Express Yourself (Madonna Song) - Legacy

Legacy

"Express Yourself" is noted both for its song and its accompanying music video, both of which is considered a feminist ode to freedom. As author María José Coperiás Aguilar wrote in her book Culture and Power, the release of the song was in context of the anti-feminist or the "backlash" ideology dominant in the US, since the rise of the "New Right" in the 1980s and the government of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Aguilar went on to explain that the 1980s and the 1990s were characterized by a conservative reaction against the ‘excesses’ of the 1960s and 70s. This reaction was channeled mainly by the media's strong attacks against feminism, generally describing activists as "tortured people with hairy legs", "radical, bitter, man-hating, separatist and lesbian", accompanied by messages advocating a feminization of women that turned them into beautiful ornamental objects, and tended to increase the cultural differences between the sexes. "Express Yourself" appeared as a refutation of some of these reactionary premises. The title, Aguilar noted, seemed to raise the question of the urgency of a feminine voice to develop and emerge—a concern that recalled the tradition of French feminists like Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray.

The video stood out conspicuously to Aguilar for its chaotic texture through the rapid editing of the multiple shots that constituted it. The sudden and continuous changes of camera angles, scenes and the distance and mood seemed to produce an "apparently incoherent combination of images that offered no stable anchor to provide the whole with a definitive interpretation", she added. Since chaos has traditionally been associated with the female ontogenetic principle as opposed to male principle of order, the video in turn came to be associated with duality between order/chaos, male/female, good/evil, light/dark etc. Aguilar also drew parallel between Metropolis and the music video. Madonna borrowed different phallic symbolism from the film, including the smoke-billowing chimneys, the tall skyscrapers and the oppressive environment of industrial work. However, unlike Metropolis which portrayed repression of a rebellious proletariat, the chaotic nature of "Express Yourself" video showed freedom instead. Caryn James from The New York Times added that "asked about the video, made a distinction that any honest feminist would respect, however politically incorrect it may seem. 'I have chained myself', she said. 'There wasn't a man that put that chain on me.' You don't have to buy Madonna's next loopy bit of symbolism—'I was chained to my desires'—to believe the feminist subtext she finds in the video. 'I do everything by my own volition. I'm in charge, O.K.' Madonna in chains, though, is far removed from those unfortunate women who don't know that they have options." Madonna also complained about the feminist criticisms of her "crotch-grabbing", saying that "if male singers like Michael Jackson can get away with it, why can't women?" Theorist Douglas Kellner further asserted that the video was a feminist critique of male fighting and brutality, with images of the male workers engaged in a boxing match at the end. According to him, Madonna deliberately appropriated traditional feminine images in the beginning of the video, but contrasted them with her "crotch-hugging" male poses near the end, and discordant images of women assuming the male position. As feminist author Susan Bordo pointed out, "it is the postmodern nature of the video that has most entranced academic critics, and its various ways of constituting identities that refuse stability, that remain fluid, that resist definition."

"Express Yourself" is also notable for its influence on numerous music artists. Spice Girls member Melanie C said "Madonna was doing the girl power thing a long time before the Spice Girls... 'Express Yourself' is one of the routines that I know and I used to really like doing that one because it is where she shows her bra and holds her crotch." In 2010, singer Christina Aguilera paid tribute to "Express Yourself" with the music video of her single, "Not Myself Tonight". She commented "One of my favorite videos ever is 'Express Yourself' by Madonna which came across as really strong and empowering which I always try to incorporate through my expression of sexuality... I love the direct reference I made to Madonna with the eye glass moment and the smoke and stairs. I was paying tribute to a very strong woman who has paved the way before." James Montgomery from MTV deemed "Express Yourself" as the primary influence of Aguilera's video with scenes like Aguilera displaying a minocle, standing atop a flight of stairs and crawling across the floor while pouring a black liquid over herself. Similarities were also noted between "Express Yourself" and singer Lady Gaga's 2011 single "Born This Way" both in subject matter and composition. "I certainly think references me a lot in her work," Madonna said in the ABC interview. "And sometimes I think it's amusing and flattering and well-done. When I heard on the radio … I said, 'that sounds very familiar." Gaga herself addressed the comparisons on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, explaining that she had received an e-mail from Madonna's representatives, who had mentioned their support for "Born This Way". CNN later reported that Madonna's representatives were not aware that the singer, or her team, had sent Gaga an e-mail regarding the situation. When accused of plagiarism by the media, Gaga addressed the comparisons to "Express Yourself" in an interview with NME by saying: "If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression. It's the same one that has been in disco music for the last 50 years. Just because I'm the first fucking artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means I'm fucking smart. Sorry."