Madonna Does Justin Timberlake, NYC
George Shakapopolus (11): “Gee, I’m bored. When’s Madonna gonna get here?"(Photo Courtesy Mel Toast)
Stanley Kohinki (12): “Don’t hurt me, Madonna!” (Photo courtesy Mel Toast)
Put Justin down Madonna, You're Old Enough to be His Mother
Is Mother-of-Three Madonna going to extremes to “keep herself relevant in the youth obsessed pop world” by resorting to plastic surgery and a constant, punishing fitness regime” and by taking to live, sexual simulations onstage with guys half her age?
Bumping and grinding with 27 year-old Justin Timberlake at Friday night's performance at New York City's Roseland Ballroom while promoting her new recording Hard Candy, Madonna guzzled champagne and did her trademark dominatrix, dance magic on a guy who’s at least half her age – yes, THAT Justin Timberlake --- a mere boy, an innocent youth who’s had passionate, intense and serious relationships with such high profile entertainers as Cameron Diaz and Brittney Spears. Madonna’s seductive moves demonstrated that the ageing, Pop Diva Dorian Gray can still hold court, however controversially, live on stage.
Everybody just have sex, who cares how old we are, with who, how old they are, or who watches. It’s no secret that Madonna has mastered the exhibitionist theatre of erotic song and dance. Yours truly is a big fan of Madonna from the Borderline days, when, IMHO, she did her best stuff and kept it real. To this day, I can only marvel at her amazing discipline and moves, and she seems to be keeping up the vocal coaching and yet, has Madonna become a caricature of herself? Has she placed herself so far above and beyond her would-be fans that they can never, like some resurrected, divine icon, experience what her otherworldly afterlife could ever look or feel like?
What kind of signal does Madonna send to other women her age without access to plastic surgery and personal trainers, much less a desire for this lifestyle? Whatsmore, how do her “suggestive” performance moves serve as a role model for teens navigating a culture of increasingly confused and self-obsession? Was Madonna’s recent performance bawdy and vulgar or was it brilliant and inspiring?
Is Madonna the “Hillary” of Performance Pop? Why does Madonna offend so many people? The performance-savvy Madonna arguably substitutes a dominatrix vibe for true audience rapport which is, by definition, the manipulation of her art. Her intention is not to strike a common chord or to engage her real-people audience, much less pretend to be a role model but to make all those bad, bad boys and girls and dads and moms and others, ala dominatrix style, marvel at her multi-costumed, audacious moves. By controlling the vibe, she loses any empathy she might have otherwise gained had she not distanced herself from her audience. Likely, this is what rubs so many people -- including parents of teens the wrong way --- the fact that Madonna knows she’s getting away with stretching the boundaries of conventional mores, thrusting them in the faces of the world’s parents and their kids while she goes home and plays mommy like everybody else.
Now, if this were the young and controversial Amy Winehouse who makes no pretense about where the line is between her performance and lifestyle choices, she’d certainly find more communion.
As one commenter sums it up:
“What I find most irritating is her hypocrisy - she says she doesn't allow her children to watch TV, yet is prepared to behave like this for other people's children to watch.”
-2Truthy
2 comments:
Hear, hear for that last statement. Thanks to people like Madonna, us parents have to keep our fingers glued to the remotes in order to change the channel at a moment's notice.
She used to have the goods, now her performances have been reduced to cheap moves (which she mistakes for art) and self-conscious, self-gratification. She had her day and is now trying to compete with Brittney Spears & crew.
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