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Four days ago, Madonna released what I think is the best and most important video of her career: God Control.
A nightclub, a typewriter, a gun. These are just a few key elements of this incredible video.
Without further ado, let's jump into the review!
REVIEW
The video starts with a premise: "The story you are about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes of gun violence....but it's happening everyday. And it has to stop". After this we are catapulted in America. It's night-time, we see bloodied dead people lying on a dance floor. At the same time we are inside Madame X's house. She is seen in her room, in front of a typewriter, surrounded by books and three portraits (of Frida Kahlo, Simone de Beauvoir and Angela Davis). The radio is on and we can hear news about a shooting inside a nightclub. As the song starts, she simultaneously types the lyrics.
The scene moves inside an empty church. Many coffins are shown while a children's choir sings "We've lost God Control". From now on, we'll keep going back in time. At 01:28 am, a brutal shooting happens inside a nightclub. Almost everyone is killed and what looks like a younger Madame X is badly injured.
The scene goes back in time once more. It's 01:03 am (25 minutes before the shooting). Everyone is dancing and having fun. We see the young Madame X, she seems to be the most popular and loved girl of the club. We go back once more, it's 10:42 pm and we see her on her way to the club when two strangers threaten her with a gun and steal her jewelry.
The older Madame X keeps on trying to write something about her traumatizing experience but she continuously throws her sheets away and starts anew.
We go back for the last time. It's 09:00 pm and Madame X is in her room getting ready to go out. The TV is on and the news talk about a mass shooting. Lots of people are seen protesting against American gun laws. She briefly takes a look at the TV and then leaves.
The older Madame X is still not able to tell her story.
A quote by Angela Davis is shown: "I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept".
The video ends with a chilling message: "Every year over 36,000 Americans are killed in acts of gun violence and approximately 100,000 more are shot and injured. No one is safe. Gun control now".
ANALYSIS
This video can be interpreted in many ways.
One of the most interesting aspects is the role of the protagonist(s).
Is the disco diva a young Madame X? Is the brunette an older Madame X reminiscing about her traumatic experience? If you notice, she decides to write after she hears the tragic news of a shooting inside a nightclub....and the flashback begins. Perhaps, that news made her remember her own experience and she decided to share it.
Another interpretation can turn younger and older Madame X into two different people. The brunette one could be a writer, a journalist, while the disco diva is the one who dies in the shooting the brunette is writing about.
These two interpretations lead to two simple questions: Are the writing and the shooting happening in the present or are they happening in two different temporal realities? It's up to each viewer to decide. Art doesn't need to be explained, it needs to be discussed and interpreted as one likes.
Based on the intepretation one has, the fate of the disco diva changes. If she is indeed a younger Madame X, the shot of her bleeding, severely injured, visibly shocked but still breathing can mean she has survived in the end. If she is not a younger Madame X, she is a victim of the shooting and the same shot I described a couple of lines ago represents her last moments before dying.
One thing is sure, the brunette is emotionally touched by the shooting and she is not able to express how she really feels, to turn her sentiments into words, for the entire duration of the video.
The sequence inside the disco diva's room is also important.
The poster you see on her wall is directed at straight white patriarchy and the way she briefly takes a look at the TV news is a way to represent our naivety.
In a way, that news was a warning she almost ignored.
In conclusion...
To me this video was incredible.
The brutality and the resulting realness of it are what makes it so important.
Madonna didn't try to commercialize it, she didn't try to make it artistic like she did with "American Life", there are no metaphors in this video. In reality a shooting is exactly like that. Horrible, meaningless and barbaric.
Gun control. Now.
Let your body move to the music
This video can be interpreted in many ways.
One of the most interesting aspects is the role of the protagonist(s).
Another interpretation can turn younger and older Madame X into two different people. The brunette one could be a writer, a journalist, while the disco diva is the one who dies in the shooting the brunette is writing about.
These two interpretations lead to two simple questions: Are the writing and the shooting happening in the present or are they happening in two different temporal realities? It's up to each viewer to decide. Art doesn't need to be explained, it needs to be discussed and interpreted as one likes.
Based on the intepretation one has, the fate of the disco diva changes. If she is indeed a younger Madame X, the shot of her bleeding, severely injured, visibly shocked but still breathing can mean she has survived in the end. If she is not a younger Madame X, she is a victim of the shooting and the same shot I described a couple of lines ago represents her last moments before dying.
One thing is sure, the brunette is emotionally touched by the shooting and she is not able to express how she really feels, to turn her sentiments into words, for the entire duration of the video.
The sequence inside the disco diva's room is also important.
The poster you see on her wall is directed at straight white patriarchy and the way she briefly takes a look at the TV news is a way to represent our naivety.
In a way, that news was a warning she almost ignored.
In conclusion...
To me this video was incredible.
The brutality and the resulting realness of it are what makes it so important.
Madonna didn't try to commercialize it, she didn't try to make it artistic like she did with "American Life", there are no metaphors in this video. In reality a shooting is exactly like that. Horrible, meaningless and barbaric.
Gun control. Now.
Let your body move to the music
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