I still didn't see the video until a month or two after it came out and I loved that even more. Of course, I was surrounded by people who "didn't get it" or thought it was weird.
To quote Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story: "You uncultured swine!"
What people don't get is that this is called interpretive dancing. For those with the question marks hovering over their heads, I'll steal a quote from Wikipedia. "It seeks to translate human emotions, conditions, situations or fantasies into movement and dramatic expression, or else adapts traditional ethnic movements into more modern expressions."
The little girl dancing is in a flesh colored leotard. Apparently people freaked out about that. Why? Does it symbolize being naked? Probably. Is that really a bad thing? I don't think so.
Why must we always associate nudity in art as something sexual? Feeling naked can have a lot less to do with clothing and a lot more to do with vulnerability.
I don't see a naked child running around acting all crazy. I see a lost soul. The trashy rooms are external conflict. The dance is her own internal conflict. She has to deal somehow.
I won't go into deep detail about what this video means to me because what I interpreted (There's that funny word again!) may be completely different than what you took away from it. I will mention that the last twenty seconds or so really hit home for me. The fake smiles and bowing at the door. Everything is fine here. Nothing to see.
Sia's newest video for the song "Elastic Heart" has the same little girl and Shia LaBeouf dancing with her. And once again all hell broke loose in the media. "It's pedophilia! He's too old to touch her! He must be a pedophile!"
I shake my head at you people.
Once again, I won't say what I think the real meaning behind this video is but anyone who has working eyes can see that there is nothing sexual between these two. This video depicts a struggle. If she was being molested, why does she keep going back? How about we think outside the box (Oh no!) and see that he may represent like perhaps, I don't know, two sides of her own personality?
I don't see why this rubbed people so wrong. There is such a thing as physical contact between a man and a child without it being sexual. I promise. The fact that people were so quick to cry out the word pedophile doesn't say anything about this video.
It's a statement about our sad, sad society.
If you had some horrible experience in your past and this video reminds you of that, I'm sorry for you. But raising hell about a music video is not going to heal you.
If I was in a horrible, traumatic car wreck, would I be upset every time I saw a car wreck on TV or the internet? Maybe, but would I raise a stink to the world about it and demand apologies for these scenes? No. I would learn to move on and get the hell over it.
I'm actually sad that Sia apologized about "Elastic Heart". I wouldn't have. I don't have to explain my art to anyone. If you don't like it, move on.
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