Newspapers
all overthe worldmade
the kiss front-page news, with headlines like these touting thekiss:
"Madonna,
Spears, Aguilera shock at MTV Awards" - USA Today
"Madonna
still makes jaws drop, cheeks blush" - Sioux City Journal,
Iowa
"A
kiss isn't just a kiss at MTV awards" - Rocky Mountain News,
Colorado
"The
MTV Video Music Awards featured an orgy of duets and Madonna embracing
Britney Spears" - Slate.com
"Pop
Kiss is the talk of the awards" - The Scotsman, UK
"Madonna,
Spears, Aguilera upstage MTV awards with steamy kisses" -
Japan Today, Japan
"Pop
divas pucker up at MTV video music awards" - Irish Examiner,
Ireland
"Madonna
still shocks after all these years" - Jamaica Observer, Jamaica
Even
MTV's own coverage of the event hyped the kiss, with the headline
"Beyonce, 50, Mary J., Metallica Overshadowed By Two Little
Kisses."
Much
of the media coverage of the performance was neutral, just stating
the facts of theperformance and reactions from
other VMA attendees and music fans. Some was explicitly positive,
however, like this article from Slate.com:
"The
small thrill of this kiss was real to me because, though girls
making out with girls is an old party stunt, this time it came
off as female lechery: overmuscled, rich, landed matriarch Madonna
(in tails, no less) preying on sweetie Spears, who (in wedding
white) hasn't even had a first marriage yet. 'Hollywood' Madonna
cooed as she brushed hair tenderly from Britney's face. 'How could
it hurt you when it looks so good?' I expect we'll see this wise-woman/callow-girl
romance around more now. Britney and Madonna certainly recalled
the matchup in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle of smiley Cameron
Diaz with shrewd Demi Moore, another pure protein icon of perimenopause."
(Aug 29)
But
others in themedia viewed the performance in
a negative light, decrying it as boring, predictable, or even
outright immoral. MSNBC referred to it as "calculated girl-on-girl
shock tactics from Madonna" and the Chicago Sun Times stated
"You know that an awards show is in serious trouble when
the most emotional moment of the night is when...the big attempt
at controversy comes from Madonna slipping Britney Spears the
tongue."
The
New York Post condemned it as an act of desperation, asking:
"Has
the big lesbian TV kiss become the new 'Murder, She Wrote'?
- you know, the last-gasp TV shot for stars who fear their careers
(or shows) are tanking faster than the Andrea Doria. Take the
MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday night. Or don't. There were
those kisses. Again. When in doubt, kiss another woman and for
sure you'll end up on everyone's, er, lips, like Madonna did
with Britney (Look at me!) Spears and Christina (Don't look
at her!) Aguilera at the televised show from Radio City."
(Aug 31)
Rush
Limbaugh took the criticism to a whole new level of paranoia,
however, by positioning the Madonna-Britney kiss as possible provocation
for a future Al Qaeda attack on the U.S., writing on his website
"You know, we keep hearing how these terrorists hate our
amoral culture. Isn't it possible, some might ask, that some Al-Qaeda
thug could see this kissing...and decide to punish us? Who knows
what they might do!"
So
when the next plane goes down, we'll know who to blame.
Of
course, women kissingeach other is
not a rarity in pop music these days. This performance, in fact,
is nothing compared to what you'll see from popular Russian pop
teen duo T.A.T.U. in any given concert or video. Although music
fans have been divided over T.A.T.U., with some feeling the girls'
performance and relationship is genuine
and others that it's just an exploitive
marketing ploy, the girls have developed a large following
in the last year despite, or perhaps because of, their unabashed
embracing of lesbian relationships.
But
it's one thing for a new, previously unknown music group to engage
in these activities, it's another thing for a pop icon and two
of the most popular young women in pop music today to do the same
thing--and in front of a live, national audience. Madonna has
always been about pushing the envelope, and has built her career
on incorporating shocking twists into her music and performances;
Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera, however, have only recently
started following in Madonna's footsteps in this regard. They
also have a large teen fan base, much as Madonna did when she
started twenty years ago, which makes their participation in this
performance that much more controversial--and influential.
Like
T.A.T.U., however,the Madonna-Britney-Christina
performance begs the question: is this kiss progress for lesbian
visibility, or just a publicity stunt? Or both?
