VIDEO by J.B. Mondino
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True Blue The
Immaculate
1986 Collection
1990
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“Open Your Heart” stands as one of Madonna’s most sophisticated and
provocative tracks of the
1980’s. With the chorus “open up your heart to
me, baby, I hold the lock and you hold the key",
the song became an
instant classic, climbing to the top of the charts and becoming Madonna’s
fifth #1 single.
The video is a true landmark in Madonna’s
career. It was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, a
famous photographer
who would go on to direct several other of Madonna’s music videos. In
the clip, Madonna
plays a kind of peep show paramour, dancing seductively for men in private
booths who have paid
their hard-earned money to be stimulated by the pop vixen. In true Madonna
fashion, a rather
androgynous looking female can also be seen watching the strip-tease near the
end of the video, one
of the first references to homosexuality to be found in Madonna’s work.
Perhaps the most important character in the
video is the little boy who stands outside the
theatre,
wanting to watch the
show but is prohibited by the ticket-master from entering. The little boy is
symbolic in that he
represents the burgeoning of sexuality.
He wants to find an outlet to explore
his new feelings but
is unable to find an avenue to do so, directly paralleling the sexual
oppression
that Madonna was
facing in her career. Finally, the
little boy starts to dance in front of a mirror,
mimicking the
flirtatiousness of Madonna’s own dance.
He is later joined by Madonna herself as
she leaves the
theater, suddenly looking more like a boyish friend than a sexual vamp. Madonna
kisses the boy awake
and the two go dancing off into the sunrise, another element of symbolism
which represents the
beginning of the boy’s sexual enlightenment.
While the scenes with the little boy (Felix
Howard) are completely innocent, many critics still
moaned that Madonna
was encouraging child abuse. Nonetheless,
the little boy in the "Open Your
Heart" video represents one of the most
important concepts that Madonna has promoted in her
career: the acceptance
of one’s individual sexuality and finding ways to express, rather than
repress those
feelings. Interestingly, Felix Howard was
scheduled to perform the song live with
Madonna during the 1987 Who's
That Girl Tour, but was prohibited from doing so because of
child labor laws.
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