m.i.a. born free

Click over, if you’ve got the stomach for it, to check out “M.I.A. Born Free,” the music video for a new single by eclectic musician M.I.A. Or don’t — the video, which premiered yesterday, is extremely violent, quite bloody, and has a bit of nudity thrown in for good measure. The video depicts a bleak alternate reality where thuggish soldiers in riot gear round up men with red hair and take them out into the desert, where they’re harassed, abused, exploded, or, in one explosion of CG gore that probably qualifies as a bit of terrible visual wit (a pun on the idea of “redheads”), simply shot at point blank.

The video doesn’t have an ounce of subtlety in it. Directed by Romain Gavras, the son of accomplished political filmmaker Costa Gavras, it clearly aims to bring the horrors of ethnically motivated violence home to a U.S. audience — M.I.A. is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, and, controversially, blames the government of Sri Lanka for acts of genocide against Tamil people during the Sri Lankan Civil War — by making hapless-looking American Caucasians the unlikely victims of brutal kidnapping and murder for sport. (The Los Angeles Times reported today that this is actually the storyline of Redheads, a feature film Gavras is directing.)

“You won’t see that on MTV,” muttered my wife, peering over my shoulder. Which is true enough, but hardly the goal of this particular provocation. Getting a version of “Born Free” on television would be small beans compared to what was accomplished with the video’s Internet premiere, which reached a targeted audience of pop-culture devotees. During the day yesterday, M.I.A. was allowed to “take over” the Twitter feed of popular alternative music Web site Pitchfork, which, with nearly 1.5 million followers, offered a presence that raised her profile online for the day. The video premiered in a high-quality version on YouTube, but was later removed as the service cited its rules against “pornography” and “gratuitous violence.” Commenters on Twitter, on Facebook pages, and on music blogs first debated the merits of the video, then debated YouTube’s decision to pull it from the site. Partisans spent the rest of the day making cases pro and con, arguing everything from M.I.A.’s first-hand experiences of violence in her homeland to her alleged inability to carry a tune.

As of this afternoon, the counter at the bottom of the page hosting the official copy of the video was nearing 1,000,000 views. It’s a sign of the times — from OK Go to Lady Gaga to Erykah Badu, marketing-minded musical acts are quickly realizing that they don’t need to take to the airwaves to make a commotion amongst an eager audience. Put the video on a fast server, spread the word through sites like Pitchfork, BrooklynVegan, and the Huffington Post, and then watch the fireworks start as the online mob deconstructs your achievement and your intentions. These days, for talented hipsters who mix a type of musical genius with a real knack for self-promotion, getting a video shown on TV is beside the point.