News in Review – January 2014 – Teacher Resource Guide
LADY GAGA: Icon of Our Era
MINDS ON
If you came home from school one day and told
your parent’s that you had become a “little
monster” — a follower of Mother Monster —
and that you love the fact that your pop music
idol has the guts to actually wear a dress made
of meat to an awards ceremony, you’d likely be
greeted with some confused (and perhaps
grave) parental expressions. For Lady Gaga
fans — the little monsters of the world — their
Mother Monster is a living celebration of our
individual uniqueness. And the confusion
expressed by parents over their son or
daughter’s choice of music idol is no different
from the confusion expressed by previous
generations of parents who watched their kids
fall for Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Madonna or
Tupac Shakur.
Why do you think parents (and even teachers)
tend to struggle to understand the music stars
that teenagers idolize? Is it the message in the
music or something in the performers persona
that they object to?
SETTING THE STAGE
She’s the poster child for unpredictability and
shock. She is an ever-changing entity that
morphs from one seemingly bizarre image and
ideal to the next. She is the self-proclaimed
Mother Monster — and the little monsters who
follow her are legion. She is Lady Gaga.
New York University (NYU), she abandoned
her studies to pursue a career in music. Soon the
Lady Gaga persona was born and, with a lot of
hard work and a little luck, she earned a record
deal. Her debut album The Fame sold 15
million copies and saw four singles hit number
one on the charts — a music industry first for a
debut record. She was just 22 when this
happened. Since then, Lady Gaga has released
three more albums, earned five Grammy
Awards, generated over a half billion dollars in
concert ticket sales, and positioned herself as
one of pop music’s top performers.
A perpetually transforming image
But it isn’t the music that separates Lady Gaga
from other performers; it’s her perpetually
transforming public image. First of all, her
Pop Superstardom
Born Stefani Germanotta in Yonkers, New
York, she has always possessed a flare for the
dramatic and a love of music. Growing up in
New York City, Germanotta spent her
adolescence dreaming of fame and working
tirelessly on her music. After a brief stint at
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To see the huge range in her provocative
clothing choices, see Billboard’s Lady Gaga’s
100 Most Outrageous Outfits:
www.billboard.com/photos/1504992/ladygagas-100-most-outrageous-outfits
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JANUARY 2014 — LADY GAGA: ICON OF OUR ERA
outfits are both outrageous and bizarre, ranging
from pseudo pre-French revolution garb to
abstract, futuristic costumes. At the 2010 MTV
Music Video Awards, Lady Gaga showed up in
a dress made of raw meat. The next year she
showed up at the same awards ceremony
dressed as a man and insisting she be called by
the name Jo Calderone. One can never predict
what Lady Gaga will wear from one public
appearance to the next. Secondly, her behaviour
is often provocative. In 2011, she was carried
into the Grammy Awards in an giant egg and
stayed there until her performance of Born This
Way later that evening. On the Monster’s Ball
tour she performed part of her concert each
night with blood smeared on her face and torso.
She has worn several famous bras including one
adorned with replica machine guns and one that
shot fireworks out of it. Beyond the theatrics,
some of her song lyrics are so overtly sexual,
and her concerts and costumes so racy, that she
once had a sold-out show in Jakarta, Indonesia,
cancelled because authorities feared that
religious extremists — who referred to her as “a
kind of devil” — would bring her harm.
Advocate and activist
Love her or hate her, Lady Gaga attracts
people’s attention. And the people who love her
can’t say enough good about her. Her everchanging persona is evidence of her dedication
to her art. She is an outspoken advocate for the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT)
community. She has been vocal in her support
of gay marriage and in her opposition to the
U.S. government’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy
for homosexuals serving in the military. Gaga
was part of a movement that contributed to the
removal of the policy banning openly gay
people from serving in the military. More
recently she has dedicated her efforts to antibullying initiatives.
Pop icon, artist, musician, activist and
philanthropist are all terms used to describe
Lady Gaga. Whether she is an “icon of our era”
or not remains to be seen. What is abundantly
clear is that Lady Gaga is not likely to leave
people’s collective radar anytime soon.
Lady Gaga Fast Facts
 Total album sales worldwide – 23 million;
singles sales – 64 million
 Five Grammy Awards, three Much Music
Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards
 Net worth – $80 million
 38 million Twitter followers
 58 million Facebook fans
 Concert ticket sales from her first three tours
– $612 million
* all stats accurate up to June 2013
To consider
1. How does Lady Gaga separate herself from other pop stars?
2. Why is it fair to say that Lady Gaga is more than just a musician? What else does she do to
contribute to society?
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JANUARY 2014 — LADY GAGA: ICON OF OUR ERA
VIDEO REVIEW
Pre-viewing
1. Are you a Lady Gaga fan? If you are a fan, explain why you like her. If you are not a fan, explain
why you don’t like her.
2. Try to find someone in your class that holds a position that is opposite to yours when it comes to
Lady Gaga. For example, if you aren’t fond of Lady Gaga, find someone who likes her and try to
understand why they are a fan. Summarize what you find out.
While viewing
1. How many Grammy Awards had Lady Gaga won before the release of artRave: The ARTPOP Ball?
2. What is Lady Gaga’s actual name? Where did she grow up?
3. According to Time magazine, a reader’s poll listed Lady Gaga above U.S. President Barack Obama
as one of the most influential people of the past decade.
 True
 False
4. What is the nickname that Lady Gaga uses to describe her fans?
5. What role does shock play in Lady Gaga’s presentation of her image to the world?
6. According to Lady Gaga, what is the best way to earn applause? What efforts does she make to
make sure she does not receive cheap applause and false praise?
7. a) Lady Gaga’s single off ARTPOP is called Do What They Want.
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 True
 False
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JANUARY 2014 — LADY GAGA: ICON OF OUR ERA
b) According to Lady Gaga, what is the song about?
8. How does Lady Gaga demonstrate that she is an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) rights?
10. Why might some people consider Born this Way to be Lady Gaga’s anthem or theme song?
Lady Gaga got her stage name when producer Rob Fusari compared her vocal style to Freddy Mercury
of Queen. A fan of Queen, she assumed the name Lady Gaga based on the song Radio Ga Ga.
Post-viewing
Check out Lady Gaga’s music. Listen to three of her songs (i.e. Do What U Want, Applause, Born this
Way, etc.) and answer the following questions:
-
What do you think of the rhythm and melody of each song? Do you enjoy Lady Gaga’s style of
music?
-
Review the lyrics of each song. What are the songs about? What is the central message of each
song? Would you describe each song’s message as positive or negative?
-
Based on your song analysis, are your surprised that Lady Gaga is a superstar or are the songs
powerful enough to warrant her pop icon status?
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JANUARY 2014 — LADY GAGA: ICON OF OUR ERA
FRIEND OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY
Minds On
Before Lady Gaga became a pop sensation, she was Stefanie Germanotta, a tremendously gifted
musician and songwriter who was able to leave her studies at university to pursue a career in music.
Germanotta learned to play piano at a young age and began writing songs and performing at “open mic
nights” in her teens. Her musical gifts allowed her to earn early admission to an exclusive art school that
was part of New York University (NYU). By the time she left NYU, Germanotta was transitioning from
standard rock performances to more eccentric shows in New York’s Lower East Side. Meanwhile she
was writing songs for a record label whose high profile acts included the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears
and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas. Eventually, hip-hop recording artist Akon signed Lady Gaga to his
label after hearing her sing and recognizing her vocal range. Shortly after that The Fame was released
and Lady Gaga was on the road to becoming a superstar. Keep this in mind as your read the following
article.
The creation of Lady Gaga
While Stefani Germanotta was experimenting with the Lady Gaga persona in burlesque clubs in New
York’s Lower East Side, she received a lot of support from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) community. In fact, many people believe that, had it not been for the openness of the LGBT
community to her artistic expression, Germanotta would never have been able to evolve into the Lady
Gaga phenomena.
Born this Way
The support of the LGBT community has been something that Lady Gaga has never forgotten. When she
received the Much Music Award for her Born this Way video in Toronto in 2009 she thanked “God and
the gays” — an international shout out to her LGBT friends and fans. She has used her celebrity to draw
attention to the U.S. government’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding homosexuals serving in the
military. The policy maintained that gay service personnel should not be asked about or reveal their
sexual orientation.
Any personnel who
revealed they were
gay would be kicked
out of the military.
Lady Gaga and the
LGBT community
fought the policy
through protests and
legal challenges, with
the policy eventually
coming to an end in
2011.
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JANUARY 2014 — LADY GAGA: ICON OF OUR ERA
Fighting the Bully
More recently Lady Gaga has focused her attention on the issue of bullying. She was shocked to hear
that 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer of Buffalo, New York, committed suicide after a period of prolonged
bullying. Classmates repeatedly hurled insults at Rodemeyer, including accusations that he was gay. In
one of his final online posts, Rodemeyer quoted lyrics from the song The Queen by Lady Gaga and paid
tribute to the pop star before taking his own life.
Since Rodemeyer’s death Lady Gaga has been a vocal opponent of bullying. When she had occasion to
speak with U.S. President Barack Obama, she shared her concerns about the prevalence of bullying in
society and called for laws making bullying illegal. She also came to the aid of a Toronto-area student
who was fighting bullying at his own school. Jacques St. Pierre, a grade 12 student, took the experience
of being bullied in elementary school and transformed it into a bullying awareness campaign at the
Etobicoke School of the Arts. Taking full advantage of his position as student council president, St.
Pierre organized a school assembly addressing the damage done by bullying. He went even further,
reaching out to the greater community for support, sending dozens of e-mails to a variety of high profile
personalities including Lady Gaga. To his surprise, Lady Gaga responded with a video message
encouraging him to keep up the fight against bullying.
To consider
1. Why does Lady Gaga give credit to the to the LGBT community for her rise to stardom?
2. What is the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy? How did Lady Gaga and the LGBT community contribute
to the policy’s downfall?
3. What cause is Lady Gaga’s currently fighting for? What is she doing to try to eradicate this social
problem?
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JANUARY 2014 — LADY GAGA: ICON OF OUR ERA
WHO’S YOUR ICON?
Minds On
An icon is a person or thing that becomes a symbol of something people greatly value or truly respect. If
Lady Gaga is to be viewed as an “icon of our era,” she must symbolize or represent some attitude or
disposition that people hold in some great esteem. With this in mind try to determine why Lady Gaga has
achieved iconic status. What does she symbolize? What is it about her persona that makes people
practically worship her?
Your icon
While Lady Gaga may be an icon for an army of “little monsters,” she is not everybody’s icon. Think of
the people you hold in such high regard that you are influenced by the things they do and say. In this
case, we are not talking about people you know and love, like your family and friends. Instead we are
talking about people you admire and respect from afar for the great things they’ve accomplished. These
people are like magnets to your attention and contribute greatly to your beliefs and values. This person’s
thoughts and deeds touch something deep inside you.
With this in mind, identify one person who holds icon status in your eyes.
Activity
Prepare a one-page report on the person to whom you grant icon status. Please include:
 The person’s name
 A picture or photograph
 A brief description of the person’s accomplishments
 A brief explanation of why this person is your icon
Follow up
Share your icon profile with your classmates in a class discussion.
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