People often ask me what I mean by “magic.” I use the word a lot, and always say, “It’s difficult to explain. Unless you’ve seen it for yourself… it can’t be explained.”
Well, I’ve finally got something that we’ve all seen that I can point at and say, “THAT! There it is! Real fucking magic!” Not this neo-pagan bullshit going around. That stuff has no mythological significance. No, I mean honest to Goddess real fucking magic.
And we have Madonna to thank for it. Yes, I’m talking about The Kiss.
It’s a moment we all saw (or you can still see). Madonna and Britney on stage at the MTV Music Awards, in full lip lock for all the world to see. How is that magic? Here… let me explain.
Twenty years ago, Madonna appeared on MTV in a wedding gown, singing “Like a Virgin.” I was fifteen years old, in the prime of my adolescence. Watching her in that pure white wedding gown that looked more like lingerie. The way she moved, the way she sang… I was a fan for life. Right there and then. It was a moment that transformed many young males (and females) forever. A moment of pure magic.
Now, twenty years later, Britney shows up in the same dress… singing the same song. Oh, yeah, and that Christina whatever-her-name-is chick was there, too. So, there’s the song, there’s the dress…
And then Madonna shows up. In her androgynous and sexual “groom” outfit. She dances with the girls, they sing the song together… a mystical marriage ceremony.
And then there’s the kiss. A transfer of power. A passing of the torch. Like Madonna saying, “Here ya go, kid. Here’s all the magic I got.”
It was a ritual, a ceremony. A true moment of magic. Watching it on video tape isn’t the same. Being there for the moment… it made my heart tremble, my knees shake. Not because it was watching two girls kiss… but because of the power of the moment. The mythological power of that kiss was enormous… and made my head swoon.
A lot of people have criticised that moment as a desperate plea for attention, a shameless plug. They don’t get it. Madonna’s a smart woman, and she understands the power of moments. She’s even got her head in kaballa these days, so she knows the mythological importance of symbols and timing. Madonna isn’t a person anymore. She’s a symbol. A walking, breathing myth. A living Goddess on Earth. And she’s just chosen a champion.
Can Britney carry on that legacy? Does she have the strength to hold that power? Am I making too much of a simple publicity stunt?
I don’t know. But, it’s fun to believe.