A Response to Felicia P’s Post entitled “Lil Wayne a Christ Figure?”

Felicia, you took a very interesting approach in dealing with Christ figures by applying what we learned in lecture to a music video in Lil Wayne. Right off the start, you make an interesting observation by noting that the video begins with a shot of Lil Wayne’s eyelids with “Fear God” across both eyes. This is reminiscent of numerous Bible passages that deal with ‘fearing God’ as Deuteronomy 6:13 says, “The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve...”. Fear of God for the non-believer could mean fear of the final judgment or of eternal condemnation (eternal separation from God). For the believer, on the other hand, fear of the Lord involves a sense of reverence or respect towards God.

In watching the music video in its entirety and reading the lyrics that are ascribed to both Lil Wayne and Bruno Mars, it can almost be argued that the video depicts a relationship and an internal struggle between a believer and God. Initially, Lil Wayne could represent God while Bruno Mars could represent the believer. For me, the video is a dialogue between the two. I believe that the video was called “Mirror” to show that through faith in God, people can come to know and see who they truly are inside of themselves. Bruno Mars says, “…through my rise and fall, you’ve been my only friend, you told me that they can, understand the man I am, so why are we, here, talking to each other again”. For me, this represents a believer living in the world of popular culture who seems to be, in some respects, segregated because of his religious beliefs. To this, Lil Wayne responds by saying “…but I’m with you when you’re all alone…”.

Later on in the video, Lil Wayne says, “…I see the change, and I see the message”. This could, in a sense, parallel the Garden of Gethsemane scene, wherein Jesus comes to terms with God’s plan for salvation and what Jesus must do in order to fulfill God’s will.

I believe that the paint that is prevalent throughout the video could be interpreted as representing the weakening of the believer’s faith and overall mindset. We see that over the course of the video, the paint gradually begins to cover the entire “mirror”. This could represent popular culture’s effect as serving to morally deprive the human soul. Living in a materialistically-driven world, the believer sees himself/herself as being confused, morally weakened, and unsure of whom he/she is or what he/she believes in.