So Miley, Wanna Be Madonna?
Put a TV camera on her and she twerks, tokes, and thrusts her tongue at will, but Miley is a lame simulacrum for Madonna, who actually had something to say
Oh, Miley, Miley, Miley, all grown up, with her crotch-wedgies and erect tongue. A booty that won’t quit …. twerking. And don’t look now, but there she goes lighting up a joint at the European Music Awards on live TV. Ho-hum.
Girl is trying so hard to shock us, for shock’s sake — well, okay, for the sake of promoting her album, too — that it’s just … making my heart hurt. We’ve seen this before — many times before — and I guess we have Madonna to thank. After all, Madge planted her freak flag a decade before this child was even a twinkle in Papa Billy Ray’s eye. But something — you might say, everything — has gotten lost in the translation: It’s not just about being provocative. You actually have to have something to say, something to rail against. Maybe I’m missing something, or simply having trouble parsing out a deeper message, but from where I sit, all I can see is a kid using loaded sexualized and racial imagery not as social commentary (not wittingly, anyway), but instead in a flatulent manner, as if she’s just discovered sex and swear words and is detonating these little fart bombs in front of any audience she can seize.
Now, I don’t want to over-idealize Madge, because it must be said there were some people (including fans) who grew weary of her after awhile — she was a nonstop freight train of publicity stunts and nip slips. But there was a cultural context for Madonna, who had a lot to say when people needed to hear it, about sexuality, religion, and race. She emerged during the height of the AIDS crisis, a time when the word “gay” wasn’t even uttered by our own president. Her Catholic church-baiting, gender bending, same-sex kissing images and acts were calculated, thoughtful conversation starters, yielding years of academic papers and books, and sparking outrage and many boycotts. And spawning many, many imitators — Madonna wannabes, as we used to call them. Like Britney. And Christina. And Gaga. And, of course, Miley. Some got her more than others. But no one has been as searing or had a greater influence on the culture as the original.
Here is a small sampling of her outrageous TV appearances and music videos that, if not always the most controversial, are certainly iconic, and got people talking. Ms. Cyrus, take note. This is how it’s done:
1. “Like a Virgin” performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, 1984
It arguably begins with this scandalous live performance. Madonna appears in a trampy wedding dress and her signature “Boy Toy” belt buckle, singing her number-one single, looking like she’s being ravished against an enormous wedding cake by an invisible lover. Soon, she’s stripping off layers of her bridal taffeta, and … there it is: She’s dry-humping the stage. Madonna might be like a virgin. But after this performance, we all lost our virtue. Together. Je ne regrette rien.
2. Madonna and Sandra Bernhard on Late Night With David Letterman, 1988
Madonna, who was starring on Broadway in Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, surprises Letterman when she joins her then-BFF (and then-regular Letterman guest) Sandra Bernhard onstage. The two boast about hanging out in gay bars, most notably at the Cubbyhole (back then, it was the hot lipstick-lesbian haunt), and if you listen carefully between the giggles, Sandra intimates that the two are sleeping together. Lesbians across the country were blushing their faces off — this was a HUGE deal!
Sidenote No. 1: The two are wearing what is essentially the ACT-UP uniform — white T-shirts, cutoff jean shorts, white socks and black shoes — another queer signifier.
Sidenote No. 2: Can you imagine Madonna dressing in something so casual on TV today?
3. “Like a Prayer,” 1989
Madonna originally wanted this video to relate a story about an interracial couple being shot down by the Ku Klux Klan. But she was eager to incorporate religious themes into it. Here she manages to hit all the notes: religion, race, and, as ever with our Material Girl, sexual ecstasy. The story opens with Madonna bearing witness to the murder of a young woman. She is paralyzed by fear; a black man tries to help but is arrested for the crime. Madonna runs to a church and prays to a black saint in a cage, who has tears running down his plaster face. As she falls asleep in a pew, she has a dream that includes, among other images, the saint kissing her on the forehead, her slicing her own hands with a knife, and her singing and whirling around in front of burning crosses. She ultimately flees to the jail to tell the cops that the man is innocent of the murder. Okay, so she’s just a touch self-aggrandizing. But the video served to infuriate the religious right, who cried blasphemy and successfully derailed her $5 million deal with Pepsi, which was using the song for their new ad campaign.
4. “Justify My Love,” 1990
Filmed in the Chelsea Hotel, this gorgeously decadent, faux-retro black-and-white surreal video imagines a woman telling her lover (played by gay-porn star Tony Ward!) about her sexual fantasies (The song’s lyrics:“Tell me your dreams, am I in them?/tell me your fears, are you scared?/Tell me your story, I’m not afraid of who you are”), and features, among other things, androgynous habitués in sexual role-playing and same-sexy snog sessions, light BDSM, and voyeurism, and remains one of the edgiest — of hers, of anybody’s — in mainstream pop (not to mention exquisite). So edgy, apparently, that MTV banned it — making “Justify My Love” a best-selling video single (on VHS!) — leading to a huge uproar. Madonna went on Nightline (full interview posted below) to defend the video against her censors and those who believed that she was merely a publicity monger. She argued that she was consciously fighting against the surging wave of conservatism in the country — the nation was two years into Bush Sr.’s administration, following eight years of AIDS-denier Ronald Reagan; the religious right were more powerful than ever; and the culture was under siege by people like virulent, unabashed racist and homophobe Senator Jesse Helms, who believed AIDS was God’s punishment toward the gays. Madonna was purposefully raising the stakes with each video, expressing herself because she could — while she could.
Nightline interview, December 3, 1990
5. “Erotica,” 1992
She tells us her name is Dita, she’ll be our Mistress tonight. Madge, sporting a gold tooth, a mask, and a whip, gets all dominatrixy, and, per the lyrics, takes her object from behind, pushes herself into his or her mind … and, ooh, boy. Boys are kissing. Girls are kissing. It’s an erotic free for all. And guess what? The song and the video — directed by fashion photographer Fabien Baron, scandalized everyone. Not least of whom, the Vatican, who banned her from entering the state, and the music from being played on the radio stations there. A more explicit version was aired Europe and Australia, and featured the pop star totally starkers. And an uncensored cut made the rounds, which left nothing to the imagination: fellatio, anal sex, bondage, nudity (not just her), as well as scenes from the photo sessions from her coffee-table book, Sex. Which you probably wouldn’t put on your coffee table. “Give me love, do as I say, give me love and let me have my way, give me love and let me hit you like a truck, give me love and I’ll teach you how to ….” And … moan.
6. Madonna, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott, at the MTV Video Music Awards, 2003
Britney and Xtina — Mousketeer rivals — pay homage to the woman who literally set the stage for them, singing “Like a Virgin” until Madonna appears and shows them who’s boss, and changes the tune to her big hit of the moment, “Hollywood.” Move over, girls, you will now serve as the backup singers and playthings to the Queen of Pop. Madge pulls off Christina’s garter, waltzes and bumps and grinds with them, and, most famously, gives each of them a vampiric kiss on live television. Camera cuts to Justin Timberlake, Britney’s ex-boyfriend, who looks like he’s either getting turned on or trying to calm his acid reflux. And it’s a rational response because it’s hard to tell whether Madonna is anointing her acolytes, or sucking the life out of them. Few remember that Missy Elliott then joined the trio onstage because everyone was still reeling from the weird sapphic, mother-daughters moment just seconds earlier. A decade later, I’m still trying to figure out what to think about it. Which is a testament to the power of Madonna. With all due respect to Ms. Cyrus, I don’t know that I’ll remember anything about the young girl even a week from now.
I watch these videos of Madge now, and I remember vividly how shocked and excited I was whenever she released a new album, a video, or had an appearance on TV. It was always an event. That led to a conversation. A debate. And more than a few term papers in college (and, for my academic friends, MLA papers and books). And a love-hate relationship, that, for me, at least, always made me fall back in love.
