Oct/090
Is Madonna Dead? Too Thin?
Photos Of Madonna Dead
Deceased Madonna - Louis Vuitton Ad
Has the advertising world gone completely mad? I checked Google Trends this morning to see what’s the hot buzz today, and what do I see, but “Madonna Dead” making it’s way up the chart. Whoa, I grew up listening to Madonna, sometimes not by choice as she ruled the airwaves at one point, but then, there it is, this way over the top photo shopped picture of a supposed corpse that is none other than Madonna.
From what I can tell, this is supposed to be some sort of advertisement for the Louis Vuitton. Seriously? A dead Madonna laying in a casket clutching her purse is an advertisement? According to American Idol’s Simon Cowell, it’s only Madonna’s music career that’s dead. We’ve heard rumors that her tour failed to revive her US status. We’ve also read that her marriage is dead, but alas, it would seem that Madonna herself is not dead, despite the photographic evidence.
Anyone who has seen the pictures can attest that they’re not so much photos, as works of fictional art. The photos have been so over the top photo shopped that it’s hard to tell if that’s even Madonna in there. One viewer commented “I wonder if there’s any part of Madonna actually in that photo?”
This story uncovers a couple interesting aspects about the society in which we live. First, why the fascination with death? It’s it a little creepy to hawk your wares by displaying eerily attractive photos of a woman that looks familiar to us, but can’t quite think of where we know her from? I guess I can sort of understand the whole parallel to many ancient (and some not so ancient) civilizations where people wanted to but buried with their riches, perhaps in order to have them in the afterworld.
Another hot topic raised by the dead Madonna photo, is “how much photo shopping is too much?” When do we alter photos so much that they are no longer truly representative of the original? There were some real issues raised recently not just by this Madonna photo, but also of a ridiculous photo shopped image of Filippa Hamilton in a recent Ralph Lauren advertisement. It’s so outlandish that by looking at the photo, I think her head is as wide as her hips. What kind of message does this send to our impressionable youth? Our reality has become so twisted and distorted that we’re setting up our younger generations to spend the vast majority of their lives feeling inadequate for not being able to live up to this fantasy we have created for them. Sad.