Madonna

Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie has been in the lime-light for over thirty years, continually proving her ability to mold with the times as an ever changing pop musician. Born in Bay City, Michigan, Madonna’s career began when she moved to New York to purse a career in modern dance. Today she is recognized multi-nationally and has attained a high level of success and has a slew of awards to back up her distinction. Her music reaches all age groups with her catchy, but at times provocative lyrics. Madonna is an example of media globalization because she is not just an artist, she is a dance, actor, model, religious advocate (Kabbalah), fashion icon, and a Pepsi product spokesperson. From T-shirts, to CD’s, replicated dolls, movies, and myriad other promotional trinkets, Madonna is everywhere. Madonna has set a musical standard in the world of pop music that many predecessors to her have not been able to accomplish. Despite Madonna’s at times promiscuous image, she is still considered a legend for singing about issues that are considered taboo in society. For example, her song American Dream sings about the pressures of society placed on celebrities to be skinny and fit into a distinct image. Madonna is an icon that has made her stake in the world of music and shows no signs of receding.

Female Artist

1.) What demographic factors such as age, class or ethnicity shape their fan base? A wide range of ages, sexes, ethnicities, classes and personalities listen to Sarah McLachlan’s music. She has dedicated a lot of her time to heightening the awareness of poverty in countries and has donated a lot of money made from her concerts and music videos to help solve hunger in third world countries. She was born in Nova Scotia, Canada and has not forgotten her roots. She travels home frequently to put on promotional benefits. All procededs from her video “World on Fire”, went to providing various countries with animals, computes, food and books. She founded the Lilith Fair Tour, which showcased female musicians in the late 1990’s. While this particular instance related to women, many men listen to her music too. 2.) To what extent does your audience appropriate or localize the main themes of their songs in terms of either their own personal experience of their own cultural context? McLachlan is known for her emotional ballads, which she has won many Grammy Awards for. Many of her songs relate to personal experiences that she has had in her life about love, relationships, her family, friends and various things she has lived through. People can relate to her music because of the heartbreak and joy many have felt at one point or another. She is an extremely talented musician with a lot more music to write and share with the world which will hopefully others will be able to relate to as they have in the past.

Medium Message

When Henry Ford introduced the Ford Model-T, he set a precedent for transportation. The Model-T was owned by middle class Americans and was considered the first affordable automobile. The medium for my project was the Model-T car and its introduction into society. The content is the person that is/was in operation of the vehicle and/or more specifically the passenger because it allowed them to be transported. The message is the social cultural change caused by the medium as described by McLuhan that occurred when citizens were enabled to transport themselves with the help of a machine they could own. The Model-T was the first automobile that was mass produced on assembly lines which increased production exponentially. For the first time people could travel (at a faster more efficient pace) and span greater distances. This led into what we know today as mass transportation which leads to my last picture of heavy traffic flow throughout the roads of the United States.