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Dialogues@RU is published
annually
by the
Writing Program at
Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey
Volume Two
Spring 2003
Madonna: Rebel
With a Cause? - Page 6
by Duyen Pham
Commentary: Neha Bagchi
Response: Duyen Pham
Commentary
Neha Bagchi
Madonna has been one of the most interesting, influential, and controversial icons in music history. Pham writes a fluid and engaging analysis of Madonna's music and the influence it has had on its listeners and on female empowerment. Pham ties together the opinions and analyses of several experts, including cultural theorists John Fiske and Dick Hebdige. Broadly speaking, people tend to overlook how much influence the icons of popular culture have on society, as well as how these icons represent the direction in which society is moving. We tend to trivialize popular culture, labeling it shallow and ephemeral, with no substantial impact on society. It is all too easy to forget that the word "popular" is related to the word "people"-that which is popular is literally "of the people." Therefore, pop culture is a mirror of society as much as elevated literature and cutting-edge technological research is, and perhaps even more so. Pham acknowledges this by exploring the impact that Madonna, the indisputable Queen of Pop, has had on society.
Pham states that Madonna is comparable to Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Pham does not compare Madonna's music to his, which would have been an interesting juxtaposition-the King and Queen of Pop, side by side. Is it only gender bending that they have in common or does their music have shared elements? Michael Jackson does not focus on changing stereotypes of gender and gender-roles. His songs, such as "Stop Trippin'," "Will You Be There," and "They Don't Really Care About Us," focus on stereotypes of people in general and advocate that society needs to be more tolerant of all kinds of people. Madonna's music, on the other hand, has strong currents of female empowerment. "Express Yourself," for example, begins with "Come on girls/Do you believe in love?/'Cause I got something to say about it . . . don't go for second best." If Madonna and Jackson are the Queen and King of Pop, they must have more in common than gender bending, and an analysis of what they have in common that makes them pop royalty would have made intriguing reading.
Pham demonstrates Madonna's powerful message of female empowerment and shows how that message is as relevant today as it was when her music was first released. Pham also shows that today's pop stars, such as Britney Spears, cannot hold a candle to the Queen of Pop. Furthermore, Pham shows how Madonna uses the very elements that hold male-centric society together to create upheaval within that society. Her music videos are charged with sexuality and frequently play on typical male fantasies, but they have a twist: Madonna demands that her love be justified, so to speak. Recent pop icon Britney Spears caters to male fantasies, but there is no twist, as is apparent in the lyrics to her song "Slave 4 U." The Madonna-Britney dynamic is an intriguing angle to explore, but Pham does not go too deeply into it-probably because, as Pham points out, Madonna herself has not made her opinion on Britney completely clear.
While Pham's opinion of Madonna is made more or less clear throughout the paper, she seems most comfortable expressing it somewhat obliquely by quoting expert analyses that express similar opinions. The tone of this paper would have been more assertive had she spent a little more time on her own analysis, using expert opinions as support rather than as a primary focus. Furthermore, while Pham cites sources effectively to prove her points, she does not engage those sources in dialogue. Doing so would have kept the paper more tightly focused, especially since she cites a number of sources. This, together with the lack of a network among those sources, somewhat dilutes Pham's argument.
On the whole, however, the paper is very well researched and written by an author who is clearly involved with and passionate about her topic and thesis.
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