If Lady Gaga didn’t exist, we’d be hard-pressed to invent anything remotely close to her. At this moment, she just might be the most fabulous weirdo on the planet. Unquestionably queer, unforgettably fun, she is part disco ball, part performance art and part circus sideshow. Her songs fill me with the simple, unmistakable joy of pop music. In short, she makes me want to dance – hard. But more than just a pusher of dance floor delights, Gaga has elevated her performances to an otherworldly experience. Even if you’re not a fan, you have to admit she is never dull. And now with the premiere of “Telephone,” she has us squirming like happy puppies in the palm of her hand. Think of the last video you were this excited/curious/impatient to see. And the lady did not disappoint. Women in prison! Gaga kissing girls! Crime scene tape in lieu of clothing! Crudely named lesbian dating sites! The Pussy Wagon! Cigarette sunglasses! Dick jokes! Murder! Dancing! Thelma & Louise without the cliff! Beyon-FUCKING-cé! They say truth is stranger than fiction. And Lady Gaga is stranger than truth, in the best way possible. Happy weekend, all.
Friday, March 12, 2010
My Weekend Crush
If Lady Gaga didn’t exist, we’d be hard-pressed to invent anything remotely close to her. At this moment, she just might be the most fabulous weirdo on the planet. Unquestionably queer, unforgettably fun, she is part disco ball, part performance art and part circus sideshow. Her songs fill me with the simple, unmistakable joy of pop music. In short, she makes me want to dance – hard. But more than just a pusher of dance floor delights, Gaga has elevated her performances to an otherworldly experience. Even if you’re not a fan, you have to admit she is never dull. And now with the premiere of “Telephone,” she has us squirming like happy puppies in the palm of her hand. Think of the last video you were this excited/curious/impatient to see. And the lady did not disappoint. Women in prison! Gaga kissing girls! Crime scene tape in lieu of clothing! Crudely named lesbian dating sites! The Pussy Wagon! Cigarette sunglasses! Dick jokes! Murder! Dancing! Thelma & Louise without the cliff! Beyon-FUCKING-cé! They say truth is stranger than fiction. And Lady Gaga is stranger than truth, in the best way possible. Happy weekend, all.
That. Was. Glorious.
ReplyDeleteI will never stop watching this video?
ReplyDeleteShe is so not my cup of tea....
ReplyDeleteThat was PURE and TOTAL Awesomeness!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the *subtle* references to Kill Bill, Natural Born Killers, and I'm sure Pulp Fiction is in there somewhere, alongside the Thelma & Louise 'ending'.
ReplyDeleteProduct placement within in seems like a massive pi$$-take too. It's all so very awesome.
That was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought that much about her either way, but she is amazing.
jesus ! awesome !!
ReplyDeleteI watched this four times as I was getting ready for work...my day's already been made!
ReplyDeleteIf I have to go to prison, ever, I REALLY want to go to THAT women's prison!! Esp. if they dress like that! Take me away now!!
ReplyDeleteI frickin' love this!
ReplyDeleteI like how Gaga isn't simply trying to be sexy (like Madonna, and everyone else). She's weird-o and just drag-queen-fabulous. She's not just a product for consumption because she's so strange. I love that about her. Love all the stone butches and the outlaw lesbo iconography.
Thanks snarker.
Holy product placement batman! Diet Coke, wonder bread, virgin mobible etc. Dayum!
ReplyDeleteI love the pussy wagon. <3
Plentyoffish is an actual dating site (not just for lesbians). It is probably sad that I know this.
ReplyDeleteI can't stop watching this video! I really wish I could express how undeniably in love with it I am, in so many ways..
ReplyDeletemy weekend crush??
ReplyDeletethis is mine xxx crush
I love, love, love this video. Each one of her videos is more epic than the next, and I especially adore what she does here with the whole B movie/exploitation flick aesthetic (... yes, I admit it, I AM a media scholar). Love her always, and she's definitely an all-the-time crush for me.
ReplyDeleteEven if you’re not a fan, you have to admit she is never dull.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I would say that's exactly how I would describe the whole phenomenon, mindnumbingly dull. Extremely hyper-produced mainstream music and supposed "shocking" behavior and outfits (to whom one wonders, I think even the pope is stifling a yawn at this point). What exactly is "queer" and "weirdo" about taking off your clothes in a video and making out with girls for male titillation I can't help but wondering, seems like same old same old to me...
Total WIN! I'm so happy to see Buck's Pussy Wagon again. So many great nods. Genius and super fabulous.
ReplyDeletewhen we're talking about objects in context,
ReplyDeletei think the group of bikini girls could be not
that weird when they're in beach or pool.
by putting them inside the prison background
it seemed kind of uncomfortable but interesting
visual impact to a viewer who is me.
what I like about gaga, I think the most successful
piece of video and song is paparazzi.
because there is careful design, and something
very interesting. It is bitter joke, and lots of negative images, violence on it but beside that,
I mean not to judge it and just talking about
making it with the song and performance and
the whole piece of work, it just, great.
thank you for the post,
ReplyDeleteyou're my pleasure ds.
LOL, i love the video. and Anne, I appreciate that not everyone likes The Gaga. That's ok, but I think you are misinterpreting a couple things. She doesn't kiss women for male pleasure. She kisses them because she likes it. She is a true life bisexual. I think that is the reason she kissed such a butch woman in the video. If she only did it for show, she would have gone with a much more femme woman because that is what men want to see. Also, she walks around half naked as a joke on people that say she has a dick. She sleeps with who she wants, she wears what she wants and she plays jokes on people that try to demean her by saying untrue things. They think that the joke is on her, but really if they payed attention, they'd see that she knows what they say and turns the joke on them. That is a really, really butchered quote from a recent magazine interview she did, but I think it is close. Anyway, If you still don't like her, that's cool, I just thought I'd say that.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to say that Beyonce was flipping HAWT in that! And, wasn't she also a sponsor for Diet Coke at one time?
ReplyDeleteI was curious enough to google the dating website the prison guard was looking at, can't believe it's a real site!!! what a cheesy name! lol
ReplyDeleteDani
Gaga is Great...agreed.
ReplyDeleteBeyonce...yowza!!
As much as I think Lady G is awesome... Mylene Farmer was 'breaking ground' like this way back in 1986... and has continued to do so. Just check her out on YouTube...
ReplyDelete(now, an MF / LadyG duet would be mind-blowing. Not to mention dangerous...)
The song was dull.
ReplyDeleteBut the video was 100% awesomeness!
omg-- so great and fab and I can't stop watching it! so many nods to the great and fab of the past with so many fun new gagaisms. I always thought Beyonce was a little too timid to be a part of this but I have a new respect for her. it doesn't hurt that she is smokin' hot. Do you think they will be selling pussy wagon key chains at her concerts b/c i totally need one!
ReplyDeleteI love the Pussy Wagon so much. So much.
ReplyDeleteI did not like this at all. I am not anti-gaga, this just seemed so bad and misplaced intentions. I kept thinking WTF the whole time. Partly its the product placement, but I would love to see even a whimsical video with lesbian subtext portrayed with dignity and class and not to be titillating, stereotypical, and meant to shock. It just feels like a step back, all this sensationalism. It feels so rudimentary, its nothing new just perhaps a bit more mainstream now.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Ann and Anonymous: this is boring, not queer or weird AT ALL. Product placement, titillation. So she sits pretty while a more stereotypically masculine lesbo kisses up on her. And then she and her backup dancers giggle it in thongs...um, yea, real queer. We've never seen that iconography before. But the thing that really pissed me off was the whole prison setting. Can we say cliché? With the way actual prisoners as well as queers are treated in this country, I'm not at all comfortable with this glitzed up fantasy. Makes me sad.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/03/deconstructing-lady-gagas-telephone-video/37458/
ReplyDeleteAn interesting deconstruction.
nice cameo by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy alum at the end there...
ReplyDeleteQueer? Meh. I doubt she has ever been with a woman. It's great that she's queer friendly, but I don't believe she is bi.
ReplyDelete