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 "Madonna" and The Madonna: Or, the difference between selling and sacrifice | Carl E. Olson | August 22, 2006  Print-friendly version
Lately I've been keeping an eye (but only one!) on the recent news of pop star "Madonna" and the uproar she's created while touring Europe, notably Germany and Italy. In case you have a life and haven't been following it, here's a summary, courtesy of Elizabeth Lev of ZENIT: The occasion was pop singer Madonna Louise Ciccone's only Italian concert. Like many barbarians of old, she showed no respect for religious traditions. In fact, she exploited the history of sacrifice and mocked the most sacred imagery of Christianity to provide hype for her show. During her number "Live to Tell," she staged a "crucifixion" of herself wearing a crown of thorns on a mirrored cross. As background video, she mixed footage of Benedict XVI together with Mussolini and Hitler.Last week I promised Mark Brumley that I would write a devastating and witty analysis of the entire matter. But I've found it hard to do so for at least two reasons: I find "Madonna" to be incredibly boring, and I'm loath (and I nearly loathe) to do the one thing that keeps her alive: pay attention to her. I'll leave it to readers to decide how devastating and witty my comments here might be or not be, but will promise that they will be meandering and only partially formed. That could be because of some flaw on my part (in addition to many others that won't be broached here), but, again, I think it comes back to the person of "Madonna." Simply put, although I've heard many of her songs (especially the early ones) countless times and have seen many of her videos (after all, I was in high school in the mid-80s, when she first conquered the world), "Madonna" has always bored me. Her music is dull. Her singing is nothing special. Her acting isn't much better. Her greatest talent, simply put, is manipulation: of the media, the fans, even the critics. She once said, "Manipulating people, that's what I'm good at." And: "Power is a great aphrodisiac, and I'm a very powerful person." Well, if you need say so, one has to wonder. The funny thing is that we uptight, right-wing, narrow-minded Christians are supposed to be offended by "Madonna" climbing on and off crosses, having videos with burning crosses, having videos filled with leather and sexual depravity shown or intimated, naming herself after the Mother of God, baring her body in public and in magazines and in books (in fact, an entire book, SEX, published in 1992). But I might be most offended by the fact that "Madonna" has marginal musical talent and no voice and has sold millions of records -- somewhere between 120 and 200 million, depending on who you believe. That's truly offensive! Of course, the advent of music television, videos, and pyrotechnic stage shows in the 1980s meant that the rules changed to a significant degree. Sure, there have always been "artists" who snuck in a hit or two without having any right to sing, play, or otherwise be involved with music. But becoming the best-selling female artist of all-time? That's too much. Yes, Frank Sinatra hung with the mob, was often a jerk and had scads of affairs, but he could really sing. My theory is that M. Louise Ciccone realized early on that she would have to compensate for her lack of talent by shocking, insulting, prodding, annoying, rebelling, offending, and otherwise pestering people who believe that traditional religion is good, sex is for marriage, and certain body parts should remain covered in public. It probably helped that she went to art school, which is usually filled with talentless hacks pretending to be oozing with talent, and that she grew up in the '70s, which featured a form of music -- punk -- "that garnered attention for displaying no musical value at all. She apparently acknowledged her approach by allegedly saying: "I wouldn't have turned out the way I was if I didn't have all those good old fashioned values to rebel against." Even if "Madonna" didn't say it, I doubt she would quibble with it. She was ambitious and she wanted to rule the world of pop music, so it was simply of matter of figuring out how to do it. The answer: sell herself. As The Mojo Collection succinctly notes, "Madonna was one of the first pop stars to blatantly make herself the product." Which meant giving the youth what they wanted: the usual themes of rebellion and alienation ("Papa Don't Preach") and slightly sleazy sexuality ("Like A Virgin"), combined with the persona of a shape-shifting chanteuse meets strutting feminist ("I always want more. That's me. I'm a b----.") who can use and abuse men (and women, if you want to trust certain music journalists) as readily as the members of KISS and Motley Crue tossed aside desperate groupies. And then there is the all-important and perhaps defining quality: abusing and bashing Catholicism. Lev, in her excellent August 17, 2006, piece for ZENIT, writes: From her earliest appearances, Madonna has used Christian imagery to shock the public and boost sales. Wearing a rosary around her neck and flaunting the name of the Blessed Virgin, Madonna was clearly out to get attention. Rebellion against her Catholic upbringing, and most obviously her Father -- in every sense -- worked to put her on the map. She has used Christian themes in almost every album, at times to her own detriment, as when her "Like a Prayer" video lost her a lucrative contract with Pepsi for its blasphemous content.  
Okay, I'll admit it: this is one thing about "Madonna" that interests me. I think her misuse and abuse of Catholic imagery, while obviously purposeful and manipulative, indicates that she continues to try to somehow come to grips with the pull and mystery of Catholicism, the religion of her youth. (Another pop artist, among several, who seems unable to rid himself of the religion of his youth is Sting, whose reflections on the topic are a bit more mature and nuanced than are those proffered by "Madonna.") This is further enhanced by the fact that her mother died when "Madonna" was just five years old. An entry in Wikepedia states: Given Madonna's rebellion against Catholic-based ideals of womanhood, some have found it ironic that she shares the same name as the ultimate symbol of the Catholic ideal of womanhood. Early in her career, many assumed that "Madonna" was a stage name that the singer had chosen for shock value. As a teenager, Madonna rebelled against what she considered an oppressive upbringing but later admitted that Catholicism had remained a central influence. She has said that her first "idols" were nuns, and that she found them "sexy" and wanted to be a nun because they were "really pure and serene".And, later, this: In her music career, Madonna's Catholic background and relationship with her parents has been most strongly reflected in her Like a Prayer album. In "Like a Prayer," Madonna moved away from the dance pop of her previous albums and toward more personal and reflective lyrics, featured songs directly related to her parents and her Catholic upbringing. The video for the title track contained overt Catholic symbolism, such as the stigmata. "Promise To Try" told of her sadness at the faded memory of her mother and her struggle to recall her. "Oh, Father" told of a strict and distant father, who elicited fear in the singer as a child and defiance as she grew older. The video for Oh Father depicts Madonna in a confessional and her father kneeling and praying before a picture of his dead wife. The album ends with the track "Act of Contrition", which contains verses from the Catholic prayer of the same name.The article states, in summary, the obvious but sometimes glossed over fact, "Much of her career has been founded on a rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church." Indeed. It's safe to say, I think, that "Madonna" owes a great deal to the Catholic Church, including much of her career and not a few record sales. Yet, even at the age of 47, she continues to attempt the dark but rapidly tiring art of manipulation and shock, leading one newspaper to wearily but knowingly opine that "she could nail herself to her mirrored cross using stakes carved out of endangered elephant tusks, and there would still be someone doing something on the Internet that made it all that look tame." Time is passing "Madonna" by and soon the unmemorable voice will be -- maybe -- a memory. Such is the life of a pop star. Comparing "Madonna" to The Madonna might seem to be offensive in its own way. But it does present questions worth pondering: What is more offensive today, virginity and holiness, or sensuality and immodesty? What is more countercultural: prayer and contemplation, or self-promotion and self-absorption? What is more needed today: sacrifice and authentic love, or satiation and fervid lust? The Mother of God lived a life that was truly radical, outrageous, and bigger than life. And she did it quietly, prayerfully, and in a way the world mocks as small and pathetic. "All generations will call me blessed", she said, spoken with the awed recognition that God is so great He will stoop to the lowest place and seek the wondering acceptance of a young Jewish girl. Her fiat shook the world, but without the support of dancers, smoke, mirrors, and multiple costume changes. And it continues to reshape the hearts and mind of men and women the world over. If the Rosary were a CD, how many copies would have been sold over the many centuries? If the Magnificat was a single, how many times has it been sung and heard over the past two thousand years? In her hit song, "Like a Virgin," "Madonna" lilts: "Gonna give you all my love, boy/My fear is fading fast/Been saving it all for you/cause only love can last." In her great song of praise, the Virgin Mother proclaims, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden..." The anti-Madonna sings of "love" and offers the mirage of herself. The true Madonna sings of God and offers the gift of her Son. That's what I call music to my ears, my heart, and my soul. Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles: • Immaculate Mary, Matchless in Grace | John Saward • The Medieval Mary | The Introduction to Mary in the Middle Ages | by Luigi Gambero • Misgivings About Mary | Dr. James Hitchcock • Mary in Feminist Theology: Mother of God or Domesticated Goddess? | Fr. Manfred Hauke • Assumed Into Mother's Arms | Carl E. Olson • The Disciple Contemplates the Mother | Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis • Mary in Feminist Theology: Mother of God or Domesticated Goddess? | Fr. Manfred Hauke • Assumed Into Mother's Arms | Carl E. Olson 
Carl E. Olson is the editor of IgnatiusInsight.com. He is the co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code and author of Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? He has written for numerous Cathlic periodicals and is a regular contributor to National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor newspapers. He resides in a top secret location in the Northwest somewhere between Portland, Oregon and Sacramento, California with his wife, Heather, and two children. Visit his personal web site at www.carl-olson.com. |
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