Dr. Robin James' lecture, "Feminism Calling?: Beyonce's and Lady Gaga's Posthuman Politics," was an eye opening experience. In critiquing their styles, lyrics and music videos, Dr. James categorized Lady Gaga and Beyonce as two different types of posthumanism feminists: post-goth posthumanism and afrofuturists posthumanism respectively.
According to Dr. Lemon, posthumanism is "transcendence of the merely human." That could be from plastic surgery to a cyborg. It critiques the idea of liberal humanism, which promotes wholeness and authenticity. Unlike humanists, posthumanist feminism doesn't believe that there is a clear gender identity; therefore, we cannot be recognized as fully human.
Lady Gaga can be evaluated as post-goth posthumanist. In the past, goths put on heavy make-up and cross-dressed with things like corsettes to criticize the social norm. With post-goth posthumanism, Lady Gaga shows how grotesque and monstrous the norm is. For example in the shower scene of "Bad Romance," the scene would be a typical sexualization of the female naked body, but her spine is distorted like a reptile's. This shows that human behavior is monstrous.
To Lady Gaga, there is no recognizable gender, so no one is human. In turn, we are all her "little monsters." I didn't cover a lot, but what do you think? Is there a clear gender identity or are we manufactured into monsters?
Based on the fact that Lady Gaga only went to college for one year prior to dropping out, I would argue that she is styled in such a way to gain attention rather than criticize the social norm. The music industry is based around new ideas, styles, sounds, and attitude. She was able to enter the Top-40 sector of music with simple catchy beats with an extremely eclectic style. Girls enjoy Gaga because they see it is not sexually driven music like almost every other female artists. Therefore, if she doesn’t have the “sexy” look then you have to look strange as hell. Being hung by a rope in a wedding dress while fake blood drips from your chest is strange and can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbOmFFP2aI . She is trying to be as controversial as possible without getting in trouble. She stays away from criticism because she claims her style is there to boost the confidence of girls around the world. I would like to see what percentage of her multi-million dollar profession is being donated to women’s groups around the country.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a lot of what Lady Gaga does is for the attention or to be more attractive for her audience but I also think that there is some truth behind what Dr. James spoke about in her lecture. I don't think that going to college only for a year has anything to do with Lady Gaga's motives behind her music. It has been said that some of the most intelligent people dropped out of school but that does not mean they did not find a way to make a difference. I think Lady Gaga wants to make a difference through her music.
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