Thursday, February 9, 2012
A female reaction to the wars? Patriotic or not?
The other day in class, Dr. Metres mentioned that most of the artists who wrote and performed songs in the aftermath of 9/11 were males. I thought about it and later on that day Madonna's song, American Life, came to my mind. I was not sure if it was in some ways related to the attacks or the wars because I had only seen it when I was still living in Armenia and was only 13 so I did not recall much about the specifics of the video nor the lyrics. I just always loved the song since it was about America, (or at least had American spirit in it,although I never understood it before from lack of English- I have been dreaming of America from age 5!)So on Monday I revisited the song and the video and noticed that it was released in 2003. I find the lyrics a little confusing and don't quite understand her positive/negative attitude about being American. I just find it relative to what we are talking about because in the video we can see models in army uniforms and there is a lot of reference to wars and violence. I also find it interesting where the Middle Easterns kids walk on the runway?!. I feel almost as if this song, compared to all the other songs we heard before a little too different because to me it strikes as less patriotic and more or less negative. Again, I do not quite understand the whole meaning behind the song and the video, but I do believe it is related to the wars because of the factors mentioned above. I just would like to get my classmates' views on this song and maybe their understanding of the song/video.
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Wow. I only watched this once, though I think it would repay multiple viewings. Let's just say that if Madonna had performed this at halftime of the Super Bowl, the performance would have generated more (and more useful) discussion than did Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction.
ReplyDeleteI just think that she is deeply criticizing the American lifestyle, especially the rap part. And I find it very ironic that most models were male and she, a woman, was a warrior. The video just absolutely confuses me. I think she succeeded in making a mess with everything that was going on in 2003 in addition to her viewpoint on the lifestyle, which she, herself was living; the American Dream.
ReplyDeleteThis was certainly hard to watch. I couldn't play it again after seeing the ending. At first, I thought it would just be a shallow Madonna video with revealing BDUs and a dance scene. The song takes a complete turn toward the end, starting with the children taking to the runway and then running away from the "scary" American soldiers. This is very risky territory for Madonna to go into. Mostly because the truth is usually very hard to watch. I'm not saying the video's criticism of the military is 100% accurate, I believe in our military and what we're trying to do, obviously. But there is the element of American materialism which is more prominently being criticized here. People are dying, soldiers and civilians, and most people worry about having their latte and their five stylists and what did the Kardashians do this week? I think that's what this video is truly about, the lack of awareness and caring in our country. It's very powerful, very risky, and very honest, I think.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that this video is nothing but an “extreme,” publicity stunt. If she honestly felt that the American dream was wrong, as clearly inferred from her rap, she shouldn’t be living the life on some beach right now.
ReplyDeleteWar is terrible, no doubt, however when Madonna decides to define her own personality type for the soldiers of Iraq she is stepping out of line. She portrays dumb, scary men as soldiers yet most American soldiers are bright, stand-up young men.
I can shake off her extreme views/statements, but I can’t shake off the blatant disrespect to the men in Iraq. They are doing as their told, to the best of their ability to ensure our safety. That is where Madonna is out of her element…no doubt.
This video was Madonna performing for media and to grasp the attention of America. I'm not saying that it was correct, especially using her own views to depict what an American soldier looks like. To the viewers who watched this video and enjoyed it, there will be a permanent stature that they will adhere to when he or she visualizes an American soldier in their mind. To me, that depiction is totally incorrect and disrespects our soldiers. To depict a soldier as "scary" when it ultimately takes a great deal of intelligence and leadership to become a soldier is somewhat disheartening.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Dr. Lauritzen: "Wow." The thing that struck me as the most shocking is the series of subliminal-like images about three minutes into the video. Accompanying the profanity, "fuck it," pictures of explosions and a gloved middle finger flash quickly across the screen. After these images appear, chaos ensues on the runway. The video shows soldiers warding off the attacks of enemies, a scene interrupted by photographs of helpless children suffering the brutal and violent consequences of war.
ReplyDeleteI think that the statement that Madonna makes is something to the effect of the haphazard way she may believe the American government responded to the attacks. I interpret that Madonna may assume that President Bush took a "fuck it" (excuse the language; Madonna's words, not mine) attitude--meaning something along the lines of: "They attacked us; now let's attack them” mentality—when deciding to go to war. Among these images, Madonna sings about a person concerned with soy lattes, yoga, and Pilates—an American completely consumed by the culture, unconcerned with the war at hand.
I think she intended for the video to be a wake-up call to anybody who has a "fuck it" attitude in response to the war. However, in classic Madonna form, she probably also intended to get base attention for making some controversial video, as she always does.
This video absolutely shocked me. I do agree with Dr. Lauritzen. I can not even imagine how America would react to this video during the super bowl. I was slightly confused though because Madonna's message at the beginning of the video seemed to differ towards the end. This video went from a fighting society generalizations and "normal" societal problems to the war on terror in a flash.
ReplyDeleteI was also slightly confused about the costumes and like her trying to portray women as men but she also talks about self image which tends to be more of a female problem.
I couldn't tell if she was trying to be supportive of the women or she is just not caring about what is going on in the world and with the war.
Even though this is a great video and brings out a lot of controversial issues I feel it would have been strong if she stood by one argument and really emphasized one of the many issues she has in her video