Sia Should Not Apologize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KWZGAExj-es

I love dance; both dancing and watching good choreography. So much so, I have to admit to watching Dance Moms. The kids are really good dancers and, Ok, (blush) I find the bitching, feuding, overly amibitious mothers entertaining. I’m only admitting to it so I can talk about Maddie, the best dancer on the show who is featured in the Sia videos. She has also appeared on SNL with Sia.

It was on one of the shows I heard of her new video with Shia LaBeouf. The mothers were outraged that Maddie’s mother would allow her appear in this “horrible, disgusting” video. So I went to find it on YouTube.

I am blown away by this video. It’s fantastic. Shia LaBeouf is not a dancer, he’s an actor. Maddie is dancer but can act without words using her body and her face. This video is powerful…. its an image that speaks to our souls… beyond words.

It was after viewing it I read all the tweets and comments on-line about how close it is to pedophilia. They saw the nude, skimpy costumes as racy and sexual; they saw an older man with a little girl, interacting. They read sexuality into it but I did not. The little girl is the one with the power. I see two broken souls living a caged life together; desperate for love and affection. I say ‘shame on them’ for what they read into it.

Here’s what Maddie has to say about it;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=G8EmmhP4Cyk

Sia made an official apology for offending so many people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=25L_CL6Fqyk

Sia should not apologize for making controversial art. This video is a work of art; it’s meant to stir the emotions and make us think. Art is not always pretty flowers and beautiful women; a real artist conveys an image beyond words. It should also express war, violence, fear… the whole range of human expression;

Thank Goodness we live in place where we have the freedom to express ourselves. We should be very afraid of any effort to stifle artists.

Sia; you should not apologize.

https://theywalkthenight.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/writing-prompt-89/

this prompt was to write about a movie but I cheated a little; this video has been on my mind.

Footnote; this post did not make it into the Reader. I’ve ‘updated’ but don’t see it.  Did this ever happen to anyone before?