Madonna Needs To Grow Up Instead Of Blaming Men
It's in vogue to blame men & esp. white men, but racism & sexism like that don't solve anything - they perpetuate the problematic, irrational thinking that causes emotional suffering. To be accountable takes humility &honesty & maybe honesty from friends (not sycophants enabling)
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) February 20, 2021
I tweeted the above and in my mentions was this 2017 Camille Paglia piece from the Hollywood Reporter on Madonna's self-pity:
In December, at the Billboard Women in Music Awards in New York City, Madonna was given the trophy for Woman of the Year. In a rambling, tearful acceptance speech that ran more than 16 minutes, she claimed to be a victim of "blatant misogyny, sexism, constant bullying and relentless abuse."It was a startling appropriation of stereotypical feminist rhetoric by a superstar whose major achievement in cultural history was to overthrow the puritanical old guard of second-wave feminism and to liberate the long-silenced pro-sex, pro-beauty wing of feminism, which (thanks to her) swept to victory in the 1990s.
Madonna's opening line at the awards gala was edited out of the shortened official video: "I stand before you as a doormat -- oh, I mean a female entertainer." Merciful Minerva! Can there be any woman on Earth less like a doormat than Madonna Louise Ciccone? Madonna sped on with shaky assertions ("There are no rules if you're a boy") and bafflingly portrayed the huge commercial success of her 1992 book, Sex, as a chapter of the Spanish Inquisition, in which she was persecuted as "a whore and a witch."
I was singled out by name as having accused her of "objectifying" herself sexually (prudish feminist jargon that I always have rejected), when in fact I was Madonna's first major defender, celebrating her revival of pagan eroticism and prophesying in a highly controversial 1990 New York Times op-ed that she was "the future of feminism."
But I want to focus here on the charge of ageism that Madonna, now 58, leveled against the entertainment industry and that received heavy, sympathetic coverage in the mainstream media. Her grievances about the treatment of women performers climaxed with this: "And finally, do not age, because to age is a sin. You will be criticized, you will be vilified and you will definitely not be played on the radio."
First of all, lack of radio airplay may indeed hamper new or indie groups, but in this digital age, when songs go viral in a flash, rich and famous performers of Madonna's level fail to get airplay not because of their age, but because their current music no longer is attracting a broad audience. When was the last time Madonna released hit songs of the brilliant quality of her golden era of the 1980s and '90s? Lavish, lucrative touring rather than sustained creative work in the studio has been her priority for decades.
The truth, if Madonna can dare face it, is that she is having a prolonged midlife crisis like that of many great stars of the past. It is particularly painful for her as a dancer whose disciplined body always was her primary expressive instrument.
...Hollywood, from its birth a century ago, has glorified beauty because sex appeal is big box office, attuned to the dreams and desires of the mass audience, both male and female. That the cult of beauty is not based on misogyny is proved by the centrality of beauty to the cultural code of sophisticated gay men from ancient Athens and Renaissance Florence to Oscar Wilde's London and Andy Warhol's New York.
...If aging stars want to be taken seriously, they must find or recover a mature persona. Stop cannibalizing the young! Scrambling to stay relevant, Madonna is addicted to pointless provocations like her juvenile Instagrams or her trashy outfit with strapped-up bare buttocks and duct-taped nipples at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala in May. She has forgotten the legacy of her great precursor, Marlene Dietrich, who retained her class and style to the end of her public life.
...Women in or out of Hollywood who dress like girls and erase all signs of aging are disempowering themselves and aggressing into territory that belongs to the young. They are surrendering their right of self-definition to others. Men are not the enemy: They, too, are subject to nature's iron laws. For the sake of its own art, Hollywood needs less sex war, not more.
Man, I miss the days when Paglia did a lot of interviews and appearances. Her shtick feels worn out only to those who think it's shtick. Those of us who think she's a profoundly astute and well-read academic could use a few words every month or three as we track this profound global dynamism.
Crid at February 20, 2021 11:01 PM
"It's in vogue to blame men . . ."
No pun intended?
Patrick at February 21, 2021 4:36 AM
A rich, famous, entitled whiner. So she had to compete in a back stabbing business to get to the top. Boo fucking hoo. You got the money, luxury, and comfort so shut up and enjoy it.
Jay at February 21, 2021 5:34 AM
She should have gotten an Oscar for Evita.
Maybe should have thrown a fit about that, and not this made up b.s.
Isn’t Paglia persona non grata for not being a Hillary supporter? Plus she might have once said something nice about Trump that wasn’t memory holed after he left the Democratic Party?
Isab at February 21, 2021 5:54 AM
I like the idea of Madonna being old and pathetic more than I hate being old (though beloved) myself.
(Wiki says I'm 8 months younger.)
Y'know, if you're deeply-middle-aged (i.e., about as old as the woman herself) and you like GOOD melodies, and enjoy a GOOD singing voice, and can at least comprehend GOOD dancing, you spent years of your earliest adulthood wondering why the kids were so impressed with this nimbus. (Someone once noticed that people her own age cared about her the least.)
The Nimbus doesn't seem to understand that there's no talent or authority required for woke achievement. In Wokeland, if a six-year-old once resented being told to eat their green beans at the dinner table, then they've earned their stripes… just as much as a war hero tortured in captivity, or a falsely convicted criminal in solitary, or a black civil rights marcher savaged by police dogs.
But young Wokies don't know who this person is! That's fantastic! It calls to mind one of Amy's frequent sayings, that one should leave the camping grounds cleaner than one found them.
Nobody remembers Madonna! Her cohort is unsullied.
Crid at February 21, 2021 6:24 AM
Older men, though, that's different.
Crid at February 21, 2021 6:36 AM
(Someone once noticed that people her own age cared about her the least.)
That's practically universal. Even in the 1940s, I doubt there were very many fans of Sinatra who were born before 1930. (He was born in 1915.) My grandmother was barely younger than he was and called his music "sappy." She felt the same way about Bing Crosby (1903-1977).
Also, the Beatles were all pre-boomers, but how many screaming fans THEIR age or older did you ever see in the B&W footage on TV and elsewhere?
That is, members of the Silent Generation probably slowly came to like listening to them on the radio, but not enough to buy the records, necessarily.
Lenona at February 21, 2021 8:49 AM
I was wondering if we could have a Georgia O'KEefe of music.
I think one of the problems is, as they age, rock stars still try to capitalize on youthful hotness and rebellion. That doesn't age well.
I feel like there might be some beautiful songs out there about aging. Maybe about loneliness, the fear of decline, etc. Not getting visits any more. Frustrations of having to be a caregiver for elderly parents. I think there are lots of themes out there that could make powerful songs.
NicoleK at February 21, 2021 10:26 AM
No she should NOT have gotten an Oscar for Evita, they had to change the keys for her because she couldn't hit the notes.
NicoleK at February 21, 2021 10:28 AM
The problem is that modern rock and pop music have always been media for youth and do not age well. No one wants to see a grandma writhing on stage in skimpy outfit as she sings about feeling like a virgin.
Sinatra could grow old and still draw a crowd, not because he was a white man, but because he was a crooner; and hearing an old man sing wistfully about a lifetime of regrets or about a long-lost love doesn't squick anyone out.
The Stones draw a crowd because people can't believe Keith Richards is still alive, and want to see it for themselves.
Conan the Grammarian at February 21, 2021 11:24 AM
I had heard Evita so many times, I knew most of the score by heart. One of the lyrical changes I noticed was during the song "Rainbow Tour," which was changed to "She's Our Lady of the new world with the golden touch."
I was wondering why they changed that line. Then I realized, there would have been some inappropriate tittering if Evita sang, "She's the new world Madonna with the golden touch."
She also took over the mistress's song, "Another Suitcase in Another Hall," which I always assumed was because that song was regarded as one of the best in the score, and Madonna just couldn't have someone else singing it.
Patrick at February 21, 2021 12:09 PM
I feel like there might be some beautiful songs out there about aging. Maybe about loneliness, the fear of decline, etc. Not getting visits any more. Frustrations of having to be a caregiver for elderly parents. I think there are lots of themes out there that could make powerful songs.
_____________________________________
There certainly HAS to be more than one - I hope. Namely, John Prine's Hello in There.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=doUI6cWbz_U
(audio only - check out Joan Baez's cover as well)
Lenona at February 21, 2021 12:10 PM
Didn't she use to be famous or something?
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 21, 2021 12:22 PM
Sorry, I meant USED to be famous.
Although I'm sure you do have to USE someone to claw your way out of New Jersey and into the international spotlight.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 21, 2021 12:26 PM
Conan: No one wants to see a grandma writhing on stage in skimpy outfit as she sings about feeling like a virgin.
Or indeed telling her papa not to preach about her decision to keep her child despite not having a partner to assist her in raising it.
Call me prudish if you want, but I always felt that song was romanticizing single motherhood. And I always wondered how many teenage girls still in high school made decisions they would come to regret because they were influenced by Madonna, who, let's face it, had undue influence over teenage girls. Terribly irresponsible.
Patrick at February 21, 2021 12:27 PM
Goldberg did another column a few years later:
Glad that kid could make a resolution and really stick to it.Crid at February 21, 2021 12:49 PM
This is too many comments about Madonna, but just now figured out that the reason her fresh a-wokedness is especially irritating is that it's late in the game for her to share a personality. The biggest years of her career were about vapid presentations to teenagers enchanted by superficial appearances.
That she's expressing an opinion, a WOKE one, about Camille Paglia after the good professor has been writing about her for three decades is just preposterous.
Crid at February 21, 2021 12:58 PM
Try Sinatra's "It Was A Very Good Year." It wasn't originally released by the Kingston Trio, but Sinatra took it over and made it his.
Conan the Grammarian at February 21, 2021 12:58 PM
Before I forget, funny story about Madonna.
In the early 90s, Madonna had sort of a Marilyn Monroe phase going on. She did her hair blonde and in the style of Monroe, adopting her whispery voice, and her oblivious sexuality.
My then eight-year-old niece happened to watching television while an old Marilyn Monroe movie was playing. After a few minutes, my niece chuffed indignantly and said, "She's just trying to act like Madonna!"
Patrick at February 21, 2021 1:03 PM
Failed to correctly post a comment earlier, to the effect that Patrick…
> Terribly irresponsible.
…is perfectly correct:
Crid at February 21, 2021 1:06 PM
"Women in or out of Hollywood who dress like girls and erase all signs of aging are disempowering themselves and aggressing into territory that belongs to the young."
Hear, hear! Young is young, you can't vampire off of youthful vitality and fresh beauty, as hard a truth as that is to accept as you age.
Madonna! When you were in your twenties and thirties and full of juicy youth and then super-stardom---how much of your artistic expression and power did you devote to showcasing post-menopausal women? Hmmmm? How many seventy+ year old men/women did you hook up with? You now complain that the formula you followed to such success in your earlier years is no longer producing the same results. Sexism? Ageism? Again, how much attention did YOU pay to older artists in terms of featuring them in your sex-saturated, vibrant shows and videos?
RigelDog at February 21, 2021 1:14 PM
No she should NOT have gotten an Oscar for Evita, they had to change the keys for her because she couldn't hit the notes.
NicoleK at February 21, 2021 10:28
Last I checked an Oscar isn’t strictly a singing award. I’m sure you will be able to tell me (without looking it up) which memorable actress won that year and why her performance was objectively better. Right?
Isab at February 21, 2021 2:00 PM
Worth noting that Eartha Kitt — whom Madonna shamelessly copied — adapted her sex kitten and gold digger persona successfully well into her 70s.
Kevin at February 21, 2021 2:54 PM
I don't think Nicole K was suggesting the Oscar was a singing award. Only suggesting that Madonna's inadequacies as a singer forcing them to adjust the music undermines her performance.
Of course, they also considered Michelle Pfeifer for the role. She can't sing, either.
Other contenders included Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, both at least passable singers.
Patrick at February 21, 2021 11:47 PM
I don't think Nicole K was suggesting the Oscar was a singing award. Only suggesting that Madonna's inadequacies as a singer forcing them to adjust the music undermines her performance.
Of course, they also considered Michelle Pfeifer for the role. She can't sing, either.
Other contenders included Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, both at least passable singers.
Patrick at February 21, 2021 11:47 PM
What I’m suggesting Patrick is that the Oscar is supposed to be a judged competition. I’m somewhat familiar with music and performance having a mother who judged piano competition for most of her adult life and taught voice. Scores are often altered to suit the range of a singer, and I don’t find it a disqualifier especially since there is so much more to an Oscar than singing.
I think for the last fifty years there has been more than a bit of woke politics in both the actors and films that are nominated and those that win awards.
While I personally find most of these people including Madonna a horror show of empty headed platitudes, I don’t let my personal opinion of them color my enjoyment of their work, or my judgements about their merits.
Michael Jackson had one of the finest voices of the age. Too bad that he was most likely a sick child molester.
But excuses will be made, because he is of the correct ethnicity.
Isab at February 22, 2021 5:35 AM
> Oscar is supposed to be a
> judged competition
It's basically a trade show. The judgment is from second-tier lighting technicians and craft service people (i.e., coffee in styrofoam cups & bagels) who live in the Valley. They especially like to give trophies to people and studios who provide lots of work.
It's grease at every level: Had you ever heard of "Emily in Paris"? Me neither.
Crid at February 22, 2021 8:55 AM
This is a recognized problem as old as modern entertainment. Seems to me there are some old black and white movies about elderly washed up movie starlets who go mental.
All those in the entertainment community are apparently not as fair and nice and socially justice-hip as they say they are. Madonna has been able to surround herself for years now with all the sycophants money and fame could buy, and she still isn't happy with the emotional environment she finds herself immersed in, as she continues to deteriorate and age (just like the rest of us).
Of course, if it's such a pervasive problem with all her contacts in the industry, maybe it isn't her femaleness and age that's the problem. Maybe it's her shitty attitude.
ruralcounsel at February 22, 2021 9:15 AM
The Another Suitcase in Another Hall thing pissed me off too, but they always do that for Musical movies. Sound of Music cut Max and the Baroness's song. Funny Girl cut Henry Street and other funny songs sung by people who weren't Fanny Brice. They pretty much always cut any song not sung by the leads.
NicoleK at February 22, 2021 10:26 AM
Don't hold your breath waiting for humility from Madonna.
iowaan at February 23, 2021 1:30 PM
Leave a comment