Madonna - Like A Prayer

Madonna’s music video ‘Like a Prayer’ was set and released in America in 1989, it is seen as one of

the most controversial music videos known to date.

We first see an establishing shot of a church, this tells us where the video is set and it is also represents Christianity. It is an extreme long shot and shows us that it is in the middle of nowhere and lonely, which may be why Madonna has turned to religion as she felt lost. However, we can also see an orange light coming from inside the church and it looks like it is on fire, which is not something we associate with church/heaven, we normally associate it with hell. However, once it cuts to inside the church, we can see it isn’t burning and in fact, religion is reinforced with props such as candles and crosses.

  

We then see a high angled shot of her kneeling down praying, which makes her look small and because she is praying, we assume she is going to be religious. However, we can see from the high angled shot that she is dressed provocatively as she is wearing a low cut red dress, revealing her boobs. This is illustrating her as a sexual object and it is extremely controversial as she is in a church and it is seen to be extremely disrespectful to be in church dressed like this. Also suggesting the fact this is why her music is selling; sex sells. This is also reinforced when she starts kissing the Black Jesus, later on in the video we also see her kissing his feet, showing she worships him and he has more authority than her, the fact he is Jesus also reinforces this.  The high angle also connotates how weak she is and it makes her look vulnerable.

The lighting used within the Mise En Scene, is also Red, which illustrates danger, provocativeness and love, all of which are conveyed in this video.

The editing used within this video is also synchronous; it uses lots of fast cuts, which cut in

time with the beat of the music, which illustrates action.

We see a group of White men that have been involved the raping of a White woman, which is once

again objectifying women and showing them to be weak, once again, when the police show up, they run away, and we see a low angle of a Black man running down the stairs, the low angle allows the Black man to look powerful and caring, which subverts the Black Stereotype of being uncaring, However, the police turn up and arrest him for the rape. This highlights the amount of Racism in America at the time that this video was released; these issues are still ongoing, such as the Baltimore Riots currently happening. This is also reinforced later on in the video when we see a long shot of Madonna dancing in front of burning crosses which were used to warn of celebrate when the Klu Klux

Klan had or were about to kill a Black person. So when we see her dancing and happily singing in front of them, it is seen as extremely disrespectful, which again causes a lot of controversy. The cross is also a symbol of Catholicism, which will again be seen as disrespectful.

Towards the end, we also see a group of gospel singers, dressed in Red, a colour that has appeared

many times in this video, the gospel singers are also seen as a convention of the Christianity religion, which has also been an issue within this video. However, all though Madonna is on her knees in front of them crawling along the floor, showing a more sexual side, it could also represent the fact that she is

free and has no worries and show the fact that because the gospel choir celebrate when they sing, they could be leading her to go and set the other Black man free from prison which once again subverts the stereotype of Black people being unkind and uncaring.

At the very end, we see a Red curtain come down, which gives it the sense of a show, indicating

they may have put this whole thing on to make the audience realise ongoing issues in society that are even still going on today.