Music Video Analysis

Madonna  - ‘Like a prayer’

I believe that the purpose of a music video is varied and involves many things including portraying a message to an audience, entertaining an audience and most of all promoting an artist/band. However, it could be argued that the sole purpose of a music video is to promote that particular track or song. From my point of view, a music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional and artistic purposes. A music video forms part of a music campaign which aims to raise awareness of the artist and their music and additionally the bigger aim is to make money by the number of purchases and its position in the charts.

Madonna’s music video for the hit song ‘Like a Prayer’ is extremely controversial because it is trying to provoke a reaction from the audience as well as attempting to make them feel uncomfortable. Another reason why the video is so controversial is because it is scandalous, it is outside-the box and it is portraying a different ideology for the artist. The fact that this video is so controversial has meant that it has had a massive impact on society. 

The video is controversial because it involves disrespectful and offensive use of religious imagery and symbols, provocative dancing and clothing in a church, inequality and racism as well as displaying rape/sexual assault. This controversial content has had a massive impact on society as it covers very sensitive topics and it has also enraged many religious organisations as well as offending some cultures and ethnicities.

Madonna is a well known music artist and is considered to be a star according to Dyer’s star theory. Madonna is viewed as a star due to the fact that she fits the common values of stardom including rebellion, sexual magnetism, originality and of course a disregard for social values which led to her extremely controversial music video.

The term ‘star’ refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audience and therefore due to the fact that Madonna has a massive fan base she is considered to be a star.

According to Dyer’s star theory, Madonna is seen as a star in terms of her ideology and the fact that she is viewed as a global cultural icon because of the influence and iconic nature of her recordings, attitude, clothing and lifestyle. Madonna’s ideology is that she is seen to represent women and she is sometimes referred to as the ‘Queen of Pop’ which shows how her ideology has worked harmoniously with that of her target audience and therefore has allowed her to gain a larger audience.

 

Negus’ theory of organic vs synthetic would clearly state that Madonna is synthetic due to the fact that her image has been constructed by the record company, making her appealing for audiences. In terms of the music video, Madonna can be viewed as synthetic due to the fact that she is seen throughout the music video, the main focus of the music video is on her and she plays a major role in the video as well as the fact that she is seen to be wearing a provocative dress and she is dancing provocatively which reiterates the fact that her image synthetic. Additionally, the use of the artificial and bright lighting on her face through the technical convention of lighting displays Madonna as a synthetic artist as this lighting is connoting the she is artificial and fake which reinforces a synthetic image.

The technical conventions used in the controversial music video involved the use of the close up camera angles which helped to build recognition for the artist as well as building up the star image. The connotation behind the use of the close up camera angles is that the focus is on Madonna and that she is the most important person in the music video and it also allows the target audience to see her face and see her dressed up appearance which adds to the star image suggested by Dyer as well as the synthetic nature of the artist suggested by Negus.

 

Additionally, the use of the mid shots and long shots of the camera allowed the audience to see Madonna’s body language and costume which included the use of the provocative dress and dancing which connoted that Madonna insinuates inappropriate sexual behaviour especially due to the fact that this body language and costume is completely juxtaposed gains the use of the location of the church.

The use of the technical convention of the artificial lighting provided Madonna with a glow of perfection and the use of the bright lighting used connoted that she was holy and further represented her as being the ‘Virgin Mary’ which provided intertextuality to ‘Like a Virgin’. The bright lighting used on Madonna contrasted against the use of the dark lighting used for the black characters which created an offensive connotation that black people are inferior and weaker due to the connotations behind the different lighting used.

 

In addition, the technical convention behind the editing of the music video allowed the images to be matched with the pace of the song which emphasised the tempo and the emotion of the music and adding onto this the fact that it was cut in sync with the beat of the rhythm connoted that Madonna was perfect and this added to the holiness created by the lighting.

On the other hand, the symbolic conventions used in the music video are highly specific to the genre of the artist and they embody the ideology of the artist as well as create meanings for the target audience. The use of the immaculate hair and makeup for Madonna connoted that she is perfect and adds to the paradox used in Dyer’s star theory saying that she is extraordinary which makes her more attractive for the target audience.

Additionally, the use of the props in the music video provided contacting connotations. The use of the red rose handed to Madonna by Jesus connoted that she is romantic and in love. However, the thorns on the rose also connoted that she is dangerous and unpredictable which works harmoniously with the controversial nature of the music video. The use of the prop of the knife which Madonna cuts herself on connotes that she is vulnerable in one respect but again dangerous and unpredictable in anther respect.

Generally, the locations used in a music video establish the domain of an artist and are suggestive of where they belong in addition to being familiar to the target audience and usually enable them to identify with the artist. However, the location used in this controversial music video is a church and the the ideology and behaviour of Madonna is not typical for a church nor relatable for her target audience. The use of the church represents Madonna as pure, holy and respectful, however her behaviour, body language and use of costume juxtapose this stereotypical idea of the annotations behind the use of the church. Instead, she is represented as being disrespectful because she is dancing provocatively in front of burning crosses and she is also seen to be kissing Jesus and there is the implication that she has sex with Jesus in the church which is strongly contrasted against the usual view of the connotation behind the location of a church and usual conduct and behaviour of people when in church.

 

The use of the symbolic convention of colour usually represents the mood of the artist. Madonna is seen to be wearing a red dresses and the connotations behind the colour red are romantic, passionate and also sexual and provocative which works harmoniously with the star image created in the controversial music video. Additionally, the use of the black and white provides connotations of a classic artist and the colours black and white are also viewed as being flattering for solo artists, especially in the case of females whose looks are generally perceived as being integral for their success which is true in Madonna’s case.

 

There are a significant amount of semiotics used in the music video which add to the controversy created. The use of the semiotic of the burning cross is seen as being extremely offensive in Christianity as it is viewed as a sign of a death threat for the blacks given by the Klu Klux Klan. This provided serious religious issues and racial issues which added to the controversy of the music video.

In addition, the use of the semiotic of the stigmata which is a Christian tradition of marking your own body to mirror those which were left on Christ’s body by the crucifixion. This is seen when Madonna cuts her hands on the knife and this semiotic is seen as being highly offensive towards the Christian church because it is suggesting that Madonna is holy and the use of the stigmata in the music video could be seen as mocking the Christian tradition which adds to the controversy of the music video.

An example of the use of intertextuality in the music video is the use of bright lighting on Madonna’s face which represents her as holy and the connotation behind this is that it is presenting Madonna as The Virgin Mary and this provides intertextuality to ‘Like a Virgin’, anther one of Madonna’s hit songs.

Additionally, the use of the inequality and racism within the authority in terms of the police and the legal system also makes the music video extremely controversial. An example of this is when the black man tries to save the woman after she is raped/sexually assaulted by a group of white men, however the black man ends up being arrested which highlights the injustice between the ethnicities and the issues with racism which again makes the music video even more controversial due to the fact that it is covering sensitive issues such as inequality and racism. It highlights stigma and perceived social and legal injustice.

 

The music video is also considered to be controversial because it covers taboo topics and it ignited the much alleged but little discussed exploitation by certain unscrupulous Catholic priests and their abuse of children under their care or control.

Overall, Madonna’s music video for ‘Like a Prayer’ has been viewed to be the most controversial music video of all time due to the fact that it displays the issues of racism, the disrespectful burning of religious imagery and also the provocative and raunchy costumes and dancing used in the video. It can be argued that Madonna’s video is viewed as controversial because it attempts and succeeds to provoke a reaction and make the audience feel uncomfortable as well as the fact that it goes against the norm, is highly scandalous, goes outside-the-box and finally it portrays a different ideology of the star.