Like A Prayer: Opposites Attract

Jon Pulizzi

10/26/2014

English 101

Miss Casey

Madonna – Like a Prayer: Opposites Attract

During the 1980’s, it was very uncommon for pop songs to have dark, gloomy music videos. Most of them were bright and happy to make people excited (Shmoop Editorial Team). Madonna explains her music video, “Like a Prayer”, the best. She said, "A girl on the street witnesses an assault on a young woman. Afraid to get involved because she might get hurt, she is frozen in fear. A black man walking down the street also sees the incident and decides to help the woman. But just then, the police arrive and arrest him. As they take him away, she looks up and sees one of the gang members who assaulted the girl. He gives her a look that says she'll be dead if she

tells. The girl runs, not knowing where to go, until she sees a church. She goes in and sees a saint in a cage who looks very much like the black man on the street, and says a prayer to help her make the right decision. He seems to be crying, but she is not sure. She lies down on a pew and falls into a dream in which she begins to tumble in space with no one to break her fall. Suddenly she is caught by an African American woman who represents earth and emotional strength and who tosses her back up and tells her to do the right thing. Still dreaming, she returns to the saint, and her religions and erotic feelings begin to stir. The saint becomes a man. She picks up a knife and cuts her hands. That's the guilt in Catholicism that if you do something that feels good you will be punished. As the choir sings, she reaches an orgasmic crescendo of sexual fulfillment intertwined with her love of God. She knows that nothing's going to happen to her if she does what she believes is right. She wakes up, goes to the jail, tells the police the man is innocent, and he is freed. Then everybody takes a bow as if to say we all play a part in this little scenario (Shmoop Editorial Team)." Madonna’s music video has scenarios and imagery that explores racism, prejudice, and innocence.
Race was represented in this video in several scenes. A group of white men sexually assaulted a woman and a black man stepped in to help the woman. As soon as he arrived to help her, the police showed up and automatically assumed he was the person assaulting the woman and arrested the black man. This shows that some of society will immediately blame a person based on their skin color. Another way race was involved in this video was when the saint in the church was shown as a black man that looked very similar to the man that was arrested ("An Analysis of the Video "Like A Prayer" by Madonna"). This caused controversy because the saint symbolizes Jesus Christ, and Jesus is usually depicted as white. Madonna is shown kissing the black saint in the video. This was not as accepted in the late 1980’s as it is today and caused controversy because many people did not support interracial relationships (“An Analysis of the Video…). When Madonna falls asleep on the pew and is falling in her dream, she is caught by a black woman that tells her to do the right thing and help the innocent black man get out jail. Madonna ends up getting the black man freed from jail and there was a celebration at the church she went into because she did the thing that Jesus would want her to do.
Women are shown as sexual objects for men in some parts of the video.

To start the video off, it showed a women being raped by a group of men without them caring about her at all. It also shows Madonna herself as a sex object by the way she dresses and dances. It shows her wearing very low cut shirts with camera angels that make the viewer look at her breasts. She dances in a very sexual ways throughout the video and looks at the camera as if she would look at someone that she is having sex with. When Madonna is in the church looking at the black saint she is sliding her hand up and down the medal bars. Her bra strap is also hanging down her arm and not on her shoulder through the video while she is in the church. She sings throughout the song, “I’m down on my knees, I want to take you there.” These lyrics can be taken sexually very easy but can also be taken in a religious way. This shows the constant battle that some people have between sex and religion. People want to do what is fun and feels good but always want to have morals and do what their God wants them to

do.
There were scenes that represent the violence that goes on in the world everyday. The scene that the girl is raped and stabbed to death, by a group of white men shows the reality of what actually happens to some people. This contradicts most the happiness of most pop songs in the late 1980’s (Shmoop Editorial Team). There are also scenes throughout the video with burning crosses in the background while Madonna sings, which is often scene as a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan (An Analysis of the Video). This is very disrespectful to Christians because it is the most important symbol of faith that they have.
The burning crosses can also represent crucifixion rather then hate throughout the video. It appears that this is what Madonna was referring to based on other scenes in the video. During the video Madonna is wearing a cross on her neck, which shows that she probably believes in Christianity. She also picks up a knife in the church and cuts her hand on accident. This could either represent God’s way of touching her and telling her to get the innocent black man out of jail, or it could symbolize the nail holes in Jesus Christ’s hands when he was hung on the cross telling her that she should sacrifice her safety and save the innocent man.
In this video Madonna brought together a black church, which is typically Protestant and a Roman Catholic Church “Madonna, “Like a Prayer” Analysis”.

Throughout the video she mixed herself with and African American choir by wearing the same colors and singing together. Another way that she mixes the two religions is when she worships the black saint in the same church as the black choir. The black choir dancing and celebrating at the end of the video when she gets the black man freed shows how the power of religion can bring everyone together. With the help from the Roman Catholic saint and the black Protestant church Madonna becomes a savior in the sense that she saved the innocent black of being charged with rape and

murder.
In this music video Madonna brings together opposite groupings. She brings together sex and religion, and blacks and whites. Madonna stated, “The conception of the music video as a play is meant to suggest that we are all part of the story unfolding.” Madonna wanted to target different audiences with this song. She could influence the younger generations by making them want to dress like her. She makes it seem as if God does not care if woman dress provocative. She makes it clear by making out with a saint in a church with revealing clothes on. This song could also connect with older religious people by attempting to influence them that their branch of Christianity might not be the only way. She makes them think about connecting with other branches of Christianity. She does this by mixing the Roman Catholic saint with a Protestant choir. Madonna cleverly connects with multiple audiences with the use of opposite pairings.

Work Cited

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Like A Prayer." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
"Madonna - 'Like a Prayer' Analysis." Amy Paternoster A2 Media. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
"An Analysis of the Video "Like A Prayer" by Madonna." An Analysis of the Video "Like A Prayer" by Madonna. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.