WhyCeleb Magazine

Psycholinguistic analysis: Sam Berel, PhD

Madonna is perhaps the most controversial star in the music industry. Time and again she clashed with society, challenging its norms and testing the limits of propriety. But, why is she so rebellious? Why does she create so much chaos and disorder?

In 1984 she sensually emerged from a giant wedding cake during her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. She continued to sexually writhe around on stage, tangling herself in the layers of her wedding dress, adorned with the ever so infamous “Boy Toy” belt buckle. She shocked the industry and the world then and she hasn’t stopped since.

In 1992 Madonna released Sex, a coffee table book containing nude pictures of herself others such as Naomi Campbell and Vanilla Ice. The book took on the themes of lesbianism, sadomasochism, anilingus, rape, role playing and other numerous fetishes. The book made it through publication and onto the shelves of bookstores all over the world. Because of its limited publication and its immense popularity, it became a vastly desired collector’s item almost immediately. Her public scandals continued with a controversial appearance on the Dave Letterman show, a romantic escapade with basketball’s bad-boy, Dennis Rodman, and a live on-stage make-out session with pop-stars nearly half her age, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera .

Her music and her performances continually offend and upset conservative members of various religious groups world-wide. During her Confessions Tour her performances were canceled in Moscow and in parts of Italy for what was conceived of offensive use of religious symbols. She even went as far as to personally invite the Pope to her concert after he petitioned for its cancellation. Needless to say, he was deeply offended and never attended any of her performances.

Why is she behaving is such a way? What drives Madonna to show such extreme behavior?

A psycholinguistic analysis of her words revealed a belief in a false reality. Madonna believes that everything around her is an illusion. She is constantly trying to escape this false reality, similar to Neo struggling to free himself from the Matrix (see more on simulated reality in Wikipedia). Madonna behaves as if she subscribes to what Morpheus explains to Neo about the world he is living in:

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure it was real? … What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. … The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.

Madonna believes that she is trapped in a dream, and she hates it.

The psycholinguistic analysis found traces of this belief in most everything she says. For example, during an interview with Larry King she is quoted as saying:

And if you get attached to the good things or nice things people say about you, and you get attached to wanting approval from people, then you’re going to also be affected by people saying negative things about you, and I’d rather just be detached from it all because it doesn’t mean anything in the end. It’s completely ephemeral. Completely illusionary, and so I’d like to pay attention to what’s real.

She considers the people and the life around her illusionary, ephemeral, not real. She detaches herself from society, constantly trying to escape its impression, hoping to reach the true reality. In the same interview she describes what attracted her to Kabala.

I was looking for something. I mean, I’d begun practicing yoga and, you know, I was looking for the answers to life. Why am I here? What am I doing here? What is my purpose? How do I fit into the big picture? I know there’s more to life than making lots of money and being successful and even getting married and having a family.

The psycholinguistic analysis assigned to these two segments an emotionally intensity of about 90%, and to the underlined phrases an emotional intensity above 98%.

Her words and phrases in an interview with David Letterman also gained an emotional intensity above 90%.

“David Letterman: [sighs] You know, it’s seems like we know almost everything there is to know about you.

Madonna: Really?

David Letterman: Tell us something we don’t know.

Madonna: You don’t know a (god) damn thing. (Emotional intensity of 97%)

David Letterman: Yeah? Like what?

David Letterman: What’s the next look? What’s the next incarnation? What’s the next sort of a image, what do we uh…?

Madonna: That’s what you want to know?

David Letterman: Yeah.

Madonna: No, that’s not what you want to know.”

According to Madonna, knowing the next look, the next incarnation, or the next new image, is not knowing “a (god) damn“ thing. They mean nothing because they don’t exist. They are illusionary and not real.

Madonna is searching for the pillars of false reality and is trying to destroy them. Her words disclose contempt to these pillars. For instance, she is quoted as saying: “I wouldn’t have turned out the way I was if I didn’t have all those old-fashioned values to rebel against.” Note the phrase “to rebel against.” Also “Are you ready to start a revolution? … Are you ready to change history?” Note the phrase revolution. She refuses to accept the known history, the ‘official’ description of reality. She believes in the existence of a different reality, a true reality. She hopes that when the pillars of the false reality come crashing down, the true reality will be revealed. Her desire to carry out such a task resulted in the scandals described above.

According to the psycholinguistic analysis, the belief in a false reality is the driving force behind Madonna’s extreme behavior. Can we learn something from Madonna’s mental underpinning? Yes. Doubt reality. Fight its limits.