critically evaluate douglas kellners account of the madonna phenomenon in his media culture
Critically evaluate Douglas Kellners acount of the Madonna Phenomenon in his Media Culture. The so called Madonna phenomonen is a modern concept that appeared with the development of post-modernism and the recent advent of popular culture. However, the development and theory behind the Madonna phenomonen is not so recent and first apppeared with the twentieth century sociologist Gramsci and his ideas regarding hegemony and counter hegemony. These theorys, among others, are recognised in Kellners Media Culture. He utilises various concepts and theories, such as of modernism, popular culture, post modernism to explain Madonnas rise and how she put his theories to use so enablling her to further her climb to stardom. ... Madonna however, managed to cheat this formula with her continuous chyrisalis and consequently captured the imagination and attention of the youth. In addition to this she utilised the ever increasing youth culture in western societies, by deploying tools of the glamour industry to make herself an icon of fashion, beauty, style and sexuality as well as being a purveyor of music. Enterwined with the recently developed concept of a media spectacle this propelled her to the forefront of popular culture. The ever increasing capatalist and corporate environment that developed in the 1980s contributed to the phenomenon that was Madonna. The global networks that produce and distribute the onslaught of media culture in the interests of profit and corporate hegemony mirrored Madonnas aims for hegemony of the music and entertainment industry. The media culture that developed in the 1980s, along with the general publics interest in fame and the notion of stardom, supports the capatalist society that controlled the decade and embodied the Madonna phenomenon. Madonna appeared during Reagans office and withheld the materialistic and consumer orientated ethos of the time. ... Madonna was one of, if not the first to utilise the economic, political and social conditions of the period. ... These groups were previously regarded as subcultures in contemporary American popular culture. ... In Kellners Media Culture he recognises that Madonna can be seen as the ultimate in crass commercialisation an media maniplation or as a subversive cultural revolutionary*, as a site of genuine contradiction. ... Kellner focuses his studies of Madonna and the phenonomenon that surounds her on her image and cultural production, their impact on audiences, and her cultural effects over the years. He, however, unlike many theorists on Madonna argues that the political economy and production of culture is an imporatant key to the phenomenon. Kellner explores Madonna first as a fashion icon, as she implicitly reveals the features of the fuction of fashion for identity in a contemporary world. In traditional societys fashion was an indication of social class and your identity was fixed from birth, however in the past twenty to thirty years this has become less and less applicable, especially with the advent of Madonna. ... Media culture provides models for appearence, acceptable and controversial behaviour and style icons, which is what Madonna marketed herself as. Madonna was one of the first superstars to grow on the new music channel MTV as her videos were relayed to a vast multinational and multiracial audience.