Prince - Cinnamon Girl Music Video

[Edge]

The musician Prince has released a new music video for the song "Cinnamon Girl" from his highly-praised new CD, Musicology. The video, directed by Phil Harder, visualizes the lyrics of Prince's four-minute song. It stars actress Keisha Castle-Hughes as an Arab-American girl driven to the verge of a terrible act, but then pulling back from the brink and reconnecting with fundamental human values. This music video will be airing on MTV and elsewhere.

The video/song follows the hardships and confusion of an Arab-American teenage girl in the post-9/11 American environment. It deals with several sensitive matters in an interesting albeit cursory manner, as the video is only four minutes. The issues running through the video are: the effects of Sept. 11 on an ordinary Arab-American girl, the confusing and contradictory feelings of a teenage girl growing into adulthood, tensions between generations within immigrant communities including issues of culture and religion, and the problem of violence.

In the lyrics, Prince sings, "Cinnamon girl mixed heritage/Never knew the meaning of color lines/9-11 turned that all around/When she got accused of this crime." In the video the girl faces racism, bigotry, and prejudice from her classmates because of her ethnicity. She watches as storefront signs written in Arabic are removed and replaced with signs in English. She appears to argue with her parent about modesty and the way she dresses. Her whole world seems to be conspiring against her unfairly.

In this context, the character's imagination of a suicide bombing reflects the torment she feels at being defined in every aspect of her life by others, her need to assert her own agency, and her rebellion against a world that already deems her a "terrorist" because of her ethnicity. In the end, however, the character and the video reject the nihilism and cruelty inherent in violence, in favor of a broader sense of humanity. Looking at innocent children in the terminal, the character starts to weep. She has confronted her rage, and overcomes the desire to lash out.

Prince's video may be misinterpreted by some as either rationalizing violence, or promoting dangerous stereotypes about Arabs and Arab Americans, but the artist should be credited with raising serious and difficult issues. Although a music video may not be the ideal format for exploring these sensitive and complex themes due to the time length, this video should be fairly clear to those who watch it carefully. Much like the many media treatments of youth and violence following the Columbine massacre and other violence in American schools, Prince's Cinnamon Girl video is a laudable effort to confront a number of very serious issues, many of which go ignored by the rest of the entertainment industry.

source : http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2368

Video : http://music.channel.aol.com/artist/main.adp?artistid=5182

Edit : FYI Black Entertainment Television said they WILL NOT show this video.

I personally being a white middle age male think that this video was very touching. It shows a point of view that the media won't touch. Freedom of expression is awesome!

What are your thoughts?

 

[CptStern]

it's about time the music industry got it's teeth back ....so many artists are too worried about their careers to take a stand on anything ..where are the John lennon's of today? ..and to a lesser extent John denver :E

 

[Jakeic]

someone made a song that isn't about sex or how much money they have? what the hell is going on?

 

[Edge]

More links

http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2004-10/16/article05.shtml

Apparently one woman claimed (http://www.michellemalkin.com/)

accused Prince of jumping "into the murder-promoting, terror-sympathizing act."

I am not sure why the media is so biased

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5033767.html

His publicist said Prince will not comment on the clip because he prefers that people make up their own mind about it.

Great attitude. Let others interpret your work and don't force your opinion. A true artist!

Rana Abbas, deputy director of the Midwest chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn, Mich., voiced her support after seeing the video Thursday.

"It was shocking, but in a good way," Abbas said. "Prince is the first major recording artist to address the prejudice and issues that [Arab-Americans] are facing after 9/11, and I think he has done it in a very powerful way."

Reaction by news commentators has been mixed, however. A short blurb in the New York Post said it "might be the most tasteless video ever." Fox News commentator John Gibson suggested that Prince is "causing trouble" with the clip, and CNN anchor Kyra Phillips said it is "shaking and rumbling the entertainment industry."

Talking on NBC's "Today" this week, Rolling Stone magazine music editor Joe Levy said, "Let's put this one into context. This video is illustrating what the song is talking about, and what the song says is after 9/11 Arab-Americans were targeted as victims of hate."

Harder, who also has shot music videos for the Foo Fighters and Incubus, said that the lyrics show that Prince is "sincere in wanting to speak to the times." He also emphasized that the video "resolves itself peacefully."

 

[Edge]

All artists do this. It is for publicity.

Madonna kisses Britney
Michael accuses his label of Racism
Janet shows her nipple at the super bowl

Prince touches on a subject that the media won't.... racism since 9/11 regarding Arab Americans is out of control. I myself look at Arab people differently until I tell myself to stop buying into the fear and give everyone a fair chance.

 

[Raziaar]

I liked the video, especially the art style of it.

On an aside note, that girl is cute.

 

[Edge]

I liked the video, especially the art style of it.

On an aside note, that girl is cute.

hehe her name is Keisha Castle-Hughes she was a Oscar Nominee for a movie titled Whale Rider. I believe she lives in New Zealand

 

[Edge]

Ok I found that woman's comments... whoa I can't believe her reaction.

CINNAMON GIRL: THE LATEST MARTYRDOM VIDEO
By Michelle Malkin · October 08, 2004 11:21 AM

Well, folks, it's not just the Palestinian Authority that is in the business of indoctrinating young people through vile martyrdom videos.

Now, the artist formerly known as Prince has jumped into the murder-promoting, terror-sympathizing act. I just finished watching "Cinnamon Girl," which can be viewed online here. (Warning: You need to download AOL's media playback software to watch the video). There's news coverage of this female suicide bomber video here.

What it is is a washed-up pop star's crass exploitation of post-9/11 race-card-playing by Arab-American apologists for terror. What it will do is further stoke the fires of the America-bashing MTV crowd. It also happens to be crappy music to boot. Prince should leave shahid recruitment to Yasser Arafat and stop trying to be a Musician with a Message. Whatever happened to the days when pop musicians actually made good music?

Did she see the same video I did?

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000635.htm