It’s a heavy video, for sure, ending with red heads being rounded up and executed and there’s a bit of naughty action here and there so YouTube has apparently pulled M.I.A.’s new video “Born Free” after just one day. The BBC’s Newsbeat quotes a YouTube spokesperson, “On YouTube the rules prohibit content like pornography or gratuitous violence,” the spokesperson said.
You can see the video in question on M.I.A.’s site (or below).
M.I.A.: iTunes, Amazon, Insound, wiki
Video: M.I.A – “Born Free” (NSFW)
Directed by Romain Gavras.
what’s more disturbing to me is all the “mix it up with dj paully d.” adverts all over glono.
honestly, over the top simple political statements bore the crap out of me.
Alright, now that I’ve seen that… what’s it all mean? I couldn’t hear all of the lyrics, didn’t get much out of the song… “Count your blessings; you could be born in a murderous country that discriminates against you for a dumb reason.”?? Sheesh, I knew that already; I didn’t need a strange, violent, and expensive 9-minute music video to tell me all that.
Now who’s gonna give me back my 9 minutes?
Dunno, it’s nice and noisy and the video’s pretty cool if you skip ahead to where the gingers started getting blowed up. The blowing up reminds me a bit of those exploding heads in “Scanners.”
“mix it up with dj paully d.”
Seriously, those were driving me nuts, too. I just rejected that ad campaign. Not worth $1.37 eCPM. Should’ve done it sooner.
As for this video, my biggest question is where’d they get the money to make such a big budget production? Wow. Must be nice to be signed to UMG. Oh, and ethnic cleansing is bad.
That’s considered music?
Don’t forget that M.I.A. is Sri Lankan and her father is a supporter and activist for the Tamil Tigers. He’s a founder of Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). She has a particular interest in human rights issues so it’s a natural extension into this video.
Okay, I immediately regretted the snarky comment.
Just in case any of you guys are unaware of this, Maya Arulpragasam is of Sri Lankan descent, a country that has seen more than its fair share of ethnic cleansing of the Tamils (and other ethnic groups), and these allegations continue to this day. So it’s a real and ongoing issue in Sri Lanka.
It’s definitely heavy-handed, and maybe even really sloppy, but still. Her not-so-subtle point is, “Hey, this is happening to my people–the Tamils–right now in Sri Lanka. How’d you like it if it was happening to your people in your country?”
The obviously answer is, “Not very much, thank you, but what the fuck do you want us to do about Sri Lanka? I can’t even find Sri Lanka on a globe. You want me to write to my Senator or something? Or are you just trying to sell records?”
Oh, and I dig the Suicide sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a224CkygvR4
I guess the American flags on the uniforms of the executioners is supposed to make a statement as well?
Yes: “How’d you like it if it was happening to your people in your country?”
But I’m sure references to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are intentional as well.
I get the point being made here – scary stuff that Americans are not used to dealing with and on that front, a good/thought provoking message was conveyed.
I just think the “music” sucks.
I guess that’s pretty shallow to comment on the merits of music when it’s in the context of murder/genocide.
Aren’t we all far too shallow on far too many levels?
Broad sweeping generalizations – gotta love it.
In that context, I guess I do want to re-state my opinion in light of that. Had I known that, sure, it’s a smidge more justified and effective that MIA is dealing with this in her country.
But most people are not going to have that context to draw upon (I didn’t). Without the context, it isn’t as effective. Yes, the video does bring the issue of genocide to the forefront of your mind, but some of the video’s tactics seem gratuitous and heavy-handed.