Week 3_1/29/16 Overcoming struggles

In the music video “Elastic Hearts”, by Sia, we are given a very unique portray of some type of struggle she is going through. The clip manifests inner demons and the struggle of overcoming as the scene takes place in an enormous birdcage designed by choreographer Maddie Zeigler.

In the beginning, the video introduces Sia (inner demon) and Shia Lebeouf in an enormous cage (0:05). This is a strange setting that gets the audience to approach and interpret what exactly is taking place. Sia is “attempting to earn her audience approval or agreement by playing to natural human tendencies or common experience.” –Texas A&M. N.d by starting off her lyrics with “and another one bites the dust” “Oh why can I not conquer love”. Sia is stating some type of struggle she been going through for quite some time.  She maybe can’t be in love due to her past experience. Maybe she has been hurt and finds it difficult to do over again. But despite the confusion in the beginning of the video, these lyrics use an appeal called “The Pathetic appeal”. Invoking her audience’s emotion to gain acceptance and approval for the ideas expressed as according to Texas A&M. She is doing so by tapping the viewer’s sympathy and compassion, anger and disappointment, sadness, and most of all desire for love.

As the video goes on, we see a struggle between Sia and Shia Lebeouf (0:27). Lebeouf starts off by trying to approach Sia but she refuses to allow this to happen. She fights back by hurting Lebeouf and trying to keep him away. Sia sings “And I wanted it I wanted it bad”, “but there were so many red flags”, “now another one bites the dust”, “yeah lets be clear I’ll trust no one”. This shows us Sia wanting to be with Lebeouf but feels that there are too many red flags in the way keeping it from happening. She also says how she will never trust anyone. This can be from past experiences. The clip goes on and we see Lebeouf try to approach Sia as she is fighting with her inner demons, (0:57). But still Sia refuses to let Lebeouf in her circle of trust.

Scenes (1:38 to 1:60), we see Leboef beginning to try and escape from the abuse he is getting from Sia as he runs away and climbs to the top of the cage. We then see Maddie finally come back to her self as she lays and closes her eyes. Lebeouf then comes down and approaches Maddie (2:14) opening his hand out to her as a sign of comfort and warmth. Sia then comes back (2:24) biting Lebeouf as she sings “I’ve got thick skin and an elastic heart, but your blade it might be too sharp”, “I’m like a rubberband until you pull too hard, I may snap and I move fast”, “but you won’t see me fall apart”, “cos I’ve got an elastic heart”. From these lyrics we see Sia not letting her scars bring her down, she still fights back not allowing Maddie to trust anyone. We then see Maddie escape the cage leaving the inner demon with Lebeouf. Lebeouf begins to scream indicating a struggle perhaps of being left alone inside the cage with no one but Sia. (3:08). 

Last, we see Maddie come back in the cage (3:16), only this time it seems that she has overcome her inner demon (Sia) and fear of loving again and finally accepts Lebeouf as she jumps on his back sort of holding onto him in a sympathetic way. We then see her holding Lebeoufs hand as she walks out the cage but notices Lebeouf cannot escape, (4:13). This in a way explains the struggle Maddie was going through by Sia not allowing her to “conquer love”. Realizing now that Lebeouf cannot escape she is left alone hurt on the other side of the cage. Although she wont let go, we see her struggle trying to get Lebeouf through explaining the metaphor of her being like a “rubber band”. She may keep pulling but once it snaps she moves quickly to not endure pain once again.

This music video catches many peoples attention due to the fact that they all endure some type of pain in their lifetime. A piece within us doesn’t allow us to trust again. We become more protective over ourselves and try to avoid facing our fears by trapping ourselves in our own thoughts or metaphorically speaking our own “cage”.  One way or the other we will eventually have to face our fears, holding it back will just cause more suffering to us.