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By Mark Miller
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In Madonna's stark video of her hit "Express Yourself," she struts around in a man tailored suit, grabbing her crotch and singing about female power: don't settle for second best in men, "if the time isn't right, then move on." Then the scene switches: a nude Madonna is chained to a bed, a dog collar around her neck, as a man takes her in his arms and they kiss. The end. In psychologist Lynne Layton's class on popular culture at Harvard University, the students are torn: is Madonna sending a feminist message? Or is she dusting off the old story of boy-ravishes-girl? If Madonna were in the class, she'd laugh. The video has no real meaning; her signals are always mixed. The message is simply, look at Madonna.
When she emerged from New York's underground disco scene eight years ago, Madonna was dismissed as a pop tart with a so-so voice who'd be gone in 15 minutes. Now, with 18 consecutive Top 5 hits and worldwide record sales of 60 million, Madonna has become an icon. The key to her success is her genius for self promotion and her ability to reinvent herself: she's been a Boy Toy, a bride, a Material Girl, Marilyn Monroe--and all along the way, she's put a new spin on the virgin-whore dichotomy.
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For "Blond Ambition," her current international tour, she's marshaled her considerable marketing skills. Part rock concert, part Broadway extravaganza, and sold out across America, the show brings to life Madonna's videos and songs from her new album, "I'm Breathless," I which is tied in to "Dick Tracy." To push her notions of female power, the male backup dancers are reduced to bizarre sex symbols: in one number they wear cone brassieres to match her own. Such images seem more silly than scandalous, but the police in Toronto, acting on complaints that the show was lewd, studied it through binoculars.
So far, Madonna knows just how far to push public standards. But what she really yearns for is a serious movie career. "Dick Tracy" may be her ticket. A Hollywood kingpin called her "a movie star without a movie"; now Madonna says she will star in the film of "Evita." But her brilliant intuitive sense of what sells may not help her on the silver screen, where success can depend on self revelation. The big question is whether there's anything there to reveal.
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