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| Famed photographer Steven Klein's series Domestic Bliss features high-profile celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in a violent and aggressive love affair |
Marquis de Sade declared that “sex without pain is like food without taste,” and if we’re restricting such philosophies solely to matters of the flesh, then all that can be said for this is to each his own. Pain in love is also a concept that seems generally acceptable; love is often devastating, disappointing, confusing and terrifying. But what can be said for the concept of violence in love? The new music video featuring pop music giants Rihanna and Eminem alongside gorgeous Hollywood actors Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan has come under fire recently, accused of glamorising domestic abuse and giving it a somewhat sexy, romantic edge:
The intense, passionate and dysfunctional relationship portrayed by two stunningly gorgeous actors expresses a quiet though very present beauty in a mutually abusive love affair, and with a pop star who’d recently made headlines sporting a bruised eye and swollen lip from her former ‘intense and passionate’ lover singing the words “I like the way it hurts,” the storm of criticism is unsurprising. But rather than accusing attention-hungry celebrities of endorsing violence and domestic abuse, it might also be worth considering the possibility of young artists offering a brutally honest picture of an often multi-faceted situation.
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The idea of ‘loving hard’ isn’t new or as scarce as we’d like to believe, despite countless campaigns condemning violence against women or the public scrutiny of ‘wife-beating’ public figures like Chris Brown and Mel Gibson. Our media seems to condemn violence as much as it seeks to glorify it, with filmmakers and photographers exploring the more seductive side of intense, dysfunctional relationships, and high fashion advertisements weaving erotic and romantic undertones into the display of physical abuse and violence. I remember a conversation I had with a girl who was experiencing difficulties coping with her boyfriend’s infidelity, and when I suggested that she'd confront him, she smiled faintly and said that he would hit her if she did. That wild delusion in her eyes mirrors a bizarre belief that passion and intense love is demonstrated by furious battles and the infliction of physical abuse by a loved one. Violence in love is arousing and unpredictable, and seems to be acknowledged by many as evidence of real, unrestrained love: our love is grander and more than most. We just love harder. The idea is not unlike the myth of the ‘tortured artist’, something with more romanticised fantasy than actual truth. Rather than the notion of art imitating the tragedy of life and love, is it more likely that instead it is breeding a monster?
