Music Critical Studies–Madonna’s Feminist Music and Videos
Over the decades music has really helped in improving the welfare of a man. In addition to enhancing man life music has been used by various people to express the hidden meaning or message which could not be manifested directly. Through music the boundaries of differences among diverse cultures portrayed by different people in the world have been made accessible. According to Lears & Jackson (1985, p. 577) music also play the critical roles in the human life. Through music several artists are bale to express their creativity. Music can be used to send educative concepts to the target audience as it makes education more memorable, interesting and enjoyable. Music has been widely used as a language to pass information all over the world. Alternatively, music unites people and enables the oppressed, marginalized and vulnerable in the society to pass their message (Douglas Kellner, 1995, p. 29). It is through the fundamental roles played by the music in the life of the man whereby this paper seeks to investigate, analyze and investigate “To what extent did Madonna use her music and videos to express feminism?” It is a critical, evaluative and reflective paper: PLAGIARIZED SAMPLE: ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW
According to Madonna as cited by ( Guardian music, 2015) females form the group of the most marginalized in the society. To emphasize on this issue Madonna noted that the empowerment of the feminist rights was even many miles behind that of the African Americans and gay people (Richard, 1997, p. 265). Although she sounded racist and discriminative in this issue, it can be concluded that she was to trying to portray how the oppressive of the women rights was a serious issue. Again, Madonna argued that women were expected by the society and community at large to conform to a certain behavior (Judith, 1990, p. 36). Failure to adopt the same the women were and some scenarios are seen as the outcast of the community (Hallstein & Lynn , 1996, p. 132). For example, in one of the interviews Madonna witnessed that once she produced a video, there would be hullabaloo who produced the same. To avoid criticism and to make the video accepted Madonna had to lie that she co-produced it with another famous and known male artist. This is a true indication of how women were and are despised not only in the field of music but in another disciplines. Furthermore, Madonna courageously declared that she was more comfortable when in the company of the gay community than in the group of men. This is because the gay community treated him with respect compared to the men who only view her as the object to satisfy the sexual desires.
The Madonna’s arguments seem real and applicable in the male-dominated society. It is out of these basis whereby Madonna called for all people to unite in empowering the rights of the females in the society. This can be seen as the part of long continuous journey which has been before, currently it is and in future it will be for fighting for the welfare of the woman in the society. Therefore, this paper concludes that it is from the above mentioned dissatisfactions that fueled and motivated Madonna to jet in this journey of ensuring an equal society for all. To fulfil her ambitions of creating a society where women will have a recognizable place, Madonna used both her music and video clips to advance and spread feminist message not only in the America but in other parts of the globe (Starr & Waterman, 2003, p. 15). Even in the present day some of the feminist messages which were spread by this great musician are still in the fingertips of the members of the society (Tagg, 2009, p. 12).
In some of her famous songs such as “Like a virgin” and the “Material Girl” were widely used to popularize the feminine of the women. These songs got deeply ingrained in the minds of the high schools girls and helped greatly in ensuring the recognition of the women rights within the context of the institutions and organizations. This was beginning of the Madonna’s journey of fighting for the women rights through music and videos. It was in 1980s when Madonna occupied her position in the industry of music and thus her feminist’s messages got the attention of many people including the high school girls who felt more oppressed by their fellow schoolmates and the larger society. For example, in one of her videos “Papa Don’t Preach” got embraced by many teenager girls. The message to this video was that once a woman has admitted has done a mistake in life men should accept her as she is and stop reminding her of her past mistakes. This video was in collaboration with “16 and Pregnant” and it literally denoted that the fathers should not to disown or quarrel their daughters when they have fallen pregnant as the result of teenage temptations (The PBH Network, 2015). According to Madonna by the teen moms were ashamed and it was regarded as the dirty secret yet the rate at which girls were getting pregnancy was very high.
Madonna was determined and her objective of ensuring fair and just society for all the gender types continued to gain momentum as the time progressed (Paglia, 1990). Through her songs and videos Madonna continued to advance the feminism of the women by encouraging women to accept their sexuality and feel free and open to express it to other genders in the society (Gaugler, 2000, p. 5). According to Madonna that was the only way a woman position in the society could have been created and recognized as not only existing but also very fundamental and influential in the society (The PBH Network, 2015). Many scholars and women rights advocators have regarded Madonna as the one who established and implemented liberation of the women anthem. This is because the push for recognition and acceptance of the women rights was not widely appealing as for the case of 1970s and 1980s.
Like any other change which is likely to face resistance from the various stakeholders, Madonna’s efforts were derailed by certain external forces. For example, her video by the name “Justify My Love” was banned from MTV. The allegations were that it was explicitly sexual. However, there are those came for hare defense. Authors such as Cammille Paglia defends Madonna on the grounds that she was a true feminist and was not acting for her own interests but the majority of the American women (The PBH Network, 2015). This video is embraced by many for teaching young American women to be sexual and total female at the same time observing overall control of their lives. Through this video she taught girls that all at the same time they should be funny, aggressive, ambitious, energetic, sensual, and attractive. According to The PBH Network (2015) through her influences on the young women, Madonna actions will be the future of the feminism.
Nothing great comes in a silver plate and thus the Madonna’s fight of women rights has faced many counteracting forces (Gandhi, 2015). However, Madonna seemed to be smart it this field by using her music and videos to convince the critics and conservatives that the women have very critical position in the society. For example, once Madonna created an antagonistic relationship with the press as well as the male pop stars when she published a book titled “Erotica”. To get rid of this Madonna responded in the song and video “Human Nature”. The video portrayed woman as key pillar and an important leader in the society. This video is sexually explicit and thus it has still continued to receive criticism from the part of the society. The continued criticism from the society portrays a true nature that women should be punished when they fail to conform to what is expected of them even if they are exercising the same within the limits of their rights. To prove the position of the feminists in the society, Madonna has been acting the same way the male do and this has created anger to the male artist (Gandhi, 2015). However, this paper notes that Madonna has been doing this to prove that feminism and masculine are equal and hence should have same place in the society: PLAGIARIZED SAMPLE: ORDER YOUR PAPER NOW
Conclusion
Through Madonna’s actions of feminism the girl child is slowly getting her position in the society. She has taught the young girls that it is fine to be like a boy and thus they can dress as their fellow male counterparts. Madonna notes that for a girl to dress like a boy it looks like a promotion but for a boy to dress like a girl it seems disregarding. She attributed this act to the belief by men that women are inferior. Given the fact the girls of the Madonna’s music and videos generation are approximately at the ages forties and fifties they still have that strength of woman. They developed self-empowerment attribute and it is their core responsibility to transfer the same to current generation of young girls. Madonna played her part when there was a need and hence her messages should not be allowed to rot but instead advanced to the many generations to come. From the analysis of the Madonna’s music and video it has come out clearly that she used the same to empower the rights of the women. Through her efforts the feminism has gotten a position in the society and the pride and strength of the women is growing strong within the young women.
References
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