Censoring Madonna Hypocritical

Steamy stuff? Hell yeah. This little ol' video stimulated a national debate on censorship and an artist's freedom of expression rights.

Oh, and because MTV refused to air the clip, Madonna released it as the first ever video single. The five-minute clip sold for $10 a pop and went on to make Madonna loads of cash.

Everyone had to see the video that was just too hot for MTV. The controversy swirling around the banned video fueled the success of the song, which climbed to the top of the Billboard's singles chart. So even though the 1990 video was banned from MTV rotation, Madonna still came out on top.

At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, MTV aired "What It Feels Like for a Girl," Madonna's latest video. A news segment ran before the clip, warning viewers of its violent content. If you didn't catch the clip the first time, chances are, you never will. MTV executives have decided the video is just too violent to ever show again.

Luckily, I did see the video. And as in the case of previous Madonna videos, this one was full of important social commentary. Let's look at the video and its artistic merit.

The first scene of violence is by far my personal favorite. A few guys in a car wink at Madonna's character at a red light. After winking back, she drives forward and circles back around, smashing into the side of their car.

The impact of the crash causes her stunned elderly passenger to slide a bit forward. Madonna's character pushes the old lady's glasses back up on her nose before driving off to wreak more havoc.

Throughout the rest of the music clip, the character threatens police officers with a squirt gun before backing into their car, mugs a man at an automatic teller machine with a stun gun, steals a car, sets a gas station on fire and finally crashes into a lamppost in what appears to be an act of suicide.

Madonna describes her character as a "nihilistic pissed-off chick" who's "acting out a fantasy and doing things girls are not allowed to do."

Madonna described "What It Feels Like for a Girl" as an angry song that needed a matching visual. The song itself probes the issues of female oppression and discrimination.

In it, Madonna sings, "Strong inside but you don't know it/Good little girls they never show it/When you open up your mouth to speak, could you be a little weak?/Do you know what it feels like for a girl?"

About halfway through the video, flashback scenes are shown of Madonna's character preparing to go out on her rampage. The camera briefly focuses on a tattoo of the word "love" as well as a large bruise on the character's abdomen.

These little details hint at some sort of abusive relationship the character must be experiencing. So over-the-top violence in the music video shouldn't be viewed as senseless or random.

The visuals, paired with the song, could be taken as an artistic expression of the anger women feel as they fight through a male-dominated society.

Since the tragic school shootings at Columbine High School, television violence has been scrutinized more than ever. MTV, a station that caters to a young audience, should be cautious with how it handles graphic videos.

But the station is coming off as a bit hypocritical by banning one video for being too violent while they rotate others of the same nature. For example, have you seen Eminem's "Stan" video?

Its storyline deals with an obsessed fan who ends up committing suicide with his pregnant girlfriend by driving off of a bridge. And there are countless other examples of pretty extreme violence in dozens of popular videos that MTV airs on a regular basis.

Instead of refusing to show Madonna's controversial new video anymore, MTV should run it late at night. They could even broadcast it with some sort of disclaimer.

By banning the video, MTV is preventing many people from viewing an artistically significant piece of work that could possibly provoke new discussions on a woman's place in society.

Besides, we can't cave into the notion that music videos -- or any other media forms -- are responsible for senseless acts of violence. If a kid sees a violent music video and then decides to kill off his classmates, you can bet this kid wasn't well-adjusted in the first place.

It's his parents' responsibility to look for signs of mental instability that might lead up to yet another school shooting. And, it's the parent's job to monitor what their kids can see on television.

I, for one, don't need MTV dictating what's too violent for my fragile mind. But in the end, Madonna will have the last laugh, for she's sure to thrive on the controversy surrounding her video.

Cameron Mitchell is a junior journalism and mass communication major from Burnsville. This column is the first in a Madonna trilogy. If you're Diva-obsessed, e-mail Cameron at mitchel6@email.unc.edu.