PS: Tommy is my Fav musical by the way ;-)
Enjoy!
The truth about Madonna's "Confessions On A Dancefloor" era:
It's based on a 1974 rock-and-roll drug movie called "Tommy."
Tommy is the fictitious biography of Tommy Walker. Tommy's father, Captain Walker, had been listed as missing in action during World War I, but he returns unexpectedly in 1921 kills his wife's new lover in front of the seven-year-old Tommy. Tommy's mother and father say to him that "you didn't hear it, you didn't see it ... you won't say nothing to no-one", and Tommy retreats into deafness, dumbness, and blindness as a consequence. He has a vision of a tall stranger dressed in silvery robes with a golden floor-length beard, and the vision sets him on an internal spiritual journey, learning to interpret all physical sensations as music. During the remainder of his childhood Tommy's parents seek out various treatments and cures for him, while Tommy suffers sexual and physical abuse at the hands of several extended family members. On Christmas, his parents despair about the fate of Tommy's soul, as they realize he is unaware of Jesus or prayer. However, Tommy learns to play a pinball machine and soon becomes the master of the game and an international celebrity. His parents eventually locate a doctor who promises a "miracle cure", but all tests indicate that Tommy is actually capable of sight, speech, and hearing, and that his condition is due to an "inner block". Tommy is finally cured when his mother, frustrated that Tommy seems only to see his own reflection, shatters the mirror in a fit of rage. Tommy's cure becomes a public sensation and he attains guru-like status. Thereafter he assumes a quasi-messianic mantle and tries to lead his fans to an "enlightenment" like his own (requiring followers to play pinball while wearing eyeshades, earplugs, and a cork), but the heavy-handedness of his cult and the exploitation of its followers by his family and associates causes his followers to revolt against him.
How "Tommy: The Movie" relates to Madonna:
Storywise Tommy is much like Madonna's life, of course not literally but you'll know what I mean. Madonna has said time and time again that she was "trapped" in a certain state of mind, obsessed with the superficial aspects of life, glamour/fame etc, etc. Battling with her own religious demons, dogma's and questions. Then after releasing herself from the "inner block" she found hapiness and was "cured" of this mindset (thanks to kabbalah? ). She then set about to share this enlightenment with others (promoting kaballah in various ways, among them the "American Life" album) becoming a public sensation and getting guru-like status for her own "cult" with "merchandise", books, red string etc. But then due to the money factor and people getting sick and tired of the overkill of indoctrination and focus on that aspect of her life people started to revolt and call what she considers her saviour a cult and craze and question her sanity. I think Madonna's use of the movie "Tommy" is a sarcastic comment and view on what happened to her the last couple of years before "COADF". How many times has she not said that "she's been blind, but now she has seen the light", JUST like Tommy.
She visualized it by using several style elements from the movie Tommy, in which you can see tommy and his mother for instance going from church group to church group (one even adoring and praying to statues of Marilyn Monroe), seeking refuge in drugs (the acid queen), and eventually Tommy starting his own cult based around pinball, using that pinball as a trademark sign used in "religious symbols", merchandise etc, etc. You could even go as far as to say that the discoball she is holding in several shots is a refference to the pinball Tommy is holding and adoring in "Tommy".
Here are some visual relations between the movie Tommy and the COADF artwork:
pinball versus discoball on display
Tommy can only see his true self in the mirror, but it's also his "cage". The position of the mirrors for the COADF shoot is an exact replica of certain shots in the movie "Tommy".
Tina Turner as the acid queen, Madonna in the exact same outfit, also dancing wildly. Also, the handwriting on the tina turner single cover is similar to "Confessions on a Dance Floor".
In the movie a mirrored effect was used in certain scenes, which was also used in the LIWB footage for the Koko performance
Tommy's mother, consumed by superficial things such as good looks, clothes, glamourous lifestyles etc at one point resides in a completely white room, as does Madonna in her COADF Rolling Stone shoot.
Later, when she breaks Tommy's curse/cage she is seen wailing across the room trying to get HIM and herself out of their current state of being. Madonna is also seen throwing herself at the door...
After Tommy's cage is broken and he is back to normal again and starts his cult, Tommy's mother abandons all the things she was so consumed by. She rejects superficial things and goes through life without make-up, fancy clothes and hides her hair under a scarf. Which reminded me of this picture of Madonna from the shoot.
Source:kittyradio.com
1 comments:
The charity 'Raising Malawi' (PR firm) founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS over three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. In fact, they still havn't accounted for the 3.7 million raised from a single event in the fall of '07' (The opening of a Gucci flagship store in Manhattan.). She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 gross in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. The vague and very misleading word of Madonna. For example: She states in her latest promotional video that she will match any contributions made to her charity (PR firm) "dollar for dollar". However, there is a disclaimer posted on the website for 'Raising Malawi' that Madonna's total contribution will not exceed $100,000. Thats not per donation. Thats a maximum of $100,000 TOTAL. Less than a single days pay for Madonna. Also much less then she will surely rake in by promoting her own CDs, DVDs, and 'for profit' merchandise through this massive worldwide publicity stunt. So I called the office of 'Raising Malawi' in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). These details are ALWAYS made available by legitimate charities to their potential donors. But not in this case. I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on private jet rides and super high end accomodations for their managers, PR crews, and celebrity figure heads. Its legal even for a nonprofit but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity, self-promotion, exotic travel, and PR crap. Still, they compete for funding with more efficient legitimate charities who do more work with less money. The celebrity figure heads often disregard the primary donors, co-founders, and managers, take personal credit for any collective work done, and seek maximum publicity shortly before or after the release of their own commercial projects. Its a sham. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like any of those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.
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