Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Let's Get Unconscious Honey - Bedtime Story - The Video


Bedtime Story, the video. Insane. I'm not going to go into how it's directed by Mark Romanek who directed Rain or how it's based off surrealist paintings and cross reference the paintings with the stills. There's a great article HERE (scroll down). I'm going to talk about Madonna's massive influence and the beauty of this video - which has been acquired for New York's Museum of Modern Art's film and video collection.

In the future, most people will not have the attention span to sit through feature length movies. In fact, a five minute video might be too long for them. Look around, everyone's on their little phone, rushing through things and writing commentaries in under 140 characters. That, too, will shorten.

When people tune into or scan their dvr for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) programming - they're not looking for the best actor, best director or best script. They're looking for recognizable names. In 50 years time, when people are searching the new version of Google - Madonna will be so monumental, more so than today. People will be searching their mini electronic devices for motion picture art and Madonna will be omnipresent.

Like Express Yourself and Vogue, we can see elements of Bedtime Story in many videos from 1995 until today. Look at all the wanna-be's today - almost 30 years into her career. They can't release anything without Madonna being brought up in every review of their new single, album, performance or video. They all byte her style but don't have the timeless pulsating songs, the blasphemous/holy name, dancer trained carriage or that fuck face. Or that old gay eye for detail - to eliminate the unnecessary and the ugly. She has always been a gay man, not an over embellished drag queen. Madonna embodies all the wonders in the arts which are evident here in Bedtime Story. She creates a role for each video and her songs are the score. All the while doing it in the most enticing cinematography.

So, with Bedtime Story, we have our visionary vamp in all her surrealistic glory. All those paintings come to life. She's not an insecure mangled monster who stutters through her songs with repellent visuals, she's a powerful surrealistic sex goddess summoning us with her lush, hypnotic voice and enchanting face. An echo or remembrance of a wet dream we had along the way. Anyone who tries to convince us we're "post-sex" is wrong.

Let's get lost in Bedtime Story the way they will in the future.


When this video was released, here in Los Angeles, it premiered at a movie theater in Santa Monica and we all went out there to see it - it was FAB-U-LOUS on the big screen! And, of course, we left before the long forgotten feature film started. We didn't have the time or the interest. We got what we wanted. The greatest star that ever lived - Madonna in under 5 minutes.

14 comments:

  1. Spot the fuck on, as always, brother love! 

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  2. Great posting Yet again Pud!!

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  3. Fantastic once again, a MADONNA fan with an 'intelligent, informed' point of view. my kind of fan. Each day (when i have 5mins) i find myself on this site. Love the way you mix not only the recent madonna, but also amazing 'stuff' from 'back in the day'!! wonderful and interesting site my friend.

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  4. She doesn't make them like that anymore! Amazing video, up there with the best. Never loved the song much but that's just me.

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  5. Madonna never needed movies to become a big star in the silver screen. She just needed to make the videos she did (and hopefully will continue making).
    She really delivered great performances in those videos and the images became iconic. And history was made.

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  6. As a Linguistics undergraduate student, I've always appreciated how avant-garde she is when she states "words are useless", when in many situations they are, in fact, of no use. This is what happens when pure scholar, academic thinking meets pop culture! The effect of it is superb!

    Pud, as Tina's aforementioned comment, I must say you really got a knack for it! Your blog is amazing! Your writing has the power of making us fall in love with Madonna even more! And I just love your reviews, especially when you mention your personal experiences regarding Madonna. Outstanding! :)

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  7. sister, raga, tina, joão - feeling the love love love. xo

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  8. @Dontlookback,im on the same boat,i never liked the song but the video is one of her best. Simply amazing.

    Note: Too bad she doesnt make videos like this anymore,she lost (i hope not completely) her art.

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  9. love the video and the song! it's one of the greatest music videos ever! i love how bedtime story and sanctuary were the precursor of ray of light :)
    ps: great article pud x

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  10. pud, great write-up. you really have a way of getting to the essence of who she is, or who she projects, in any given moment, video, song, or shoot. however...

    there's surely a 'surrealist scrapbook' blogspot out there bitching about these references. and mark romanek did most of the female surrealist painter research for the video (check out the audio commentary on the Director's Label series), not m. and she didn't write the lyrics of course - bjork did, aside from a few tweaks. very much a collaboration.

    after all is said and done though, the moment is a magical one and a favourite of mine.

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  11. Bjork on Bedtime Story (Attitude Magazine): "She did her own version and wrote the lyrics wrong. I can't remember right now, but it was a really interesting mistake. It was something like "Let's say goodbye to logic and reason" and she got it wrong so that it actually meant the opposite....I was like, 'Okay...". :)

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  12. Not a bad video, but not her best. Much preferred the one she shot for the Re-Invention tour.

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  13. It's too bad she hasn't put this much passion, creativity and innovation into any of her music videos in a very long time.

    Brilliant video...from beginning to end. One of her best. Right up there with Bad Girl, Oh Father, Express Yourself, and American Life.

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