March 29, 2003
ROCKET IN MY POCKET:
MADONNA VIDEO ENDS WITH IMAGE OF PRESIDENT BUSH WITH GRENADE IN HIS LAP (DRUDGE REPORT, MARCH 28, 2003)A final shock scene in the video of AOLTIMEWARNER recording artist Madonna's upcoming release -- is that of the singer throwing a grenade in the lap of President Bush!"It is not me being anti-Bush, it's me being ironic and tongue in cheek," Madonna explains to NBC's ACCESS HOLLYWOOD this weekend.
"My kind of wish for peace and my desire to sort of turn a weapon of destruction, which is a grenade, into something that is completely innocuous."
Madonna uses a Bush look-alike in the final scene of AMERICAN LIFE. The "president" picks up the lit grenade that Madonna throws --and lights his cigar with it!
The image is "my wish to find an alternative to violence to war and destruction," the singer says.
Of course, anyone who cares about personal hygiene would much prefer to have a grenade than a disease vector like Madonna in their lap. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 29, 2003 9:22 AM
Freud might have something to say about a woman whose notion of an anti-violence gesture involves through a grenade at someone she disagrees with.
Posted by: Paul Jaminet at March 29, 2003 12:13 PMYou guys are ignoring the punch line. She throws a grenade into his lap, which he then uses to light a cigar. See, get it? It's not even a new idea - taking an object that is associated with one specific thing, and turning it into something else. The Surrealists were doing that 70 years ago with such things as the furry tea cup.
I mean, she says right out that it's not to be anti-Bush and then she goes on to explain what she's trying to do. If it was meant to be anti-Bush, the ending would either have been a) ambiguous (the video would have ended before the cigar lighting) or b) unambiguous (an explosion would be shown).
Not a fan of Madonna, but I think in this case maybe everyone's teeth are a bit on edge and things are being read into this that were honestly not intended,
Uh, Ann? We're kidding...
Posted by: oj at March 29, 2003 1:36 PMIt's too bad that the Dixie Chicks treatment only works on performers who are popular.
Notice how the only ones making noise right now are the hasbeens who can coast on their royalties, or are trying to make points with their sychophantic admirers?