In the video, “Like a Prayer” by Madonna, the rhetorical appeal used constantly throughout the entire video is pathos, or the appeal to emotion. The video, directed towards Madonna’s fans, is one of controversy because of the many religious images contained within. Although I do not know what inspired this video to be made, I can imagine it is because of the injustices Madonna has seen happen and would like to prevent from happening.
Minute— 0:00-1:00
In the first few seconds of the video, we are shown Madonna running with police sirens in the background, she trips and falls. A door is shut and the image of a burning cross is shown. The burning cross is a function of the Ku Klux Klan, used to either attack or drive away undesirables through threats or terrorism. This scene is a rhetorical appeal to emotion, pathos. The viewer will see the cross burnings and it will most likely appeal to the emotions to many people. The burning cross is a strong symbol in society and can bring out many different kinds of emotions. The emotions of fear or hatred might possibly come out when seeing this image. In the scene following the burning cross, the door that was previously shut is shown again, and this time shows that Madonna was the one who shut the door. She then turns to reveal a group of white males beating up a woman. This image also falls into the category of pathos; people who see a woman being outnumbered and attacked by a group of men will feel the emotion of anger as well as sadness. People do not like to see others getting beaten up, especially women since they are not as strong as men and this woman is being beaten by a group of men, which makes the emotions stronger. The video then flashes to a church at sunset with the lights on inside, this church will be the setting for the entire video. The next image shown is a black male being arrested and escorted by a police officer, although the viewer is unsure as to why. Madonna is then shown entering the church shown previously and various images of Jesus are shown as she walks through the church to a statue of Saint Martin de Porres, which some people perceive as being a black version of Christ in the video. Saint Martin de Porres is known for all of his efforts in helping the poor. The statue is shown coming to life, gripping the flowers he is holding and then beginning to cry. This also appeals to the rhetoric of pathos because the statue is showing emotion, and the audience sees the emotion and will feel sympathetic because of the sadness. Madonna then approaches the cage-like case that encloses the statue.
Minute—1:00-2:00
She kneels down and sings, “I hear your voice; it’s like an angel sighing. I have no choice, I hear your voice, feels like flying.” She then walks over to a pew and lays down on her back singing, “Oh God, I think I’m fallingth” as the image changes to her falling from the sky with her arms in the air, “…out of the sky…” she is then caught by a woman, who then throws her back into the sky as she sings, “Heaven help me.” The words “heaven help me” can be symbolic to her not knowing what to do in the situation when she saw the innocent man get arrested, since she hid like everyone else did. The video then shows Madonna kiss the feet of the statue in the church, she then stands and starts to open the cage-like case that is enclosing the statue, and when she reaches in and touches his cheek, the statue comes to life and drops the flowers. He touches Madonna and kisses her on the cheek and forehead. Appealing to emotion again, the event in the church can be symbolic of Madonna freeing the statue
Minute—2:00-3:00
The statue walks away from Madonna and towards the door, and walks out. Madonna then picks up a knife from the floor of the church. When she touches the blade, she quickly drops the knife and looks are her hands. When she looks down at her hands, she has the visible stigmata, Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, and sings, “let the choir sing”, turning her head to the choir that has gathered behind the altar. The choir, containing the same woman who caught Madonna falling from the sky, then sings the chorus of the song. The scene then changes to Madonna shutting the door from earlier in the video, and watching the men beat up the woman, showing them stab her in the stomach. This is once again appealing to the emotion of the audience; Madonna wants the audience to feel sympathy for the woman and anger towards the men doing this to the poor and helpless woman. Madonna then sees a man run down the stairs close to where the event is happening as the men leave the beaten woman and run away. Madonna is also trying to open the door to go back into the church, trying to run away as well. The man goes to see the beaten woman and as he checks to see if she is okay, the police arrive and arrest the innocent man. The video then shows Madonna make eye contact with one of the men hiding on the roof, as the innocent man is taken away in handcuffs, showing pathos to make The audience now understands why the man was arrested and feels the emotions of anger and sympathy once again, but this time towards the man being arrested since the viewers know he did not commit the crime for which he is being punished.
Minute—3:00-4:00
The next scene shows Madonna singing and dancing in front of a field of burning crosses again. The video once again shows the choir singing and Madonna joins them. The next image is of the man who was arrested with Madonna in the church kissing, this may explain why Madonna feels guilty about trying to run away instead of trying to explain to the police that he had not committed the crime since she seems to have a connection with him. The images of burning crosses flash across the screen again, as does the image of the statue crying blood, which has biblically symbolized people being extremely distraught over the injustices they have seen before them and wanting those who really committed the crime to be held responsible.
Minute—4:00-5:23
The scene switches back to Madonna dancing and singing with the choir. It also shows the statue stiffening up back into his cage, becoming lifeless once again. The choir then moves down the stairs. The gates of the statue close, his arms reach out. The image shows Madonna lying on the pew again with the choir surrounding her. Madonna turns in the direction of the statue in the cage, but it shows the innocent man behind bars, as Madonna is talking to the police officer behind the desk and then approaches the jail cell as the police officer follows her with the keys. Showing that she decided to do the right thing and report that the police had captured the wrong man. This pathetic appeal will make the audience smile, as it appeals to the emotion of happiness because the innocent man will be freed. The video pans out and red velvet curtains then fall. The video then flashes to Madonna dancing and singing in the field of burning crosses again, this could possibly symbolize Madonna using the burning crosses like the KKK to drive away undesirables, like the men who committed the crime and ran away. The curtains are lifted revealing everyone in the video taking a bow. Everyone starts dancing and the curtains close once more, as the words “The End” are typed across the screen. This allows the viewers to realize that the video has come to a happy ending.
November 1, 2009 at 8:16 pm |
I hadn’t seen this video in a long time and I remembered it being much more scandalous. Well, I suppose it depends on the viewer’s point of view how scandalous it is. But I read your paper first and found it helpful in trying to understand why the creators made the choices they did.