Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams video is set in a generalised Africa. Photo / YouTube
Taylor Swift has been accused of presenting a "white colonial fantasy of Africa" in her latest music video that's been accused of racism - accusations the clip's director denies.
Following its release at the MTV Video Music Awards this week, the video for Wildest Dreams has been slammed for having a mostly white cast - despite being set in a nostalgically filtered version of Africa.
Starring a glammed-up Swift and Gran Torino actor Scott Eastwood, the video tells the story of two 1950s-era movie stars filming on location in an unnamed savanna.
Only two black actors are included in the video, playing soldiers who appear in background shots.
Writing for the NPR, Viviane Rutabingwa and James Kassaga Arinaitwe criticised the video for "romanticising colonisation".
"We are shocked to think that in 2015, Taylor Swift, her record label and her video production group think it was okay to film a video that presents a glamorous version of the white colonial fantasy of Africa," they said.
"Swift's music is entertaining for many. She should absolutely be able to use any location as a backdrop," they added.
"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, dehumanised and traumatised millions of Africans.
"That is beyond problematic."
However, the director of the video, Joseph Khan, has hit back at the accusations of racism. In a statement on Wednesday he said the video included black people, was produced by a black woman and edited by a black man.
"We collectively decided it would have been historically 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," he said.
Fyi I say we shot it in "Africa" because I shot it on more than one country. Botswanna and South Africa.
— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) September 1, 2015
My long time producer Jil Hardin who did Power/Rangers, Blank Space, Wildest Dreams is a (super hot) black woman FYI http://t.co/S4Koj7XfsU
— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) September 2, 2015
People have culture war fatigue. Everyone is angry at everything all the time. We're just one long Delete It Fat.
— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) September 2, 2015
It's not the first time Swift has been accused of music video racism: her 2014 video for Shake It Off was accused of perpetuating racist stereotypes.
The video shows Swift crawling between the legs of twerking dancers, several of whom are black.
It was criticised publically on Twitter by Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt, who described it as" inherently offensive and ultimately harmful".
Mark Romanek, the director of Shake It Off, defended the video, saying it had a "humanistic and utterly colour-blind message".
haven't watched the taylor swift video and I don't need to watch it to tell you that it's inherently offensive and ultimately harmful
— thebe kgositsile (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014
perpetuating black stereotypes to the same demographic of white girls who hide their prejudice by proclaiming their love of the culture
— thebe kgositsile (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014
for instance, those of you who are afraid of black people but love that in 2014 it's ok for you to be trill or twerk or say nigga
— thebe kgositsile (@earlxsweat) August 19, 2014
Several other music videos have been slammed as racist in recent years.
Katy Perry's Dark Horse music video caused offence among Muslims with a scene that showed the singer burning an Islamic pendant. More than 50,000 people signed a petition for the video to be removed.
Canadian pop singer Avril Lavingne was ridiculed for her Japan-themed video for her 2014 single Hello Kitty over accusations of fetishising Japanese culture. The singer responded online.
RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video…
— Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) April 24, 2014
Lily Allen's 2013 video Hard Out Here was meant to be a feminist statement, but was also met by accusations of racism.
Black and Asian dancers were shown twerking in the video and having champagne poured on them, while being slapped.
Allen defended the video and said the dancers were chosen for their ability, rather than their race.
Miley Cyrus faced similar criticisms for her 2013 VMA performance and her Bangerz-era persona in general.
During the performance, the pop star slapped the backside of a plus-sized black woman and was accused of using black people as props.
In 2012, No Doubt pulled the video for Looking Hot, after accusations of racism from Native American activist groups.
The video showed band members playing a game of Cowboys and Indians, complete with flying tomahawks.
- nzherald.co.nz