Thursday 27 June 2013
Tuesday 25 June 2013
Wednesday 12 June 2013
Iconic Music Videos - Madonna ~ Like a Prayer
Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' (released March 21st 1989) is an iconic music video not only because of her huge fame and popularity, but because it demonstrates a political message. It also deals with religion, using it to make the audience empathise with the narrative, although it could also be seen as offensive and controversial.
The video depicts Madonna running away from police sirens until she reaches a remote chapel, where she seeks refuge. In here, as she begins to pray, we see that all the statues and images depict a black jesus christ. Even though this song was released in the late 80's, when the extremes of racism from the 50's are gone, there still remains more subtle racism in society, primarily coming form the elder generation. This image is very controversial as not only is there still unfair racial discrimination present at the time, but it has always been said that Jesus Christ was white. Challenging the identity of such an important and respected religious figure is incredibly risky, but clearly a risk the director felt necessary in order to make the audience pay close attention to the video. Another point to note is when Madonna kisses the statue of jesus' feet. She pays almost no attention to the colour of his skin, and continues to pray to him just as the saviour she has always known, treating him no differently - symbolic of her views on racism.
The video also has another narrative, which shows Madonna before she has run to the chapel, set in a town.
As she walks from her apartment, she witnesses several white men attempting to rape a woman and a black man who runs in to save her. As the white men run away, the black man is left at the scene as police arrive, who instantly arrest him without any question, assumingly because he is black. This again relates back to the anti-racism message of the video and shows the flipside of assumptions created by bias white americans.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood-Relax, music video analysis
Iconic as it was banned by BBC due to sexual references
Uses laser lights and smoke perhaps to show how it is edgy and give a 'live' feeling, and reference to laser beam line
Many mid shots of singer-he is the most important
Very little fixed camera shots to keep it moving
Fast editing and often to the beat
Lots of instrument shots to show importance
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