Growing up, I discovered Madonna by playing an American Idol
video game where my character had to sing “Like a Prayer”. I knew all the words
to the song after a while, but I had no idea who sang it. Later, my mom told me
it was Madonna, someone who she later described as “weird before Lady Gaga was
weird.” I knew about her infamous kiss with Britney Spears and that she had a
song called “Like a Virgin.” My impression of Madonna was that she used to be a
pop star that was ‘out there’ but now she’s trying too hard to stay
relevant. After seeing Madonna: Truth or
Dare, my opinions changed a little bit.
For the first half of the film, I cringed at almost every
scene. Sorry if I sound like a sixty year old, but her obscene dance moves, her
narcissistic behavior and her language turned me off. Not that I have never
seen any of that before, but coming from her made her just sound like a Diva. I
ruled her out as completely crazy. However once the documentary went on, I
finally got her. I understood her. Madonna was and is real. She’s herself.
Although she is very ‘out there’ and unconventional, she has integrity,
artistic ambition, and isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She
doesn’t give a fuck about what people
think, and although at first it can be off putting, it’s actually quite
admirable. She does what she wants, when she wants, and is not fake, which is a
rare quality in Hollywood.
Last night during Drake’s set at Coachella, Drake brought
Madonna out to sing a song. At the end of her song, she made out with him. He
was taken aback, as we all were, and she walked off the stage saying “I’m
Madonna, bitch.” If this had happened before I saw the documentary, I would
have thought who is this grandma kissing
drake? Is she trying to stay relevant? While those thoughts are somewhat
valid, post-documentary viewing I have a new understanding. At 31 and 56,
Madonna is still the same. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks and isn’t going
to let her age get in the way of staying wild. When I saw the kiss I cracked up
because I understand her. She’s still the same Madonna who simulated
masturbation on stage, still the same Madonna who has no filter, and still the
same Madonna who was weird before weird was cool. She refuses to let her age
define her and if it’s something she is comfortable with, why can’t we be comfortable
with it too? Stay crazy, Madonna.
I have to agree with you that the documentary also changed my opinion about Madonna. As much as her crankiness and demanding ways is off putting, she many times has a point with what she is complaining about. For one thing, she had no patience with her stage crew when things like the sound in her headphones went out. It seemed like she was being a total diva, but to her defense she isn't even really complaint for herself. Her point of complaining is to improve the quality of her performance for her fans. She knows people pay a lot of money to go to her shows and she just wants to give them the best show possible. Furthermore, when the Canadian police wanted her to refrain from doing all the sexual moves in Like A Virgin, she didn't just do them to piss off the police she just did the moves because she wanted to give the people the show that they all paid for.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that everything Madonna does is justified, but most of her actions that cause a commotion usually have some reasoning behind it.
While I agree that the kiss with Drake is amusing because of how very "Madonna" of her it was to do that, I think there are some concerning aspects that are important to address.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Drake has said that the kiss was unplanned, which basically means that Madonna never asked Drake if it was okay to kiss him. The point I am trying to bring up is that Madonna kissed Drake without consent and, seemingly, took him completely by surprise. While he doesn't seem to be totally traumatized by this experience, I just want to bring up the fact that, had a male pop start of Madonna's age kissed a female pop star of Drake's age, there would be an uproar about the fact that the kiss was non-consensual.
I kind of feel like Madonna is a "weirdo" who expresses herself freely, but sometimes she does so at the expense of others, and this doesn't really seem to bother her. To me, that is not what a true progressive would do. Someone who is truly progressive cares about and takes into deep consideration the well-being of others and how others will be effected by their actions.
I feel I identified myself with your blog. I have to say I felt the same for Madonna-- before the documentary I think she's an eager to attract all the attention old crazy woman, but as the documentary proceeded, Madonna actually growing on me. In Truth or Dare, there are two scenes that really impressed me about her. When she's on the tour in Truth or Dare, she just turned to her 30s, but she said she regard her dances as her kids. And her being kind and thoughtful to her "kids" has been an motif that goes throughout the whole film. One scene makes me really begin to like her is the scene when she gathered all her dancers' parents to come to her show, and she wanted to show those parents how well her dances have been doing. I felt very touched. She met with her dancers' families, took photos with them... This is the most thoughtful and sweet thing a super star could do for her staff, and this is the easiest thing she could do to make them so happy.
ReplyDeleteAnother motif that makes me like her is whenever she's about to go on stage and performance, she always gather everyone around and pray. When she prays, she always praying so devoutly. I think this is a commendable quality that some huge star like her to adhere to this habit before every of her show. And those praying scenes show us Madonna's serious side, not just the crazy diva on stage.
Yes Madonna's always so crazy on stage. But I think that is what she wants to show us, not necessarily who she really is. After all, she is an artist.
Hey Katie!
ReplyDeleteWhile I definitely agree about the consensual aspect of it, one thing that isolates this situation from other ones is that Drake wrote a love song titled "Madonna", has posted her photo on Instagram praising her, they've flirted online and he invited her to perform on stage with him. Drake said that all Madonna said was that she was going to do something sexual. While he probably pictured a lap dance and not a kiss, I do think that he was completely into it. I hope my response isn't misconstrued into the "he was asking for it" argument, but rather I believe that he's been entertaining the idea for some time now.
But yes, I agree about your second point. She definitely can put others down for the sake of her own amusement and that's not cool at all.