This is the definition of creativity. The marriage of all manner of cultural and philosophical influences at the alter of fearlessness for our great post-modern love of making a mixed statement! The film art, styling, characterization and the music in M.I.A's bad ass Bad Girls video are an iconoclastic testament to this. The ever kitch, ever self brandishing, ever irreverent, ever cool ego and fierce sexy M.I.A. with her penchant for political incorrectness pulls this off quite dangerously with airs of mischief.
There's something ordinary, something diva, something left field, something iconic about her that has has me rooting for her. Just the existence of this video signals a middle finger to 'exotic' ideas and distortions widely held about the Middle Eastern/Asian/ and yes even the African Continent Black of our species - read 'War Torn' & 'Religious Suicide Bombers' and please also read 'Are you a Terrorist?' and MJ's 'Liberian Girl' - whilst administering a salutory knod to the differences. Showing up the hind reaching nature of some Western practices, namely the Othering of pigmented nations, as crassly unaware and superficial. That people have reckless, dangerous fun, that girls love swearing, sex and the painting on of too much red lip color, that young people gone debauched off MTV pop culture can be reported is an experience not limited to the descendents of George W. Bush and certainly not unheard of in the Iraq, Kazakhstan, Jerusalem and The Philistines either.
I support the grand mixed statement that M.I.A. is making herein. Its all fun, its all dangerous, its all unsafe and its all dust spun up the air in the wake of car tyres shrieking to a hazardous halt. It is, too, a reclaiming of the onus from the 'Fore/Four Fathers' to subvert images en route the imagining of relevant ones.
Drink up. Get Drunk
There's something ordinary, something diva, something left field, something iconic about her that has has me rooting for her. Just the existence of this video signals a middle finger to 'exotic' ideas and distortions widely held about the Middle Eastern/Asian/ and yes even the African Continent Black of our species - read 'War Torn' & 'Religious Suicide Bombers' and please also read 'Are you a Terrorist?' and MJ's 'Liberian Girl' - whilst administering a salutory knod to the differences. Showing up the hind reaching nature of some Western practices, namely the Othering of pigmented nations, as crassly unaware and superficial. That people have reckless, dangerous fun, that girls love swearing, sex and the painting on of too much red lip color, that young people gone debauched off MTV pop culture can be reported is an experience not limited to the descendents of George W. Bush and certainly not unheard of in the Iraq, Kazakhstan, Jerusalem and The Philistines either.
I support the grand mixed statement that M.I.A. is making herein. Its all fun, its all dangerous, its all unsafe and its all dust spun up the air in the wake of car tyres shrieking to a hazardous halt. It is, too, a reclaiming of the onus from the 'Fore/Four Fathers' to subvert images en route the imagining of relevant ones.
Drink up. Get Drunk
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