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Naomi Pevey
English 1102
Dr. Domet
8 October 2014
Were You Really Born This Way?
Lady Gaga, following her debut into the music industry in 2008 until now, can be
characterized as one of the most famous pop music stars in the world. According to Divine,
“Lady Gaga’s single, Born This Way, was record-breaking, in terms of music downloads,
breaking online music stores” (23). She is also regarded as one of the most successful members
in the modern culture industry, echoing internationally with individuals from all walks of life.
Lady Gaga is recognized by hypercritics for her so called disgraceful as well as promiscuous
behavior. Since her entrance into fame in 2010, Lady Gaga has been the topic of many critical
conversations. The essay will offer a semiotic analysis of the video Born This Way, produced by
Lady Gaga, which includes ideas of feminism, erasing gender typing, and also equality and
liberty for all people.
Lady Gaga, in the video “Born this Way,” attempts to create a post-race as well as postgender aesthetic by means of collective scenes that have a mixture of both races as well as
genders in the video’s background as dancers. Women, whose heads are shaved dance alongside
men who are in skirts. Roark & James asserts that “In the video, there are dark-skinned as well as
light-skinned dancers who seem to be from different ethnicities. All of them are dressed in some
version of post-industrial punk urban appearance in black, olive and grey” (115). However, by
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means of the lighting, the dancers in the background are hidden in relative darkness whereas
Lady Gaga is under the direct spotlight, also the shimmers of diamonds that are on her outfit;
illuminate her on various turns and angles. When Gaga describes the splitting of a woman into
two in a battle raging between good and evil, she is ostensibly describing herself.
In the “Born this Way” dance sequence, Lady Gaga comes out as the one who is in front
as well as center, but in opposition to the post-race or post-gender backdrop, particularizing
herself as white and feminine. The shimmers of diamond that are in Lady Gaga’s costume reflect
back to her wealth or value. In the video, she is letting her audience know that she perceives
herself as a person of great wealth and value, and that she demands the spotlight. Even though
Gaga incorporates dancers of both genders and a mix of many races as her background dancers,
she inconspicuously voices to her audience of the future she predicts will happen, by
emphasizing her white complexion and also by becoming highly feminine for a portion of her
latest music video.
We first see Gaga in the video “Born This Way” as she is spiraling inside a glass box,
and she appears as having a supernatural third eye. This creates a query in the onlooker’s mind
about which face is really Gaga’s.
The most apparently striking image in “Born This Way” is Gaga’s birthing scene. From
the video, it shows that Lady Gaga may be a big supporter of Surrealist Manifesto, since this
work apparently echoes the surrealist’s mission. Roark & James define Surrealism as “a
movement that is revolutionary in the name of non-conformity, and which uses juxtaposition,
absurdism, in addition to the unconscious elements so justify an escape from rationalism as well
as societal restrictions” (90). In the video, Lady Gaga is as well seen giving birth to “countless”
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bodiless heads, one of which is hers. The births taking place in this scene decree the most literal
demonstration of the aim of “Born This Way”- that is, the birth of a fresh/new race, one within
the humanity race, that does not have prejudice, and no judgment, but one having boundless
liberty. The fact that Lady Gaga is amongst those who are born presents yet another theme:
Identity’s multiple nature, given that Lady Gaga presents herself as the Mother Monster, and
concurrently as the Little Monster.
At the end of the “Born This Way” video, we see Gaga silhouetted and walking in New
York during the night. Then we see Gaga’s skeleton, who symbolizes the evil that she gave birth
to at the start of the video. It appears that evil Gaga is frozen in a stare of death, signifying the
death of bubblegum pop. Lady Gaga seems to point out that this death is positive, as it results
from many equal as well as true identities.
The video “Born This Way” is nearly controversial as her other videos. There has been
every kind of conspiracy theories in relation to Lady Gaga’s probable involvement with the
“Illuminati”- a covert society that was created during the Enlightenment. Divine (15) state that
Gaga plays with the imagery so as to make her individual statement regarding the superficiality
of fame, as well as a consumer-driven popular culture by the use of occult symbolism. The
aforementioned elements of the video “Born This Way” echo the disorientation of Gaga. She
was born as Stefani Germanotta but ended up becoming Lady Gaga following her artistic rebirth.
In conclusion, Gaga signs off with clear tributes to musical legend, Michael Jackson, with
a gap-toothed peculiar girl, resembling Gaga herself. Gaga champions for a human race that is
built on the equality and appreciation of all different people. The use of an advantaged white
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femininity illustrates more effectively in the birthing sequence where Lady Gaga turns out to be
the celebrated white mother of the entire future human race.
Works Cited
Divine, Robert A. Pop Culture and Pop Music: A Modern Analysys.New York: John Wiley &
Sons, 2014. Print.
Roark, James L, and James L. Roark.Subversive Pop Stars. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins,
2013. Print.