In her song “Crucify,” Amos declares that she is “Never going back again/ To crucify myself” (Little Earthquakes). This is immediately recognized as a religious reference. It can be interpreted as Amos rejecting the male dominated religion (Christianity) that forces her, and all women, to “crucify” herself. She is not using the term crucify in the traditional sense; instead, she is using it to illustrate how women have figuratively been crucified, or punished, simply for being women, within Christianity. Just as Jesus was crucified for claiming his identity, women are often “crucified” (meaning punished) for being too individualistic and not acting within the female constraints which Christianity places on them. In the book Disruptive Divas: Feminism, Identity & Popular Music by Melisse Lafrance and Lori Burns, Lafrance explains: “In my view, ‘Crucify’ is not only an articulation of one woman’s personal traumas, but it is rather an assertive and public interrogation of dominant religious and gender discourses” (64). Lafrance notes that this is not an issue unique to Amos, but rather a societal one. The ways in which women are viewed within Christianity has framed how they are viewed in American society, which is predominantly Christian. By “gender discourses” she is referring to the ways in which women are expected to act verses how men are expected to act. By claiming she is “Never going back gain,” Amos is claiming her freedom from societal expectations of her because she is a woman.
In the video we saw Amos, dressed as a Victorian prostitute, submerge herself in the bathtub water, symbolizing a baptism. Lori Burns explains: “This image of the prostitute after the bathing ritual raises the question of what is accomplished by the bathing. I would like to suggest that there is an inversion of the expected meaning. The bathing ritual implies that the prostitute is being spiritually cleansed; however, Amos does not emerge with the attitude of a chastened woman. In addition, the water is used as a vehicle for drowning the symbols of constraint…the chorus is concerned with the drowning or rejection of such symbols of constraint” (78). Clearly this video enhanced the meaning of the song for Burns. In the song there is no mention of a prostitute or of a cleansing ritual. The entire video, though, leads up to the cleansing. Throughout the video we see glimpses of Amos getting dressed up and then walking toward the bathtub. When she gets out of the bathtub, the images show that the chains remain drowned in the water while Amos is free to dance, showing her lack of restraints. Rather than cleansing herself of her sins, Amos cleanses herself of the societal constraints placed upon her because she is a woman.
