mnmsha_snst

anunexpectederror:

I hate to say it, but… the video is racist. It is.

Now, before you all start your unfollowing sprees, flooding my inbox, or getting your knickers in a twist, let me explain:

Do I think it was intentionally racist? No. In Eurocentric culture, much like the Jezebel article asserts, anything white is generally perceived as pure, innocent, and the like, and anything black is generally perceived as dark, demonic, evil, etc.

Therefore, I can see where the director(s?) were going with making the video this way: I mean, the whole song is about feeling hunted, manipulated, emotionally exhausted with trying to deal with both inner and outer demons, in regards to some kind of lover. However, I think the director(s) should have thought of another way to represent the good versus evil, light versus dark dichotomy.

I don’t think this is Florence’s fault. I just think it was lazy planning (which does not excuse that it happened, either).

I’m not going to lie, the first time I saw the video, I was floored, I loved it, I thought it was great (I still do, when I allow my eyes to go blind to the racial qualities of it). The second time? My first thought was, “This video is racist, though.”

I think that if the director(s) wanted to show “the darker side of humanity” or to represent inner demons, he/she/they should have dressed the actor in more “traditional” devil-like garb. Think the demons on Charmed, for example, something that obviously connotes that he’s a demon, but doesn’t attach any racial vibes to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I am literally one of Florence’s HUGEST fans. You all know my level of obsession with this band and with her. So I will repeat, I don’t think this is her fault. But I do think it needs to be addressed, whether it comes from her label, the director(s), hell, even Florence herself — someone needs to just come out and say, “Yeah, some bad decisions were made with this video, we suck.” Just for someone to say, “Yeah, we fucked up, we’re dumbasses.” And then that’s that.