La Isla Bonita - Music Video

Music Video

The music video was set in Los Angeles and was directed by Mary Lambert, who directed a number of Madonna's 1980s videos, including those for "Borderline", "Like a Virgin" and "Like a Prayer". Benicio del Toro appeared in the video as a background character. The video world-premiered on MTV on March 29, 1987. It starts with showing a number of Latin people dancing in a Spanish barrio as Madonna watches them from her window. She plays two different characters in the video: a boyishly-dressed Catholic woman and a colorful Flamenco dancer. The characters are quite opposite in their portrayal, which is emphasized by two opposing settings for the characters. Firstly, the video shows a sparsely decorated room with an altar and pictures of Hispanic people on the wall. Madonna plays a pale-looking pious girl wearing a white petticoat and her short hair brushed back. She cries in her room and reluctantly ignores the invitation of the Latinos in the street to join them. The austerity and the passivity of the first character is however contrasted vividly with the passion and activity of the second character. Madonna in this portrayal wears a red voluminous extravagant Spanish style dress, which shows off her décolletage, with a middle parting in the skirt, while wearing red carnations in her hair. Complementing this passionate look, the second setting features a bright red room with red candles and candelabra. While the spiritual and submissive Madonna watches the Latinos and prays in her room, the passionate Madonna dances and leaves the room to join the dancers in the streets.

While both settings seem to suggest that Madonna's characters live in the barrio and may be Latina themselves, the portrayal of Madonna in the dancing scenes (lush, flashy, colorful) contrasts with the Latinos in the street (sparsely worn out dresses). She dances around and even flirts but does not get really involved with them as the last scene shows Madonna dancing off the screen. The video symbolizes the link between Latino culture and Catholicism. The two characters symbolize the restrained and passionate side of Catholicism, which author Rettenmund has described as Madonna's take on the religion. The Latinos in the video are portrayed as stereotypes as people with no care in the world, unemployed adults, school deprived children and a crumbling barrio. However, the music video was critically appreciated for its utilization of Hispanic fashion as an icon of beauty and romanticism. Collen McDanell, in his book Material Christianity, noted Madonna's use of Catholic objects in the video like the candlestands and home shrines, thereby giving them a new meaning according to her own. Author Douglas Kellner noted, "such 'multiculturalism' and her culturally transgressive moves turned out to be highly successful moves that endeared her to large and varied youth audiences". Madonna's Spanish look in the video became popular and appeared in the fashion trends at that time in the form of boleros and layered skirts accessorizing with rosary beads and crucifix like the video.