I have chosen to analyse Madonna's popular music video which is "Sorry". It is very interesting, because it shows really strong image of masculinity/strenght/militancy showed by women who are trying to combat the male race in many different ways. The music video also contains all the symbolism that is needed in order to attrack the wider audience. The sexual symbolism is used a lot of times which might attrack attention as well as the quick cutting techniques between the scenes which make it look like it's a tape from school/city disco.
The music video starts with the close-up of the main artist (Madonna) singing in Italian which is her native language and the country she was born in. The colour of the background is very feminine and might represent and introduce us to the world of woman. It is really detailed to say it, but the dots at the back seem like maybe every each of them might represent a woman and the image shows their unity and sticking together. By dancing and being very attractive she is being "labelled" as the main sexual attraction and symbol of the whole music video. The lights make it look like she is on the stage and is about to reveille her real face. This happens exactly at the same second when the main beat comes in.
After we jump to a wide shot of Madonna and the rest of her "girl team" walking down the street just after they left the party which represents them being very independent and don't really need men to have good fun, the only thing they need is themselves together and the music which is played from the old tape player which is also the symbol in the music video. After the group gets into the old white van which also creates contrast between the simple colour white and the variety that they are wearing as their clothes. There are many more close ups on the tape player which also implies its importance again and the artistic image.
In the image on the left, you can see that the music video creates a lot of sexual symbolism even more when you see the main singer undressing and putting herself into very tight costume. This creates it even more shocking. This happens in the scene inside the white van, the editing and the music which is nearly coming to the chorus makes it seem like something is going to happen there. The artist undressing and putting herself into other costume might represent the preparing for the fight/battle that she is going to experience. The green colour of the cloth represent the calm image of her.Later she also wears white which represents purity of her as a character and a person.
Different kind of people are being dragged into the car which is meant to represent all the types of man, or the way women see men. In the music video you can see: - black rap/hip-hop type - obese man - little mixed race kid - really strong (muscle) man - boy focused only on education
If this is what the music video is trying to say then it is really critical of man and old fashioned, because in today's society a lot of things have changed. In the lyrics Madonna is singing: "You're the man, you think you are". This implies that she thinks she is stronger than all the men and they got everything about themselves wrong. The image below represents that image quiet well.
On the image you can see the women sticking together very closely, looking sexy in the new costumes and attracting the audience, mostly male by the sexy movements they are doing. This shot was made on purpose to show some contrast between them seating on one side of the van and all the types of men seating on the other waiting for them to be judged by Madonna.
In the other scenes, more men appear in the van. Madonna is trying to seduce them but at the same time play with them which represents the weakness of men and the strength of the character she is and the kind of music she is making. You can see it in the images on the left.
Later the music video jumps to a scene with cage fighting involved in it where we can see Madonna and all the girls fighting/dance fighting against male race. This scene was made on purpose to show that there is a lot of disagreement between the two kinds of people and the only way to resolve the problem is to do by the way of dance fighting which can also lead to real street fighting.
As we approach the finale of the video, we are introduced to a scene/shot where all the men and women are dancing on one floor which might represent that the agreement was reached and they can all co-operate which each other in some way. Even thought the image of men is shown in a good light, we can see some cut-aways where the music video is taking mock out of some of the characters.
So the overall message of the music video is to say that all women are stronger than men and there is doubt about that and we need to accept it, so as Madonna says: "Please forgive me".
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