Essay On Jesus Walks 3rd Video

The third version is a black-and-white video capturing bits of life of the main character (whom he is performing), having as well a figure of Jesus walking behind the protagonist and performing miracles on the way. The protagonist also ends up delivering a message to the crowd from the culprit and the church.
Stylistically, the video is different from the other two as it looks more approachable and cheaper, as if made on the spot. The video was indeed made as guerrilla-type video, having different scenes shot on the spot without much preparation. It is also reminiscent of silent films with sharp cuts of the scenes, as well as parallel to home-made video with jerky movement of the camera and occasional off-subject video-bits.
Ideologically however, the video speaks much louder. Kanye West seems to reestablish his presence in this video (as compared to the first two videos), having felt that it was not enough. Here, he is his own protagonist, with his “personal” Jesus behind him as a “security guard.” The fact that Jesus walks behind him, while he raps “God, show me the way,” speaks of the role he assigns to Jesus. It seems as Kanye portrays his own life where Jesus is there to fix his problems. And once the problem is fixed, Jesus is no longer important, as shown in the scene where Jesus fills the fridge with food and Kanye just walks away with a sandwich showing no sign of gratitude. Moreover, the comic acting of Jesus’s figure adds to the general narrative of Him being annoying, which again juxtaposes the key phrase in the song “God, show me the way.”
In this third version, Kanye more than ever emphasizes his role in the game. Even though he implicitly criticizes the small role we give to Jesus in our everyday lives, he also makes the video all about himself, stressing on how important it is what he is doing, therefore confirming his selfish nature. Indeed, the main character’s behavior in the video is very pronouncing of the present-day Kanye. It is as if Kanye has predicted his own ways in the future. He is a big star with a lot of money now, which leaves a trace on his art. Too bad no one has seen it coming in 2008 when Kanye was rapping about it himself.