When a woman reaches a certain age, it seems she can only choose between two options. And whatever option she chooses, she will be criticized. She may go under the knife, perhaps place herself in the hands of her trusted cosmetic doctor to try to erase a brushstroke of the passing of time, or let things run their course. A course that, of course, is not exactly the most Instagrammable.
We all know that Madonna has chosen the first option, and although of course we are not here to criticise her decisions. But in a world that punishes aging —especially, female aging—, that she has not chosen to position herself as a standard-bearer who refuses to comply with the duties inscribed by a world deeply ageist is still a missed opportunity. Although I understand that what happens to her is human. Because I suspect Madonna also fears aging.
Three years ago now, after her appearance at the Grammys, she raised her voice on her Instagram profile to talk about the criticisms her face was receiving. “I understand that all of this is a test and I’m glad to pave the way so that all the women who come after me will find it easier in the years to come,” she said. “I look forward to many more years of subversive behaviour —pushing boundaries, facing down patriarchy— and, above all, enjoying my life,” she added.
Reinventing oneself or fighting against the clock
Dr. Pernille Yilmam, a research consultant in neuroscience and mental health, whose work often focuses on body image, is clear that fame and beauty do not make anyone immune to self-esteem issues. “If surgery helps someone cope with that, let it be. For me, the real question is whether the public should care. The only reason it might matter? Madonna’s influence as a role model,” she says.
The singer takes advantage of any situation to advocate her intention to keep breaking the rules. She does it even when she is the face of a bank. “Value my achievements, not the number of years I’ve lived on this planet. I’m always reinventing myself to keep being who I am,” she says in a Brazilian Itaú bank commercial.
The problem is that, through a succession of reinventions, one no longer knows which Madonna she is. If she is Ciccone Ave Phoenix or if she has ceased to be herself and is no more than a clone of what she was. Or if, deep down, she feels increasingly uncomfortable with a clock that keeps ticking. Her iconic song Vogue was released in 1990. More than a quarter of a century ago. Not to mention that the mythical Holiday, one of the songs that usually never misses from her live performances, was released in 1983.
At that time, Gen X was still wearing their Naranjito summer t-shirts and millennials were just starting to be born. And that weighs on her.
The shadow of insecurity
Time passes and the question is how Madonna is facing it. Recently she recorded a track with Kylie Minogue, marking the LGBTQIA+ community’s dream by bringing together the two great divas in the history of pop. But the chemistry on stage was not as magical. The singer of Papa Don’t Preach wasn’t entirely comfortable, something that became clear again when the two granted Graham Norton a TV interview. While the Australian seemed to perform with absolute normality and calm, Madonna occasionally turned into a Zoolander-like character by adopting certain gestures that could indicate she was feeling some insecurity.
Something that, in fact, her words reinforced. “Actually, I felt a little envious of you,” she told Minogue. “I think my ex-husband, at the time, was in love with her. I used to think: ‘I’ll never be as beautiful as Kylie!'”, she later confessed to the host. We might think, “Well, but Madonna has had huge success in music that Kylie has never achieved.” But the underlying reality is that Madonna is 68 and Kylie is ten years younger. And that, when you have been a generational icon, a people’s diva, a light of the sexual revolution, hurts deep in the soul.
Acting as if you were 20 at 68?
It is very likely that Kylie Minogue has also flirted with magical injections, but here rises the paradox we spoke of at the beginning… squared. Because now, whoever tries to slow the passage of time must do so without being noticed, something that, of course, requires having the kings of aesthetics and a large enough budget to pay for their services. Not to mention fashion. Who said micro-shorts, corsets and feathers cannot be worn past a certain age if you feel like it?
The good thing about Madonna is that she refuses to disappear into a present that wants women to hide in their homes wearing turtlenecks after a certain age. And Madonna faces this world wearing bodysuits, dancing with people who could be friends with her daughter Lourdes, and proving that everyone can choose the way they want to age… Knowing that whatever she chooses, she will be criticized, of course.
The risk of striving to be modern
Since many of us first knew her on the Live Aid stage, Madonna has been a trendsetter. A revolutionary. A machine for creating style. Thirty years later, what once sprang up naturally now seems forced. As if she feels the need to remain an iconoclast, to keep surprising, to provoke. And that is where we were when, at the World Cup Final, she stood at MetLife Stadium in a buggy, flanked by Ronaldo Nazário and Ronaldinho in quiet times. A nod to nostalgia or a heavy joke.
“For a long time Madonna challenged the limits of what women could and should do. Now she has become, instead, the ultimate exponent of our fear of aging. Everything about her appearance shows that she has succumbed to relentless beauty standards. An aesthetic dictatorship that insists that the value of a woman lies solely in projecting a youthful image,” writes Glynnis MacNicol in The New York Times.
Why don’t people like the new Madonna?
She argues that it is not optimal to criticize Madonna for clinging to an idealized and retouched version of her younger self. For obsessing over reliving a time when things seemed more exciting and the future much more promising. “Rather, it should be recognized that, by refusing to allow her body to reveal the truth of the passage of time, she continues to project a ray of light onto the spaces we all inhabit,” she says.
But it is reasonable to wonder whether Madonna, the great, the one and only, the incomparable Madonna still has to act as a beacon or if there is nothing wrong with relaxing.
In any case, the truly worrying thing is not that Madonna, icon of transgression, does not allow herself to age. Or that the great Madonna fears aging. The question is what will become of the rest of us? Because after writing this, I feel that retinol may no longer be enough. Oh, Lourdes, please help me!
Marita Alonso
I studied Audiovisual Communication but swapped cameras for the computer keyboard, my faithful life companion. I write about lifestyle and culture and try to keep pop culture always present in my articles. What can I say: I grew up with MTV and I’m a Kardashian devotee.
