I grew up in the age of MTV music videos, and Madonna was a role model for my generation. She seemed brave and fearless. That is, until age came knocking. That’s what finally scared Madonna. In attempting to cling to her past, she has revealed her darkest fear: Father Time.
Madonna opened the VMAs over the weekend, performing with Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX. The ratings were high, and enough sycophants showed up to make it feel like the old days, when Madonna really did rule the world.
But what most saw was a woman struggling on stage, with limbs that didn’t quite go together anymore, and one who still felt the most powerful thing she ever had was her sexuality. She simply refuses to let go of it, wanting the world to adapt to seeing a 68-year-old woman in her underwear, with her legs spread.
By now, it feels less like music and more like Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom.
This is no way for young women to grow up, seeing their sexuality as the only thing that matters about them. And trust me, I spent much of my young life relying on the sex card. I took photos of myself for years that no one would call prim and proper. We’ll just leave it at that.
The difference is I knew when it was time to put it away. For Madonna, almost 70, pushing her sexuality on younger people is beyond inappropriate. It is not shocking anymore—it’s depressing and horrifying. It looks predatory.
The line has to keep moving to maintain any sort of shock value in a culture where anything goes. The only way to shock people is to have a baseline of normal, and by now, in Hollywood, there isn’t one. But if people are shocked, Madonna and her fans consider that a win.
I would have hoped that in her final stage of life, she would face it with the same kind of fearlessness she always had. But her inability to accept that the sex thing goes away for women after a certain age shows that the only thing she really cared about was that part of her that seduced her audience.
She is forever the Catholic girl lifting her skirt and showing her underwear. But now? It’s time to put it away, Madonna. It’s time. No one needs or wants to see that. Close your legs. Put on a suit. Look respectable for once. Be a good role model. It’s finally time. Don’t let your legacy be a joke.
In 1984, Madonna shocked the world by opening the VMAs and dancing around in a wedding dress to "Like a Virgin." Yes, in 1984 that was actually shocking. That she was Catholic and wore a multitude of crucifixes was also considered shocking at the time.
She also made waves in 1990, opening the show with Vogue, though it was hardly considered shocking. It was just good.
Then, in 2003, she kissed Britney Spears and danced around the stage with Christina Aguilera, and that seemed shocking at the time. It hits a little differently now, knowing what happened to poor Britney, whose own reliance on her sexuality has her now dancing crazy-eyed around in circles with knives.
That is the part of Madonna’s legacy she refuses to address or take any responsibility for. She led young women into a world where sexuality was the reason people watched, not the great dancing, and Madonna, like Britney, was a great dancer, even when wearing a suit.
I remember when Madonna shocked her audience by showing up at LIVE Aid mostly covered up because no one expected her to.
What happened to that Madonna?
The first bad sign was how she busted up her face with plastic surgery. All of that was bad enough, but finally she got that “good facelift” that is going around now, and that seemed to give her more confidence to show her face. She even did an interview for the first time in almost a decade.
Maybe the new facelift and well-reviewed album are why she felt ready for her close-up again, so why not parade around stage at almost 70, existing in a world of youth and sexuality. She padded her backside with a BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift), but it looks like a too-full diaper.
Her performance last night at the VMA’s drew record ratings, but mainly because Taylor Swift was debuting her music video, Patient Zero, starring Dakota Johnson. You had to watch the VMAs to see it.
But now, all it will do is make Madonna believe it was a smashing success, the same kind of delusion depicted in Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood and American culture need decency back. There have to be protections for kids, and there are none. Just turn on any Netflix show, and you’ll see things that kids should never see.
Usually, the pendulum swings. In the 1930s, the Hays Code was implemented to bring decency back to society. It ended in the 1960s and 1970s. I never thought we would ever need decency standards back, but we do.
It feels like we’ve lost the plot.
What I know now is that I’m stronger than Madonna, though I never thought that day would come. I always just wanted to be her. Now, I feel great relief that, of all the things I struggle with, facing down age and vanishing sexuality is not one of them.
Madonna could have learned a few things from Dolly Parton
Narcissists always try to remain relevant.
Any sane, normal person who had Madonna’s kind of money would just enjoy retirement out of the public life.
If I had that wealth I’d be traveling the world enjoying retirement.