The Stunning Transformation Of Madonna

In Madonna's entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica, she is called "the first female artist to exploit fully the potential of the music video." And as Rolling Stone noted, "Madonna's music videos have spent more than 20 years sparking conversations about fashion, feminism, sex, religion and what you could and could not show on television." In other words, while Madonna's music itself was important, it was her controversial, avant garde music videos that really made her a groundbreaking artist.

Madonna's rise to fame coincided with the rise of MTV and the medium of the music video (via MTV News). At the time, Madonna developed a reputation for creating highly artistic, symbolic videos that worked as standalone short films.

Not only was Madonna establishing herself as a singer, but she was also proving herself to be a talented film visionary. As the director of "Papa Don't Preach" explained to Rolling Stone, Madonna's videos were very much her own creations. "The strongest thing I came away from was the value of creative freedom, and that she used that in a very smart way," he explained. "She's extremely focused and mature and had a work ethic. It was a good lesson to me: what to do with absolute, creative power."