If you’ve been looking for another reason to question Shia LaBeouf’s state of mind, Sia just gave it to you with her recently released “Elastic Heart” video. What begins as a dazzling dance routine inside of a cage quickly turns disturbing with many who’ve seen the video claiming it’s inappropriate and triggering to those who have been victims of sexual abuse.
Co-starring in the video with LaBeouf is 12-year-old Maddie Ziegler, the Dance Moms star who had people talking last year after her zany performance in Sia’s “Chandelier” video; but the sexual connotations of her interactions with the actor, 28, have some claiming that the dance incites images of pedophilia, for which Sia has already apologized.
Our curiosity got the better of us, so we watched the five-minute video to decide just how unsettling it is. Don’t get us wrong. The choreography is mostly beautiful, and we love seeing Shia in action again after some troubling years in and out of the spotlight. But we have to agree that the message behind this video is crossing a line. Its unmistakable references to the sexual abuse of young Maddie (by someone more than twice her age) seem better suited for R-rated indie dramas than empowering musical anthems whose lyrics are lost in the confusion of interpreting the two performers.
We went into watching it with an open mind, but in the end, we couldn’t get past the icky feeling we had watching Maddie try to escape Shia, who claimed just last year that he was raped in a live art performance where the public was allowed to interact with him alone in a room. And their complete committals to the roles were, perhaps, the hardest part to suffer through. Sure, we wanted to accept this for the art piece Sia was trying to make it into, but the stellar costumes and amazing set can’t make up for the "ew" factor. While she may not have been trying to make this type of statement, Sia definitely has people talking.
What do you think about Sia’s new video, collegiettes? Is it inappropriate or simply artistic?