Does a Music Video Have The Power to Change Your Thinking?
I was introduced to the singer M.I.A last year in class when a professor played her “Borders” music video. Her music videos are not what one is used to seeing; there were no sexy women, drugs or dancers twerking. It is attempting to address world problems, but does it have the ability to change our view? To be honest, her music doesn’t match my taste, but some of her music videos post a strong political statement that could teach us some things.
I came across M.I.A’s Born Free music video a few days ago and it made me think about the world in a different light regarding issues such as police brutality, violence, racism, and terrorists. I know that these issues exist, but I usually would not pay particular attention unless they affect me directly.
In the music video, the brutality is being inflicted onto ginger-haired boys, which I find very strange because they are white. And if you know anything about America, you know that whites have a lot of privileges and something like this would never happened to them. But if you imagine those boys to be of different colors, then it would make more sense. In the United States, police brutality has recently became a popular topic, it even created the #BlackLivesMatter movement. African Americans are being treated unfairly by the police force.
While watching the music video I kept on thinking about its connection to what my parents have told me about the time when they experienced something similar to police brutality. As a Cambodian, I grew up hearing the stories about the Khmer Rouge countless times, about how brutal it was and how the regime kills hundreds of people everyday. And I imagined that the killing was done in a very similar way to how the boys in the video were being hunted down. It was also very similar in the beginning where the boys were forced out of their house without knowing what is going or what is going to happen to them. When my parents recollect their stories, it always started with them being in the comfort of their home, then a group of people with guns came in knocking and said they have 10 minutes to pack and get out of the house. Watching the music video I get a sense of what my parents have gone through, how flustered they might have been and how lucky they are to survive such horrible times.
In the beginning of the music video, where the police were breaking into apartments to search for the gingered-haired boy, somehow it terrifies me. A part of me knows it’s very much a possibility that police could just break into your home. It has happened before in history, 1969, the FBI invades Fred Hampton home and killed him on his bed. We live in a world where those in power have the ability to do whatever they want, and those who don’t follow the rule are putting their life at risk.
The video’s emphasis on terrorists asks the question: who exactly are we calling terrorists? In the video, there’s a scene where 3 boys were waiting around the corner wearing something similar to the Taliban’s mask. But these boys are not Middle Eastern nor are they Muslim. which brings us back to the question of are they considered terrorists when they are a WASP? I’m now living with a roommate that has a Muslim background and she recently mentioned how difficult it is for her to get through the TSA at the airport. She even mentioned that it would surprise her if she didn’t get a look or if they let her go easily.
I feel that this quote fits well into the music video because these boys are a problem to society same way as the black and Muslims communities are thought to be. But can we really say that they are a problem when only a small minority of the group are the problem? Society tends to take one person’s action and point it to the whole group, which is why the quote above exists. In the video, the boys were never shown to be violent or acting as the problem but they are being targeted nonetheless. It’s the same way how minority groups are being treated a certain way, just because they belong in that group.
I think this music video does a great job in touching the important subject of political issues, and it definitely is an eye-opening experience.
