M.I.A Case Study

7/28/2019 M.I.A Case Study

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MIA


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Background of Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam

"M.I.A." is both a play on her own name and a reference to the abbreviation for Missing

in Action

She was born in London, when she was 6 months old her family moved back to Sri

Lanka. Where her family went into hiding because of the Sri Lankan Civil War. She moved

back to London before her 11th birthday as refugees.

She began her career in 2000 as a visual artist, filmmaker and designer in West

London before beginning her recording career in 2002.

She would do covers to songs and post them online using Myspace until she was signed by XL

Recordings.

Maya is a philanthropist and humanitarian outside of her musical career. She grew up

listening to the politicized rhymes ofPublic Enemy.

Her father was a political activist and founding member of the Elam Revolutionary

Organisation of Students which explains why her lyrics reference a range of political, social,

philosophical and cultural ideas.

Activism

She has used networking sites such as Twitter and MySpace to discuss and highlight

the human rights abuses and war crimes that Sri Lanka is accused of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/public_enemy/index.html?inline=nyt-orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_State_terrorism_by_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_war_crimes_during_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_war_crimes_during_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_war_crimes_during_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_war_crimes_during_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_State_terrorism_by_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_State_terrorism_by_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_State_terrorism_by_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_State_terrorism_by_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eelam_Revolutionary_Organisation_of_Studentshttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/public_enemy/index.html?inline=nyt-orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_(London_sub_region)


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Paper Planes

Stereotypes represented:

Typical stereotype of mischievous young adults: hoods, shades, chavvy, alley ways,

money orientated- "All I wanna do is, and and take your money" as well as the idea of

immigrants stealing jobs. This is presented through the different roles she takes on

and the different characters of different ethnicities who appear throughout (Jamaican,Eastern European etc..) - "I fly like paper, get high like planes If you catch me at the

border I got visas in my name

If you come around here, I make 'em all day

I get one down in a second if you wait

Can we trust her judgement?

Noh, it is only her opinion. Her song has been influenced by the fact she was

accused of being a terrorist sympathiser, she is exaggerating the idea of their acts

"Sticks and stones and weed and bombs"


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Born Free

Representation of a ginger genocide.

Contradicts the title Born Free because all of the

ginger boys in the music video are being chased and

getting beaten up.

Her representation can be taken into account,

because it does have controversial issues because

ginger people can easily be targeted.


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Bad Girls

Representation of Arab girls hosting a dragrace.

The Arab girls are dressed up, wearing loads of

gold jewellery which is going against to whatthe media normally portray them as which isnormally quiet, suppressed and no selfidentity.

The fact the girls are dancing and holding gunsshows a completely different side to them.


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Documents

M.I.A Case Study