HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/anarchy/essays/schoolsucks/likep1.txt

Text File | 1996-04-27 | 6KB | 86 lines

       An Analysis of the Video "Like A Prayer" by Madonna

       Madonna first arrived in the national popular culture in 1984 with
       her song "Borderline". She moved very quickly in the ensuing years
       to make several records (many of which have gone multi-platinum)
       and to take several world tours with sold-out concerts, and has
       caused quite a bit of controversy in what she has done in the
       public eye.  Examples include posing nude for Penthouse magazine
       (and announcing afterwards that she was not ashamed for doing it),
       marrying (and subsequently divorcing) actor and media-avoider Sean
       Penn, creating a fashion trend (which was primarily popular with
       teenage girls), and making truly atrocious movies which the
       critics hated and the people refused to see (the only two
       exceptions are Dick Tracy and Truth or Dare, her controversial yet
       fascinating self-documentary about her tour of the same name). It
       seems that Madonna seems to enjoy attention, good or bad, and it
       seems like she feeds on her own controversy. Her songs, and the
       music videos which accompany them, are no exception to this.
       However, the things she does and the images she projects requests
       contemporary society to reflect on itself, and to possibly
       re-create itself in innovative and inventive styles. Perhaps she
       always breaks with convention because she sees things in a
       different light than the rest of society. This essay shall focus
       on the video which accompanies the title track from her 1989
       album, "Like A Prayer," which certainly had its share of
       controversy.
       Probably the most startling image in the music video was that of
       several burning crosses on a lawn or a hill. These crosses were in
       the background, while Madonna was facing the camera and singing.
       When I saw the music video for the first time, this particular
       section of the video made me sit up and intently watch my
       television screen. The first things I thought about were, "She's a
       very outspoken woman for doing this! Boy, she's got a lot of
       nerve! I believe she was raised Catholic, and she's making a
       mockery of the Catholic Church by doing so! The Pope would be
       offended, to say the least!" The radical approach to dispose of
       any religion (or a person's religious or pious fervor) is at least
       shocking. The cross is the symbol of Christianity and all it
       stands for. Seeing the cross engulfed in fire -- which symbolizes
       (and is) a destructive force -- would be very disturbing for
       anyone to see, Christian or not. I sat up and took notice, and I'm
       not even Christian -- I am Jewish. Furthermore, the fact that
       Madonna is singing in front of the crosses (and consequently, not
       doing anything to stop the crosses burning) implies that she
       condones cross-burning. This thought asks three questions. Does
       she also condone the Ku Klux Klan, which also burns crosses? Does
       she like the idea of religion and/or atheism in any way at all?
       Does Madonna believe in God? These are all very deep and probing
       questions, which can only be answered truthfully by Madonna
       herself.
       Another small piece of the music video showed Madonna kissing a
       black man. While I personally feel that love is blind and has no
       boundaries, a vast majority of America cocked an eyebrow to this
       scene. In recent years, a television situation comedy and a major
       motion picture have both built on interracial relationships as the
       core of the storyline. "True Colors" was on the Fox Network, built
       around a black man married to a white woman. Spike Lee's movie
       "Jungle Fever" also had a black man and a white woman. Lee's
       reason why he did a story of a black man and a white woman (and
       not a white man and a black woman) was that the white woman has
       been stereotyped to be the essence of all beauty, and that the
       black man has been stereotyped to be a stud. (It is true that
       films and television shows have been made which focused on
       relationships between white men and black women; an example is the
       film "Soul Man.") Does Madonna have any feelings for men of other
       races? Should America care? Knowing Madonna's sexual liberalism
       (she "confessed" to having partial feelings for women in an
       interview), has she and/or will she seek out alternative methods
       to satisfy her sexuality and her sexual curiosity?
       Both Madonna and the controversy she causes are interesting to
       watch. The public keeps a sharp eye on what she does because she
       is an outspoken individual who knows how to market herself to the
       worldwide media. She always strays from the norm, and she always
       gives her brash opinions on particular establishments, and acts on
       those opinions afterwards. Many people have many opinions about
       her, and many people speak their mind about her. This is what she
       likes -- to listen to people talking about her. She loves the
       attention and uses it to her advantage. My opinion of Madonna is
       that what she doesn't have in pure talent (and I think that she's
       a little lacking in the talent department), she makes up for with
       creativity, controversy, intelligence (she attended the University
       of Michigan -- called by some to be the best public school in the
       nation) and sexuality (she is an extremely beautiful woman -- I
       saw her Penthouse layout) to literally guarantee an audience. It
       is for this ingenuity that I respect her.