Madonna To Build Girls School In Malawi



(image via celebritysource)

It is hard to say anything negative about Madonna building a school for underprivileged girls in Malawi. It is, clearly, a wonderful thing. But -- we're just saying -- it is, quite frankly, a derivative act. Hello: Oprah? And, cattily, now that we are on the subject: didn't Angelina Jolie also start the trend of Hollywood adopting African babies? And, yes, it is a wonderful, existential project,this adoption of young David Banda, but -- and don't get to upset at us for saying this -- it would also be magnificent if Madonna got in touch with her dormant creative energies and used her vast fortune and soft-power to do something original. From Reuters:

"U.S. pop diva Madonna plans to start building a multi-million-dollar girls' school in Malawi for underprivileged children this year, her local lawyer said on Wednesday.

"'A task force of four prominent Malawians has already been formed to head the project which will be on the scale of what Oprah Winfrey has in South Africa,' Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula told Reuters.

"'It is a multi-million dollar project and we will get the real costs in the next two weeks.'

Again, we are not picking a fight with Madonna (who just did a wonderful thing), it just kind of feels awkward applauding Madonna on this blog when, in essence, she is borrowing some of the glory of media celebrities larger than herself.