File this under the "six months too late" category: Psych-synth outfit MGMT have finally released a video for their jaunty jam "Kids" off 2008's solid Read the full post.
Jun 4
2009
05:01 PM ET
MGMT finally release video for 'Kids': Monsters and toddlers and animated hot dogs, oh my!
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That’s sooo cruel! I mean I loved that song and band. Then I saw the video and immediately hated it. I mean it’s obvious the baby was actually scared. No toddler at that age is that good of an actor. Poor kid is probably scarred for life.
First of all. Is this real? Second, if it is, someone needs to be sued, prosecuted and made to feel scared shitless to the equivelant that this poor child was made to feel, which would be pretty bad indeed, something similar to a Saw movie scenario. Anyhoo, I used to like Joanna Newsom, but if this is real, not anymore at all.
Thirdly, if this all is not real and some crazy CGI effecty than I take this all back.
If it is true…it is really sick and authorities need to be notified. THIS IS CHILD ABUSE.
I saw this video while scrolling through the Comcast music videos. I’ve been a fan of ”Kids” for a long time now, and was really excited to see the music video. 30 seconds in, I’m cringing and trying to figure out why in the world that poor baby was being tortured. After the mom & baby walk past the bloody-faced zombie, I turned it off. It’s actually terrifying, even to me. I had nightmares because of this, so think of what that poor child is going through. Absolutely disgusting & cruel.
I really liked the “fan made” video that just had the two kids in painted faces singing. It was dope and reflected on the vibe of the song. I can’t watch this video. I’m kind of a wuss and I feel bad for babies. I started remembering things at a very early age so this would have made me panic stricken. Oh well. At least the fan made video has 17 million hits instead. That’s how I want to remember the song.
at very best, they scared the kid sh**less with something else, which is still unethical by any plausible standard. But it doesn’t look like a CGI fx. The argument that the kid won’t remember won’t fly because this treatment thouroughly activates a primal, unreasonable anxiety that you just can’t switch off when you feel like it. MGMT may not define this treatment as ‘harm’ but that’s quite a stretch. If you’re an artist, you can convey your message with different means. This is just criminal. It reminds me of the rumour (denied by all parties) that the producer of Lou Reed‘s ‘Berlin’ locked some kids up in a cupboard, told them their mother was dead and not coming back, and pressed record. True or not, it should be illegal to treat children like this. The makers of this vid better had not ‘lost’ the raw footage without the horror that was supposedly added later, if any sane judge would ask for it.
Children under 5 years of age are unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. So what that toddler experienced he experienced as absolutely real. His brain is not capable of recognizing that this was “make-believe” – and the look of absolute terror on his face substantiates that. I really would like to see charges filed.
I wonder why they would come out with this video so late. It was an interesting video to say the least – not what I expected after watching the first video, or listening to the lyrics.
Disgusting. Criminal.
Shame on you. This is the worst video I have ever seen. Appalling.
Wow sure are lots of soccermoms in here.
Just enjoy the damn video and song people. Christ, end of the f-cking world.
The fan video is much better. The concept of the official video is cool, but frightening a very young child is just morally wrong.
I don’t know if it should be illegal to make a baby go through that. I think the concept is potentially funny, though disturbing. But I do think that what appears to be happening to that kid (which in some shots it appears that using clever cuts, they could have made it look worse than it was, but in other shots I don’t see how you could expect a toddler of that age not to be not only frightened, but truly terrified) isn’t funny and it’s really stupid that as many people as it takes to make a video like this could all be so complacent about it. To me, it takes the humor out of it to know that it was real and it makes me angry. The fact that an independent artist made a video for the song months and months ahead of this (really late) release that was way better, and which did not traumatize a kid, kinda says something as well.
Yeah, I think that baby was probably terrorized. Good thing it was for such a lame music video. It’s not like a human brain makes it’s most rapid development during it’s first two years of life. Totally worth it a**holes.
really i think its just symbolizing how a baby visualizes any outside people and how uncomfortable/scared they are of them.
To droitetgauche, 1/23/10: Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true. The first two years of a human’s brain growth (+ nearly one year of fetal growth) IS the most rapid period of development, and the most crucial to health, though it can go desperately wrong at any other time, too.
General comment: Notice how the child reacts to the ‘monsters’ (strangers, even if he didn’t see them as monsters) grabbing his body and pulling him out of his crib – pure terror. Does MGMT not think that would affect the little one’s emotional health? Starting around 2:10, notice how he seems very unhappy to be in the woman’s arms; even raising him arms to someone off camera to please come get me! I seriously doubt that is his mother – but a parent must have been on set as the law requires, right? How could his parents have condoned this? The actress is clearly a Posh wannabee…or at least that’s what the director seemed to be going after. But to give credit where it’s due, I don’t think Posh and Becks would even dream of doing this to their babies. At 2:32, she clearly drops him (for effect), thereby adding to the negative effects on this baby’s welfare. At 2:42, he’s in panic mode running the gauntlet of monster/strangers. At 3:41, there’s brief moment of relief as he puts his arms around ‘the woman’ but immediately reaches out to someone off camera. Unbelievable how no one stopped this production.
Would be interested in whether there was any prosecution or any child welfare follow-up in this case, if anyone knows.
I probably would of enjoyed it more after a bit more drugs.