Madonna's dishonesty
Her latest stage show is vintage Madonna (and my "vintage", I mean it's getting really old):
During her performance, Madonna sang as she placed a crown of thorns on her head and put on a pair of silver cuffs to attach herself to a 20-foot-high mirrored cross. Hanging from the cross, she continued singing while images of third-world poverty and numbers representing the 12 million children orphaned by AIDS in Africa flashed on a screen behind her.
Madonna responds with a shallow theology lesson:
Madonna has hit back, saying she thought Jesus would not have objected.
She explained the stunt was part of an appeal to audience members to donate cash to AIDS charities.
"I don't think Jesus would be mad at me and the message I'm trying to send," the 47-year-old told the New York Daily News.
"Jesus taught that we should love thy neighbour."
How much does it cost to put on this mock crucifixion? Well, a ticket for the Madonna concert in Montreal is going for $1515 for the best seats. The average annual salary for an unattached Canadian is about $26,000, which after taxes and other deductions comes to $1700 a month.
So, on average, a month's salary to go see Madonna crucify herself. She says it is to promote AIDS awareness? To generate donations? How many people in the audience will have any money left to donate?
Consider this. An AIDS cocktail costs $10,400 in the US per year. Call it about $12,000 in Canada a year, or about $1000 a month. Whether it's being paid by a provincial plan or privately, it still comes out of the taxes paid by that Canadian earning $26,000 a year.
The Bell Centre in Montreal, where Madonna is staging her concert, seats between 14,000 and 21,000 people. I'll go higher into the range, since for a concert, there will seating on the floor which would normally be an ice surface for hockey games. Let's say 18,000 people. Using an average ticket price of $1200, that means her concert could pull in $21,600,000 in one night, or enough to pay for 5 years of AIDS treatments for 3600 people.
In just one night.
She stands to make $100,000,000 personally by the end of the Confessions Tour.
Would Jesus be insulted by the spectacle? I'll provide an honest answer -- I don't know. I've never met Him, so my opinion is meaningless. For all I know, He might be a big fan.
But then this is not about blasphemy or apostacy. It's about dishonesty.
Is the image of someone like Madonna crucifying herself as entertainment insulting to many people? Yes it is. Even her name is a calculated insult to Christians, and to Catholics in particular. And she knows it. She planned it that way.
Correction: It was pointed out to me that Madonna is her given name. I thought it was Louise, but that turns out to be her second name. On that point, Madonna clearly was not trying to be offensive, and I apologize for the mistake. Fortunately for me, just about everything else she does when it relates to the Church is chosen for cheap shock value.
But she dissembles. She insists that Catholics should not be offended because she believes Christ would not have been offended. She is not likely to have any special insight into His opinion, so the argument is meaningless. In any case, the question is not whether Jesus would be offended, but what to do about those who have already been offended.
An honest answer would be, "I don't care about those people or their sensibilities." I'd respect her for that. She could be honest and say that she is lifting the most sacred symbols of the Christian faith to use in her show for no better reason than to generate controversy and to score points with her faithless and nihilist fans. She could say it is all about money, and about the race she is running to keep in the spotlight, long after most pop stars have faded into obscurity.
But she won't be honest with us about the reasons. I suspect she isn't even honest to herself about the reasons.
Instead, she crafts a story about HIV/AIDS and slips it into her show, oblivious to the crassness of millions of dollars being spent on vacuous entertainment instead of on research or treatment. Should that money be spent to deal with AIDS? I don't think that money should not be spent on entertainment. But an honest person would admit that this money was going to pay for Madonna's mansions, and not to help sick people.
Perhaps Madonna can't quite shake her Catholic guilt. Maybe that's why she tries to make this exercise in conspicuous consumption coupled with a counterfeit crucifixion into some sort of twisted public service announcement.
But it isn't. Not even close. To think otherwise is to be dishonest.
And I'm willing to bet that Jesus would not be impressed with that.
But if you think Jesus wouldn't mind, then consider Jesus as a preacher of economic justice. For a lot of people on the Left, that resonates. Madonna manages to insult them too:
Catholics weren't the only group miffed at Madge's blond ambition Sunday night. Members of Local 33 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees are fuming that she crossed their picket line at the Forum."We wish she'd support the working men and women of Los Angeles," in their dispute with the Forum over wages and work hours, said Peter Marley, the union's business rep.
So take your pick. Madonna insults Jesus by being blasphemous. Madonna insults Jesus by being dishonest. Madonna insults Jesus by ignoring the honest worker. And her tour has just started.
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Comments
Madonna Who? (YAWN!)
The best antidote for perpetual adolescent pseudo-stars sans talent is ignoring them.
Posted by: Dave at May 25, 2006 11:42 AM
Kind critics say that she is 're-inventing' herself once again.
BS....she has always used gimmicks because her talent as a singer/dancer are minimal. Her dance instructor - Martha Graham - used to wonder what the hell she was doing in her dance classes.
Take away all of the background singers, and musicians, and let's hear Madonna a cappella.
Last note...I wonder what Jesus would think if she donated most of her own cash to buying AIDS drugs for patients??
Posted by: anonymous at May 25, 2006 11:52 AM
"a popstar of her age." ????
August 1958. She's... what, 47?
Go do something rude to yourself you ageist twit. Then, when you're done, take a look at the top ten list of who's ruling the pop world these days.
Idiot.
Posted by: pottedplant at May 25, 2006 12:25 PM
Hi Steve,
Agree as I do with your basic thesis, in the name of fairness I do have to point out a couple of things:
1) "Madonna" is her actual given name as bestowed by her parents, not an assumed persona. So it's a little unfair to accuse her very name of being an insult. (The way she has capitalized on it may be another story, but even there, expecting an entertainment figure not to capitalize on unusual names in any way is unreasonable -- what should she have done? Changed her honest-to-God birth name to avoid potential offense? Tried to make good Christian music, and have her name be assumed again to be a cheap hook for audiences?)
2) Your financial calculations are likely to be a bit off -- it should be remembered that the $1200+ tickets are so valuable precisely because the seat space is limited. Remember also that some of that is going to be undercut by scalpers, block purchases and promotional giveaway contests. And the expense of logistics, salaries and transport for a show of this size (check out the budget for The Lord of The Rings: The Musical for some idea of what these shows can cost to mount, and that's for something staying in the same place) is not inconsiderable either. And finally, we have no knowledge of what Madonna does or does not choose to donate out of her own profits to the causes she's championing. It may well be nothing -- but it might be considerably more than that.
I like most of Madonna's music, though I wouldn't count myself fan enough to pay these ticket prices, and I don't think much of many of her personal life choices or publicity gambits. But in a world where ridiculous numbers are believing The Da Vinci Code, I think we've got better targets to be upset about.
Posted by: Stephen J. at May 25, 2006 02:10 PM
Hi Stephen J,
On point (1), you are correct. My mistake, and I've corrected the post accordingly.
On point (2), I was not trying to do a detailed analysis, but to provide a sense of scope to the money changing hands here. These aren't forty dollar tickets. I'm not saying the price isn't a fair value for the product, but the cost would make it difficult for the average Canadian attending the concert to have much left over for donating to any charity.
She might donate vast amounts of money to charity -- but the point is she is putting on an offensive spectacle and justifying it by saying it is to inspire audience members who have just coughed up a large chunk of change for the ticket to give even more money to charity. If she wants to generate donations, lower the ticket price. That might mean putting on a less dramatic show driven by the artistic quality of her music and not by cheap theatrics and juvenile insults.
Posted by: Steve Janke at May 25, 2006 02:22 PM
Ahh!! Caught in a lie again eh? Steve Janke?
Posted by: Citizen of the Great White North at May 25, 2006 03:02 PM
If she wants to generate donations, lower the ticket price. That might mean putting on a less dramatic show driven by the artistic quality of her music and not by cheap theatrics and juvenile insults.
This kind of zero-sum economic thinking is unusual for a professed fiscal conservative. Plus, I seriously doubt that the average ticket price is $1200. And it is ridiculous to say that she will make $100,000,000 personally by the end of the tour. Those are just ridiculous numbers. Did you just forget about all of the people employed by these shows who need salaries? Facility costs?
It is also ironic that you grill her for presuming to know what Jesus would think, while presuming, yourself, to know Madonna's motivations. In fact, you claim to know her motivations better than she herself does ("But she won't be honest with us about the reasons. I suspect she isn't even honest to herself about the reasons.")
What does that even mean? She might think that she is trying to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa, but she doesn't really think that? Come on.
She does, afterall, donate the best 50 seats of every US show to the Kabala Centre which they then auction off as a fund-raiser. She did donate the proceeds of an entire concert to US orphans of terrorist attacks. She donates all of the profits from her children's books to the Spirituality for Kids Foundation.
Is it ever possible for an entertainer to attempt to bring awareness to an issue at a concert without it being construed as "trying to sell tickets?" I'm not being facetious with that question: is it possible? And is it better or worse than televangelists who ask for money in the name of the Lord and use it to their own mansions. At least with entertainers they aren't claiming that the ticket prices are for anything other than the show.
Now, having said all that, I think you are right that it was a pretty lame stunt. I think her motivations are honest, but it is just poorly conceived and shows a lack of judgement about how to best get the message across.
Posted by: bob at May 25, 2006 04:45 PM
You're way off with your ticket prices for a concert in montreal. If you look at the top of the website that you provide for the ticket prices, it states:
Please Note: Madonna tickets may be sold for more than the price listed on the ticket. Unless specifically stated, we are not affiliated with the official Madonna website, the Madonna box office or any Madonna fan clubs, partners, or sponsors.
That is, these tickets seem to be being scalped over the Internet. The actual tickets, which you can purchase (well, could purchase...the show is sold out now) at admisson.com, range from $55 to $350. The average ticket price is about $150, more than a factor of ten less than the average price you suggest.
You were too conservative with the number of seats, since the Bell Centre holds a bit less than 22,000 people for a hockey game. A bit more than 2000 people can sit in the arena area for a concert, so the total number is about 24,000.
24,000 * $150 is about 3.5 million dollars. Certainly not chump change, but not nearly the number you suggest either.
Posted by: Alex at May 25, 2006 07:03 PM
Madonna is, and always has been, a publicity seeker. To think that isn't her primary motive with this show is naive, I think.
Posted by: ian in cowtown at May 25, 2006 07:13 PM
Madonna is a nasty, selfish, ignorant person who also happens to be stinking rich - so of course the media will hang off her every word regardless of its stupidity.
Posted by: infidel at May 25, 2006 11:21 PM
Fortunately everything posted here, whether by rich or poor, is all very intelligent and intelligeble.
Right.
Posted by: Johan i Kanada at May 26, 2006 12:18 PM
Seriously who cares?
Let Madonna & Kaballa, Christianity & Pat Boone, Islam & Cat Stevens, Tom Cruise & Scientology all go to a place where the heat is high and the pitch forks are a plenty.
Enough already.... anyone for some rational thoughts instead of stories of myths, fairytales and frauds?
Posted by: Cardstonkid at May 26, 2006 04:00 PM
 
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