Like A prayer textual Analysis

‘Like a prayer’ was released in 1989. Madonna wanted to re establish her brand her whole image and appeal towards an older demographic (which was a new target audience). Her previous songs belonged within the pop genre, which inspired teenagers whom not only saw her as a singe but also as a fashion icon.

The music video of like a prayer can be seem to be one of the most controversial music videos in history as it challenges typical religious believes and Madonna's sexualised behaviour created conflict between her and the catholic church. Madonna was even banned into Italy by the pope thus conveying how disgusted they were of Madonna's representation of the religious community. This lead to Madonna receiving huge amounts of publicity

Background Information

The use of her symbolic conventions of her messy hair symbolises sex as it makes her seem like she just got out of bed. This idea of sex is carried on through the use of her costume of her tight clothing, thus increasing her sex appeal towards the male audience.

The use of her symbolic conventions of her messy hair symbolises sex as it makes her seem like she just got out of bed. This idea of sex is carried on through the use of her costume of her tight clothing, thus increasing her sex appeal towards the male audience.

Madonna uses dominant ideologies within society to appeal towards Madonna’s target audience. The use of the technical aspects helps to make Madonna seem sexual attractive towards the male audiences. The use of a high angle makes Madonna seem more vulnerable as she is kneeling. This idea of Madonna provoking the theme of sex is illustrated when she moves her hands (up and down) on the bars, which can be seen as a method of her trying to provoke the male audience, making them see her more sexually.

Madonna uses dominant ideologies within society to appeal towards Madonna’s target audience. The use of the technical aspects helps to make Madonna seem sexual attractive towards the male audiences. The use of a high angle makes Madonna seem more vulnerable as she is kneeling. This idea of Madonna provoking the theme of sex is illustrated when she moves her hands (up and down) on the bars, which can be seen as a method of her trying to provoke the male audience, making them see her more sexually.

Madonna tries to correct a current conflict making herself seem like she is the only one whom cares about the victim within the music video, which making her seem like a iconic and inspiration person as she is trying to conflict with racism. Madonna then illustrates the conflict within her video, which get shown when the audiences see an non guilty man of a black ethnicity get falsely imprisoned due towards the actions of a male from a white ethnicity. However despite Madonna looking hopeless (as she was frozen in fear to protest) it will still work in Madonna’s favour this is because of the lack of the criminals actions (helping the black ethnic race) along with a grin towards Madonna makes the audience go against the criminal. Then Madonna restores justice making her popular towards the audience as Madonna is illustrating towards the audience that Madonna has acceptance the black ethnicity by her releasing him from prison. This acts in itself as a advertising campaign as Madonna's acceptance will increase the niche market for her new target audience to abide against racism.

Madonna tries to correct a current conflict making herself seem like she is the only one whom cares about the victim within the music video, which making her seem like a iconic and inspiration person as she is trying to conflict with racism. Madonna then illustrates the conflict within her video, which get shown when the audiences see an non guilty man of a black ethnicity get falsely imprisoned due towards the actions of a male from a white ethnicity. However despite Madonna looking hopeless (as she was frozen in fear to protest) it will still work in Madonna’s favour this is because of the lack of the criminals actions (helping the black ethnic race) along with a grin towards Madonna makes the audience go against the criminal. Then Madonna restores justice making her popular towards the audience as Madonna is illustrating towards the audience that Madonna has acceptance the black ethnicity by her releasing him from prison. This acts in itself as a advertising campaign as Madonna's acceptance will increase the niche market for her new target audience to abide against racism.

The idea od Binary Opposites occurred when Madonna combined Catholic and sexualised behaviour. This can be seen as her rebelling against church due towards her social background of catholic upbringing. This emphasised through the use of her costume, which is seen to be revealing within church. Causing conflict between religion and sexuality as Madonna is trying to illustrate herself as being post feminist as she embraces it as for her previous generations where looked down upon therefore Madonna embraces her feminism.The shot of the church on itself can be seen as slightly odd and out of place. This is accentuated through the use of long dramatic shot duration of a still building can generate interest one of the topics Madonna is attempting to solve. Thus making Madonna seem more inflectional within the industry, which she was seen to be after this music video.

The idea od Binary Opposites occurred when Madonna combined Catholic and sexualised behaviour. This can be seen as her rebelling against church due towards her social background of catholic upbringing. This emphasised through the use of her costume, which is seen to be revealing within church. Causing conflict between religion and sexuality as Madonna is trying to illustrate herself as being post feminist as she embraces it as for her previous generations where looked down upon therefore Madonna embraces her feminism.The shot of the church on itself can be seen as slightly odd and out of place. This is accentuated through the use of long dramatic shot duration of a still building can generate interest one of the topics Madonna is attempting to solve. Thus making Madonna seem more inflectional within the industry, which she was seen to be after this music video.

The third shot within the music video (picture on the left) is of the cross on fire, which can be symbolic towards the KKK. This image gives negative connotations of danger and fear. This makes it seem that Madonna is trying to abolish racism, especially as the story is of a girl whom falls madly in love of a man of a black ethnic race. Then the girl is forbidden to marry the man of her dreams. This makes audience realise the situation of racism is the same actions for the KKK but just less severe. The use of mise en scene of Madonna dancing in front of the crosses makes her seem like a victim of racism within the narrative of the music video

The third shot within the music video (picture on the left) is of the cross on fire, which can be symbolic towards the KKK. This image gives negative connotations of danger and fear. This makes it seem that Madonna is trying to abolish racism, especially as the story is of a girl whom falls madly in love of a man of a black ethnic race. Then the girl is forbidden to marry the man of her dreams. This makes audience realise the situation of racism is the same actions for the KKK but just less severe. The use of mise en scene of Madonna dancing in front of the crosses makes her seem like a victim of racism within the narrative of the music video