Unsure if racist

[Gennadios]

Seriously though, how is that racist?

Paint is a part of it, but the blackface and red lips, along with showing the practice of voodoo is a throwback to Minstrel shows in the mid 1800's in the US. Those pretty much popularized pre-1950's black stereotypes, alot of people would like to see that kind of depiction buried. It's not the paint but the whole combination.

 

[Forgetitnow344]

See, I love Florence + the Machine, but I never ever watch the videos for a cornucopia of reasons. Just enjoy the pretty music on midnight drives and seriously don't give the videos any attention at all.

 

[The_Critic]

how, what, why, huh????

For real. Okay isn't voodoo originated from an african (black) background???? How the fuck is it racist?????????????

 

[Erana]

Spoiler: Blue people practicing a Hollywood version of Voodoo?

Just leaving this here.

Huh.
I thought it was "okay" as long as it was made very clear that its a purely fantasy version of voodoo?
I mean, I could see people interpreting the video as "innocent, white christian woman under attack by dark-skinned voodoo bad guy," but seeing the video on its own, the voodoo guy struck me as simply being that parallel scene in music videos that they cut to to illustrate intense emotion in the song when the vocalist is busy posing and singing at no one in particular.

 

[zxvcasdfqwerzxcv]

It's certainly not racist; anyone who thinks it is seriously needs to reevaluate what they think racism is. They clearly have no idea what racism actually is. Video is a bit bleh, as is the song. The second album was such a disappointment after an epic first album!

 

[lacktheknack]

Spoiler: Blue people practicing a Hollywood version of Voodoo?

Just leaving this here.

Huh.
I thought it was "okay" as long as it was made very clear that its a purely fantasy version of voodoo?
I mean, I could see people interpreting the video as "innocent, white christian woman under attack by dark-skinned voodoo bad guy," but seeing the video on its own, the voodoo guy struck me as simply being that parallel scene in music videos that they cut to to illustrate intense emotion in the song when the vocalist is busy posing and singing at no one in particular.

Weird. I wonder if entertainment culture somehow connects blue people to voodoo.

Or maybe that's just how they avoid allegations of racism... paint everything blue.

 

[repeating integers]

No, it's not racist. It's just another music video trying too hard to be "edgy." In other words, it's stupid.

Also, that music sucked. Big time.

...Sucked? Yeah, right, I see. Because a refreshingly unsexualised & different popstar with a beautiful voice is exactly what we need LESS of. Hell, what was even "edgy" about it?

OT: Don't see anything racist about it, seems like more PC-gone-mad bollocks to me.

 

[NightHawk21]

Unless I was actually looking for it I'd say that paint is more black than blue, and that was only if I knew it was paint. Granted I didn't watch the whole thing, but it looks like a normal black guy at the beginning, and if you pause at 2:22, the guy could pass as a black guy.

As for whether its racist, I wouldn't say it is. Maybe because they have a black guy doing voodoo? If that's the case though, I don't know what the hell these people associate voodoo with in their minds. Far as I know Voodoo is/was an African or Caribbean "religion" (?), so most of its practitioners were/are black. This is just stupid people being stupid. If that's the main argument I guess that also makes Diablo 3 racist because the witch doctor (voodoo) is black.

 

[HardRockSamurai]

No, it's not racist. It's just another music video trying too hard to be "edgy." In other words, it's stupid.

Also, that music sucked. Big time.

...Sucked? Yeah, right, I see. Because a refreshingly unsexualised & different popstar with a beautiful voice is exactly what we need LESS of. Hell, what was even "edgy" about it?

Wait, what? I'm not condemning "refreshingly unsexualised popstars" - I just hate this song.

Also, I'm pretty sure that when a music video contains an Asian man covered in dark blue paint using a voodoo doll to force a lady in a black dress to jump off a building fall through the stained glass ceiling of a church and get caught by a group of choir boys, it's trying too hard to be edgy!

But to be fair, that's up for debate.

 

[repeating integers]

No, it's not racist. It's just another music video trying too hard to be "edgy." In other words, it's stupid.

Also, that music sucked. Big time.

...Sucked? Yeah, right, I see. Because a refreshingly unsexualised & different popstar with a beautiful voice is exactly what we need LESS of. Hell, what was even "edgy" about it?

Wait, what? I'm not condemning "refreshingly unsexualised popstars" - I just hate this song.

Also, I'm pretty sure that when a music video contains an Asian man covered in dark blue paint using a voodoo doll to force a lady in a black dress to jump off a building fall through the stained glass ceiling of a church and get caught by a group of choir boys, it's trying too hard to be edgy!

But to be fair, that's up for debate.

Well you see, I've always thought "edgy" meant "trying too hard to offend people" (yeah, I don't think it's a good thing either), so it appears there's a bit of confusion.

This seems to have offended people though, so maybe you're right.

 

[Stilkon]

especially since the paint looks closer to black than blue on my computer.

Yeah, same - looks rather black here, if OP didn't mention it I wouldn't call it blue.

Actually, it looks kinda green to me.

Slightly irrelevant, though. The video could also be argued to be sacrilegious, given that this "voodoo ritual" seems to be performed in a chapel. I think they're just using imagery to make the video seem more symbolic than it actually is.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Wait..so the black guy was really an asian guy pretending to be black?

Well couple of things:
1. I couldn't tell it was an asian, so I can't really call it racist if it's convincing
2. Hatians (which I assume he was trying to be) do practice voodoo. It's just their religion and to them it's not the evil witchcraft version that we think of.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

no this isn't racist.. for the love of god also people on you-tube can not be taken seriously for context/replies. While the content is nice the user base or watchers are just dumb-a*****. Now if you want racist... you-tube search old bugs bunny cartoons.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Florence and the Machine aren't racist.

There is no discussion.

I'm an uberfan but this video does make me cringe a little bit. It's not racist though, it just doesn't look the best. It's one of my favourite songs from the album too.

Also, this video came out over six months ago, why are people only pretending to be offended now? Could they not find anything better to do?