Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, have long perpetuated an image of a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde – if Clyde wore box-fresh Nikes and Bonnie used Instagram. In the aftermath of negative press around Beyoncé’s sister Solange physically attacking Jay-Z on camera, this is one negative image that the two are actively trying to nurture.
In 2003, they released a duet imaginatively titled '03 Bonnie and Clyde, with a video portraying the photogenic couple fleeing the aftermath of a robbery. In it, Beyoncé lounges around on a bed covered in money.
Now, more than a decade later, they are embarking on a world tour together. In preparation for the On the Run tour, they have released a fake film trailer where they flee the aftermath of a robbery. In it, Beyoncé lounges around in a pool filled with money.
The trailer also stars Sean Penn as a mob boss, Jake Gyllenhaal as an unhinged, bearded person (the trailer is scant on details), Don Cheadle as a poker player and Blake Lively as Beyoncé's best friend.
Are the couple crazy in love? The video certainly features plenty of guns and the couple walking slowly away from a huge explosion, so we can surmise that theirs isn’t the mundane kind of love that leads couples to open joint bank accounts.
Run certainly wasn't for Jay-Z's sake: he is at his most expressive when he has a balaclava on. Rather, it is Beyoncé, who has a tightly controlled grip on her image, who benefits. She gets to be conflicted, emotional, nurturing and a badass babe. Jay-Z gets to awkwardly chew a cigar and trade mixed metaphors with Penn.
The slickly produced Run may never garner as many views as the grainy, soundless security camera footage of Solange attempting to kick Jay-Z in a lift, however. Not even Beyoncé can control that.
