So, there I was on Mother’s Day, minding my own business, having a nice dinner, when my sister asked me “Have you seen the ‘Telephone’ video with Lady Gaga...." We grabbed the computer and watched:
With eyebrows furrowed and head shaking I sat through the nine and a half minutes of vulgar skank. Although I still feel relatively young at heart, I know I’m totally out of touch with pop culture. I don’t get it – and I guess there’s no going back! I can handle the “pop divas” from a few years ago like Fergie and Christina but that’s where the line was drawn and I turned into my mother.
I just don’t get Gaga. It’s just wrong. I don’t want my daughter watching this crap. I don’t think it’s art – I think it’s attention grabbing stunts, “costumes” (if you can call police tape a costume), and choreography disguised as music. It’s all about shocking the audience and getting people talking, and downloading... There is nothing about Lady Gaga that I would want my daughter to emulate. Most of the women in this video look anorexic, deadpan (submissive?) expressions, in some sort of freak prison/ homicidal greasy spoon cafe... It’s just wrong.
If my Mom could see well enough to watch this nasty video, I’m sure she would mutter the word: “whores” (she would pronounce it Who-ers) and I would politely correct her and say “Mom, these days, they’re called Ho’s.” Then she probably would have grounded me. To appease, I would show her the video from another artist with the same initials as Lady Gaga, Lesley Gore. Okay watch this if you can stand it!!
Okay, not my idea of a great video either. But it shows how far the music industry has come and how the audience now demands ridiculous to be entertained. Imagine what would have happened if Lady Gaga got on that bus!!
Gasp! Maybe it's a really pathetic attempt to out-perform Madonna's Truth or Dare (the perversion of a little girl's game name; "Lady" Gaga going even deeper and associating an infant's babble with hard porn)? I don't get it either. Didn't then, didn't now. Funny that my equally-middle-aging peers find Hannah Montana offensive. At her worst, she sings that everyone makes mistakes, everyone has those days. The rest of it is pretty up-beat and positive. I dunno. I'd take Hannah any day over a hard-porn video with absolutely purposeless and totally unrelated lyrics. Who'er indeed.
ReplyDeleteHaha! The vid is hilarious - thanks for posting it - I hadn't seen it before!
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I don't share your horror. It's not any different from Madonna 15-20 years ago really. The overweight gangsta rappers with their interminable videos of women shaking their asses in their faces annoy me much more than this contemporary riff on several pop culture themes: womens prison porn, Thelma and Louise, and just about every Quentin Tarantino movie ever done.
Thanks for your comments Britt and Tori! You both brought up great points... I guess my biggest fear is: What's next? If we become desensitized to this kind of "entertainment", what's it going to take to make us "raise an eyebrow" in the future... As well, because Lady Gaga and her performances are so successful, it will undoubtedly lead to copycat performers and videos... Ugh!! Thanks again for commenting.. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well. Here we have something to really ponder. The channel of creativity with Gaga in that video is definitely on the highway to hell. Gaga wearing the cap of burning cigarettes as a prison initiation stunt had me aghast, as did the "crime scene tape" outfit. However, ladies, let's think about this....have you ever considered that maybe these high profile women are doing what they think is necessary....they are fighting back. They are pushing back, not like Madonna, with men, but against men. They are toiling at this task in their own sad way, but perhaps it's to fight nasty with nastier. I mean, when you think of it, there is some extreme symbolism in this video. "Pussy Wagon" on the back of the truck...that's a statement to men, "Look out guys, the big bad babes are out to get you". I am not saying I agree, I'm just pointing out that they mean business with increasingly lewd subject matter. Sheesh, "Pulp Fiction" pales in comparison. There is a better way to make a point.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really funny about all of this is that GUARANTEED that Lady GAGA will be permanently entrenched in the grand towers of academia world-wide, where the old and the new continually collide.
ReplyDeleteGaga will need to do something fairly amazing to continue to maintain the fan base....she is on a downward spiral. However, look at PINK. She delivers. She went from diva mastress to gorgeous glitter in the air superstar...the bottom line is "Keep it covered girls" and "Show some skill beyond shaking your booty". Modesty is way more attractive than skin, at least in public.
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