I remember when Madonna was a rising star and even if you didn't like her music, you had to watch.
The videos, cranking out their steamy controversial sexual and religious connotations. The book, the interviews, the documentary she made, "Truth or Dare" so ahead of its time, way before any reality tv, in which Warren Beatty, her then-lover laments that in Madonna's life, if she can't be filmed, she won't be interested in doing it.
Madonna was so cutting edge that subsequent to her going out there on the publicity limb, there were actual college courses dedicated to her, units of Women's Studies Syllabi that outlined several weeks of working toward a cultural understanding of her influence on women, children, men, relationships, sexual identity, female empowerment, S and M, bondage, freedom, and more.
She is unabashedly attention-seeking in a way that says to me, simply: "Madonna." She uses whatever means necessary to get you to pay attention to her, whether you want to or not. Television, radio, books, tweets, blogs, interviews, ads; I will not be surprised if she comes out with a Miley Cyrus duet or a Whip My Rifle Back and Forth video. To tell the truth, I don't understand what Sarah Palin stands for, at all, and I'm not quite sure she does, either. I only know that she knows that she wants you and me and everyone else, to know her and buy stock in her because, well, she wants you to.
It may be that young women in forty years will study the influence of her "work" as the sun sets on her life and career (although in her eighties, she still may be very relevant).
But for now, let me just say, I will sit on the sidelines and watch and hope that, like Madonna, Sarah Palin too will someday just mellow out and do some yoga.
Aimee Boyle is a writer, teacher and mother in CT. She is a regular contributor to EmpowHER.
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Great response! I like your suggestion for an essay about Madonna's influence on politics... I have a feeling it may already have been done.
Take care!
November 27, 2010 - 4:35pmThis Comment
Interesting take. It's not the first time I've read such comparisons. In fact, I've read comparisons made between Hillary Clinton and Madonna. All of this makes me wonder who the real lightning rod is. Is it possible that, while not a politician, Madonna has had more of an affect on politics than either of these women? That would be an interesting subject on which to base an essay, no?
On a side note, I wonder what the numbers would look like if a serious poll was undertaken regarding a Palin v Madonna race for the presidency. I bet the results would be shockingly close.
November 22, 2010 - 11:31amThis Comment