Madonna the Anti-Kat

[JROSSI@AAMRL.AF.MIL]

About 4 years ago I was flamed for making a remark similar to this, and I
probably shouldn't get into this here butttttt......

First a question.. What exactly is so repulsive about Madonna?  I mean, I
really dont find her to be overly attractive to me but I wouldn't go so
far as to describe her as repulsive.  Clearly her image is quite slutty
and she obviously offends a lot of people with her clothes, romantic
affairs and quasi-religious nature of her videos, however she is just
being Madonna.  As for her dancing ability, she's no Ginger Rogers, but
then again neither is Kate.  Madonna may just witther but she does it in
synch with the music, something which Kate appears to be, at times, incapable
of.  I suppose that an equally reasonable interpretation is that the Kate
personna requires her to pseudointellectually treat her audiences to
aloof dancing sequences symbolic of her great creativity.  I'm not putting
Kate down here, I enjoy her videos and I agree that there is no real
comparison between her music or vocal talents and those of Madonna.  Its
just that Kate and Madonna are symbols for two very opposed life structures.

In discussing the Kate/Madonna dichotomy with a professional PhD female at
work I was offered an interesting observation.  Much of the perceived
personna associated with any performing icon has as much to do with cultural
mindset and the self image of the perceiver.  For instance, if we imagine
what kinds of people would be naturally drawn to Kate, we might be able
to summarize by evaluating the personalities of the combined group of
Love-Hounds.  One thing immediately jumps to mind is that in order to be
discussing this issue at all, each of us must be sitting in front of a
computer terminal.  If it wasn't for the fact that this is the function
of a computer network, it could be considered quite remarkable that whatever
the number of us who enjoy Kate's music is also spend a substantial time
typing on computer terminals.  Somehow, I find it not too surprising that
Kate would write songs about love fantasys and computers.  In as much
as she knows of the existence of this group, she surely must recognise her
impact and therefore naturally has written a song which will have some
intellectual appeal to a known quantity of her fans.  It is very unlikely
that Madonna would have success with a similar concept (although now that
I have written that I'm not so sure considering how Madonna might handle
that concept in a video).  Similarly, if we examine the fuckability
quotient of the two stars (this isn't intended to be sexist, I'm sure that
many female fans of Kate and Madonna have strong sexual feelings aroused
by their respective personnas), the dichotomy necomes more clear.  Even
the people who find Madonna most repulsive at some level must find her to
be sexually attractive (personally I wouldn't think of having a long term
relationship with the personality she exhibits but I can't help but think
it might be enjoyable to spend an evening, perhaps as a consequence of
meeting in a dark and smoky bar).  While the image Madonna exudes is very
primative, simple and earthy, Kate on the surface appears to be much more
complex.  It has been stated that Kate's sensuality has been directed
to stimulate the sexual fantasys of post adolescent males who view
themselves to be intellectually superior to the barbaristic personality
which is stimulated by the likes of Madonna (Well if it wasn't previously
stated, I just stated it).  Kate is clearly a beautiful woman who has
demonstrated that she can be provocative at a primative level (Babooshka SP?).
Unlike Madonna, however, Kate is also capable of functioning at a higher
cerebral sexuality level.  It seems to me, videos non-withstanding, that
lyrical comprehension is a prerequisite to being maximally sexually stimulated
by Kate's work.  

Anyway, I guess that what I was trying to say in this long winded posting
is that Madonna and Kate are as much alike as they are different.  Regardless
of what is believed, both are motivated by profits.  Kate knows her audience
and plays to it, Madonna (although having a much simpler job) does likewise.
Of course the same can be said for Hulk Hogan (now there's a comparison
that hasn't been made here before Kate--->Hulkster?) and any other
celebrity who is very media directed at a specific audience.  The problem
with all of this is in defining the attributes of Kate's audience.  I have
to give credit to her PR people.

John