Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Bad Girls music video

I recently came across this music video by British pop star M.I.A called "Bad Girls".
When I first saw it, I laughed because some of the things that happen in the video do actually happen in real life (driving the car sideways, YouTube "changing tires while driving" or "Saudi street skating"), but more than anything, I was confused. I didn't understand why M.I.A shot her video in the Middle East and I didn't understand why the people in the video were Arabs. I looked up her biography and she has nothing to do with the Middle East, so why was she associating herself with it?
I'm still not sure why I'm annoyed, asside from the guns everything is pretty much true. Most women really do walk around decked in designer things (I heard some gasps when we watched the SATC 2 clip when the women revealed couture under their abayas, what did you think? they were naked under there?) and the men really can be daredevils.
Maybe I was annoyed that she was singing about people she had nothing to do with? (my brother connected this video to Russel Brand's song "African Child" in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQqs-Cno5Bc )
It just doesnt make sense to me. Asside from that, I'm also annoyed that there had to be guns in the video, couldn't we Arabs just be portrayed for once as peaceful people? Also, what the heck are the lyrics "live fast, die young, bad girls do it well" "don't go screaming if I blow you with a bang" "hands up, hands tied"supposed to be referencing? suicide bombing/ shootings/ suppression of women?
I'm just.....I don't know I guess I'm just very confused by the content.



Whatever her reasons, I'm EXTREMELY curious what other people think because so far I've  only heard
my siblings opinions and the'yre basically like mine. 
Asside from that, Why do you think there always have to be violent/ repressive 
symbols when referencing the Arab world? And why do you think it's
 titled "Bad Girls" when there are just as many men as there are women in the video?

Alya Fetyani

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