Kanye West debuted his short film entitled Runaway on October 21, 2010. In a recent interview, Kanye refers to the film as a reflection of his dreams and a way to put use to his love for art and music.  The movie is a representation of his life and what it means to him. The two main characters are Kanye West and Selita Ebanks (she plays Kanye’s phoenix). The film is comprised of  mostly miming with three moments of dialogue, all other sounds/music are Kanye West’s tracks from his upcoming album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ due out  in November.

Oddly enough, there is a significant piece of music that has not been mentioned in hardly any of the short film’s reviews. The music I am referring to occurs is in the opening scene of the film. It is the classical element that adds the high art that differentiates this film from any another Hype Williams hip hop music video.  Mozart’s Lacrimosa is the name of that high pitched church-like music that begins the film. The Lacrimosa is often referred to as The Requiem Mass in D Minor, and was unfinished by Mozart’s death. That significant piece of music is what you are hearing in the beginning of Kanye’s short flick.

Why is that important?  Well it may imply the relation that Kanye has with creating a piece of work that would appear like its his last, or the end of his career…but it is really just the beginning.  The title of the film “Runaway” refers to Kanye’s move to Japan and Europe to get away from the media following his Taylor Swift stunt at the 2009 MTV Music Awards. Many credible people in politics,  news and entertainment confidently implied that Kanye West’s career was “officially dead.”

Lacrimosa means tearful  which implies mourning.  Kanye stated that his runaway to Japan and Europe was a time for him to reflect and mourn his mother’s death. There lies the meaning in choosing Lacrimosa for his opening piece of music. There are other implications of mourning in this film, particularly with the scene of the Michael Jackson parade. Kanye states that Michael Jackson represents what society does to the creative people in this world, and the phoenix is also a representation of  mourning. However a Phoenix is a greek mythological bird that is immortal, it is reborn by burning and rising from the ashes.  The music that the burning bird produces is said to be the most beautiful song. So the Phoenix does not mourn it’s death it celebrates it’s new beginning.

Although Mozart’s Lacrimosa was his last piece of written music … his music and fame grows even more and more after his death. To an extent Kanye West’s Taylor Swift incident could of been considered the death of his career. However placing the Lacrimosa in the beginning of the film signifies that this is not the end. Through the symbolism of mourning  throughout the film and the final use of the phoenix’s rebirth at the end,  Runaway signifies that this is really just a new beginning… of a different Kanye West.


View: Kanye West’s Runaway — Directed by Kanye West.