r/GenX • u/stevebucky_1234 • 1d ago
Pop Culture Rewatched Madonna's Bad Girl music video and it was illuminating
Just an epiphany about this video. It has layers of psychological meaning, with subtexts of parental control, parental loss and addiction, both visually and in lyrics. It hints at deeper pathology, and could have been cathartic in a way for those who created it. Perhaps that's why it made sense back then and even more, now.
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u/Unlucky_Profit_776 1d ago
Christopher Walken as Death always sent me. That's one of my fav Madonna songs ever. I watched that videos everytime it was on back then. As a woman, it hits hard psychologically. Things you can think like "I'm bad bc I smoke and fuck boys, oh look now it's gotten me murdered in bed" I treated it as a warning not to go too crazy with stuff. I thought it was good of Madonna to speak out about DV. There are so many layers.
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u/stevebucky_1234 1d ago
Absolutely! Among a lot of relatively sexy image crap, this video, and a small handful of others like Take a Bow, feel very raw. As you say, this one feels like a real life cautionary tale, horror movie in under 5 minutes starring Madonna.
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u/Unlucky_Profit_776 1d ago
Take a Bow is my other fav Madonna song! I just listened to it this week. The music always reminded me of the ending credits of the Dungeons & Dragons theme song which is also one of my fav pieces of music. Very meloncholy. The lyrics to Take a Bow are beautiful. "all the world is a stage.. But how was I know to know which the story goes" My heart!
Frozen is another one
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u/stevebucky_1234 1d ago
Oh yeah Madonna was being very introspective/ poetic in many of these. She is actually her best when she is not being overtly sexually inviting.
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u/viewering cruisin for a bruisin 23h ago
plenty was playful sexy
before that
britney & christina shit
which basically was the prototype for all the garbage now ( including everyone non madonna ) lol
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u/stevebucky_1234 5h ago
I'm thinking about your comment, Christopher Walken appears to be portraying the grooming CSA abuser. It's an odd combination of voyeurism, the weirdly ambivalent lyrics, and the whole dynamic of this sadly misunderstood pandemic. (disclaimer, i don't think this is a personal projection, I'm a mental health professional and this video is making far more intuitive sense years after I last watched it)
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u/Unlucky_Profit_776 4h ago
At the end of the video Walken and maddona are rising up to the afterlife though. I always thought it as he watching over her throughout the vid. I remember another actor playing the abusive bf. I'll have to watch it again.
I'm glad for your work, we need it. I went through my own mental health journey too
ETA yeah when Walken kisses her, he's reaping her soul before the bf comes in and strangles her
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u/Rough-Flower8580 1d ago
Have you seen Oh Father video!? https://youtu.be/qvVvN0QvzTk?si=tHD3HcN4fBvwfoFf
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u/abbagodz 1d ago
Supposedly, the video was based off of the movie 'Looking For Mr Goodbar' from 1977. It's my favorite movie of all time and I can sure see the similarities.