Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Controversy Surrounding Florence + the Machine's New Video, "No Light, No Light"




At best, Florence + the Machine's new video for "No Light No Light" is a misguided attempt at symbolism, at worst, it's an exercise in how privilege allows one to use bits and pieces of other cultures as metaphors without seeing the inherent racism in those symbols.

Jezebel's Dodai did a complete breakdown  of the video. There's been a lot of discussion whether the dancer in dark body paint is an example blackface or not. Honestly, if it looks like blackface, it is blackface, but the good christian/bad voodoo motif is just as troubling:
The man is half-dressed and sticking pins in a voodoo doll. 
Haitian Vodou is a religion that is very misunderstood. Slaves were brought to the Caribbean against their will and forbidden to practice their traditional African religions as well as forced to convert to the religion of their masters. The Bond movie/Eurocentric/Americanized viewpoint presents Vodou as an evil, primitive version of witchcraft. But it's a religion like any other, with a moral code, gods and goddesses. Many ceremonies deal with protection from evil spirits. 
In addition, the "voodoo doll" itself has been misconstrued. In Haiti, it was traditional to nail small handmade puppets or dolls to trees near graveyards; these small figures were meant to act as messengers to the spirit world, and contact dead loved ones. It's safe to imagine that European folks didn't understand this — and assumed an evil intent behind a doll with nails in its body. (source )
Also, multiple sources pointed out that the racism in "No Light, No Light" is not intentional. Come on.  Racism 101 teaches us that intent need not be there for something to be racist. In fact, some of the most pervasive forms of racism are covert rather than overt.

2 comments:

  1. Excellent. I also noticed the Beautiful White Woman being chased by the Scary Black Man! How f-ing old is that racist cliche?

    Great post. Great blog. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, that too. So much fail in this video.

    ReplyDelete