Lady Gaga: occult master or mere pop star?

[spoonless]

Recently ran across a very strange but intriguing review of Lady Gaga's Telephone (the video I posted a while back):

The Hidden Meaning of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone”

If the hidden meaning this person sees in her lyrics and video is really the meaning she intended (doubtful, but possible) then I have to say, my respect for both her and her music goes up considerably. I get a lot of enjoyment from listening to her music, but I always kind of assumed there wasn't a huge amount of thought going into the lyrics or themes. I wouldn't use the term vacuous, but I can see how people might see her music in that way. But on the other hand, if this analysis is right then Telephone is a actually a very clever and sophisticated well-developed commentary on the state of our postmodern society. A truly brilliant masterpiece, complete with subtle references to the Illuminati and Monarch Programming. In my opinion, if all of this is really contained in her music as the author thinks it is, then it means her music deserves to be classified as high art rather than just pop music. Unfortunately, I don't *quite* buy that she thought all of this symbolism through before recording. It seems more likely to me that this author (who almost seems like he believes she is *working* for the Illuminati rather than referencing them--I can't quite tell) is reading into it a lot of his own interpretation rather than picking up her intended interpretation.

Nevertheless, I do think some of these themes are there, whether she intended them or not, and add to the enjoyment of the music. In particular, the feeling of being disconnected and "in your own world" is a theme that has always resonated with me a lot, since that's very much what a lot of life has been like for me. Always feeling disconnected from the mainstream and from others around me. So it's very possible that the reason why it's been 1st on my list of songs I've enjoyed this year so far is because I'm picking up some of that theme and identifying strongly with it.

Comments

[ankh-f-n-khonsu.livejournal.com]

There's a follow-up to that and plenty of other derivative analyses gunking up a certain segment of the blogosphere (e.g., Red Ice). But, as I understand the argument, she's said to be an unwilling pawn - a dupe. She serves a function. That function is the effect she has on her audiences. If you can really look at that in such a way and classify her "music" as "high art", I think that's a sad validation of Lyotard and Baudrillard's critiques.

Have you had time to read much cultural theory?

[mzflux.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez.

[roxymartini.livejournal.com]

i dunno about her lyrics, but can't we count her as high art just for her costumed finery? pretty please?

There are three flowers in the vase; the third one is GAGA.

[(Anonymous)]

I think they're right about the over-arching themes and obvious allusions to the nature of pop culture, but I think the finer-grained analysis is verging on conspiracy theorizing... I think Gaga is a talented artist, but I don't think even the writers working with her think on these sorts of levels. (Pretty sure this critic is playing A Beautiful Mind: the home game.) If there is any actual occult symbolism, it's probably present in the way it is on our money: for effect and reference, not to indicate some larger reality.

Besides, Illuminati sleeper-killers activated by phone? I could've just watched Dollhouse to get *that* idea...

Lady Gaga Studies

[firmament.livejournal.com]

Okay, so that link goes a little far. But I really do think that even when Gaga's lyrics are a bit vapid, she is doing a lot with her image and with her music videos that is really making some major statements, and there have been some really interesting analyses. Here are some:

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2010/03/13/weekend-arts-section-nothing-that-happened-this-week-was-ever-going-to-be-as-important-as-the-telephone-video/
http://onlywordstoplaywith.blogspot.com/2010/03/lady-gagas-telephone-observations-and.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/03/deconstructing-lady-gagas/37458/

The first one is also pretty funny (to me).

Of course, it seems to be common currency in the humanities that the intention of the author is neither necessary nor sufficient for a valid interpretation. Which actually makes a good bit of sense, actually, if you think that there are all kinds of unconscious processes going into the creation of art and that those processes are interesting, too. (Of course, this means that literary & cultural theorists should pay more attention to up-to-date psychology and cognitive science, but whatever.)

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with the ideas of Monarch Programming and the Illuminati, but the references that were mentioned by this article didn't seem very meaningful to me. As I see it, the argument of that article is that there are a lot of cases where one eye is covered, she makes an "A-OK" symbol, and someone wears "Mickey Mouse glasses" while killing people, and this is supposed to be a reference to the Illuminati and all. Maybe the A-OK symbol and the Mickey Mouse glasses really do have some level of established symbolism, which would be interesting.

But the article did make the video seem much more interesting to me. I hadn't noticed all the telephone symbolism, like the telephone hat and telephone hair!

Anyway, if the author was correct about the Illuminati controlling Gaga and others, then I don't see why they would flaunt this control. Wouldn't they want to keep it secret?

But I guess this notion of public hermeticism is a common trend in mystical and conspiracy theory settings, even though it makes no sense.

The being disconnected and in your own world are pretty much on the surface - that's what the song is about. It's about enjoying your time in the dance club and being annoyed at your boring boyfriend who never feels like going out dancing but always calls and interrupts your good time (not that I've had a boyfriend of that type, but I could imagine it happening), and wanting to remain in this more fun, somewhat trance-like reality.

[promeny.livejournal.com]

Lady Gaga is a fraud.