Textual Analysis Madonna Courtney Chiappa History of Madonna Madonna is an American singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. She was born in Bay city Michigan, from there she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. Her career took a turn, after performing in the music groups breakfast clubs and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983. Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the world’s top-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness world records. (1) Throughout her career, many of her songs have hit number one on the record charts, including “like a virgin", “papa don’t preach", “like a prayer", "Vogue", "Frozen", "Music", “Hung up", and “4 minutes". Many critics have praised Madonna for her diverse musical productions while at the same time serving as a lightning rod for religious controversy. Madonna makes appearances with every new artist of the century, she's played with artists such as, Justin Timberlake, John Lennon, Nicki Minaj, MIA, Cee lo green , Patrick Leonard, Timbaland, Kanye West , LMFAO and Busta rhymes. Throughout madonnas career she has been featured on the front of 29 magazine covers, she is a role model to society, she has been a active model for magazines since 1983-2011and is still doing magazine covers today. She is portrayed as an icon, as she is at the age of 53 and She is still on top of her game. History of Vogue. The song vogue portrays a message of enjoying oneself on the dance floor no matter who one is, and it contains a theme of escapism. Critically, "Vogue" has been met with appreciation ever since its release; reviewers have praised its anthemia nature, calling it a funky and catchy song, and listed it as one of the singer's musical highlights. The music video for "Vogue", showed Madonna paying homage to numerous golden era Hollywood actresses. Shot in Black-and black-and- white, the video takes stylistic inspiration from the 1920s and 30s; in it, Madonna and her dancers can be seen voguing different choreographed scenes. Vogue is a intertextuality song, as it is inspired by vogue magazine, and it is incorporated throughout the song. (3) History of Like a prayer. Like a prayer is known as a confessional record. She described the album as a collection of songs "about my mother, my father, and bonds with my family." The album was dedicated to her mother, who died when Madonna was young. The song uses live instrumentation and incorporates elements of dance, funk, gospel , and soul into a more general pop style. Madonna drew from her Catholic upbringing, as seen in the album's title track and lead single "Like a Prayer". The lyrics deals with themes from Madonna's childhood and adolescence, such as the death of her mother in "Promise to Try", the importance of family in "Keep It Together", and her relationship with her father in "Oh Father“. Madonna also preaches female empowerment in "Express Yourself". Upon its release, Like a Prayer was mostly praised by music critics. Rolling Stone hailed it as "as close to art as pop music gets.“(4) Cirque du Solei is an entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment.” Cirque du Solei was founded in Baie-Saint- Paul in 1984 by two former street performers. Each show is a mixture of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. (5) The Super bowl is the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The super bowl started in 1967 and has been developing ever since. The Super Bowl has often been the most watched American television broadcast of the year. During the super bowl there is a half time show, it is an honor to perform at this Half time show. The Super Bowl halftime show represents a fundamental link to pop culture, which helps broaden the television audience and nationwide interest. Performing at the half time show is good exposure for artists and help them grow as accomplishing individuals. As a whole the super bowl is a worldwide institution. The day on which the Super Bowl is played, now considered by some a de facto American national holiday which is called super bowl Sunday. (6) Media Representations In 2012 NFL Super bowl, the half time show featured Music Icon Madonna. She performed a variety of songs during her debut at the half time show. This was Madonna’s first time performing at the NFL half time show, She performed; Vogue, Like a prayer and give me all your love Madonna creating a multi media worldwide performance that captured millions of peoples eyes. During her performance she featured Cee lo, MIA, LMFAO and Nicki Minaj,. She uses today's pop icons to perform with her to make the performance reach out to different types of audiences she also wants the audience to know that she is in with the new times and creates her own image by using fresh new artists to show she's alive and with the times. During this performance Madonna also partakes in synergy, the super bowl was away to bring her back and make her shine but she also made it away for other artists to shine to, such as Cee Lo, MIA, LMFAO and Nicki Minaj, while also promoting the super bowl, it was all connected. During the performance Madonna is represented in different ways, the first half of Madonna’s performance she was portrayed as a sexy figure with a modernized roman catholic edge, a long with Nicki, MIA, LMFAO she uses intertextuality during this, since she was captured as a roman figure and she brought in pop artists. In the second half of her performance, she was elegant, fragile and mature during her performance of like a prayer. she portrayed different characters for each, to fit the different roles at hand, again creating intertexuality. She was represented in these ways, Roman catholic, cheerleader, sophisticated, sober gown, but still revealing a sexy image to reach out to many different audiences by creating these different roles. This method worked exceptionally well and got positive feedback from her performance. It was refreshing to see she wasn’t just target to one audience but many different so it was enjoyable for everyone. The representations Madonna used were accurate as they appealed to a wide range of people, from teens to old folks. The super bowl performance was a come back for Madonna, being 53, and performing the way she did was spectacular, she was brought back into the spot light after being in hiding. This performance captured a lot of attention, it was exciting and entertaining, it had a twist bringing old music that the older generations knew but using the new multi media technology to spice it up to make it exciting for the younger generations, using new beats, and rhythms. The use of multi media made the audience feel as if they were in there very own music video, it portrayed a bold alive feel and you couldn’t keep your eyes off as you wanted to know what would happen next. The use of a music icon like Madonna who has been a hit sensation since for decades created great feedback. A world wide performance like this really has broaden her horizons and her image as an artist. It was a way to show the audience that music from the 20th century is still alive and can still be performed, with a new edge. Media Language and Forms The beginning atmosphere connotes a powerful image, this portrays the idea that the performance is going to be influential, commanding, by the view first capture of it, the Atmosphere of the first view is prevailing. The use of costumes as one of the key signifiers tells the audience she can be sexy (Vogue, LUV Madonna) at 53 but also classy (like a prayer), she is growing with the times, the beats, the fashion, she Knows how to adapt to the ages. Her stage presents and facial expressions connote the idea that she is a fierce, sexy, powerful women and she knows how to lure her audience in and make them want to see more and connotes the idea she is adapting to the different roles being played, the audience knows when there is a new role because she portrays a unique facial expression and body language to connote what she is trying to say. The music connotes a modernized vibe, they contain her original lyrics with a twist of beats to entertain even the youngest audience member. She uses technology as one of the key signifiers, this portrays the idea she is up to date with what appeals to people, she wants the world to see what’s she is trying to portray visually through mass media. Using dancers and Cirque di Solei as a key signifier connotes the idea that she wanted talent to be shown off, and she wanted to “woo” the audience by bring in dance companies, acrobat companies all to help make a better picture for her audience. The significance of these connotations are that each of her, music pieces, mise-en-scene, technology uses, dancers, facial expression, clothing attire elements portray a special meaning which connects with the over all performance. The final mise-en-scene is the most powerful of them all, it portrays the final message of “world peace” and leaves the audience wanting more, with a mystical ending.