I loved Madonna’s Superbowl Half-Time show. Completely and utterly. I mean, when the camera panned the gladiator-like “Romans” pulling her barge (that was NOT a euphemism, people!), I was a goner.
Madonna as Cleo? Brilliant!
Thankfully hubs and the boy were in the kitchen rummaging for more food when the show started, so they did not witness me standing up in awe. And when the golden fans parted (like the silver oars Plutarch described!) and there stood her Madgesty in an Egyptian-inspired crown and a golden cloak I actually cooo-ed.
Forget the mish-mash of images and the overwrought, ridiculous costumes. Ignore the dated 1990 techno-beat and the men in golden booties. What really mattered was that Madonna went for it. And she captured that sense of awe, slightly-disgusted disbelief, and head-shaking wonderment that ridiculous excess elicits in us mere mortals.
Love her or hate her, there is an unabashed fierceness in Madonna that I like to think the ancient queen also had in abundance.
The only thing that was missing? A giant snake. For Isis’s sake, where was the snake?
The rest of the game was very frustrating for my die-hard Pats-fan-boys but still. As a result of Madge’s unrepentant eye-fest, I spent the rest of the evening, warbling, “Don’t just stand there. Let’s get to it. Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it!”
You go, your Madgesty.
I thought she was brilliant too! Of course, I thought those were Trojans pulling her dais and that she was about to break into “Like a Virgin” – which would have been fricking hilarious. But I was so thinking of you through the whole thing. You could have explained all the symbolism and characters. And don’t you just WANT that crown? Gahhhh. 🙂
Disclosure: I’m a Madonna fan. 🙂
I LOVED the half-time show. I loved all the gold and black.
She was definitely entertaining. LOVED it!
Hollywood Romans!
Her entrance was right out of the Taylor-Burton film Cleopatra, only here the “slaves” wore Roman Attic Helmets, more in line with Roman Officers or the Praetorians, rather than gladiators. (Likely when they designed this extravaganza they discovered Attic helmets were cheaper to rent in quantity than Egyptian style headgear.)
Madonna’s costume seemed to be channeling a little Cleopatra and a lot of Valkyrie.
However, it was, without a doubt, a display of excess that Caligula would have loved, and likely mounted himself if he had access to LED video walls.
It was pure Hollywood Roman.
Where is the love button for this post??? Happy to hear your take on it 🙂
@e–that Trojan joke is brilliant!
@Karen–we are so alike, it’s scary!
@David–you’re right, it’s a mishmash. Also, I never saw the Elizabeth Taylor movie!
@Kara–thanks! 🙂
Vicky, as a historian and novelist of Cleopatra and her family, you should see all of those films. Granted, this will be a “labor of love” with heavy emphasis on the labor, particularly with certain films like the Taylor-Burton ‘epic’ but, you might find some pearls in these cups of wine.
I may have sent this link to you already, but at the risk of repetition (and if you will allow for a moment to trumpet) here it is again:
http://www.ancient-warfare.com/cms/magazine/david-reinke/307-hollywood-romans.html
Oh Vicky … You thought Madonna was channeling Cleopatra. So did I, but we were wrong.
http://io9.com/holy-crap-wtf/
I enjoyed it too!! Especially since I spent the whole game before and after wondering what kind of football player Pirithous would make — or whether he’d think all the pads were ridiculous, and prefer Rugby. Madonna as Cleopatra (different era, I know) seemed like the most natural progression to me after meditating on how Football is the modern day version of ancient Cattle Raiding.
@Amalia, I suspect history nerds like us made up most of her fan base that night!