Who is Madonna?

She held the title of “Queen of Pop” repeatedly by the U.S authority music magazine which is the Billboard music magazine. She was recognized in Guinness World Records by holding the highest album sales volume in the 20^th century which totals up to 300 million albums sold in worldwide.

Since 1999 until 2012 she has described as the culture symbol by “Forbes” and remain selected as “the greatest artist of the twentieth century”, “the most successful artists” and “the greatest female in the music world” by numerous magazines and newspapers. She started to create her pop stardom legend since 1982 with her debut single “Everybody” until today.

Her dazzling and outstanding talents has doomed her extraordinary life and brought her to the further field.  Now she not only remain as her successful singer but also as a songwriter, an actress, a businesswomen, an author, a director and a philanthropist.

She is Madonna.

Star theory

Star theory introduced by Richard Dyer, a professor at University of Warwick in 1979. This theory remains apply widely in star image analysis. According to Richard Dyer’s Heavenly Bodies, “stars matter because they act out aspects of life that matter to us; and performers get to be stars when what they act out matters to enough people”, (Dyer, 1986). In more simple way, it means that how society nowadays makes a star and how the society we live now influence by star.

Based on Richard Dyer Stars theory, it basically separated into three distinct types which are

•  Stars as constructed social phenomena
• Stars as commoditized images
• Stars as reflective signs of cultural ideology

Group Collective Opinion of Madonna

In this advance and fast moving generation, things around us are getting more advance then we can imagine. Plenty of things are more built to be more efficient and effective in our life now. Not just our gadgets but it also applies to music. Music, in the early 70s or 80s, the music that composed are normally in slow pace, hardly see pops but time change that and young adults like us these day prefer rock or pop songs. Even time continues to tick, things around us changes but there is one certain thing that does not change which happened in the 80s and today. Public still follow up the news of their celebrities and some even follow their style, thinking that they are following up the trend lead by their celebrity. In drawing attention to new ways of conceptualizing and researching a star ‘image’ (Dyer 1986) There is a theory proposed by Richard Dyer where stars are important to the overall make up of the film industry or other industries because public consume stars by looking at them, their works and activities. According to Dyer, star analysis delivers ‘star image as an intertextual construct produced across a range of media and cultural practices, capable of intervening in the working of particular films, but also demanding analysis as a text in its own right’ (Gledhill, 1991 p. xiv). Furthermore, star has their own life out of the screen where appearance of a star can be in public sphere as well as in the private sphere. There are three categories of how individually think of star as: star as celebrities, star as professionals and star as performers.

Madonna changes her images constantly to realign her musical influences and growth by times. Different era will require different demand in the market. In another way, Madonna changes herself to integrate herself into generation until this new generation. In the early of her life, she is recognized as a star as professionals. At that time, people only know her as a singer. She was also a backup dancer in the 70s and slowly she involved with musician. From there she formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club where she sang and played drum. In 80s, she left the band with her former boyfriend and formed another band, Emmy. They wrote songs together and their music impressed some DJ and record producer. Madonna signed a deal with Sire and her debut single hits in the United States. After that she started to develop her debut album, Madonna. That period of time, her dressing, look and performances influenced large amount of girls to follow her foot step. Later on she achieved global recognition after releasing her second album “Like A Virgin” and continue to develop her performance. That period of time, people knows a little of her background that how she walks in her career to become a famous singer. Knowing a little of her life and her dressing style so people starts t follow her style since that was the trend in that period of time that influenced by Madonna.

That is not the stop of Madonna, later on she transformed to a star as performers instead of profession anymore. In 1996 Evita was released, a movie which Madonna got to play the title role of Eva Peron. It was known that Madonna had desired to play Peron for a long time and she even wrote to the director, Alan Parker, explaining how she would be perfect for the part. This is what she had stated, "This is the role I was born to play. I put everything of me into this because it was much more than a role in a movie. It was exhilarating and intimidating at the same time..... And I am prouder of Evita than anything else I have done." she secured the role and underwent vocal training and also learned about the history of Argentina and Perón. During period of shooting, she fell sick many times because the intense emotional effort required for the movie. However, she told Oprah that she was pregnant during the filming. She was winded after every take and had to lie on the couch every ten minutes so she could recover from dizziness. She was worried that it would injured the baby in some way. Nevertheless, through this hardships, Madonna managed to find a positive side to those problems, which can be found in her personal diary, written: "Ironically, this feeling of vulnerability and weakness is helping me in the movie. I'm sure Evita felt this way every day of her life once she discovered she was ill." After the release of Evita, Madonna once again amaze everyone, her play in Evita has more than just a bit of star quality and with a poignant weariness. She turned to be a magnet for all eyes. Madonna won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the role.

Every celebrities has their hot and cold time, it is hard to maintain at the top and to follow up the requirements of the market nowadays. Madonna is a famous singer and actor in the 90s but later on in the 20s, her role of star started to change from performer to celebrities. She is very famous and a lot of her stories had been published on television news, magazines' articles and so forth. Generation started to change, where there are people still talk about her but mostly not because they prefer other celebrity which is newly born or because young adults these days does not appreciate art. People that influenced by Madonna, they still follow up her news regarding what she is up too and what are her updates in her life. The journalists are reporting more her feelings about her daughter going away to study. Through that, we are able to know that Madonna is a star as celebrities in this generation since most of the youngsters or young adults knows about Madonna through rumors, articles or magazines.

In Madonna's life as a star, she went through all the categories that mentioned by Richard Dyer but it happened  in different time and it gives different impact to the people.

Like a Prayer Video Analysis

We look firstly into one of Madonna’s most famous and controversial music videos, Like a Prayer (1989). At a glance, the video portrays a storyline at which Madonna is a witness to a homicide where a woman is murdered by a group of white men. One from the group notices her and looks at her with murderous intent. Then, a black guy, who also witnessed the incident, ran over to offer help to the woman. While at the same time, the police arrived and the group of white men bailed, causing the black guy to get accused and arrested instead. Madonna, having witnessed the whole thing, ran from the scene of the crime, into a church where she sees a crying statue of a black saint. She approaches the statue and sings:

“I hear your voice,

It’s like an angel sighing,

I have no choice I hear your voice,

Feels like flying,”

The scene shows Madonna’s devotion as a Christian, needing to do what’s right that is hand in hand with the Catholic belief that God is always watching. She then moves to the pew where she lies down and sleeps as the lyrics of the song plays in the background:

            “I close my eyes,”

In her dream, she is falling.

            “Oh god, I think I’m falling,

            Out of the sky,

            I close my eyes,”

She is then saved by a black woman in robes that throws her back up as the line,

“Heaven help me,”

plays in the background. As such, the woman symbolises heaven telling Madonna to do what is right. Still in the dream, she kisses the feet of the statue that now looks like the accused man. He walks out of the gate, and whispers to her,

            “Like a child,

            You whisper softly to me,”

He kisses her forehead,

           

            “You’re in control,

            Just like a child,

Now I’m dancing,”

He walks out of the church, leaving Madonna behind,

            “It’s like a dream,

            No end and no beginning,”

Madonna picks up an Athame,

            “You’re here with me,

            It’s like a dream,”

She cuts her hand, drawing blood. The cuts look like stigmata, yet another religious symbol. The cuts look like holes in which Jesus had when he was being nailed to the cross to death. This may be a metaphor for guilt or sin that she would have if she did not make the right choice.

The visuals are then focused on the choir and moves on to show the actual sequence of the homicide, clearly showing that the black man has been framed. The scene changes to Madonna dancing in front of flaming crosses. Shortly after, the scene is of the choir again, singing and dancing together with Madonna, scenes of Madonna making out with that black man is added in alternating points. She then wakes up, and confesses to the police that the man is innocent and the police releases him.

The video ends with the whole cast of the music video bowing as if in a Broadway show. This seems to show the audiences that everyone has a role to play in life, very much like a theatre performance. In addition, Madonna is shown as a heroine that saves the victim of a misunderstanding because of his race. This is also a portrayal of Madonna’s stand in feminism.

However, the symbolism in this particular music video doesn’t end here, taking the whole video in consideration, we also evaluate the music video to be in support of black rights. The video plays on the existing stereotypes showing to the audience what they think may not always be what are true. Moreover, in relation to racism, Madonna has also used the flaming crosses –a symbol associated with the Ku Klux Klan a white supremacy group that terrorised the blacks during the 1960s, to further emphasise racism. She even went as far as to portray interracial relationships –something controversial during that time, nearing the end of her music video.

Nevertheless, it is not just the hidden meanings about racism that makes the video so controversial. It is the relation between the racial, the religious and of course, sex. In actuality, her song contains a dual meaning, one being of pure religious intent, and the other, purely sexual. (Taraborelli, 2001) This can be seen especially in the chorus where Madonna’s lyrics read:

“When you call my name it's like a little prayer

I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there

In the midnight hour I can feel your power

Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there,”

Another scene that may portray the same relationship is the way Madonna and the statue reacts to one another, added with the make out session near to the end. In addition to this, the combination of the gospel feel of the choir, the pop beat of the drums and base, and the rock-ish sound of the guitar enhances the mysterious feel of the song. This causes the song to have a slightly darker tone despite the gospel feel of the song.

The controversy that this video had created had reportedly caused the Vatican to condemn the video while the religious protested to it claiming that her videos are “satanic”, causing her to also lose a contract with Pepsi. (Macgregor, 2008)

Frozen Video Analysis

            

Moving on to Frozen (1998), we see a significant change in Madonna’s style. It is quite obvious from here that Madonna takes inspiration based on her life experiences and channels it into her songs. Having converted from Christianity to Kabbalah while learning up on Hinduism and Yoga, we see its influence in this music video not only in terms of the composition of the song, but also in the audio and visuals of the music video as well.

The video starts off by showing the audiences a dessert bare of life. The colour schemes, although is a dessert, is cold, just like the title of the song, frozen. We then see Madonna dressed up in complete black with hair dyed black, floating mystically on air. Her hands are decorated with henna tattoos that are normally used in Hindu rituals. In the video, Madonna gestures her hands into the sky, as a gesture of pleading to her cold lover in desperation. (Glauner, 1998) For example, we can observe this when she sings the line:

            “Mmmmm, if I can melt your heart,

            Mmmmm, we’d never be apart,”

 

Interestingly enough, we noticed that Madonna in the music video shares some similarities with the Greek Goddess, Hecate, which happens to be the goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, the moon and dogs –bitches to be exact. Besides the scene of her floating from the ground in the beginning, continuing the lines of the chorus recited earlier,

            “Mmmmm, give yourself to me,

            Mmmmm, you, hold the key,”

We see that there are three apparitions of Madonna. Coming back to the similarities of Madonna in this music video and the Greek Goddess Hecate, Hecate is known to be a triple goddess and is often portrayed in her triple form. Not only that, as mentioned earlier, Hecate is also the goddess of black female dogs, now, we’re not saying that Madonna is one, but pointing out the similarities, Madonna does shape-shift into a black bitch –as well as black ravens, in the video.

In addition to this, we can also see a variable of yoga poses and hand gestures connected to Hinduism. In the middle of the music video, Madonna reveals another henna tattoo, decorated in the middle of the palm of her right hand. It is the symbol of “Om”, which is a mystic and sacred syllable in the teachings of Hinduism. Besides that, the beat and melody of the songs gives off an Indian feel with the bongo’s and drums, at the same time; it carries a futuristic feel when combined with the melodies of the violins and modern synthesisers. It is definitely mellower than her usual up-beat songs. The lyrics of the song are also more direct, for instance in the first verse:

 

“You only see what your eyes want to see,

How can life be what you want it to be,

You're frozen,

When your heart's not open,”

As compared to the earlier video, Like a Prayer (1989), the lyrics are simpler and more direct. Hence, making it easier for audiences to understand, yet, the simplicity of the lyrics gives chance for the melody, harmony and visuals of the music video to provide a different feel to her audiences and fans.

Taking into account both music videos that were discussed, we found that Madonna really is not only a singer, but a business woman as well, that sells not a song or an album, but a concept to which audience may choose to accept or not. It may be safe to say that Madonna knows how much influence she has towards her audiences, and she knows how to use this influence to spread what she believes in.

(INSERT http://www.biography.com/ .../madonna-around-the-world-34341420)

Pastiche of Madonna's Celebration music video

Madonna Louise Ciccone, a famous singer, songwriter, actress, a successful businesswoman and the queen of pop as we known. The video we made is to pay tribute to our queen by follow some of her “celebration” mv dancing moves and the angle of some shots. Besides that we add in a short story to make it more interesting, Madonna “our main talent” is dreaming in class, then she take out her phone and play the “celebration” song…party started.