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Ah, finally - someone else who understands the inexorable undercurrent of cultural value which literally runs through the figurative river of Lady Gaga's body of work. I see that you've already covered some of the more important aspects of her music, both in a formal and structuralist sense - but I have to wonder why you seem to have glossed over one of her most important aspects - fashion. With Lady Gaga, it's not just a matter of aurally-attractive pop'n'lock back-broken beats, or lissome-kissed labial lyrics; no, as an artist who embraces the idea of the "Total Package Persona" I find it very disturbing that a more concrete mention of her radical (one might say, après-fashion) embrasure of style was left aside. Just to make sure that we're all on the same page, here's smattering of what I think are her most stringently critical pieces:  As you can see here, Lady Gaga appears in one of her rare instances of full leg-coverage; often preferring to go pants-less because of her maternal grandmother's degenerative blindness (the high contrast between cloth-darkened torso and massive expanse of creme-brulee thigh allows her grandmother to recognize her granddaughter  ), here we see a complete inversion of her usual stylistic mien.Of particular interest is the "mirrormask" which comprises the focal piece of the outfit - perhaps reflecting (how recherche) on Tao Jones' earlier statement regarding the 'loss of the I' and the self-identification with the 'crowd', Lady Gaga's mask quite equivocally transforms the locus of visual identification (the face) into a site of symbological juxtaposition with her scopophilitic audience.  We see this trope continued in her application of the "mirrordress" - a piece which I'm afraid this sallow picture does little justice. Here, the sexualized body, transmogrified from collection of soft and shadowed curves into stark and geometric edges, is further distorted by collecting and returning the gaze which it demands with its colloquially outlandish form. It may be a project of interest to you, Tao Jones, perhaps; the parallel referent here between Dante's "circles" of Hell, and the "circles" of psycho-sexual structure discussed in Lacan's mirror-based construction of the psyche and its cultural extensions? Certainly, if one defines their relation to the 'crowd' through purely material means, the hedonistic displays of fashion which Lady Gaga tends towards may belie some sort of understanding and transcendance of "common" cultural grounds. I of course am reminded here of one of her seminal inspirations, David Bowie:  Of course, the ideogram of the face-graven lightning strike has been overdone, outplayed, one might say ruined, by its repeated and constantly re-appropriated use. However, I believe that in the hands (and highlighted cheeks) of Lady Gaga, the symbol takes on a transformed significance. It's hard to put into the right words, but for me I feel as if her application of the beloved faciocranial sigil of Ziggy Stardust stands not just as a direct visual reference to the "glam" style and vibrantly Brechtian verfremdungseffekt that Bowie's ego cultivated. . . . . .but perhaps, as I would like to posit, a reference towards his self-perpetuated androgyny and ambigenous sexual force? Lady Gaga has gone on record as saying that the sense of transsexualism that she seems to generate in the popular press is welcomed, specifically in regards to Christina Aguilera's now-infamous statement that ". . .this person [Lady Gaga] was just brought to my attention not too long ago. I’m not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don’t know if it is a man or a woman." - a state of affairs which Lady Gaga is more than thrilled to perpetuate as long as it continues to raise her public profile. I'd like to conclude with one of the pieces which, in this vein, has also been raising Lady Gaga's public profile, instituting a new awareness of her art - both musically and sartorially:  I'll allow this to speak mostly for itself, adding only Lady Gaga's own statement that her approach to fashion sense is meant as 'a commentary on what it means to be a lady' - a statement which certainly supports the issues that Tao Jones has already laid out for us concerning, perhaps, the ultimately deconstructive teleology behind her art. In conclusion, I would love to take her to the mall. Discuss.
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Aug 7, 2009 00:12
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:48 |
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I didn't forget it, in fact I was literally there. I merely elided it because it's not what I would consider a quote seminal unquote piece in her repertoire, in fact it's technically a tangential "crib" from Madonna's set-rock It's certainly explosively hot though:  I'm disappointed that there's not more discussion about her, regardless of the hot-topic cultural disenchantment (or by extension, the PHIZ-esque apotheosy) that follows most "big name" acts. Perhaps a discussion of the upcoming tour-based collaboration between Kanye West and Lady Gaga? These are important topics, people! p.s. "pirate" paparazzi is indeed an incredible rendition~
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Aug 7, 2009 05:23
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I was being 100% serious, for the record would this avatar lie????
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Aug 8, 2009 08:48
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Just a heads up, Our Lady Herself is the musical guest on tonight's Saturday Night Live (10/3), and apparently she's gonna debut the new single that got leaked with a live performance on the show~ enjoy!
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Oct 3, 2009 22:13
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not that big a deal, she's doing a solo tour instead, starting in November I'm actually kind of glad that she decided to just work on her own stuff, but it would have been pretty amazing to see what the two of them working together could've produced as a side note, I can totally understand why they had to cancel it for lack of sales - the tickets tended towards overly expensive, and some of the venues they picked seemed completely arbitrary and borderline retarded
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Oct 4, 2009 03:07
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eXpired posted:That said, fair enough... if you dig it, listen to it. Go nuts. I was just surprised that a thread that started as a troll on Lady Gaga (and was hilarious) morphed into a thread about finding concert tickets to see her. As one of the people behind this thread, I can say with full authority that this thread didn't start out as a troll against lady gaga, but as a befitting way of having fun with an artist who is herself, all about fun. That said, I do agree with your point that the majority of her "fans" are fixated on her persona and her actions, rather than her music in itself. Is that really a bad thing though? Pop music has always been about image and performance to a large extent, and these criticisms are really no different than some of the issues surrounding Madonna's early career. What drives me crazy about situations like this is that people tend to fixate on the pop-driven singles rather than actually listening to the rest of her music, which is really quite expansive in terms of its range. Interscope is (was) primarily a hip-hop and rap driven label, and the songs where you can see those influences are way better, in my opinion. I can't tell you how many parties I've been to where people talk about how much they love her, but end up only having Pokerface/Paparazzi in their playlists. This is a terrible habit.
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Oct 16, 2009 17:58
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eXpired posted:This. This is why I'm still reading this thread. That was 100% serious, I will write an entire monograph comparing the two if you don't believe it. (for real)
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Oct 16, 2009 21:46
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eXpired posted:I would love to read it. My joy from it doesn't care whether you're serious or not. I just think it would be funny. ~unfortunately~ I subscribe to the Mark Twain school of criticism regarding Jane Austen, so I'm not sure it would be as funny as you'd like. Let me see if Tao Jones wants to assist, but either way keep an eye out for a thrilling comparison of stolid Victorian-era sexual liberation with respect to Lady Gaga's really good beats. Really good beats.
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Oct 16, 2009 22:27
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I miss you, CharlieFoxtrot. Let us commence the first Gaga-themed game of Mafia in Traditional Games, wherein you post every last quote that you've seemingly assembled. We should also discuss your thesis sometime, let me know~
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Nov 8, 2009 23:59
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I personally love the MTV music award statutette chillin' in the background, like it's no big deal
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Dec 13, 2009 00:07
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Rummanging posted:Why not? Since when was texting a two handed activity? Whenever I hear this line I it makes me all the cool people use QWERTY phones now, you should probably get one too if you're gonna text people in the club with both hands
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Dec 31, 2009 22:59
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the first page of this thread posted:With Lady Gaga, it's not just a matter of aurally-attractive pop'n'lock back-broken beats, or lissome-kissed labial lyrics; no, as an artist who embraces the idea of the "Total Package Persona" I find it very disturbing that a more concrete mention of her radical (one might say, après-fashion) embrasure of style was left aside. quoting for context, it's not like this discussion is covering any new ground sure, she wrote the song in 5 minutes, but there's a marked difference between listening to 'Just Dance' and watching her perform it. Prince of Tennis posted:music for women oh, ok
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Jan 6, 2010 00:10
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Firequirks posted:If what you are actually asking is, "is it a serious critical examination" then yes. The first posts of this thread were, are, and will forever remain 100% serious. I am currently in the late stages of compiling my 1600-page doctoral thesis, entitled "a study of sartorial proxemics: lady gaga and la chambre syndicale de la haute couture" It will be available from MIT press whenever the hell they get around to it? 200 limited-edition copies will include a lock of my hair, naturally.
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Sep 1, 2010 19:46
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The first few pages of this thread are funny because so many people were convinced that this was going to be a Gaga hate-fest and were confused by the OP's poor trolling.
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HookShot posted:Does anyone know if the numbers 85 or 58 have any bible significance? That's just the Harley-Davidson 85th anniversary logo, sorry!
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May 6, 2011 02:09
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