I don't really believe that that would be "stereotyping" any race though. So no.

Eh perhaps. It's not so much about this video persay, it's about the fact that the video reinforces poor stereotypes that already exist in white culture concerning Blacks/Africans in the global community. Unfortunately blacks have been labeled for centuries as being an "evil" or "inferior" race and black men especially were viewed poorly and still are. They were seen as supposed "savages" who wish to rape, kill and pillage white youths and were supposed to be a great threat to white "pure" women. You could argue that people are being over sensitive but that doesn't mean there is absolutely no merit to the criticisms. I would argue the problem is bigger then Florence, even if inadvertent these stereotypes still hold true in society even today. Blame our history.

I think the video could be considered racist but at the same time not racist.

The black man in the video clearly looks dehumanized and scary but if it was a white man would it be ok? is she not allowed to use a black actor?

I dont know, Some months later you could see a lot of that in this forum were everyone was saying a latino should be cast as the criminal of britney's criminal video but everyone though it was ok

No, because whites never had a whole history behind them of being called and treated as savages.

I don't think it's necessarily racist either, I think the better term maybe "politically incorrect." I don't think she is advocating racism so much as she is committing a social "faux pas" and that's if you see the demons as black men.

No, I don't think that the video is racist at all and I am mystified really by those claiming it is.

An Asian dancer is painted dark (be it black, dark blue or green), wears a bright pink outfit and a mask, and somehow he is supposed to stand for a black man? I simply fail to see the African-american or african stereotype in a character that to my eyes obviously does not protray anything human at all. This is not blackface either - blackface is more than just painting something dark (and no attempt to imbue this dancer with "black" features [nose or lips] was made whatsoever as it is clear from his close-up), it also involves acting out certain pre-existing stereotypes, and again, I fail to see any such stereotypes being protrayed here by this character.

And the link between darkness and harm or evil is based on the reality that darkness is defined by the lack of light or color, and people are wary of what exist in it. Is every live action or anime show that portrays evil demons as being black in color (though obviously not a black person) racist?

As for the issue of the "voodoo" doll, actual haitian vodou doesn't make use of those things, and in folk traditions using a representation to harm someone is always an aggressive, hurtful thing to do. So how is that a negative stereotype of Africans or their decendents?

I had no idea this video was so "controversial" until I saw the YouTube comments. Of course, that's not really any indication but the outrage is ridiculous. I am unbothered but some people just need to deal with art and more specifically, the artist's vision.

This is dumb. Were people petitioning The Princess & The Frog when that was released?

There are more important issues for an organization to get behind than a music video by Florence + The Machine. This screams of a PETA style publicity attack.

Funny how this is racist but two black people doing drugs and stealing from a store (WFL) is A-OK, simply because the artist herself is black.

People need to calm down.

I'm not sure you're grasping the big idea.

Yea, that didn't quite make sense.

I was trying to make the point that any video or any art form for that matter that include minorities can be labelled racist if analysed closely enough.

That's better.

Except that this wasn't the case here.

Look, I can understand people being initially offended upon first viewing the video, but come on... a ****ing petition? Right, because this was SO deliberately racist. Do people even know that "blackface" goes beyond just painting your skin dark?


This is blackface. Not only is the actor's face painted black, but the features are deliberately exaggerated to mock black people. And there's also the act that goes with it, behaving like the stereotype of an ignorant coon. There was nothing like this going on in Florence's video.

Furthermore, likening the scene where she gets chased down by a black(?) person to the stereotype of black males seeking to rape white women takes the ridiculousness even further. Seriously, I've read comments comparing the video to Birth of A Nation. How ****ing stupid can people get?

And people wonder why pop stars play it safe these days. Well, here's why. Some ****ing twits somewhere will always be there to nitpick something and make a mountain out of a molehill.

Why did she ruin my FAVORITE track from Ceremonials with THAT video?

Even if it wasn't their intention to portray racial stereotypes, it is pretty obvious from this video that they could have been read into it. I don't believe that nobody from Florence's camp caught that when filming the video.

I wonder if you guys live in a different universe.

She ain't mean all of this.
All she did was make a video and everyone is over-analyzing her ****.

I watched the video, and enjoyed it and didn't feel any sense of racism.

Of course not, otherwise people would jump to call this racist:



It's effectively the same but in reverse. nasty white criminals, stereotypical bad white police, holy black church choir, black Jesus etc.

But the PC brigade love to be upset about things so

I'm taking this petition with a grain of salt because:

People love to complain and exaggerate because they over-analyzed or under-analyzed something.Sure,the video may be a little racist but it's not really that bad.