Fashioning Madonna: Madonna’s Body Re-invention at the Age of Globalization
Resource
中外文學, 38(4), 169-210
Journal
中外文學
Journal Volume
38
Journal Issue
4
Pages
169-210
Date Issued
2009-12
Date
2009-12
Author(s)
Liao, Y.C.
Abstract
Ever since her debut 26 years ago, Madonna’s body has been the site of heated debate among cultural critics till this day. In traditional Madonna Studies, her body is usually analyzed in three approaches: representational politics, ideology, and capitalist marketing strategy. However, these analyses tend to posit the concept of “body” as natural and a priori rather than naturalized and constructed. Against this sort of approach, this paper discusses the mutual constructiveness and complicity between “the bodily curve” and “the economic curve” by taking Madonna’s body re-invention as the primary text of analysis. A discussion on the relationship between Madonna’s body re-invention and the digitalization of global music market will also be situated within the logic of late capitalism for further reflections on the possibilities of future body imaginary. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part, “From the Madonna Phenomenon to the Madonna Curve,” looks at the discourses on “body” in Madonna Studies. The second part, “Fashioning Madonna,” takes Jean Baudrillard’s deconstruction of Marxist use value and exchange value as a point of departure to theorize Madonna’s body commodity in the context of global music market.
Subjects
瑪丹娜，瑪丹娜研究，全球化，身體，商品，布希亞，流行音樂，數位化
Madonna, Madonna Studies, globalization, body, commodity, Jean Baudrillard, popular music, digitalization
Type
journal article