[Pete.]

Taylor Swift's latest music video is being battered by critics who claim it is racist and pandering to 'rich white fantasies' from a colonial era.

The video for Wildest Dreams, which was revealed during the MTV VMA Awards coverage on Sunday, has a mainly white cast and revolves around two 1950s-era movie stars - played by Swift and Gran Torino actor Scott Eastwood - filming in Africa.



There are only two black actors, who play soldiers, and they appear in the background. The mock film crew are white.

Director Joseph Khan insists the video is a 'love story' and has no political agenda. But music fans have rushed to Twitter to describe it as 'colonial garbage'.

The footage was also also slammed by a number of editorials.

NPR's Viviane Rutabingwa, who has an African heritage, said: 'We are shocked to think that in 2015, Taylor Swift, her record label and her video production group would think it was OK to film a video that presents a glamorous version of the white colonial fantasy of Africa.'

She added: 'Swift's music is entertaining for many. She should absolutely be able to use any location as a backdrop. But she packages our continent as the backdrop for her romantic songs devoid of any African person or storyline, and she sets the video in a time when the people depicted by Swift and her co-stars killed, dehumanized and traumatized millions of Africans.

'That is beyond problematic.'

The Daily Dot's Nico Lang wrote: 'An homage to a love triangle about white colonialists is going to present some, uh, challenges to an artist who just wants to make a three-minute music video to put on her VEVO page - and Taylor Swift found that out the hard way.

'Even the most casual observer would have noticed that - for a clip that's set in Africa - it's about as white as a Sunday morning farmer's market.

'The video wants to have its old-school Hollywood romance but ends up eating some old-school Hollywood racism, too.'



The video's director, Joseph Khan, released a statement to Daily mail Online, saying: 'Wildest Dreams is a song about a relationship that was doomed, and the music video concept was that they were having a love affair on location away from their normal lives. This is not a video about colonialism but a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa, 1950.

'There are black Africans in the video in a number of shots, but I rarely cut to crew faces outside of the director as the vast majority of screentime is Taylor and Scott.

'The video is based on classic Hollywood romances like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as well as classic movies like The African Queen, Out of Africa and The English Patient, to name a few.

'The reality is not only were there people of color in the video, but the key creatives who worked on this video are people of color. I am Asian American, the producer Jil Hardin is an African American woman, and the editor Chancler Haynes is an African American man.

'We cast and edited this video. We collectively decided it would have been historicially inaccurate to load the crew with more black actors as the video would have been accused of rewriting history. This video is set in the past by a crew set in the present and we are all proud of our work.












http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...l-fantasy.html

Taylor, what's good?

[Firewire]

She's gonna sue

[JoshBB]

I love taylor and I don't think she did this on purpose.. but erasing the history of what happened is really awful. I hope she releases a public apology of some kind.

[Pete.]

Originally Posted by Firewire

She's gonna sue

Not before she copyrights 'wildest dreams'

[Tom4784]

It must be a slow news day.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by JoshBB

I love taylor and I don't think she did this on purpose.. but erasing the history of what happened is really awful. I hope she releases a public apology of some kind.

It's a film about a Golden age Hollywood romance, not a dissection of the times. She shouldn't have to apologise for ****.

[Shaun]

meh. It's just kinda Disney. People need to calm down.

[EspeonBB]

Lol Taylor is clearly not racist. People are looking for a reason to hate on her

[Firewire]

I read the article and I almost fell asleep

[armand.kay]

my issue with the video is that awful black wig.

[EspeonBB]

She deserves to be dragged for not releasing New Romantics as the new single, not this mess

[Firewire]

Originally Posted by EspeonBB

She deserves to be dragged for not releasing New Romantics as the new single, not this mess

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by EspeonBB

Lol Taylor is clearly not racist. People are looking for a reason to hate on her

pretty much

people make me sick. calling someone racist and actually trying to look for racism when it simply isnt there is just disgusting.

[JoshBB]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It's a film about a Golden age Hollywood romance, not a dissection of the times. She shouldn't have to apologise for ****.

Yeah but it's erasing the history that these people suffered through. Erasure is racism, doesn't mean its her fault (it was probably the producers) and that she was being vicious (she wasnt, I know she has a history of speaking out), but the concept is really unfair. Erasure is disgusting.

[MB.]

um it's a music video

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It's a film about a Golden age Hollywood romance, not a dissection of the times. She shouldn't have to apologise for ****.

Exactly it's ridiculous

[Jordan.]

Originally Posted by Jordan.

I'm so done with the social justice / offended over everything era

.

[Crimson Dynamo]

is being battered by critics= some dicks on twitter

[iRyan]

Taylor is a white supremacist maid to the patriarchy

[Scarlett.]

I bet most of the people 'offended' by this are white tumblr users.