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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

MIA Video - Amazing

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Anyone who is trying to tag this to something specific by itself, I think is missing the point.

It's about the absurdity of intolerance, and the dehumanization of people because of arbitrary traits.

If you want to try to tie it to anything specific then it's taking from Sri Lanka and MIA's perspective as a Tamil. Put a Tamil next to most any other Sri Lankan and an outsider wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but they fought a war for decades, and terrible hardships were suffered because of ultimately arbitrary differences.

Whenever a government or people in authority decide to oppress a group of people, it's ultimately arbitrary, how are how African-Americans were treated during the civil rights movement any more logical than if everyone woke up one day and decided that Red Heads were going to be the second-class citizens?

It's all ultimately arbitrary, and we only see the absurdity of it, because the idea of America deciding to start targeting red-headed people is crazy to us, but it's just as "normal" as any other factional situation, and that fact that we've become "normalized" to other comparable situations is the terrible part.

That's the message I think they are trying to push with the video, not saying that's the right interpretation, that's just what I took from it and what I think they are trying to say with it.
 
I just feel it could have been handled more tastefully. What was up with the abuse of the obese? The cops were looking for a certain group (red hair) but more than happily abused those who were not the target. Read the you tube and Vimeo comments. Many interpret this film as a criticism of US foreign policy and racial profiling of Muslims and Hispanics in the US. I enjoy films that foster a host of different interpretations but I feel that to foreigners, this film sends the wrong message about the US. Besides, I feel they went over the top with the child executions and exploding body scenes.
 
Andrew Rieger said:
Shock value for shock value's sake. I like the look but it was over the top, especially the boy shot in the head and the guy that exploded.
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Well... I agree with you at some point, but hey, with what tools other than shock can someone truly bothered by the situation behind this make people aware of its absurdity.

They exist and authorities who should rebuke make less of them.

So I must agree with shock tactics.
 
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I wish they could have handled it more tastefully too... but sometimes you win, and sometimes you see state-endorsed fatty-bashing and a ginger kid with his brains blown out. Would it have hurt them to bash a smaller fellow, or execute a brunette, I ask?

Jersey Shore sends a worse message about the US than this clip does, ffs.
 
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Please do not discuss gun politics, or any politics for that matter.

What worries me is that there is no age restriction on seeing the video. I don't see the necessesity to show unprovoked, highly visual violence. Yeah, some probably think "cool; exploding body parts", "cool, a child's brain splattered in slomo".

It's a bit like No Country for Old Men. Brilliantly made, but why? What is the point? To me this comes across as a glorification of violence while pretending to criticize it.

I believe that we as film makers also have a responsibility. And the first responsibility is not to shock people into giving us their attention. Images like these only make us number towards real life, not more aware IMHO.
 
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Martin Weiss said:
Please do not discuss gun politics, or any politics for that matter.

What worries me is that there is no age restriction on seeing the video. I don't see the necessesity to show unprovoked, highly visual violence. Yeah, some probably think "cool; exploding body parts", "cool, a child's brain splattered in slomo".

It's a bit like No Country for Old Men. Brilliantly made, but why? What is the point? To me this comes across as a glorification of violence while pretending to criticize it.

I believe that we as film makers also have a responsibility. And the first responsibility is not to shock people into giving us their attention. Images like these only make us number towards real life, not more aware IMHO.
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you really thought No Country for Old Men glorified violence?

Really?

I mean... really?
 
I think it was a nice try. Don't take that sentence literally lol. It was a great idea and it's great that they went for it. It's time for musicvideos to get a comeback and be what they once were.

BUT I felt that the director forgot (most probably because it was a lot to take on) to portray the victims side. Therefor it's somewhat emotionless and seems like it's a little superficial. If we would have seen the panic, frustration, fear and helplessness it would have been stronger. That would have not been an easy task but if you take on such and idea I think that's what necessary as a responsibility to the viewer.

So in one way I appreciate him trying and in the other I feel he failed.
 
As others have said, it seems like an attempt at pure shock value ala South Park.

Also, the song was terrible.

Just adds to the chaff that will soon invade Vimeo.
 
hmm... I really dig the artist but not this track :-(

I think South Park does pure shock as purely hilarious, and that's not easy to do season after season.
 
Different strokes for different folks. I found the music video incredibly visceral on a pure aesthetic level. I thought it achieved what it set out to do, which was to entertain and capture my attention. I didn't see it as a glorification of violence, more as an heightened visual interpretation of oppressors and the oppressed.
 
Systematic rounding up of a group due to ethnic or biological traits and their summary execution is plain and simple genocide, to compare it to ANYTHING that isn't mass murdering genocide is wrong and inflames what might otherwise be a rational discussion. It's like the internet problem wherein you compare someone to Hitler. It's like "if they aren't rounding up entire races and killing them, they aren't hitler...".

On the video itself, I think it accomplished it's goal, shock value. It seemed pretentious to me.
 
Shawn Nelson said:
On the video itself, I think it accomplished it's goal, shock value. It seemed pretentious to me.
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And I thought it was comedy. I would find it pretentious if I took it seriously. It's so silly it has to be satire of satire right?
 
I heard that the video was imagined as a comedy, they had the WW2 uniforms and all, but Brad Pitt was too expensive.
 
Really liked that video. Some wont get it. But to my European eyes that was obviously Gaza.

Some people really just don't seem to realise the reality of that place. But basically that was an anti IDF propaganda video.
 
Stefan Christou said:
Some wont get it.
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Oh I "got it." Doesn't mean it was a great video. I'm a big MIA fan, but this video never really went anywhere. The whole scene of "explosions" (which looked exactly like movie pyrotechnics, not real explosions) and chasing redheads across a random desert didn't work for me. I was waiting for some kind of awesome visuals (think of the Joker hanging out of the police car in Dark Knight) but those amazing visuals never came, IMO.

I think it's interesting to make something like this and put it out with sort of an R-rated style, but in the end, the promise and idea of the video were better than the final result, IMO. The whole thing was too ham-handed, on-the-nose and obvious.
 
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