Madonna: An American Icon Essay

In the novel, The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem , the author, Robert A. Orsi highlights the daily lives of the men and women who reside within the Italian Harlem. In particular, Orsi examines how the annual festa of the Madonna of 115th Street influenced and reflected the lives of the celebrants. This novel provides a new understanding of the religion practiced within the Italian Harlem and further examines the aspects of Harlem involving its experience with immigration and community formation. This novel raises numerous question, such as, what topics of the course does it illumine? Orsi’s novel and the film, The Godfather, Part Two , share numerous similarities that shed light on each other. These similarities highlight and demonstrate the lifestyle within the Italian Harlem.

Madonna’s main objective was to set an outstanding image for herself. She always makes her music a number 1 priority. Her personality demonstrates a vision of her music, we can see how the music can play. Nothing, only does her personality represent her music, but it’s a gateway to her actions. Madonna started

In a terrible turn of circumstances on the early morning of August 5, 1962, 36-year-old Marilyn died in her sleep at her Brentwood, California home with the phone attached to her hand. Rumors speculate of an overdose or intentionally killing herself. There was also speculation and gossip of having an affair with John F Kennedy and that she was about to go public with what she knew about JFK and Bobbi Kennedy. Also that she was murdered by 'government agents' to safeguard the president. Another conspiracy incident was that Marilyn was killed by the mafia as punishment to the Kennedy's for their attacks on them, and to expose Kennedy's many love affairs. Now with all the aspects of her death, Marilyn had plans to work on new movies and a possible

Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Hospitality is something that can be seen everywhere, regardless of geographical location, religion, etc. This initially sparked my interest because hospitality is something does not require anything special to do. Everywhere a person goes, hospitality can be seen in some way, shape, or form.

During the 1980’s, many Americans were incredibly materialistic; they were only concerned with the “things” in life, not with life as it was. In the musical world, Madonna was becoming popular. One of her greatest hits, Material Girl,

Throughout the novel of “The Madonnas of Echo Park” by Brando Skyhorse, the usage of connecting various characters different lifestyles conveys the message of how in the real world everybody's actions would have some sort of impact with themselves, an individual, community, etc. Despite there being various characters in the novel that I could connect my life experience with, the two characters that stood out the most was Hector and Felicia. Reason being both characters reminded a lot of my parents who came to the United States and a lot of similarity to the characteristics of Hector and Felicia.

In the first chapter, this essay primarily addressed the musical aspects of Frank Sinatra. This section will examine his celebrity image, and how it reflected the values of popular culture that spanned his career. Sinatra was the first musician, more specifically a singer, to achieve this kind of fame and notoriety among his audiences. Intentional or not, he started a trend in popular music that would later be replicated by many artists, including Elvis, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, and Barbara Streisand.

The Madonna was a very important event in Italian Harlem. This started in the street parallels of 115th. Madonna lived in the immigrant’s neighborhoods, while she was forced to go to mass in the basement with the poor people. She didn’t like the idea that she was forced to go to the Catholic Church with the immigrants. The Italians were very powerful people and started to take over Harlem. Since the Italians were taking the political and social life the Madonna were forced to get out of the basement.

Memorabilia is an important area of rock and pop. In addition, memorabilia has evolved widely over the past fifty years. This book does a great job of outlining this, “Today, every item of memorabilia connected with an artist like Madonna – from badges to posters, photos to videos, lines of cosmetics to fashion ranges –has to be officially approved by her or by her management. That certainly wasn’t the case in the past” (144). With all the new privacy laws, this change is not necessarily a reasonable change, for it makes the whole process of commercialization complicated. Full of value, memorabilia’s are expensive items today. The proof has been outlined by this book, “Although the paper itself is only a mimeographed copy, the fact that the signatures were authentic and that the ceremony was such a high profile occasion that sent the price soaring to over

In the eyes of the world, Britney presents herself with a divided personality. In private she appears shy and insecure, while in public she seems surprisingly fearless. When not performing, Britney worries about how she looks when she goes to the store or shopping. She spends hours on her appearance in order to satisfy others rather than herself (Perrotta 238). She is referred to as the “savviest” entertainer of her generation, portraying both lust and innocence. While on stage, she grinds, moans, and even removes clothing. But offstage she swears she’s a virgin. The two images do not coincide (Klosterman 63).

Madonna There can be only one Madonna. Her public identity as an artist is well established; in performance, her many-sided and changing image fascinates and energizes our cultural moment. Madonna is not the product of some music industry idea, but her own woman. She is still driven to achieve: "Even though I've become Somebody, I still have to prove that I'm Somebody.

Glamorously gaudy, this self-made post-modern diva, Lady Gaga was the first true millennial superstar. She seems to be stitched together from elements of Madonna, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury. Mastering the constant connection of the internet era like no other, Gaga has generated countless mini-sensations through her style, her videos, and her music; cultivating a devoted audience she dubbed her "Little Monsters." However it’s hard to understand the end when you don’t know the beginning, so that’s where we’ll start.

Singer, performer, actress. Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, on August 16, 1958, to parents Silvio "Tony" Ciccone and Madonna Fortin. Tony, the son of Italian immigrants, was the first of his family to go to college, where he earned a degree in engineering. Madonna's mother, an x-ray technician and former dancer, was of French Canadian descent. After their marriage in 1955, the couple moved to Pontiac, Michigan, to be close to Tony's job as a defense engineer. Madonna was born three years later, during a visit with family in Bay City. The third of six children, Madonna learned early on how to handle her role as the middle child, admitting that she was "the sissy of the family" who often used her feminine wiles to

Lady Gaga has become the most influential Pop music artist of our time. An artist's job is to take an image, be it through words or sound, lyrics or song; that explains what it's like to be alive at that time. What makes Lady Gaga's art so unique is that it captures the period we're in right now. Lady Gaga has in the last year and a half become a household name. Maybe you have heard one of her catchy tunes on the radio, and have had the lyrics stuck in your head all day. Perhaps you have seen one of her crazy outfits on TV. Whatever the case Lady Gaga has proven whether it be through music, or fashion that

From pop star sensation to fashion icon, Lady Gaga has influenced pop culture in many ways. After her 2008 hit single “Just Dance” the singer quickly gained fame for her unique techno pop music. From there on she has acquired a huge following and quickly took over the world of pop music. The singer then used the newly popular twitter website to tweet to her fans. She encouraged them to love themselves, spread positivity to one another, and most importantly funded her Born This Way Foundation in hopes of helping bullied victims. Not only did she use her music and social media account to influence her fans, she also made a broad fashion statement to motivate her fans to be weird, different, and unique. Many people still remember her famous meat dress she walked the red carpet in, while others reminisce on all the outrageous outfits she’s worn over the years. Over the last nine years, this pop star diva continues to top the charts with her music, spreading kindness, and walking the streets wearing memorable outfits.