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Dr. bell hooks' cultural criticism of Madonna (NSFW or Madonna-stans due to harsh sayings!) bell hooks starts off nice. And then she goes for the ugly truth. Madonna-stans will NOT like this!
If you think THIS^ was harsh, check out bell hooks' essay:
http://stevenstanley.trip...donna.html
Madonna: Plantation Mistress or Soul Sister? Subversion is contextual, historical, and above all social. No matter how exciting the "destabitizing" potential of texts, bodily or otherwise, whether those texts are subversive or recuperative or both or neither cannot be determined by abstraction from actual social practice.
[Edited 4/22/11 9:53am] [Edited 4/22/11 9:56am] | |
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Never heard about this interview, did Madonna really say that? | |
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http://findarticles.com/p..._17932598/
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They didn't: http://prince.org/msg/8/357450
I was hoping for an objective answer, so much for that | |
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oh tony... she actually goes harder in her criticism of madonna in the essay 'plantation mistress or soul sister'. that's a great one. | |
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Interesting interview.
She must turn........that particular trick. | |
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Chico didn't like any of that shit at all! | |
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i love bell hooks. she so deserves toni morrison/maya angelou type visibility. she can go HARD when she gets started. LOL | |
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I found it! I'll print it in my opening post. [Edited 4/22/11 9:45am] | |
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Here you go:
http://stevenstanley.trip...donna.html
It's very poorly written, but I'm hoping that's just the transcription. She makes some bizarre claims. Her entire argument is invalid anyway because Madonna is a black woman. She had 1 black relative back in the 1700s so according to the one drop rule she is black. I just talked to Halle Berry and she agrees.
*I have no problem with people trashing Madonna because I don't take stuff like that personally. I love her music but I don't care if someone else doesn't like her. I mean, I don't like seafood but some other people do. I'm not going to crticize them for it and adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. I can give an objective opinion.*
As someone with a BA in sociology, I found this article interesting but I think it's poorly written. She doesn't give much evidence to back up her claims of Madonna appropriating black culture. It's all just conjecture that's informed by her own personal experiences that existed long before she ever heard of Madonna.
Besides, if we don't appropriate cultures we'll possibly end up separatists. Appropriation isn't always bad. There's a difference between a white woman wearing blackface and a white woman getting box braids because she thinks it's pretty. "Keep in mind that I'm an artist...and I'm sensitive about my shit."--E. Badu | |
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In the end, what does any of it matter? Madonna was as much a superstar/icon the day after Hooks criticism of her as she was the day before it. Whatever shine she thought she was taking off her name and fame with that silly, sour grapes rant (that turned into an obscure article) didn't work. | |
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That article is bullshit. I'm black and I think Madonna is badass, in fact I think so even more the older I get. You really have to appreciate and respect the fact that this is a woman who worked her ass off to get where she is now, and I like the way she calls all her own shots, is her own woman, does her own thing, and answers to no one.
From one Leo to another, much much respect for Madonna. End of. "I don't think you'd do well in captivity." - random person's comment to me the other day | |
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Well that's only part of the point. Just because someone is famous and successful doesn't mean they aren't immoral or racist or bigoted. Not saying Madonna is, just clarifying that part.
However, this chick took her comment out of perspective and its really disturbing to see someone be castigated so harshly when she didn't even say that. The article I linked above shows the full comment she made and how it was about black men being disrespectful to women in general, the ones she dated anyway, and that they were disrespectful to women because of how much shit they had to take on the chin. That doesn't sound racist to me - it sounds like an honest interpretation of events. She may be right or wrong (and I am sure someone will jump in to tell me how wrong I am cuz I am not black), but its her honest experience and I feel that Madonna is not a liar, not a bigot, not racist, etc. Frankly, I think Madonna is too into herself to have any time to devote to routinely hating on people. | |
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That's a long ass article and I got bored with it but it sounded like "damned if you do, or damned if you don't" to me. If she hates black people, then she's a racist but if she admires and immitates them, she's also a racist.
If Madonna was making racist comments and then turning around making money off of a black sounding music, then I could see a problem. But if she has made racist comments before, I've never heard her and I've never really thought much of her music sounded "black sounding" anyway except for "Everybody" and "Vogue". Andy is a four letter word. | |
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agree. | |
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Off the topic but I thought "Everybody" was the shit back then. I remember DJ's running that song on black stations like it was the latest joint from Donna Summer or somebody. Don't know how well it charted back then on the Pop charts but Madonna started off with mad love on Urban radio. Nobody (or most) didn't know she was white because the single cover didn't have Madonna's picture on it. Frankly most of my friends, didn't care.
I'm done...... | |
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I don't know about y'all but if I was a teen in 1982 and "Everybody" came on the air, I wouldn't have assumed she was "black" at all. I still don't get why they thought she was black... even if I was to close my eyes and hear the tracks, my first thought wouldn't be "damn Diana Ross got a hot new track". And Donna Summer surely didn't sound like that. | |
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Lucky Star was definitely r&b the first time I heard it on the radio in New Orleans. | |
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Wasn't that whole debuted geared toward R&B stations though? I always assumed that considering that Reggie Lucas(of Mtume) produced it. | |
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I didn't think it was "R&B". It was definitely pop to me. In fact, I never considered the first album "R&B". Her only attempt to have an "R&B" sound came with Bedtime Stories even though there have been R&B influences in her music so I'm not knocking that scenario. I just never got that part whenever Madonna is criticized either favorably or unfavorably. She's been a pop/dance artist since day one. | |
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Most of the music for Madonna's self-titled debut had plenty of black musicians involved. Even if you knew Madonna was vocaliy a white girl, those musicians were r&b sounding. I notice that quickly the first time I heard Holiday & Lucky Star. | |
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No. Only "Holiday" was (why? I don't know lol). I don't even think black stations played "Physical Attraction" for example. | |
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Yeah because black always equals R&B. I get it though because of the sound but even if I was to play "I Never Knew Love Like This Before", I wouldn't classify it as R&B, same with Phyllis Hyman's "You Know How to Love Me". One was disco and another was disco pop. They didn't change much of that sound with Madonna. I think anybody could've sung a Reggie Lucas song and hit gold regardless of what the sound was or the color of that artist. [Edited 4/22/11 13:44pm] | |
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That's the way it was in my area. The black stations were the only stations that played it. I think it was originally released as a 12 Inch only before she even had an album out and most 12 Inches didn't have a cover, strictly a sleeve with a big hole in the middle where you could read the label. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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The music sounded "black" or at least like what was being played on black radio at the time. It didn't sound like funk like Cameo or The Barkays or anything like that. When I first heard it, I immediately thought is somebody that released a 12 Inch rather than a full album. Somebody like Freeeze or Libra or something. The music was kind of a "new sound" at the time that was mainly on 12 Inches rather than the traditional funk that was by artists that released albums. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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Good question. Madonna was a dance-pop artist since Day 1, yet needed a black r&b producer to help make a great album. Even during the goldern years of cable TV, they were showing the videos for Borderline & Lucky Star on MTV & BET on the same week!
Correct me if I'm wrong about the exact timeline, but I believe it was also around THAT^ time that Madonna provoked a minor controversy concerning the way she rejected the comparison with Teena Marie. | |
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She did? I had no idea. | |
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Also remember, this was still in the afermath of the "Disco Sucks" music so the majority of "dance" was black and hated by most white people. They were mainly into rock and new wave. If she wanted a dance record, she had no other choice but to go with someone black to help her because the majority of whites (well, at least straight whites anyway) had abandoned it. From what I understand, there was a whole underground white gay "Hi NRG" era that went on in the years after disco died until house took over later. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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Early 1980's black radio stations was defintely open minded. How else can we explain why AND how acts like Blondie, The Human League, Hall & Oates, and Madonna were getting radio play. | |
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Exactly. | |
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