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M.I.A. Drops Awfully Strange Video For “Bad Girls”

  • First of all, for reference, M.I.A. is a British-born Sri Lankan. She is not Middle Eastern in any way. With that out of the way, this video appears to be her attempt to bring The Fast and The Furious culture (a culture that doesn’t really exist) to the Middle East. No one is a bigger fan of that series than me, but it makes for an awfully strange video.

    With cars that do all sort of car tricks (donuts, riding on two wheels, etc…) the women appear to be having all of the fun while men look on menacingly. The most amazing part of the video comes at 2:55, because holy crap, are they surfing the highway? Are they holding onto a moving car with just slippers between their feet and the ground? Is that a thing people do? Why? What could be gained from such an activity?

    The gist of the video is that women in the Middle East should take initiative and push for equality. While I don’t think there is any argument that this should happen, sexualizing women in burqas always feels like a dangerous proposition.

    Having watched this video, is anyone surprised by M.I.A.’s ”controversial” middle finger? This is a woman who gained popularity with a song best remembered for its gunshots, a woman who performed pregnant at the 2009 Grammys ON HER DUE DATE, and has a general air of not giving a fuck. So, why then was it a surprise that in a verse where she claims not to give a shit, she flipped the camera off? She was illustrating how little of a shit she was giving. With that said, there shouldn’t have been a controversy at all. We celebrate far raunchier entertainment.

    - Dan Spritz

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    February 10th, 2012 | Dan | Comments Off |

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