Skip to main content

Madonna's Banned Music Video

The music video of Madonna's lead single and album title song "American Life" was so controversial, it was banned because of how explicit and shocking it was. Because of the controversy, there are 2 music videos for this song, both directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The second video is heavily censored compared to the first one, with the singer simply lip syncing in front of various national flags floating in the background. The original video is centered in a fashion show that is themed around the American military and slowly progressing to show shock elements, even including gore, to portray the cruelty of war. Even the directors cut that I have linked is missing one of the last scenes which portrays the singer throwing a hand grenade at George W. Bush, him catching it and using it as a lighter to light his cigar, which is one of the main reasons that this particular video was banned.
The lyrics talk about Madonna's political and religious views. How the American dream is a sugar coated aspiration and the way it contrasts with the fact that America was built on years of oppression and wars that the US has participated in. This contrast is made apparent by comparing the lyrics describing Madonnas idea of the American dream with the gruesome and impactful visuals. In a rap part of the lyrics, especially hated by critics, she is listing all of the material things that she has acquired thanks to fame and riches, saying that she already lives the dream that many people moving to America aspire to, making it her reality. Billboard described it as "One of Madonna’s first bona-fide flops, certainly by her standards...it was the object of derision for her stiff, silly rap in the second half where she rhymes “latte” with “shoté” and “MINI Cooper” with “super-duper” and “trooper.” No one wants to hear Madonna rap about her lawyer, manager, agent, chef, nannies, assistant, driver, jet, trainer, butler, bodyguards, gardener and stylist. Not then, and not now." In comparison, the music video shows the ugly side of war. Rather than displaying national pride and praising the American troops as heroes protecting the country, it explicitly portrays both American soldiers and innocent middle-eastern citizens suffering in war.
As a result of the political situation in early 2003 and the war in Iraq, Madonna never officially released the original video. She explained: "I have decided not to release my new video. It was filmed before the war started and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time. Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video." The song itself has been called one of the worst songs of all time by critics despite positioning number one in many countries, both fans and critics seeing it as a flop that caused other songs on the album to be underappreciated. But now that it's been 18 years from release, I think it deserves more recognition for it's explicit message of peace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yayoi Kusama - Infinity Mirrored Rooms

The "Infinity Mirrored Rooms" are a series of works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. They are immersive artworks incorporating the viewer and all sorts of artistic additions taken from Kusama’s incredible imagination. Her recent piece, ‘Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life’, shown here at the Tate Modern in London, features a dark room with hundreds of twinkling LEDs, reflected in a shallow pool of water, with the walls and ceiling covered in mirrors. The galaxy-like lights are reflected in the room of mirrors. As a result, the viewer is transported into an otherworldly space that seems to go on endlessly. This work is incredibly immersive. The viewer travels through the space by following integrated walkways, they may shift and change position and view of the work in order to better see it and understand it. In contrast to the typical experience of viewing art in a gallery, Kusama’s work escapes the canvas, taking overseemingly huge amounts of sp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vincent Van Gogh - Flowering Plum Tree - Mental Health, Genious and Japonism

Van Gogh, together with his brother Theo, participated in the craze of collecting cheap ukiyo-e prints. To quote The Guardian: “The artistic relationship between the European avant garde and Japan in the 19th century is one such cross-cultural flow. There’s plenty of evidence that the (mostly French) artists who laid the foundations of modernism were obsessed with the images of Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and other masters who took popular, brightly coloured woodblock printmaking to a zenith of sophistication in 18th and early 19th-century Japan.” We can find evidence of this very easily, as you can see Van Gogh's ukiyo-e collection portrayed in many of his artworks, that do not necessarily have anything to do with Japan. The walls of his studio were covered by an assortment of oriental prints. A good example is his incredibly famous “Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear” from 1889, painted two years after he recreated Hiroshige’s garden scenery. Behind the artist...
Post a Comment
Read more