This week, Madonna made an appearance at the Grammys and caused a stir on social media for the image of her face, which showed, instead of the signs of age, the signs of numerous plastic surgeries and interventions.
When I turned 16, my brother gave me a double album (how delightful to use terms Generation Z won’t understand) by my favorite singer, Madonna. At the time, I had no idea she was 12 years older than me. Madonna was the maximum real reference of the identity I would like to have as a teenager. The blue cover album, True Blueit was the third one he threw and the first one I had in my hands.
The songs dealt with topics I would never have dared to talk about, like teenage pregnancy and abortion, and Madonna in her videos was my idealized image of the modern young woman: with attitude, cropped hair, punchy that wasn’t been forced together by appliances and a big nose for the time. Madonna did not meet the standards and was absent in asserting a new beauty.
This week Madonna made an appearance at the Grammys and caused a social scandal for the image of her face, which showed, instead of the signs of age, the signs of numerous plastic surgeries and interventions, a face different from the one what fans and non-fans expected from the diva.pop today at the age of 64.
I looked at each photo with curiosity, I read a few dozen posts and comments, from the haters who defined her as an alien, to why she defended the singer’s new image, to women of my generation who felt betrayed, as if the projection had made our icon fail us. Madonna is no longer our mirror, we have been deceived. But did we go?
At 28, at the time of my beloved blue album, the queen of pop acted like a 16-year-old girl and that transgressive attitude was the factor that set her apart and attracted crowds. Throughout her career and in her private life, she has seemed to maintain that attitude of continuous experimentation, typical of a transition period, always looking for something that she seems to have never found.
This projected character could be analyzed by Jungian psychology as an archetype, a behavior pattern called Puer Aeternus, an adult who wants to be young forever. The focus is to see that this aversion caused by Madonna’s image should be transferred to the celebrity-chasing archetype and rule-making image of eternal youth.
The identification and worship of this aspect puerthis deification of the beauty of a single phase of life, youth, is a refusal to see our figure in the present with the dignity of facing our own era.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
