Controversial Music Video

Smack My Bitch Up - Prodigy

Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, he additionally made pop videos like Madonna's "Ray of Light" and Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi." Before that, he got his big break with the controversial video for "​Smack My Bitch Up" by the Prodigy.

The video depicts a night out in London filmed from a first-person perspective, portraying drinking and driving, snorting cocaine, violence, vomiting, shooting heroin, a hit and run incident, fights with men, abuse of women,vandalism, nudity and a full sex scene.The protagonist takes a stripper (played by model Teresa May) home and has sex with her. As the stripper leaves with her things, the protagonist glances in the mirror, is revealed to be a woman, and collapses on the bed.This video was based on a night out that Åkerlund had in Copenhagen.



























The video is seen as controversial due it's content of drug use, violence, sexual nature and graphic imagery. Additionally the fact that the record's name and lyrical hook features the term 'bitch' made the song itself controversial too. However despite the efforts to censor or completely not show the video on television, the video actually contributed to the high amount of sales of the record as people tried to access the video. Although the song wasn't as big a commercial success as their previous singles, it gained a cult following. The music video for "Smack My Bitch Up" drew fierce criticism for misogyny, particularly from feminist groups such as the US National Organization for Women, accusing it of encouraging violence against women, despite the main protagonist being a woman. Others, however, praised the video because of the way it subverted stereotypes of domestic violence, showing that women are also abusers. Despite the controversy, the video was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards, and eventually won Best Dance Video and Breakthrough Video.