Desperately Seeking Madonna?

Desperately Seeking Susan was not my cup of tea. I thought it was tiresome and not funny, with the exception of Gary who was idiotic and one dimensional (aka stereotypical) which was the reason he was so funny. All the men were not too smart actually (which wasn't a downer for the film just something I noticed). Jim was just a sucker for Susan and Dez (which all I could really focus on when he was on the screen was his really amazing blue eyes) was a sucker for Roberta in many ways and didn't even realize when she was telling the truth because he was in such a daze of being with her. "I never know what you're gonna say next..." (I kind of feel like they tried to reverse the typical roles of male and females in relationships here) The main character, Roberta  annoyed me throughout the whole film. Why are you stalking Madonna aka Susan? That's just creepy to begin with. I did enjoy the fact that through the whole experience Roberta becomes her own person and gets away from Gary, and also how Susan and Roberta team up in the end. The ending sort of paid off for the annoying story line.

Something else that helped out the film was Madonna. My expectations on the film were also confused like some others in the class. I thought that she would be the starring role but she wasn't. I feel like if the film had focused on developing her character more it would have been better, but I realize that really wasn't the point of it. Madonna already was a huge superstar before the film was made so it wouldn't do anything to boost her career like Purple Rain did for Prince.

However, something similar between the two artists is that they definitely knew how to sell themselves. Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and others from the 80's knew how to create an image and get people talking about them. The created archetypes for themselves. Prince and Michael Jackson complicated the way people see gender roles. Madonna complicated the way people think of women. She complicated the stereotypical aspects of women that can be seen in films... the whore, the virgin, the dumb blonde, etc. She confused and excited people with her image and made money from it. In the article by Jane Miller, she states how Madonna tapped into America's obsession with Christian mythology as well. Madonna used and wore crosses as a fashion accessory, something that had never really been done before her. Or, how about the "Like A Prayer" music video? Not only is it deliberately filled with burning crosses and other religious imagery but it deals with racial issues. A black man getting arrested for a white man's crime and an African-American Jesus? I'm sure the Moral Majority was up in arms due to this one. But the mass of people were loving it. "Like A Prayer" was number one on the Billboard 200 list for over a month. Madonna was obviously cashing out on the way she used these images and images of herself to make people uncomfortable and to make them talk about her. I'd say that she was probably the queen of post-modernism, taking so many other images, people, and things and creating her own image (which is uncomfortable to watch in some ways) while selling it.

This leads to the question of  was Madonna (and other starts from the past and today) doing any good or are/were we just buying into this brand she was trying to sell to us? In my opinion, I think that it's both. Madonna was bringing up issues of religion, race, feminism back in the days when people weren't talking about these types of things. This is a lot like Lady Gaga now. She's selling you this image of herself but she's also bringing up issues dealing with gay equality. They both bring these subject matters up into the mainstream so even if we are buying into these ideas and images of what they are, they're still bringing up important issues that should be talked about. It's a double edged sword.