Vulgarity, The Vatican, and Virtue
It seems that since the dawn of time, women and sex have been dubbed mutually exclusive. Rather illogical don’t you think? God forbid a woman embrace her sexuality, let alone, weaponize it. Society has always been rather smart in that sense, always on a quest to never quite let a woman recognize her power. Time has passed, and feminine energy has been recognized as the “divine,” but this has been and will continue to be fought for.
If anyone weaponized controversy the best, it was inarguably our queen of pop: Madonna. Her 1989 music video “Like a Prayer” was a cultural reset, but also a cultural wake-up call. Evidently, burning crosses, a black saint, and a story about sexuality, love, death, and rebirth were “not okay.” The backlash from the video earned her a rebuke from the Vatican and led Pepsi to pull a $5-million ad campaign with the pop star.
The “Like a Prayer,” music video articulates the power of visual rhetoric, proving to be iconic, as ever with Madonna. In the clip, our pop queen is a witness to the murder of a white woman at the hands of white men. A black man intervenes and attempts to help the young lady following the assault, holding her in his arms. Almost immediately we witness the innocent man arrested by the police for the murder in place of the culprits. Our icon is seen to hide within the church, deliberating as to whether or not she should come forward. During this time, a statue of a saint in the church who purposefully resembles the arrested man is seen to come to life. Madonna kisses the saint and experiences stigmata. The rest of the clip consists of Madonna rather whimsically dancing with a gospel choir and through a field of burning crosses. The viewer however is left on a note of resolution, with our queen of pop visiting the police station to declare the young man’s innocence. Inarguably the audience is greeted with an explosive and much-needed comment on societal curses, a very layered one.
The words of director Mary Lambert, looking back on the project, provide an insight into the creation of such a transcendent video. Lambert has stated that she “wanted to explore the correlation between sexual ecstasy and religious ecstasy,” also famously stating that the idea of having a Black man play Jesus “came from Madonna telling [her] she wanted to ‘f*ck a Black guy on the altar.’” This then led Lambert to state “Well, why not have it be a Black Jesus? Let’s just go all the way.” The result led us to be blessed with the impactful work of art “Like a Prayer.”
It is known that the use of the burning crosses was an intentional comment on the KKK and their ability to rebrand and weaponize a religious symbol into one of race hatred. Again, not something unseen within history. However, the video, quite literally, burns this ideal and calls it, along with many other issues, into question.
Rather poignant, Madonna’s own personal struggles and thoughts are very much felt within the song and the “Like a Prayer” album as a whole. Here, much more than before, her fans were able to deduce the icon's inner voice and connect to it to a deeper level than before. Markedly, she has stated that “Sometimes I'm wracked with guilt when I needn't be, and that, to me, is left over from my Catholic upbringing. Because in Catholicism you are born a sinner and you are a sinner all of your life. No matter how you try to get away from it, the sin is within you all the time.” As much as the singer was no stranger to controversy, it is not to say that she is unfamiliar with branding and its effects. All of this only humanizes such an influential figure, and perhaps is also why many feel such a strong connection to the singer, she is not unafraid to show “struggle.”
Of course, this was not the only dose of controversy the star was met with. Her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990 featured a simulation of masturbation during the performance, however this bold declaration of female power, pleasure, and expression was not embraced with open arms by all. This time the voicing of displeasure came from none other than the police who threatened to arrest her.
Some of her most powerful and controversial looks include that of her Jean Paul Gaultier black and gold nipple tassels, featured during her 1978 “Whos That Girl?” tour. Her choppy and slightly wild hair allowed the look to come together as something which was spunky yet chic.
One would be a fool not to include a look from her trailblazing 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour. Her embellished and goddess-like beaded bra and headpiece were at the very least captivating, arguably echoing and developing on another icon, Cyndi Lauper. Madonna’s hand gestures seem to be a nod to Hindu Deities, with her influence from many cultures being a thread throughout her career.
Her 1990 performance of “Vogue” at the MTV Awards featured the singer dressed as Marie Antoinette. Her intermittent flashing of her garter belts to the audience throughout the performance articulates a reclamation of power in regard to women of a different time, individuals who suffered many forms of repression, especially in regard to sexuality. This look, therefore, is nothing less than a feminist statement, and incites discourse around many stigmatizations on women's sexuality throughout history and internationally.
For her 1991 Cannes Film Festival debut, Madonna was seen to walk to the top of the red carpet stairs in a large pink satin jacket which she then removed to unveil a cone bra and underwear. Lady Gaga’s 2019 Met outfit somewhat echoes this idea of a performative entrance, and a layered multi-outfit outfit, if you like.
Not long after the birth of her son, and just when the public eye thought that perhaps she was succumbing to more maternal energy, in 2001 we were blessed with a reminder that the queen of pop would never dim her flame. The graphic top redefines societal perceptions and stigmatization around motherhood and what it looks like. We are taught that it comes with a diminishment in individuality, sense of self, self-expression, and expression of sexuality. Here, we were politely reminded to shrug all of that off from none other than our iconic queen.
Her decades of activism for the LGBTQ+ community, from the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis to the present day, are almost indescribable and endless in their depth and care, and yet another reason why her legacy must be documented. She experienced great loss as a result of the disease; grieving for her close friend Martin Burgoyne only furthered her urge to help, along with many other instances. From the New York benefit dance marathon to her aid in helping Ellen Degeneres feel confident in coming out, she proved to be an individual who understood and impacted many, a true icon. The 1999 MTV video music awards featured a drag tribute to Madonna’s career and some of her best looks, a truly enigmatic and beautiful moment. During the performance, Madonna famously stated “All I have to say is it takes a real man to fill my shoes.”
It is clear then that Madonna utterly paved the way in a multitude of ways for all who dared to be different. Without her, who knows where we would be now? Most importantly, she unapologetically reminds us all that true beauty is derived from raw individualism.
In her own words, “I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.”