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From: edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Madonna, role model
Message-ID: <2570@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Jun-85 14:28:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: randvax.2570
Posted: Tue Jun 25 14:28:24 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Jun-85 23:44:55 EDT
References: <273@cmu-cs-g.ARPA> <841@ccice5.UUCP> <2222@topaz.ARPA> <492@rtech.UUCP> <209@fear.UUCP>
Reply-To: edhall@rand-unix.UUCP (Ed Hall)
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 34
Summary: 


> Today's music is shallow? Has everyone forgotten disco?
>                 -- Robert Plamondon

Indeed; although there is always a subclass of popular music with social
conciousness, I can't think of a time--even in the late 1960's--where
the bulk of popular music wasn't shallow in this respect.  But to
paraphrase a line from the person under discussion: folks just wanna
have fun.  And why not?  Music, no matter how ``deep'', has never had
more than a small part of it focused on social awareness.  In fact, on
that scale I'd dare to say ``Material Girl'' has more social awareness
than Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  The latter clearly has other kinds of
depth--and I prefer it much for those reasons.  But if you make social
conciousness the measure of merit for music or for musicians--and this
discussion seems to be doing so--you're missing the entire point.
(Robert certainly pointed this out very well; I'm merely reiterating
it here.)

As for Madonna's ``boy toy'' *image* and the social comments she *does*
make--well, that's an entirely different thing.  Personally, I think
she is more a reflection than the cause of certain social phenomena.
She's a ``role model'', certainly, and the end result is that she
reinforces a particular role for women that I abhor.  But she didn't
create that role--in a very real sense, it created her, and made her
a star among stars.  Blame it on adolescent boys (of all ages), or
on our society's conditioning of women to be the ``toys'' of men.
But if you're looking for root causes, you'll never find them by
blaming Madonna.

[Notes:  1) I don't like Madonna much, and 2) I don't like Madonna's
music much.]

		-Ed Hall
		decvax!randvax!edhall