Madonna on American values.

April 24, 2003 1:05 PM

I thought this had to be a joke from the Onion. Madonna is quoted as saying that "We as Americans are completely obsessed and wrapped up in a lot of the wrong values -- looking good, having cash in the bank, being perceived as rich, famous and successful or just being famous." She also states that "the only thing that's going to bring you happiness is love and how you treat your fellow man and having compassion for one another." Ridiculing celebrities just doesn't get any better than this!!!
posted by Durwood (43 comments total)

What's with all the Madonga posts.
posted by Outlawyr at 1:11 PM on April 24, 2003

MadonnaFilter
posted by pxe2000 at 1:19 PM on April 24, 2003

What's with all the Madonga posts.

She's got a new album out. Which means lots of drummed up "controversy" so that we're all talking about Madonna. Madonna Madonna Madonna. Did I mention she's got a new album out?
posted by gwint at 1:19 PM on April 24, 2003

"It's the most superficial part of the American dream and who would know better than me? The only thing that's going to bring you happiness is love and how you treat your fellow man and having compassion for one another."

Wow, just like the apostle Paul. Maybe she'll change her name too. Any guesses?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:24 PM on April 24, 2003

I prefer her acting, myself.
posted by cinderful at 1:24 PM on April 24, 2003

And a troll to boot. Durwood, you've conveniently not posted her entire comment, which begins "It's the most superficial part of the American dream and who would know better than me? "

Why is she not allowed to have insight or be critical?
posted by archimago at 1:26 PM on April 24, 2003

Oh man that's rich. From the Material Girl no less. Madonna should give away all her money and let people freely trade her MP3's without being cursed at if this is how she feels.
posted by trbrts at 1:29 PM on April 24, 2003

Talk about the fucking pot and kettle...
posted by drstrangelove at 1:29 PM on April 24, 2003

"Why is she not allowed to have insight"
If only.
It's more like she's parroting something she read in a horoscope or Bazooka Joe fortune.
posted by Outlawyr at 1:33 PM on April 24, 2003

Well, archimago, she's allowed to... but it's a little like a hooker preaching against pre-marital sex.

Skip on down to the last paragraph:

"The critics have been writing me off for 20 years. That's nothing new. As far as I know I still have plenty of fans and sell lots of records. Do I care what critics say about me? No, and I don't read reviews."

Seems to me she still has her head up her celebrity, and therefore has very little room to wag her finger at the universe.
posted by Perigee at 1:34 PM on April 24, 2003

I'm a tad confused about what the point is here. She has always critiqued American culture. She is doing so now. She has evolved both as an artist and as a person. John Lennon said similar things in the later years of his life. When he was starting out he was a "material boy." None of this is interesting unless you have absolutely no idea of the history of pop music or art. It seems to me that ridiculing FFPs like this on Metafilter are far more interesting.
posted by filchyboy at 1:35 PM on April 24, 2003

Maybe she'll change her name too. Any guesses?

How about Madonga? Only one letter changed, just like Paul/Saul, and then she can be the singer for Mofungo, which will suit her new political views.
posted by languagehat at 1:36 PM on April 24, 2003

Talk about the fucking pot and kettle...

Pots and kettles can fuck now?? I demand pictures! Bring me Pottery Porn!
posted by jonmc at 1:38 PM on April 24, 2003

John Lennon said similar things in the later years of his life.

Have they released Mark David Chapman yet? Just wondering...
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:42 PM on April 24, 2003

Ok, languagehat, that one's gonna cost you.
posted by Outlawyr at 1:44 PM on April 24, 2003

I don't usually weigh in on things like this when I've got nothing useful to say, but I can't help myself here:

This woman is _soooo_ lame. The only thing I find impressive about her is the constant reformulation of her schtick and subsequent self-promotion. How many ways can one person market themselves and still be the same person?

Please, drift away into obscurity already!
posted by bicyclingfool at 1:51 PM on April 24, 2003

2 Bonus Madonna Links:

1. This is what the fuck I think I'm doing.
2. The Androids - DO IT WITH MADONNA

posted by filchyboy at 1:56 PM on April 24, 2003

mmmm, pottery porn. only slightly less salacious than crockery porn.
posted by eurasian at 2:03 PM on April 24, 2003

Aside from the fact that this is good advertising for her new album, and she knows it...

Madonna has preached a decent message to young women throughout her career, IMHO, and at the very least talks about issues such as teen pregnancy, male emotional repression, materialism, racism, and many more topics that are too "unpredictable" for most producers to touch with a ten foot pole.

Also, you can call her a loser all you want, but most straight men would give a limb for a date with her.
posted by zekinskia at 2:10 PM on April 24, 2003

Although she'd probably prefer flowers...
posted by inpHilltr8r at 2:25 PM on April 24, 2003

Gay men may not give a limb for a date with her, but I bet you could coax a kidney or two out of them.
posted by jgilliam at 2:28 PM on April 24, 2003

Dude I'd totally tap that ass.
posted by xmutex at 2:31 PM on April 24, 2003

Pots and kettles can fuck now?? I demand pictures! Bring me Pottery Porn!

You're a pervert. It's only OK to watch if they're stainless steel. And I won't even dignify that disguting "crockery" reference above. Sickos.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 2:34 PM on April 24, 2003

I just hope Michael Moore can exploit this, and soon.
posted by xmutex at 2:46 PM on April 24, 2003

Err, wrong thread, back to sleep.
posted by xmutex at 2:50 PM on April 24, 2003

Gay men may not give a limb for a date with her, but I bet you could coax a kidney or two out of them.

To have front row tickets and backstage passes to one of her stellar shows, yes. She's quite the entertainer.

However, I'd only want the backstage passes to illustrate the idea that she wouldn't talk so much with me in her mouth.

CelebrityBashingFilter
posted by WolfDaddy at 2:50 PM on April 24, 2003

Ridiculing celebrities just doesn't get any better than this!!!

I don't understand what part of this is ironic or mockworthy (or newsworthy for that matter). Isn't it pretty standard for those who have pursued and accumulated large amounts of wealth to realize it's not enough in itself to make them happy?
posted by 4easypayments at 2:53 PM on April 24, 2003

speaking of Onion jokes, this was the most insightful one this week:
Tortured Ugandan Political Prisoner Wishes Uganda Had Oil
KAMPALA, UGANDA—A day after having his hands amputated by soldiers backing President Yoweri Museveni's brutal regime, Ugandan political prisoner Otobo Ankole expressed regret Monday over Uganda's lack of oil reserves. "I dream of the U.S. one day fighting for the liberation of the oppressed Ugandan people," said Ankole as he nursed his bloody stumps. "But, alas, our number-one natural resource is sugar cane." Ankole, whose wife, parents, and five children were among the 4,000 slaughtered in Uganda's ethnic killings of 2002, then bowed his head and said a prayer for petroleum.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:00 PM on April 24, 2003

So is she going to stop trying to look good, give away her millions and help the sick and needy?

Don't describe the path, walk down it.
posted by SpaceCadet at 3:05 PM on April 24, 2003

Just a simple case of celebrity "the corners of maslov's triangle are always sharper on the other side" envy. Pity the woman. She wanted to be famous, and when it happened, she decided she didn't like it. BFD. It doesn't take a Henna Tatooist to see she's been heading down this particular path for a long time.
posted by seanyboy at 3:09 PM on April 24, 2003

Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Dietrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine

Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean
Picture of a beauty queen
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air

They had style, they had grace
Rita Hayworth gave good face
Lauren, Katharine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you

Ladies with an attitude
Fellows that were in the mood
Don't just stand there, let's get to it
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it

Vogue.

How can you argue with that?
posted by Ty Webb at 3:57 PM on April 24, 2003

I've always been fond of "Don't repress yourself, express yourself" myself. But only when it applies to me.
posted by WolfDaddy at 4:00 PM on April 24, 2003

If you think Madonna's lyrics contain the entirety of her message and role-model-ness, you're missing 90% of her.
posted by kindall at 4:50 PM on April 24, 2003

kindall, exactly. Madonna's music, while not entirely beside the point, is more or less simply the avenue she's chosen to market herself. Her real genius, and it is genius, is in marketing. On the one hand, as a musician, I resent the utter comodification of art that her career represents; on the other hand, damn it's impressive.
posted by Ty Webb at 4:58 PM on April 24, 2003

I love it when ridiculously wealthy people criticize other ridiculously wealthy people for being ridiculously wealthy.
posted by hama7 at 6:28 PM on April 24, 2003

ZenMaster–

They have released Mark David Chapman, if by they you mean the band ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead." Which album is it on, you ask? Why Madonna, of course.

I'm kind of freaked out right now.

posted by BirdD0g at 6:51 PM on April 24, 2003

Madonna is just reporting what must be a rather obvious truth to her by now, that fame is no satisfaction.
posted by shabrem at 9:55 PM on April 24, 2003

Obvious and forceful.
And bulbous.
posted by shabrem at 9:56 PM on April 24, 2003

For those of you who don't read boingboing (and shame on you!), I give you something that's probably gonna be better than the official album tracks anyway, the Digital Cutup Lounge vs Madonna "What The Fuck Do You Think You're Doing" remix (3.7mb mp3)
posted by arto at 2:46 AM on April 25, 2003

Har har, I heard on Fox that it was funn-ee to make fun of celebrities.
posted by inksyndicate at 7:29 AM on April 25, 2003

I think Colin Quinn said it well recently about these celebrity lectures, although I'm paraphrasing since I don't have a photographic memory: "Maybe people don't like being told how spoiled and arrogant they are by the most spoiled and arrogant."
posted by teradome at 7:33 AM on April 25, 2003

Madonna is quoted as saying that "We as Americans are completely obsessed and wrapped up in a lot of the wrong values -- looking good, having cash in the bank, being perceived as rich, famous and successful or just being famous."

Cognitive ... dissonance ... critical ... must ... stay ... conscious ...
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:41 AM on April 25, 2003

Umh. Are those values or attributes? And, just for fun, is "having cash in the bank" the same as being "perceived as rich?"
posted by newlydead at 4:55 PM on April 25, 2003