天命之年麥當娜

一連幾天，耳機里聽到的都是麥當娜的新歌《4分鐘》。還是節奏壓倒唱腔的舞曲，麥當娜沒唱幾句，倒是合作的賈斯汀始終鏗鏘有力，并以聲調后揚的幾聲“麥當娜，麥當娜”作為全曲的華彩和結束。

現如今，再看到“麥當娜”這個名字，聽到她的歌，或者見到她跳舞的樣子，感受的不是一個人，而是歲月！50歲的娜姐今年仍在出專輯，而且還拍起了電影和紀錄片，再加上養子風波和不絕于耳的離婚傳聞，已到天命之年的她似乎從沒打算退出公眾的視線。5月號的《名利場》雜志拿她當了封面：還是穿得少露得多，青筋暴突、結實的大腿在空中擺出馬戲團吊鋼絲的樣式，這富有力量的姿態好像寓意著所謂的美國精神：自由、紀律和努力。她就像那個國家輸出的價值觀一樣，身上有一股勁兒，即使衰老，也要顯示強悍。

——Eva

To reach Madonna， you must wait for a sign. When it comes， if you are pure of heart， you begin to move toward Madonna， and move fast. Like a pilgrim， you read and reread sacred texts: profiles and reviews， the first published in the early 1980s， the most recent published just a second ago， which constitute a kind of record， the good news， the 1)Gospel of Madonna.

I felt the presence of Madonna as soon as I landed at 2)LAX. It was as if she had been there a moment ago， and， in fact， while waiting for my luggage， I scanned a copy of the New York Post and came upon a picture taken the day before which showed Madonna， having come through customs， holding her two-and-a-half-year-old son， David， whom she had adopted in Malawi in 2006， the cameras an inch from her face.

I was rushed to Century City from the airport， to the towering new office building of CAA (Creative Artists Agency)， the talent agency that represents Madonna， and seated in an empty 3)screening room. The lights went down， and for 90 minutes I watched a documentary Madonna has written and produced， I Am Because We Are， which is African folk 4)wisdom that means something like “It takes a village.” It too is about community—about identity and how it’s rooted in place. The movie

5)sings of Malawi， a landlocked little nation in sub-Sahara Africa， ravaged by aids， filled with orphans.

It opens with Madonna walking in a crowd of Africans. Then her voice， which is the voice of the upper Midwest painted in Oxford glaze: “People always ask me why I chose Malawi. And I tell them， I didn’t. It chose me. I got a phone call from a woman named Victoria Keelan. She was born and raised in Malawi. She told me that there were over one million children orphaned by aids. She said there weren’t enough orphanages. And that the children were everywhere. Living on the streets. Sleeping under bridges. Hiding in abandoned buildings. Being

6)abducted， kidnapped， raped. She said it was a state of emergency. She sounded exhausted and 7)on the verge of tears. I asked her how I could help. She said， You’re a person with resources. People pay attention to what you say and do. I felt embarrassed. I told her I didn’t know where Malawi was. She told me to look it up on a map， and then she hung up on me. I decided to investigate， and I ended up finding out much more than I 8)bargained for， about Malawi， about myself， about humanity.”

After the movie， I was brought to the office of Madonna’s manager， where I sat in a boardroom and listened to Madonna’s new record (Hard Candy) on an iPod. It was a long day. The morning flight， the articles， the movie， the record， then the interview. It was like being brainwashed. Like being dropped in a 9)vat of Madonna.

Madonna made the record with Justin Timberlake， who co-wrote five of the songs and sings on four. Many of the songs are 10)hybrids， traditional Madonna super-pop， workout tunes giving way to white hip-hop， Justin Timberlake showering 11)cascades of rhyme. I was listening to the music， and it’s a record I think Madonna fans will like， because it’s filled with songs you can imagine blasting from the room where they hold

12)spinning class， but I kept thinking about Britney Spears. I mean， here is Madonna， singing with Justin， whose very public breakup with Britney marked the moment the pop 13)tart began her battle with the furies. And， of course， I was also thinking of those MTV Video Music Awards in which Britney， already well on her way to madness， 14)frenched Madonna. 15)In light of this record， and all that’s happened， I wondered if， in the course of that kiss， Madonna somehow extracted Britney’s soul from her body， or implanted the crazy chip.

This is a big moment for Madonna. There is the documentary and the record， but also a dramatic film， Filth and Wisdom， which she co-wrote， produced， and directed. Madonna’s debut as an 16)auteur. The movie will be released on iTunes， which， depending how you see the world， is a desperate act or a bold gesture.

What’s Madonna’s genius?

It’s not her work as a singer， nor as a songwriter， nor as a director， certainly not as an actor. In the end， Madonna will be remembered as a

17)minter of images. If you go back and consider her career—because Madonna is one of the stars of the age so presumably tells a story greater than her own， about her people or time—you will see there has been nothing but images， spun off one after another， like souls flying off the mighty wheel. Beautiful artifice， puzzles， surfaces， masks…Think back on her career. It’s not songs you remember， or not primarily， nor films， nor videos; it’s the scenes or 18)tableaux. You recall her career as a series of lit boxes， 19)face cards in a 20)deck: Madonna as a street 21)urchin， in

22)spangles; Madonna as Marilyn， in satin; Madonna as a deflowered virgin， 23)writhing onstage in a wedding dress; Madonna as 24)Saint Francis of Assisi， covered in 25)icons and weeping for fragile things. Madonna on the Cross， like Jesus， but better， because did Jesus ever come down from the Cross to sing a song?

想要采訪麥當娜，你必須靜待機緣。如果你心意虔誠，機緣一到，你自然會走近她，奔向她。像個圣徒一樣，你一遍遍地讀著“神圣的”文本資料：關于她的個人介紹和評論，從上個世紀八十年代初刊登的第一篇關于她的報道到僅于一秒鐘前登出來的最新消息，這些文章構成了娜姐的個人記錄、正面的消息報道，亦是“娜姐福音”。

我一飛抵洛杉磯國際機場就感覺到了麥當娜的氣息，仿佛她剛剛來過這里，而實際上，在等行李的時候，我翻了一下《紐約郵報》，碰巧看到一張她的照片。這張照片是前一天拍的，照片中的她剛走出海關，懷里抱著2006年在馬拉維收養的兩歲半的兒子大衛，鏡頭離她的臉部不過一英寸的距離。……