Textual analysis of a music video

Madonna's - like a prayer

Through the use of semiotics and the four technical aspects there is a clear underlining message portrayed throughout Madonna’s ‘like a prayer’ music video.

With the use of mise-en-scene there is symbolism explored through lighting, facial expressions, character positioning, props and costumes. The first clear prop that is used several times in numerous shots is the cross or crucifix on fire. This clearly symbolises the religion of Christianity and the destruction and chaos that the fire creates is almost an insult to Christianity as it is saying religion can still be destroying the lives of other ethnicities depended on the religions ideological beliefs. 

In the very first establishing shot Madonna has a saddened and upset facial expressions showing her panicking disbelief of an event that has just taken place. The fact that her face is sad connects to the semiotics throughout the music video, as it links to the negative portrayal of racial issues.

 Madonna’s character positioning is usually her lying down, falling down at the beginning of the video and kissing the feet of the wax model, this shows her weakness and her lack of strength to change the views of racial issues and in particular the scene where she is below the Black man and kisses his feet symbolises her love towards him, the power she has lost and her respect towards him, which is a positive symbolism of her character in the music video as she is loving towards something or someone that others would disagree with.

 The audience are behind Madonna’s views because the music video shows the sad affects of racism that is explored in this video. This view that Christianity has been tainted is, however contradicted with the use of Madonna’s necklace as a prop, which actually symbolises her support for Christianity and her beliefs as a Christian. 

The same can be said with the use of lighting, as the church doors are lit from the inside and because white bright lights suggest innocence it is a positive portrayal and representation of religion. This is emphasised as a church is a clear symbol of religion and the strong lighting source almost has a biblical reference to heaven and the brightness of the state of being in heaven, all being light. Lighting is also used in the video to show the truth. This is shown when the black man is arrested for a crime he did not commit, as the police car source of lighting and the torch is shone onto the black man singling him out from the rest in a positive way because if light expresses innocence it therefore emphasises that he did no commit the murderous crime. The significance of the light shows that he is different from everyone else in that scene due to his race but this is not a negative aspect of his character; in fact t is a positive aspect. There are candles in the music video, which also hold a religious value, light the setting of the inside of the church, it is a traditional way of lighting a room, this emphasises the past and how things have changed but that a candle light is true lighting rather than fake plastic lighting, clear symbolising that Madonna is trying to show the negativity of racism and the effects it can have of this particular black man.

 The use of the black man as a plastic or fake model is made to look like a biblical representation of Jesus or a holy power of Christianity, such as God. This is definitely a controversial video to racist issues in the past, which breaks the rules and conformity of religion as Jesus is not viewed as white but in fact he is black in this video, which would disagree with stereotypical religious views. In fact because the model is fake symbolises the way black people are viewed by white people and the facial expression that he contains when he comes to life is sad when he specifically begins to cry suggest that they are human and just as sensitive as white people. He begins to become human when she shows love and respect towards him; this exaggerates the neglect that they have been brought up in. The gates that he is locked away in are significantly important to the message and other semiotics carried throughout this video. This is due to the fact that they are significant to a biblical reference of ‘the gates of heaven’, which symbolises he is trapped within them, which in some way could be viewed as a positive portrayal as he is valued to be in a religious state such as heaven but the gates, in fact show the negativity to being trapped in one place, unable to move, a neglected position he should not have to be in. This could also deeply link to other effects of slavery, as both show that blacks were trapped away, segregated from white people and the benefits of the world. 

Madonna’s costume throughout the music video is the same and is black which would usually suggest lack of innocence, darkness and negatives representations of hell. The dress itself is controversial to religion, as her female body and figure is very much portrayed through the tightness of the dress, almost a negative representation, which contradicts the kind character that is shown in the video. This is done to show that you cannot judge a person by what they look like or how they dress, trying to emphasise the way that black people are judged.

Through the use of editing there is a use of parallel editing between different shots of Madonna’s face, this speeds up the pace of the video, which could stereotypically show a connection to an ‘action’ type film genre, which would portray Madonna as a hero, able to solve or help improve racial issues within the music video. Parallel editing and straight cuts are used between shots of Madonna and the black man, which would show the relationship that they have between one another and the clear equality between them.

 The music video contains a flashback to the past event to prove the innocence of the black man to state and clearly prove to the audience of the good intensions her had. A flashback is also a clear non-linear technique that shows the past and the lack of chronological order. This could be used to symbolise the chaos in racial discrimination. They used a rewind and reversed shot when the black man is locked up again as he was in the beginning of the scene, this relates to the past impacts of racism and that Madonna was in fact in a dream. The significance of the dream allows Madonna to show the past compared to the positive future or present, to show that people can develop or change their ideological views.

The clear use of sound is the non-diegetic soundtrack, ‘like a prayer’, which in fact is made up of holy and religious sounds such as the choir, who in fact is sang by black people, which emphasises the talent that they have and shows their connection to religion and that they also believe in Christianity. There is a sound bridge used throughout the scenes to connect them and make it a music video, which states that, the music video and each shot is saying the same thing, they all have the same underlining message. There is however a change in sound at the beginning of the video, which would be the diegetic sound of the police car, which symbolises a criminal attempt which is then sound bridged with her Madonna’s song, this shows the unjust and criminality of racism.

With the use of camera work they have used an establishing shot at the beginning to show the bigger issue of racism within such a little amount of characters within the video, that the issue of racism is in fact bigger then just this music video. The use of close-ups show the detail and destruction of racism for the black man when he begins to cry, it shows he is human and that others, like the audience are able to relate or understand his character. There is the use of a handheld camera in the church makes the situation more real as the audience member viewing the video will feel, as it is their own personal view. They have done this to symbolise that the audience can feel just as neglected as this particular black man; this creates sympathy towards his character and the issues he is facing.

The overall setting of the curtain towards the end of the video concludes the narrative and shows that it is luckily not real but in the past it used to be, it shows our past and compare it to our present to symbolise how far we as people have come. The use of the text ‘the end’ signifies the end to racism as well as the end to this music video. This music video is deeply integrated with emotional links to racist issues as it shows how people can change their views that they once had. For instance the fact that Madonna has a relationship with the black man, this almost interprets sexual acts, symbolises that they are equal and the act that she has committed would have, in the past, been seen as illegal but because we are in the present things have changed and it is now viewed as being the ‘norm’.