Elastic Heart Raising Controversy

Recently, Sia came out with a music video for her song "Elastic Heart." The music video features actor Shia LaBeouf and young dancer Maddie Ziegler interpretive dancing within the confines of a cage. As soon as the video went viral, the controversy over whether or not it was pedophilia stirred up conversation around the world.

 In the video, both Shia and Maddie are in little clothing, and dancing together. There are moments in the video where they are laying beside one another, she is on his back, or he is reaching out to touch her. Due to this, many people quickly wrote off the idea of the video being anything more than some old guy wanting to be with a young girl.
To me, the dance itself wasn't as suggestive as people had made it out to be. The touching between the two is very minimal, and for most of the video it seems that the two of them are in some sort of battle. Honestly, I thought it was a bit strange the first time I watched it, but it deserved to be watched again.
Upon watching it a second time, I listened to the music behind it more carefully and tried to tie the two together.
The lyrics contained phrases such as "You did not break me, I'm still fighting for peace," "I've got thick skin and an elastic heart," and "I want it, I want my life so bad. I'm doing everything I can." Hearing this, I knew for sure that this wasn't a two person relationship struggle, but a struggle that was occurring within oneself.

I think the concept was a lot harder to grasp for most people because it wasn't two people of the same gender playing the part. But, Sia tweeted recently after the controversy began that Shia and Maddie were the only two that fit the role to her, so this was how it was supposed to be. The video could have been completely different if just one of the two were switched out for someone else.

The two Sia's. 

The character that Maddie portrays in this music video would be better known as a younger, care free Sia, while Shia would be what Sia has become, how she is now. I would think that the cage works as her mind, where the two of them are confined. As Maddie dances around and acts carefree and naive, Shia watches her in fascination, as if wondering how this could have been his former self and what has happened. Maddie dances away from him, and you can tell she isn't happy with what she's become. I imagine it'd be terrifying looking into a mirror and seeing that you've become an old, worn down member of society. 

Through Shia's facial expressions and the way he looks at her, you can tell that he is having a hard time letting go of who he used to be.

Does he really want to?

Does he have to?

And Maddie doesn't really want him to be this person either. She hits him and his facial expressions become more childish, almost proving to him that she's still somewhere in there. That maybe they shouldn't let go just yet.

Ultimately, it's just a matter of time before it's too late and she has to go. But neither one of them want her to go without him. She can easily slip through the bars of the cage, but he is too big to fit. They fight to try to get him out until the very end of the video, where he seems to become much more hopeless about what is to be, while she seems to want to fight indefinitely.

I would ask people to look further into the video before writing it off. The concept of fighting and letting go of your inner self is pretty big. My advice is to sit back and enjoy the wonderful performance put on by Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler with the musical styling of the talented Sia and just relax, not everything in the world has to be something so terrible. If you haven't seen the amazing music video you can watch it here.

THE POWER OF A SOUNDTRACK (A DEFENSE OF BAZ LUHRMANN'S GATSBY)

In movies one of the most undeniable features is the sound track of a movie. Done correctly, the soundtrack can help the viewer situate themselves within the world of the film and allow them to become fully immersed into the experience of watching the movie. On a much more commercial level, the soundtrack of the movie can be sold on various platforms such as iTunes, Amazon, and in record stores. This leads to an additional sources of income for the movie which is why it becomes important to pick popular music and artists to appear on it. On this weeks blog post I want to discuss one film that employs this strategy of packing a soundtrack full of well-know artists is....

THE GREAT GATSBY

BY BAZ LUHRMANN

While some thought the film lacked in certain departments, namely storytelling, I want to take this opportunity to defend the film for it's innovative use of music and soundtrack to cultivate a fresh take on the fatal attraction between Gatsby and his long lost love as well as to highlight and underscore the decadent decay of the 1920's society that surrounded them.

THE SOUNDTRACK AND VOICES OF GATSBY

The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film was released on May 6, 2013 on Interscope Records and was produced by Luhrmann and Anton Monsted with Jay-Z heading the project as executive producer. Upon the albums release it immediately polarized critics and critical opinion as some saw the album as a genius retelling of Gatsby for modern audiences while others saw the album as a horrible atrocity that failed to accurately portray 1920's sensibility through its use of hip-hop and pop tracks. While I understand that the styles of hip-hop and pop did not exist in the 1920's I think that further critical, track-by-track examination of the soundtrack will help to elucidate the true genius, research, and finesse that went into making this soundtrack.

TRACK ONE "100$ BILL (PERFORMED BY JAY-Z)"

This track contains a chopped and screwed beat, electro-rap elements and it is written from the perspective of a modern day Gatsby. It begins with a speech by Leonardo DiCaprio, while throughout the song Jay-Z is backed by samples of a children's choir and a '20s jazz horn sample. In the song, he raps about being remembered and the "pitfalls" of wealth as well as comparing rich people from the 1920s and the 21st century.

TRACK TWO "BACK TO BLACK (PERFORMED BY BEYONCE AND ANDRE 3000)"

This song is a slower version than the original, written by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, with chopped-and-screwed elements, a dark and haunting sound and instrumentally complete by a guitar, moody synth and electro bleeps.

TRACK THREE "BANG BANG (PERFORMED BY WILL.I.AM; ADDITIONAL VOCALS BY SHELBY SPALIONE)"

This song contains a sample of the jazz composition Charleston (1923) and features Louis Armstrong-inspired vocals along with hiNRG, EDM and electropop elements. It contains elements of hip-hop and 1920s-style dance music as well as a use of ukulele.

TRACK FOUR "A LITTLE PARTY NEVER KILLED NOBODY (ALL WE GOT)[PERFORMED BY FERGIE AND GOONROCK]"

This song is a swing, hip-hop and dubstep song

TRACK FIVE "YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL (PERFORMED BY LANA DEL REY)"

This song was written by Del Rey and Rick Nowels. Musically, it is a lush ballad which contains Del Rey's sweeping vocals accompanied by dreamy strings and canned percussion. Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's lover, and it talks about being forever young, going to parties and nostalgia in the vulnerable lyrics "Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?"

TRACK SIX "LOVE IS A DRUG (PERFORMED BY BRYAN FERRY AND THE BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA)"

This song originally appeared on Roxy Music's 1975 album Siren; the song was written by band members Ferry and Andy Mackay. It contains jazz elements trumpet wails and skittering drums as well as honky-tonk, bass sax, sleazy strings and "oohs".

TRACK SEVEN "OVER THE LOVE (PERFORMED BY FLORENCE + MACHINE)"

This songs is written from the perspective of Daisy Buchanan. It contains references of the yellow dress worn by her and the green light that hovers outside her home on the dock in East Egg which were inspired by the novel. Instrumentally, it is complete with a light piano and Welch's vocals which use melisma.

TRACK EIGHT "WHERE THE WIND BLOWS (PERFORMED BY COCO O. OF QUADRON)"

This song contains soul vocals performed by Coco O. and contains an old-time piano sampling with whirring drum 'n bass circular beat and jazzy keys. Osenlund of Slant Magazine commented that the instrumentals of the song are similar to a Cole Porter classic, but the vocals to Jennifer Hudson's, while Jim Farber ofDaily News noted that she sings with doll vocals of Betty Boop.

TRACK NINE "CRAZY IN LOVE (PERFORMED BY EMELI SANDRE AND THE BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA)" 

This song is a swing and soul mash-up.

TRACK TEN "TOGETHER (PERFORMED BY XX)"

This song contains skeletal electro-pop elements and a slow atmosphere. It contains dark and insistent backing, metronomic beat and breathy, deep vocals which climax with an orchestral swell.

TRACK ELEVEN "HEARTS A MESS (PERFORMED BY GOTYE)"

This song is a neo-lounge ballad with clunking, treated backbone.

TRACK TWELVE "LOVE IS BLINDNESS (PERFORMED BY JACK WHITE)"

The rock-hip-hop version on the album contains drum beats, "piercing yelps...and a gut-poking bass line".

TRACK THIRTEEN "INTO THE PAST (PERFORMED BY NERO)"

This song is a slow-tempo song performed by Nero and contains dubstep elements and strings.

TRACK FOURTEEN "KILL AND RUN (PERFORMED BY SIA)"

This song which contains electronica elements and is performed by Sia

CONCLUSION

So as you can clearly see from the track by track break down of all of these songs there is an eclectic mix of styles, genres, and periods represented in the soundtrack. This shows a tremendous amount of planning, research and execution because Baz Luhrmann truly understood the history of music that occurred in New York City at the time. There was jazz, swing, lindy hop, bee bop, and many other styles of music that all blended together to become the modern hip hop and pop traditions that are known today. I commend Mr. Lurhmann for respecting history enough to fully research that history and then take the base concept and make it contemporary for an audience to enjoy.