Lady Gaga: A Forgotten Genius
By June Tran
Writing apprentice
Mark Twain Studios
The bubble dress-wearing mega pop star Lady Gaga, topped the Forbes list of “Top Earning Celebrities under 30” over the summer.
This might come of a surprise since her latest release before the single “Applause” last month was the 2011 release Born This Way.
It seemed as if Lady Gaga had dropped off the face of the earth, as if America and the world had grown tired of her crazy shenanigans.
Although as a singer Lady Gaga does not have a wide vocal range or capability, as an artist she is unique in crafting her work.
Craftsmanship does not necessarily relate only to her musical work. Though her lyrics are often sparse of meaning or symbolism, it is her music videos and celebrity personality that really captures the audience.
Portrayed as a freak by the media, Lady Gaga would often be caught donned in a strange or unusual outfit.
Most notable of these ensembles were the meat dress worn during the 2010 MTV Music Award and the 2011 Grammys egg.
It is important to realize that there are two elements to Lady Gaga’s celebrity personality. The first is the symbolic significance of her creations and gestures.
Her outfits and music videos spark conversation about abstract topics such as acceptance, the entertainment industry and political movements.
In her “Born this Way” video, Lady Gaga featured an upside down pink triangle, a symbol for gay rights originally used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify homosexual men.
There is also a symbolic gesture towards the end of her performance at the 2011 Grammys.
It’s a magnificent and powerful scene where Lady Gaga and her dancers gathered around a warm light and slowly each of them reached and stretched their whole body towards the light.
Aside from these various moments within her music videos and performances, some of Lady Gaga’s actions are just random and made for the shock factor.
It is hard to reason that Lady Gaga truly believes in the conventionality of her outrageous creations.
Rather, she is poking fun of what society views as typical standards of a celebrity. She has innate understanding of fame and its marked consequences.
Through her antics, Lady Gaga makes fun of the entertainment industry for its hypocrisy and treatment of celebrities.
Her genius does not lie in the fact that she was the first person to act out of standards, but she is the first person to make a point of it.
She is not trying to make the viewer take more notice of her, but rather for them to not pay attention at all.
The central focus should not be on the author but rather the work itself. This translates to all types of art, whether literary or musical.
In a way, Lady Gaga is doing her audience a favor. The viewer or reader should have the ultimate power in the interpretation of the work.
Lady Gaga’s fame points out the damage of this shift of focus away from the art and onto its creator.
We, as consumers, are so fixated on the commercial aspect of music that we drive out diversity within the industry.
Such an inbred industry is prone to volatile changes and leaves us vulnerable to record companies eager to make money off of the consumer.
Write to the Point! 