For those who have yet to see M.I.A's new video for 'Born Free', the video features a round-up of redheads followed by their being shot down like wild animals by what appears to be a S.W.A.T team. The video is really quite gruesome, and has caused quite the uproar. Even some of the murdered redheads are being 'let go' from previously signed roles.
M.I.A's new music video could very well be considered offensive to the Ginger population, but that's if you haven't a clue who M.I.A. is:
The song title itself, Born Free, suggests a certain Americana pride. Songs like 'Born in the U.S.A' by Bruce Springsteen are held in high regard in the West, despite the depiction of a run-down, small-town boy, saddened by war. The most common interpretation is that this boy is a hero - a working class hero, therefore the plight of the average American is glorified. Not an uncommon theme in American pop-culture – they glorify everything.
This song is a play on the ethnocentric values of not only America, but the entire Western world. To ravage another culture because their practises aren’t deemed acceptable by the elite few of the West is hypocritically accepted amongst the general public because media disallows identification between the supposed terrorists and the good ol’ Anglo-Saxon.
A Ginger, on the other hand, is free to roam amongst Westerners relatively freely, but with a growing stigma. Still, most non-ginge Westerners are familiar with Gingers, be they family, friends or co-workers. So to see a Ginger treated as the people America started a war against is disgusting, simply because people of the Western world can identify more directly with Gingers than they can people in the Middle East.
M.I.A is one smart cookie.
She is not trying to promote the mass-murder of the Ginger population, nor is she trying to use ‘shock value’ to gain sales. M.I.A, once again, is making a bold statement.
And I love her for it.
Alright, Neko Case!
