Adele’s Awkward Attempt To Shed Light On Police Brutality
The world fell in love with Adele’s “Hello” video since its initial release nearly a year ago, creeping up to virtually two billion YouTube views to date. But is what we fell in love with the same message the singer attempted to portray?
Vulture published a conversation with the director of the video, Xavier Dolan, early Thursday afternoon (Dec. 8), where he revealed the award-winning singer’s direction in refraining from casting a Caucasian male as her love interest. Claiming that the vocalist felt compelled to include an African-American co-star due to the climate of police brutality at the time of filming, he recalls the 25 artist saying, “I’m concerned with the reality of the tensions between authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out there.”
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The “Hello” visual involves a culmination of frames that rarely include the U.K. songwriter, solidifying a key focus on love interest, Mack Wilds. But the extent to which the video relates to the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality ends simply with the actor/singer’s melanated presence.
It could be assumed that Adele is seeking to paint a picture of assimilated love, therefore offering a positive narrative between the two civilly-disparaging groups. But, this warrants a continuous presence of Adele in intimate scenes, which doesn’t exist. As far as the eye could see, Wilds seems to be imagining his relationship with a supposedly-fictitious Adele. Her intent could’ve also been leaning more towards attempting to eliminate the menacing perspective the aggressor holds against the accused by portraying the “Own It” singer in the most vulnerable of states, in experiencing the topsy-turvy roller coaster of emotions in losing a romantic partner.
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Wilds seemed to be oblivious to his involvement in her conception of the video just as much as we are. In response to a question asked about receiving background info on his character last October, he states, “Not really. A lot of stuff that we did, it was Xavier’s brainchild, so a lot of what we did was very much so improvisation.” Wilds claims that the director urged them to tap into their “past relationships and feelings that would lead to the emotion coming across the way it needed to.”
Following this news, Wilds later took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Dolan’s revelation.
“Black Actor” get the fuck outta here!
— Mack™ (@MACKWILDS) December 10, 2016
if you gonna talk about me, make sure you say my name. it’s Mack Wilds.
— Mack™ (@MACKWILDS) December 10, 2016
i truly appreciate all efforts to help the movement, but if we’re gonna say we’re helping w/ our art, use that art as a weapon.
— Mack™ (@MACKWILDS) December 10, 2016
i was under the assumption we made a story of love and loss. a story that everyone, no matter what race, color, or creed can relate to.
— Mack™ (@MACKWILDS) December 10, 2016
i guess i was wrong. (shakes head.)
— Mack™ (@MACKWILDS) December 10, 2016
Take it back a year and peep the “Hello” video below to be the judge of Adele’s portrayal, or lack thereof the connection between police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.
