First it was Just Dance, then Paparazzi and now Telephone. Stefani Germanotta otherwise known as “Lady Gaga” has once again captivated audiences with the release of the highly anticipated video to her hit Telephone featuring Beyoncé Knowles.
The dynamic duo teamed up with director Jonas Akerlund to create a nine-minute mini movie that is the follow up to the Paparazzi video, in which Lady Gaga killed her abusive boyfriend.
The jury is in and the verdict: the video was innovative,thought provoking and overall cool.
As I watched the video a light bulb went off; I get it, finally. The video pokes fun at American pop culture and relationship issues. The video also has numerous subliminal messages that can be interpreted a number of ways.
Lady Gaga first tackles the rumor that she is a pre-op transsexual. She is escorted to her cell where she strips and jumps onto the cell bars in fishnet pantyhose where naysayers can clearly see, no sausage.
From there she seems to juxtapose contrasting elements in society, from glaring advertisements for Virgin Mobile and Diet Coke, to women working out in the yard surrounded by overweight spectators.
The video raised more than an eyebrow or two from critics all around.
Some people do not get the video and others feel that the it is too racy for younger viewers. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee expressed his disdain for the artist’s work. “If my daughter dressed like Lady Gaga she would not leave the basement,” Huckabee said.
Germanotta defended her work in an interview with MTV United Kingdom. “There are transsexual women and transgender women and suddenly it becomes poisonous and something else because there are some people in this world that believe being gay is a choice. It’s not a choice, we’re born this way. That’s why for me this video is groundbreaking because it has one foot in the art community and one foot in the commercial world,” Germanotta said. This is not the first time people have been confused by the New Yorkers antics.
On the Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga staged a suicide, which left the crowd shocked and speechless.
The video approaches larger issues from an artistic standpoint; and that is okay because sometimes art can be offensive or gaudy.
Do I feel she pushes the envelope too far, not at all. She does nothing worse than what can be found on cable television, she just does it to a catchy rhythm while adorned in colorful outfits.