Anyone seen M.I.A.'s new video "Born Free"?

[Lost-in-FL]

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2010/04/mia_born_free_video_gingers_at.php

The video is graphic, just so you know...

-------------------
M.I.A. probably didn't plan to release her new video ---which graphically shows the U.S. government violently kidnapping and assaulting redheads, then taking them out to the desert and beating them--- as a commentary on Arizona's incredibly controversial SB 1070.

[eyeofdelphi]

1. wow, unrecs already

but anyway, wow. that video was, i don't know. i just moved back from tucson and the landscape totally fits. it's very easy to imagine brown skinned people there instead of redheads. i don't really know M.I.A. very well, but i do like how this video makes you think. the music was so-so. and yes, it is really weird and quite a coincidence that her video came out at this moment. i'm sure she had no idea, but that collective consciousness theory seems to be gaining ground.

[Lost-in-FL]

3. I think the world is looking at us and what they see isn't pretty.

I am sure you won't be seen this in MTV. Very powerful and too mature for US audience.

[Heidi]

2. Recommended.

:kick:

[Scurrilous]

4. Saw the link earlier today at Gawker.

:thumbsup:

[Hissyspit]

5. It's reminiscent of the 1971 movie "Punishment Park."

http://listing-index.ebay.com/movies/Punishment_Park.html

The film, done pseudo-documentary style, was essentially unofficially censored in the U.S. and wasn't seen for years.

[Lost-in-FL]

7. I keep hearing that.

I might have to check it out, if I can find it of course.

[Hissyspit]

9. I got it through Netflix:

It was unavailable for years after being unofficially censored by Hollywood. I beleive Criterion put it out. I remember reading a review of it on 1978 or so in Time Magazine, about it being unseen, and that review is actually one of the "extras" on the disk.

From Netflix:

Punishment Park
(1971) R
As the Vietnam War escalates, massive public protest against the conflict surges in America. To control the leftist threat, a civilian tribunal passes sentence on groups of dissidents: hippies, draft dodgers, pacifists. Made to play a game resembling "Capture the Flag" in a remote desert while being hunted by the forces of law and order, the prisoners must fight for their lives in this searing pseudo-documentary from filmmaker Peter Watkins.

Video also inspired by South Park, I'm sure.

[Lost-in-FL]

12. Thanks for the info.

:hi:

[tuvor]

6. Some thought M.I.A. was going to be irrelevant after marrying into the Bronfman family.

Seems to me they were mistaken.

[tallahasseedem]

8. This was an amazing video...

Kudos to the director.

[Ignis]

10. Here's a kick for anything to do with MIA.

:kick:

[geardaddy]

11. +1

[Lost-in-FL]

13. She rocks! nt

[passy]

14. What is ginger an anagram of?

[Ignis]

15. Update: YouTube buried MIA's video (not deleted, but...)

Controversy continues to surround the apparent removal of M.I.A.’s “Born Free” video from Google’s YouTube site, but after hearing from both Google and M.I.A.’s manager, it turns out that the video still lives but has become nearly impossible to find, due to the combined efforts of disturbed users and YouTube’s content monitoring staff.

Contrary to news reports, YouTube did not remove the violent video, in which military forces round up and execute red-headed children, which you can view on YouTube to the right. However, YouTube did put it behind an age-restricted click-through, rendering the video impossible to find on the site unless you already know the URL.

At least one instance of the video appears to have been pulled from YouTube on copyright grounds by XL Recordings, M.I.A.’s label and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. However, M.I.A.’s manager told us, “YouTube took it off, not UMG.” Copyright is not the issue here.

-- Wired: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/youtube-didnt-delete-mia-video/

Here's a link to the video, for those who've not seen it yet:
http://www.youtube.com/v/VE9rUHDXRFI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US

[MellowDem]

16. Saw it now...

never have been impressed with M.I.A., ever since I saw her interview on the Colbert Report. She came across as a complete bimbo, whose "political messages" have no meaning other than to gain attention and make her money.

The music wasn't good, and the video was very unoriginal. It was simply meant to provoke passions, which doesn't take much for our dumbass media to pick up on, even though they're being duped as part of the process.

[Uzybone]

17. I generally like M.I.A, but this song is awful

good video though.