Music videos can serve as one of the many platforms where artists can further express their passion. They can give music more meaning and depth and create a more clear image for their listeners.
One perfect example of this would be Sia’s “Elastic Heart” Music Video.
This music video features dancer, Maddie Ziegler, and actor Shia Labeouf, interpretive dancing throughout the music video, as opposing characters. These two characters represent the fight between past and present personalities and maturity. The past represented by Maddie Ziegler and the present by Shia Labeouf.
This is also not the first time Sia fans have seen Maddie Ziegler. The reason the image of Maddie fighting Shia Labeouf was so strong was because prior to “Elastic Heart,” Maddie was in the music video for “Chandelier,” another Sia song. Again, she represented a part of Sia’s personality or alter ego in that she was messy, and out of control.
In “Elastic Heart,” Sia faced controversy, where many people felt a sense of pedophilia from the music video.
Sia promptly answers these feelings in a tweet, where her art was mistaken and that her intentions were not to offend anyone.
Sia even gets negative responses from websites where she is questioned for ignoring the pedophiliac nuances in the video and is seen as having disturbing music videos.
Because Sia added interpretive dance in her music video, a different form of art was in use while also expressing her own. She was able to capture us with our ears, eyes and emotions. Aurally, “Elastic Heart” embraces an electropop beat with an impressive vocal line. Visually, Shia Labeouf and Maddie Ziegler’s dirty, disheveled look with nude leotards is striking to the eye as unique and bold, not to mention the animalistic interpretive dancing that adds to the intensity. At first listen, one would not think of such a vulgar interpretive dance to go with this electropop song, but in conjunction with the lyrics, it makes perfect sense. Emotionally, the music video tugs at your heartstrings because of the contrast of child to adult. The difference in age difference shows a clear difference in maturity. Maddie represents a naive, young self while Shia represents thicker skin, and a stronger self.
While browsing through the comment section, I was able to find a few very interesting comments.
First, Elaine Walton says, “There is nothing wrong with the video, however, there is something very much wrong with the world. Because pedophilia is so ramped, a 28-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl can’t do an interpretive dance together without eyebrows being raised. That’s pretty sad. There is nothing sexual about this.”
In general, many of the commenters were having a hard time seeing the art when all they saw was pedophilia, simply because a man danced with a young girl. This seemed to create an uproar among the music video, creating less conversation about the music video itself.
Another interesting comment would be by Jolie Hoffield. “This video never fails to bring tears to my eyes. I symbolise the cage as alcoholism and Maddie and Shia are daughter and father. Their relationship began rocky, but slowly mended itself. She managed to escape the addiction, he didn’t.
As a daughter of a recovering alcoholic, this video hits me hard. Might be silly to some, but meaningful to others.” Although many comments joked about Labeouf’s muscles, other commenters talked about how they were personally touched by this video. Because of how open ended this video was, the audience was able to take it in whatever way they wanted, making it personal for many different people.
Lastly, Colourishous MSP, commented, “good song, weird video <3.” It often enhanced the music for people who understood the artistry in the video while it distracted from the people who did not.
Bibliography:
http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/interviews/a25311/maddie-ziegler-shia-labeouf-warned-me/
