Madonna 'Like A Prayer'

‘Like a prayer’ was released in 1989, as an attempt by Madonna to re-establish her brand image, as before her target audience were of a younger generation, and her music belonged to the Pop genere. the Idea behind the music video music the song, was to give her a new, grown up and iconic fashion image, however this backfired, and ‘Like a Prayer’ is now considered one of the most controversial music video ever, due to its excessive use of juxtaposition of religious iconography and sexualised behaviour. In the video there are depictions of a Black Jesus, Madonna reciting lyrics that connote sexual activity, and she also partakes in sexual activity with the racial diverse saint, in church. The images and lyrics are constantly emphasised, resulting in interpreted themes of Sex, along side disgraceful depiction of both Religious and racial stereotypes.

First we will focus on the racial and to and sexual aspect that was considered inappropriate. First of all there is an objectification of Females, depicting Madonna as a rape victim, the narrative is used to visualise women as a sexual object, as she is attacked by several white men, at the same time, her costume contains connotations of the theme of Sex, in the form of a tight fitting and revealing dress, and bed hair. Her Costume is worn throughout the video, and is most often worn in Church, where the straps of her dress come down to her shoulders on several occasions, further emphasising the theme of Sex. Her costume, is also a dark red colour, red in media has connotations of lust, and love and temptation, in religious terms, its the colour of the devil and evil, like in media. During the scene she is at the knees of a statue of the black deity, the lyrics, Diegetic dialogue, “I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there”, can be interpreted to further emphasises the theme of Sex, at the same time she is speaking to a racial interpretation of Jesus, and in a church, which is one of the reasons the Music Video is So controversial.

Now for the Racial Connotations, Madonna is rescued by a black man from the white rapists, the man is also the music videos depiction of Jesus. After discovering and tending to her he is caught by police and becomes the scapegoat for the rape and attack. This may not seem controversial, it depicts police brutally to an extent, and how people base their opinions and make judgement on stereotypes, i.e. black people commit crime, and this can be seen as a brutal yet fair challenge of societies attitude. But the next scene, we see her dancing in front of Burning Crosses, these props would be viewed as a representation of Black Hate and the KKK (Klu Klux Klan),  this might be interpreted in a way that defines Madonna as a racist or, if you included all the other offences she has caused by poorly representing the Church, using sexual and racial connotations to create new and highly offensive impressions of both the African community and the Church. The mise-en-scene and character positioning in this part of the video, doesn't fail to be controversial, as it connotes to black and white stereotypes, as well as subverting them, in ways that would be found offensive.

Finally, there is further use of sexual connotation, the music throughout, has matched the action going on in the video, at points that should be viewed as positive or of good nature, there is upbeat non-diegetic music playing, and at times which are negative or connote ad nature, the music is deeper and reflects evil, which explains why she is standing in front of the crosses, when evil music is playing, it can be seen as a representation of what her opinion is on the way of thinking adopted by white power groups, which we can gather, by the tone non diegetic melody, is a negative opinion. even though character positioning would suggest otherwise. 

In conclusion, the Music Video, has many mixed representations, as it has several different depictions which can be interpreted in different ways, Madonna being a racist, disrespecting the church and so on. However, the overall message would suggest that Madonna is disgracing racism, and was attempting to depict african Americans in a better light, and how her victimised character, saw the man who came to her aid, as her saviour, by depicting him a Jesus. Obviously due to the conventions my people took the music videos interpretations and metaphors seriously, so much so that the Pope, banded Madonna From coming to Italy. But if you consider the representations and the technical aspects used, the suggested message is the one that we my use most appropriately.