Capeneka

Alexander Capeneka

HIST153

Dr. Thomson

13 August 2017

What is so Controversial About Madonna?

It was in 1982 that the pop culture icon Madonna scored her first big hit, Everybody.

Soon after that she went on to record her first full-length album, Madonna, in 1983 (Madonna).

According to Biography.com, the album was a slow but steady success, and included the hit

singles Borderline, Lucky Star and Holiday. It was during her appearance on Dick Clarks

American Bandstand, that she stated her main ambition was to rule the world. Her intensity

and her determination was apparent during her 1985 follow up album, Like a Virgin. This album

hit No. 1 on the Billboard Chart and went platinum within a month (Madonna). In becoming

such a huge success, what made Madonna so controversial? Was it her openness about sexuality?

Was it the use of race, ethnicity, and religion in her music videos? Her use of contradiction

between these topics, is the main reason why Madonnas work is not only iconic and

controversial still today, but also why it is important.

A big reason many find Madonna so controversial is because of her open display of

sexuality. From her music and videos to the clothes she is wear (or is not wearing), it has always

been a big part of her image. As stated in Gary Burns and Elizabeth Kizers article Madonna:

Like a Dichotomy, Madonna's initial renown came from her sexual display--the "Boy Toy"

belt, her suggestive dancing and poses, her underwear and scantily clad-ness, and song

about virginity (Burns 4). The then go on to describe how in her music video for Like
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a Prayer, race and religion are prominent concerns, but the video really takes the cake by

combining them with sex.

Madonna was controversial when she started out, and continues to cause controversy still

today. She changed culture through her music and her image. Her use of stirring controversy is

what makes her an important face in music and cultures history. However according to

Madonnas Billboards Women of the Year speech, the most controversial thing I have done

was to stick around.

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Works Cited

Biography.com Editors. Madonna. Biography.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Apr. 2017

The online biography of the life of pop icon Madonna. Beginning with her early

life through her entire career up until the present.

Burns, Gary, and Elizabeth Kizer. "Madonna: Like a Dichotomy." (1990).

Students in communication classes find it useful to study Madonna because she is

a fascinating and prolific cultural figure whose merit and intentions are matters of

great controversy. As the quintessential music-video star, she is also perhaps the

medium's most significant auteur. In the areas of women's roles, motherhood,

sexuality, race and religion, Madonna critiques and challenges widespread beliefs

while at the same time reinforcing some of them. In her video "Like a Virgin,"

Madonna carries her trashiness to an extreme as she both mocks what the female

is "supposed to do" as a bride and seductress and at the same time usurps the

aggressiveness that is "supposed to" be the male's prerogative. She is in a sense,

both male and female. According to Rosemary Kowalski, Madonna has provided

a useful corrective to the feminism of the 1970s in her suggestion that it is all

right for women to dress like women. In almost every video, there is at least one

sequence in which Madonna writhes on the floor or ground, crawling, or

assuming an otherwise prone position. Further, in the area of race, Madonna,

unlike other rock stars, makes her interracial themes so explicit that the viewer

cannot overlook them. This forces the viewer to accept or reject her images--
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although because of her radical critique of religion, viewers may reject them on

the grounds of "blasphemy" when in fact they may be responding to her portrayal

of African-Americans.

Childs, Chris. "The Madonna Connection. Representational Politics, Subcultural Identities, and

Cultural Theory." Musicology Australia 16.1 (1993): 70-1. Print.

Icon of popular culture, image-maker and modern woman: Madonna has

permeated our consciousness through mass media hype and an almost continuous

process of news stories and photo opportunities. Madonna's success can be

considered in commercial terms and from the perspective of cultural theory: the

impact of the Madonna phenomenon is analysed through interpretations generated

by readings of her texts. Next to Bugs Bunny, Madonna is probably the most

effective corporate symbol currently in the possession of Time- Warner (p.306).