From the moment the paws of the lion co-starring in the “Like A Virgin” video skip to the beat of the signature keyboard notes, one can instantly sense the unspoken connection between the video’s rising Leo star and this very literal animal representation of the sign. As arguably the “most Leo” Leo of all celebrities, Madonna was quick to lap up her stardom in those early years when her fame was beginning to crest–“Like A Virgin” being the track that helped her finally reach it. Having already worked with director Mary Lambert on the video for one of her singles, “Borderline,” from her self-titled debut record, Madonna re-teamed with her for a concept that told a tale of not only two Madonnas, but two lions (oh, and the lion that is M herself)–one of them human, one of them a stalking animal interweaving himself through the columns of the Punta della Dogana.
The symbolic duality of a lion, in this case, showcases, on the one hand, the side of Madonna that’s ready to tap into her most carnal desires, to be the fierce lion she’s been taming internally all these years holding out for a love that makes her feel “shiny and new.” On the other, she embodies the predatory nature of the lion, waiting to pounce on that, let’s be honest, dick that’s going to allow her to achieve that “touched for the very first time” climax. The fact that the opening line to “Like A Virgin” commences with, “I made it through the wilderness” also speaks to the tailored content of the song, so in tune with Madonna’s leonine essence. And as the predatory version of M, in her blue spandex leggings and black frock complemented by her then signature barrage of crucifix necklaces, stalks through the so-called streets of Venice with as much of a hot and bothered appearance as the lion, her more virginal alter ego (styled in the ultimate 80s version of a wedding dress) roams an empty, palatial room, as though waiting for her “Beast.” An animalistic Prince Charming not unlike the eponymous male lead in Beauty and the Beast. Even the furniture, covered with sheets as though no one has been in the room for years, echoes un certain Belle tone when she first arrived as a prisoner at the Beast’s castle.
The favored use of the man-lion (a nod to Venice’s Saint Mark, and the lion that embodies him) over more scenes with the real one might have had to do with Madonna’s wariness of the creature throughout the shoot, commenting, “The lion didn’t do anything he was supposed to do, and I ended up leaning against this pillar with his head in my crotch… I thought he was going to take a bite out of me so I lifted the veil I was wearing and had a stare-down with him and he opened his mouth and let out this huge roar. I got so frightened my heart fell in my shoe. When he finally walked away, the director yelled ‘cut’ and I had to take a long breather. But I could really relate to the lion. I feel like in a past life I was a lion or a cat or something.” In other words, it takes a strong Leo to tango with a real lion. As for the evocative use of Venice itself as a backdrop, the city’s history as being a dichotomy between embracing all-out sexual debauchery and violently punishing such acts (homosexuality obviously included) lends an added layer to the paradox Madonna presents with the song.
“Been savin’ it all for you/’Cause only love can last,” she croons with more than a tinge of sardonicness as she eye-fucks the shit out of the camera in her “virgin” guise. A brief flash to a man in a groom’s suit and a lion mask appears, followed by his shadow being cast over her waiting and ready body. Lambert then cuts to “vamp” Madonna writhing lasciviously on a gondola (in what would become one of the most iconic scenes of M’s career). “Virgin” Madonna seems to mimic her cat in heat movements back inside, with the lion, a “cat” himself,” panting in unison with the keyboard beat (the way his paws did before). Suddenly, “virgin” Madonna is among the Punta della Dogana columns with her zodiac emblem. The lion is then soon superimposed with images of her lion-masked suitor (who has already suggestively placed her on the bed), as though to indicate the level of viscerality involved.
At certain points, the “vamp” Madonna, dancing suggestively on her gondola, is overlooked by crowds on the Venetian bridges that loom over the canals. There is something about this voyeurism that harkens back to when royals would be watched by any number of people on their wedding night (as shown in Sofia Coppola’s visually sumptuous Marie Antoinette). There also comes a moment when the lion-masked man sweeps “vamp” Madonna up in his arms when she’s standing on one of the same bridges as those who were previously watching her. This quickly cuts to him sweeping up “virgin” Madonna at the same instant, suggesting the inherent link between the proverbial “virgin”/“whore” trope. That a woman is as much of a sexual creature as she is an innocent one.
Madonna panders to the overblown view men have of women in their neat categorization of her as either “pure” or a “slut” by appearing in black at the end of the video, presumably after her virginity has been lost. She’s now being guided onto the gondola by her lion-masked amore, taking the same place where the “vamp” version of herself once did. But that “vamp” is now nowhere to be seen, as though the two have finally melded into a single being–crystallizing the underlying theme that a woman can be more than just one thing. Especially when she’s as much of a lioness as Madonna, prone to the same cycle of dominance and submission as the Panthera leo of her zodiac.
