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Madonna for New York Times Mag (Madonna NOT happy)


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35 minutes ago, justinian said:

It all looks she put a lot of her ( ♥️ ) in this project....

You said it!! Astounding in every way and area.  

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On 6/8/2019 at 5:29 AM, Herfaceremains said:

The tide didn’t turn. Her fans have been debating cause, context and consequence in light of Madonna’s response. Naturally as avid consumers and admirers of her work we would all be curious and enthralled to have such a monumental think piece on Madonna from a world-renowned publication. It was a fascinating read, but as many have contributed since their initial synopsis under the influence of the novelty of the scope of the article, there was a subtext to the journalist’s approach that seemed both lacking in focus and somewhat pernicious. 

Personally, I drew parallels with the last Vanity Fair profile Madonna sat for. It seemed that journalist found her evasive and inaccessible, although in revisiting it now it is much more interview-driven in comparison to Vanessa Grigoriadis’ work. What I think has puzzled many of us is why someone would fail to take the opportunity to cull the experience of spending a great deal of time with Madonna to deliver something more insightful, and to instead focus her writing so much upon her personal feelings and inability to find ground for interest if it wasn’t limited to Madonna's relatability. It truly did seem as if she got no more than an hour to sit with her, and so many of the quotes she used were pre-existing.

I agree that there was something extraordinary about those earlier Vanity Fair profiles, and they were not particularly biased in any way. They positioned Madonna as an almost unknowable, deftly self-aware object of fascination, and any objectification mostly stemmed from the analysis of her constantly evolving career.

However, the nature of celebrity has changed so enormously since then. Mystique and myth are not natural qualities for a star to hone in this era, and perhaps that’s what these more contemporary profiles seem to fail to grasp. Madonna is of multiple eras. She may always seek to present herself as contemporary, and we are all acutely familiar with her lack of desire to wax nostalgic in terms of her actual artistry, but one has to approach the task of interviewing her with extreme intelligence and self-confidence, something that Grigoriadis seemed to lack entirely. More irritating still was the fact that she was aware of this, and essentially made this the predominant focus of her article! To give her the benefit of the doubt and establish that maybe her editor chopped a much larger work down to this narrative doesn’t help to defend her either, as it implies she failed massively at accomplishing something distinguished and worthwhile: In terms of the measure of success of celebrity profiles, it is not the journalist’s role to conform to the rigid restrictions of a publicist, but to study, analyze and contextualize their subject in a way that piques the reader’s curiosity and offers him or her unique angles of insight. She may have accomplished the former just because it is Madonna and most Sunday Times readers will be glad to read the piece whether out of thirst for blood or genuine interest. However, the lack of the latter is an utter embarrassment of a misstep, and she should be held to account for that at least...not by Madonna, but by anyone who takes the time to read the profile. It doesn’t negate the value of the article. It just reinforces that expectation is always our worst enemy, and this seems to apply to both Madonna and her fan base. I’m hopeful that An Evening With Graham Norton will offer us more of what we would like in terms of a Madonna fan-centric profiling experience!

:clap::clap::clap: Your posts are always perfectly stated, and beautifully written.  :clap::clap::clap:

 

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10 hours ago, xtysc said:

Anyone found the magazine in Europe? I checked in many places and the newspaper was sold without it !! 

Same here. I don‘t think the international version came with the magazine. Ebay is your friend...

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