 
 
Like A Prayer The
Immaculate MTV Party to Go Rolling Stone
1989 Collection Platinum
Mix Women In Rock
1990 1998 1999
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VIDEO by David
Fincher
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“Express Yourself”, the second release from Like A Prayer,
stands as yet another masterpiece in
the vast arsenal of
Madonna hits. The song’s message, one of
female empowerment and
liberation, remains
one of her most powerful and influential to this day.
Although the song settled for a #2 peak, this
in no way undermines the enormous impact of
“Express Yourself”. The video, costing roughly $1 million, was at
the time the most expensive
ever made and took
the music video world to new stylistic heights.
It marks Madonna’s first
collaboration with
David Fincher, a brilliant director who would also helm the future videos “Oh
Father” (1989), “Vogue”
(1990), and “Bad Girl” (1993).
Also to his credit are the popular
movies Alien 3
(1992), Seven (1995), and Fight Club (1999). It is also Madonna’s first time
working with Shep Pettibone, a producer/remixer who remixed “Express Yourself” to form a
cutting-edge sound to
specifically match the video.
A visually stunning take on the silent-era
classic film, Metropolis, the “Express Yourself” video
featured man and
machine working together in a futuristic exorbitant cityscape. The old-meets-
new feel of the video
was heightened by its technicolor brightness and
crisp art direction and
cinematography. It is Madonna’s first erotic, rather than
flirtatious video, and in it the corset
bound diva addressed
the battle of the sexes but reversed the traditional roles of men and
women. The women were sexy yet strong, while the men
were silent and subservient. Although
the song’s lyrics made
a very strong statement, encouraging feminine equality, Madonna angered
many feminists with her
reference to needing a “big strong hand”.
Also, in one of the video
scenes, Madonna wore
a dog collar and was led on a leash, leading to the accusation that the
video portrayed women
as household pets. This may have been
so, but the fact is, Madonna
was speaking out for,
not against women’s liberation, and any scenes that depicted the
oppression of women
were entirely ironic.
Overall, “Express Yourself” was the beginning
of yet another image refinement, one that would
make Madonna the most
famous woman in pop history --- sexy, autonomous, and in control.
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