TASK #3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVcUzP_O_8

The link above is to Madonna's 'Express Yourself' Music Video. Madonna is famously a confident and assertive sexual icon of all time back in the 1980's and 1990's. The portrayal of Madonna has been very strong over the years as she is considered as a great role model in 'challenging the stereotypes' when the action heroes such as 'Lara Croft' counter the idea of 'feminine' women,and the idea that 'only' men can fill tough leading roles,However through the use of music such as 'Express Yourself' Madonna has challenged those stereotypes by challenging traditional assumptions about female sexuality.

This is done because women were and are considered to be given stereotype job roles such as the 'loving house wive' or sexually objectified whereas men are considered to be more masculine and tough.

Madonna changed those assumptions by creating a strong and masculine image of herself which reinforces that fact she can do what man are stereotypically known to do by taken on a man's role and challenging those ideologies constructed around female artists.

Madonna's body images is represented as 'in your face', dominant and powerful figure in this video. She has become a role model to other contemporary female artists such as 'Lady Gaga'.Madonna has sold over 140 million albums worldwide which signifies her importance society. She challenged a patriarchal society as her portrayal in the music video revers 'Fiske' debate as she has been able to sale so many millions of her album because of her individual icon in the 80's and 90's and the ability to connect to the audiences. For audiences the interpretation of Madonna's music had an' individual' and 'unique' meaning which audiences can relate to. According to 'Fiske' Madonna is

''an exemplary popular text because she is so full of contradictions-she contains the patriarchal meaning of feminine sexuality, and the resisting ones that her sexuality is 'hers' to use as she wishes in ways that do not require masculine approval...Far from being an adequate text in herself,she is a provoker of meaning whose cultural effects can be studied only in her multiple and often contradictory circulation''(1989a:124)

This proves that Madonna does not need anyone but herself which signifies her dominant attitude and the powerful meaning in her music which disputes the patriarchal society. She uses feminine sexuality and does not need any man to give their approval as she is portrayed to be her own person.

This factor is reinforced in this music video when she sings ''Second best is never enough, you'll do much better baby on your own'' reinforcing the fact that women can be independent without men and they will be better off without them.

This allows her audience and fans access to semiotic and social power, 'Madonna is a cultural resource of everyday life'.

This implies that her individual fans can related and add meanings or pleasures to their existence by allowing to express themselves.

Following the French theorist 'Michel De Certeau' (1984), Fiske talks about the 'guerrilla tactics', this means that everyday media users snatch aspects of the mass-produced media but then re-interpret them to suit their own preferred readying. This suggests that viewers 'activates meanings' to make sense of their material existence (1988c:58)

The powerful message of Express yourself as allowed girls and young women to become more independent and have developed their own language for dealing with sexual inequality's ''To [many] young women official feminism is something that belongs to their mother's generation''.

Furthermore this shows that Madonna has given women the ability to speak out about how they feel and allow them to express themselves by demanding more respect from men and that they don't need a man as they can to be active and tough. The video contains many sexual scene which is also seem in Lady Gaga's Video (e.g the bed scene) & there are also evidenced that feisty and aggressiveness alongside male inspired clothing is also present in this video just like Pink's 'So What' video (e.g the leather outfit) which implies that even in contemporary music videos those masculine behaviours can be identified within female music videos. Men and women are shown to be sexually objectified in both music videos as the men appear topless and working work showing off their masculine figure, whereas the women are shown in their underwear and bra to show off their petit frame. This historical text alongside the two contemporary text suggest that even though the narratives constructed around female artists consist of sexual objectification and powerful status but also that women are starting to become more dominant and less subordinated by men compared to before.

The audience can identify the similarity and difference between historical and contemporary text as this shows the changes in society are slowly taken shape as audiences interpret each text and their meanings to suit their needs and expectations. However men still hold more power compared to women which may suggest that even though we see changes in the music industry but there are still clear division between men and women as we still live in a patriarchal society.