Maddie Ziegler of Dance Moms fame has another starring role in Sia’s latest video, Elastic Heart. Maddie’s co-star in the video is Shia LaBeouf. Now there is and interesting choice. I guess this means Shia is ready to be famous again. Elastic Heart is from the same autobiographical body of work in which Sia explores difficulties in her past. In Chandelier, the first video that Maddie did with Sia, the topic of addiction was the theme. In Elastic Heart, the artist explores her difficult relationship with her father who some say also had difficulty with addiction and mental health issues.
That was extremely strange, inappropriately sexualized and maybe I’m old, but I don’t get it.
It’s about her trying to save her father and being unable to. He died.
On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 6:46 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Omg………..the pearl clutchers are going to go on a rampage!!!!!!!!
LOL
You should be more concerned about the effect it will have on men in our society. Male sexual desire is not a myth.
nor is female sexual desire. we’re human. we want to fuck. but the vast majority of us don’t sexualize children, you wang.
I got the “theme” in regards to her dad but the nude costumes kept throwing me off. It was kinda weird, ok- really weird, but maybe it’s because she used Shia. IDK, I might have to watch it again.
Living here in the heart of the Bible Belt and I didn’t see anything sexual about it. Maybe i have watched to many skanks or ho’s at the club….or too many scenes of any of the housewives in a club,or dinner, or lunch.
I only found it a tad disturbing because Maddie is 12. Not so much the choreography, just that a young minor was dancing like that with a grown man. I live in NC, but I’m from Jersey. I’m far from a prude, but when you work with mentally ill children, it’s hard not to feel uneasy watching this.
what the hell do mentally ill children have to do with anything?
Raw truths . . . naked honesty? Probably wouldn’t have the same impact if they were clothed.
Could be… I think she used the same “nude” costumes in the chandelier video also. There were a couple of times I had to double check to see if Shia had clothes on.
I watched with the sound off. I found this difficult to watch. I thought it was about child abuse.
I guess I see Shia as a mentally unwell man. Seeing him caged in dirty nude colored tights interacting with a 12 year old making crazy faces while performing a dance battle to me is well….ummm…very odd. Who is his agent? Abby Lee Miller?????
I thought it was beautiful. They both did well.
Love Sia. Love Maddie. Hate Shia. Have mixed emotions on the video. Two in my opinion are talented. One is an annoyance that wont go away. The same could be said for Transformers.
How could you hate shia?? he’s the first one to tell us about the NSA scandal! lol
I think a comment on the original video hits the nail on the head about the meaning of the video: “The cage [is] mental illness. Sia and her dad were trapped in it, due to it they fought and when they tried to get along they couldn’t. Sia escaped mental illness but her dad could not, because he was trapped in his old ways. She went back to rescue him but it was too late. His dad cannot fix his old habits.” I think context is everything. I don’t think there is anything sexual too it. I think its two animalistic (sick) people fighting with each other and themselves.
Loved it! I didn’t watch the original chandelier video and this made me go back and watch it. Maddie is an amazing technical dancer and has come a long way as an expressive actor too.
I was surprised how good Shia was. He should always dance battle half clothed…and stop talking altogether.
Powerful. Very uncomfortable with half nude man child thing at first but ambiguities and vulnerability are part of the point. I thought i would laugh at Shia but he was great. Sia is an amazing artist.
God, I just thought it was stupid. I know everyone will be all, “It was so moving!” “Etc!!!” I just didn’t like it and wasn’t impressed. But that’s just me!
Today Sia apologized for anyone upset by the video. It has nothing to do with pedophilia. Maddie and Shia were the two actors/dancers she wanted for the video and she believes they’ve given an incredible performance.
She is so talented.
I didn’t think it was sexual at all. I thought it was really sad.
It’s artistic. Read somewhere that Abby said they were vampires?? Didn’t get that one. It strange, the ‘costumes’ throw it all into another realm of permissiveness.
i love the video <3
Loved it! Maddie is brilliant! I saw no sexual connotations and thought it was a father/daughter dynamic before reading the comments. Love Sia!
What a sad story.
That is an amazing video and concept. There is nothing sexualized about it in the least. Shia did an amazing job as did Maddie.
Initially I skipped over this post but went to back to it after hearing about the controversy this morning on TV.
I found it VERY powerful and unsettling but not in a gross pedophilic way like some have alleged. I’m not sure what Sia’s intentions are but my first thought was it’s the depiction of a father and daughter that love each other but have a deeply troubled relationship. I see from Tamara’s post it’s about a daughter trying to save her alcoholic father so I guess my instinct is in the right ballpark.
Anyway it’s powerful. I like that it provokes a strong response. I don’t want to sound like an asshole but I am so annoyed by the fact Sia felt compelled to apologize for it being “triggering.” We all have painful shit in our lives and in general I try not to be a jerk to people and make them feel bad but damn – when did our society get so sensitive? Is this really the direction we want to go? Do the plusses of being hyper conscious of what “triggers” someone’s personal shit outweigh the negatives of impeding free expression?
Bottom line – Great performances by Shia and Maddie.
I thought the video was about her dueling with her self or demons…like Maddie on his back kind of reminded me of a monkey? lol I did find it hard to watch for some reason. It just made me uncomfortable but I knew it was in the name of art.
Pedophilia disgused as art because the public has been dumbed down. This is a sad expression of dancing. No other athlete or dancer could be found but this grown a$$ man. The girl is 12 people. If this is normal to you then seek therapy for real.
It’s all in perception but once you get it there isn’t anything pedo about it. I did feel uncomfortable at first until I understood the meaning and then it became a beautiful video. It’s my fav song now.
There are some of us that are not artistic at all and look at things rather plainly and straightforward. Unfortunately thats me. I love Maddie, she is Abby’s best. I thought she did awesome. The clothes looked nude, so I thought naked. The man appeared old, compared to her so my mind went to kinda pervy. I knew it was art that I didnt understand the same way I dont understand abstract paintings and forms. I definately dont think the video warranted an apology. Everybody is not going to get it. I do thank one of the above posters for breaking down the analogy to the cage and mental illness. I watched it again and understand/appreciate the video much better.
I found that both Maddie and Shia told the story through “Interpretive” dance, simply amazing! It should come across as as dark. As that was the subject matter of the song and Sia’s story behind it. Possibly, it would’ve had a different impact on people had they known more of the story? I don’t know. Without violating any rules. You can find what Sia’s full story and background is/was on the song and video.
Regardless. Simply, it was well done.