From Madonna's decadent debut album, Madonna, she had four great videos that reflected different eras in the early history of motion picture. With each video she progressed, as the medium of The Music Video grew with the advent of MTV.
Film Exhibition: Everybody (1982). Like a Nickelodeon machine but projecting outward in clubs, the sexy downtown street waif beckons everyone to dance and sing, get up and do their thing. A glimpse inside the underworld in which she came. Performing on stage, people are dancing beneath her and walking across her stage with a boom box, she unaffected.
Symbolism: Burning Up (1983). Raunchy Sex Goddess in heat that crawled up from the gutters into a world of goldfish bowls, Grecian/Roman marble busts with illuminating eyes, an abundance of door locks, chains, eyeballs and lips. Doors turn into boats and a car drives through the river around her. She ends up in the middle of a road, tugging at her garment as she's the target of a speeding driver. Just as the car would impact her and she would end up as road kill, she emerges driving the vehicle with the initial male driver nowhere to be found.
Narrative: Borderline (1984). Photographer discovers strikingly beautiful street girl as she's dancing with her lover and friends. Flattered at his proposal to pose for photographs, girls jealous boyfriend disapproves as she and photographer drive off to the studio. Being shot in a series of photos and ending up on a cover of a magazine, girl has flashbacks to her life when it was easy, sexy, fun and free. Bored with the glamorous champagne atmosphere photographer provides, an argument ensues, she rebels and returns to guy she loves.
Technique: Lucky Star (1984). A visual and voyeuristic study of performance and personae using close up, medium and long shots via fast paced editing. A character study of the dancer with the use of a motion picture camera. From the moment she removes her sunglasses, she 'lifts the curtain' to expose herself to the viewer. Long shots of dancers performance, close up of body parts from eyes, lips, stomach, feet and bellybutton. Performer allows us into her narcissistic world while making love to the camera as it follows every move leading to a personal extravaganza and ending with performer 'dropping the curtain' by putting glasses back on.
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Which is your favorite video from the Madonna album and why?
