and stands in front of the alter, he drops his bottle of booze. I think he knows its time to make a change and that he had a calling that day to straighten up his life for the better.
The third person in the music video is a gangster appears to not want to be in the gang that he is in anymore. When he tries to get away from the gang he is followed and chased until he is shot and killed. As he lays on the sidewalk an angel appears and brings him back to life, as he gets up he takes off running again. It doesn’t seem like he really knows exactly where he is going, he just wants to get away from the life he is in.
In this video I think it shows that people deserve a second change no matter how hard life is and the decisions we make. I also think that it shows to people that it is never to late to change who you are. The angels I believe show that you are never really alone and that you kind of always have a helping hand with life no matter how hard it has become. I think having the angels in the video helps enrich the thought of Jesus’ presence in the world by showing the help they gave to the people who are struggling with life.
