Racism And Stereotypes In The Music Video, Born Free

Throughout the music video, “Born Free,” there are multiple scenes of violence and targeting against the redhead males, the “minority” group of this video. M.I.A. had points she wanted to show society and she took a very direct route to do so, her courage to show us her thoughts is truly admirable. The world was not ready for such a strong opposition to the generalization of how our world’s society and governments act. The statement this video makes is truly immense, although the short film is so brief. Sexism and racism are both such sensitive topics in the modern-day society, and it is not conversed lightly. Although “Born Free” is somewhat blunt towards the approach, it says what many people are thinking. Many of the Armenians were the brunt of the continuous profiling that goes on all over the world, yet the silence is what is killing them. The people who are targeted cannot stand alone through their brutal treatment, the men and women who aren’t being targeted must stand with them. This being said, M.I.A. used her fame to bring awareness to what the Armenians went through and used the redheads in the video to show that.
The redheads serve as the Armenian people while the troops wearing the American flag on their arms are shown to be the Young Turks. This is proved throughout the music video because of the violent approach taken on the redheads by the American troops. The Americans practiced some of the same acts of violence towards the redheads as the Young Turks did to the Armenians. The Turkish people and the Armenian people both share multiple values but the Young Turks had a much different idea. During World War 1 the Ottoman Empire joined forces with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Redheads throughout “Born Free,” slightly reenacted the punishments of the Armenian