Paste your essay in heMedia Representations, Institutions and Ideology
-Lady Gaga's G.U.Y. Music Video Analysis-
Media representations and their institutions or communication channels have a strong influence on our everyday life, online communication being one of the most powerful manipulation tools. Moreover, the online medium has enlarged the place of popular culture and spread the information to hundreds of people with a single click, making it easier to move trends and gossip to a global wide-spread and, therefore, transforming the medium into an online encyclopedia of popular culture with all kinds of pictures, news and video sensations uploaded hourly. Thus, media representations are ways in which the media portrays particular experiences, ideas, groups, communities, or topics from a particular ideological perspective. Rather than discussing media representations as simply reflecting or mirroring our reality, we can also examine how media representations serve to “re-present” or to actually create a new reality, as it is the case for many media products nowadays. (University of Teaching Film 2009)
In my opinion, all media communicate ideas and contribute to the portrayal of particular experiences, ideas, groups, communities, or topics from a particular ideological perspective, as media representations. In studying media representations, we can attempt to examine the various discourses shaping the representations of particular groups, ideas, communities, or phenomena, which reflect the economic, political and ideological agendas of the institutions or communities directly related to a particular media product. In this paper, I chose to examine Lady Gaga's 2014 music video entitled "G.U.Y." (Girl Under You), which was written by Gaga, produced by Zedd in 2012, and included on the ARTPOP album (2013). (Gagapedia 2014) Running for over 11 minutes, the video shows Gaga as a wounded fallen angel who is revived by her followers in a magical pool. Once reborn, she takes revenge on the men who hunted her and replaces them with clones she creates as G.U.Y. (McGarry 2012) For sure, Lady Gaga's mainstream video for her song "G.U.Y." has left lots of viewers astonished and completely shocked by what they saw. And who can blame them, since the video shows men in suits fighting with bows and arrows, Real Housewives of Hollywood playing instruments, Jesus and Michael Jackson being resuscitated, and even Legos? While at a first glance the video might seem like a bunch of nonsensical and random imagery, there is a strong meaning behind those intriguing shots. As specific to any of Lady Gaga's visual productions, the meaning for the "G.U.Y." music video lies somewhere with the occult philosophy and mythology. In this regard, this paper aims at looking and understanding the ideological and esoteric meaning of Gaga's video.
Firstly, from an institutional point of view, “G.U.Y.” music video was co-written and co-produced by Lady Gaga and composer Zedd, and was recorded in 2013 by Record Plant Studio in Hollywood, California by Dave Russell, with assistance from Benjamin Ladder, while Zedd did the mixing of the track at Zeddl. (Gagapedia 2014) Furthermore, there are a few important aspects that need to be covered when discussing the production of Lady Gaga's "G.U.Y." video. The media product has 11 minutes and 46 seconds, which is not at all the ordinary length of a music video, though there is, however, another online shorter version of only 4 minutes. I believe that the artist chose this length for her music video because she wanted it to be more of an art film than a simple illustration of her lyrics. The structure of Lady Gaga's video is, again, unique and surprising for a music video. The film for the song can be dissected into 4 parts: we get to see the Fallen Angel, Venus, the Rebirth and Revenge, all of this in a duration of 11 minutes and 43 seconds.
Secondly, production technologies are also very important when discussing the production aspect of a media product. The video was shot at Hearst Castle, located near San Simeon, California, between February 11 and 13. The shooting took place the Castle's main terrace, the Neptune Pool and the indoor Roman Pool. Also, some cast from Bravo channel's reality show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was also seen around the shooting scenes, which also contributed to the popularity and wide-spread of the video. (Lal 2014) Gaga also utilized the 3D game Minecraft in a sequence and enlisted 'Minecraft' Youtuber 'SkyDoesMineCraft' in a sequence which depicts the singer reviving famous men who have been dead. Lego and Minecraft were also used to create little decor items like chairs and fruits. The 3D inspiration also continued with using artist Nathan Sawaya's Lego sculpture 'Yellow' – which showed a man ripping his chest out – in a sequence showing Gaga's head being transposed on the piece of art. (Cook 2014) Moreover, according to the artist, among the other accessories shown, the wings worn in the video were made by Jim Henson Studios and her own creative team, Haus of Gaga, created the arrows. The purpose for using these costumes was to create a mystical atmosphere and to give the video a more unique and shocking look, which is specific to any of Lady Gaga's works. (Speroo 2014) Gaga also told Access Hollywood that "the intention of the video was to create something that was a true sort of road map of my journey, being an artist, a pop singer, a creative person….. It's interesting because in this video the fashion and the psychotic sort of whimsy is all happening around me and it's me almost like Alice in Wonderland going through my own rabbit hole in my brain and re-experiencing the past year of my life." (Speroo 2014)
What is also important to consider is the distribution of the “G.U.Y.” music video, which had a powerful impact on its success throughout the world, as the video became a huge phenomenon on all mainstream media. The sexually charged video premiered on NBC’s show 'Dateline' on March 22, right before a report about two teenage girls who were abducted and abused. Why did the video premiere right before this kind of report? Maybe because Lady Gaga's work often ends up promoting what she appears to be denouncing, in this case, the sexual identity of a woman. After this, the music video went online on the same date and got thousands of views within weeks. Because of the online distribution of the video, fans had easier access to the artist's work and could, therefore, comment and contribute to the critical review of the piece. This definitely had impact on the music video's huge success and got Lady Gaga bigger and bigger audiences. The release of the video got Gaga re-enter the Social 50 chart of Billboard at number 26, “with 86% increase in views on her Vevo account, 87% rise in mentions on Twitter, and an 84% gain in conversation on Facebook.” (Gruger 2014)
Another argument that supports my opinion is the fact that Lady Gaga's music video has strong cultural references, analogies, and stereotypes that can be analyzed from the ideological and representations' points of view. Lady Gaga's "G.U.Y." video got many fans excited, although most of them openly don’t get what was happening in the eleven-minute production. It contains a linear and somewhat logical story-line and meaning, but in order to truly understand the video, one must be aware of the occult meaning behind it and the mythology invoked in it. As is the case with most Lady Gaga videos, there are a few obvious pop culture references, but the base, underlying story goes unnoticed. Like the artist herself stated, the video "is all about being comfortable being underneath because you're strong enough to know that you don't have to be on top to know you're worth it." (Gagapedia 2014) The music video begins with symbolism that is strongly Luciferian – and Luciferianism is all about becoming gods. Lady Gaga is represented as Lucifer, the fallen angel, after being ravaged by lots of businessmen trying to grab money, who then gets up and walks towards civilization, ending up in front of the Hearst Castle. The location of the video is significant because it was built by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, one of the most powerful and richest men in American history. The mansion used to be a popular meeting point for Hollywood stars and the political elite. Like Gaga’s work, the Hearst Castle combined entertainment and the occult elite. (The Occult Meaning of Lady Gaga’s Video “G.U.Y.” 2014) The following is the 'Venus' section where the singer is submerged into water, which Gaga explained as her being "snapped back into reality". (Lady Gaga explains 'G.U.Y.' music video: 'It's a metaphor for my life' 2014) The theme of Venus is central in numerous symbolic ways, including its esoteric association with Lucifer: the planet Venus has been known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star, while the Romans designated the morning aspect of Venus as Lucifer, meaning “light bringer”. In the Bible, Lucifer, the angel cast out of the heavens, is also referred to as the morning star. Therefore, Gaga playing a fallen angel while a song named “Venus” plays in the background is not randomly chosen. (The Occult Meaning of Lady Gaga’s Video “G.U.Y.” 2014) While the word Venus is somewhat repeated throughout the song, another important symbol appears on screen.
The eight-pointed Star of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sexuality, is considered to be the “divine personification of the planet Venus”. This ancient symbol, therefore, completes the esoteric representation of the concept of Lucifer-Venus-Ishtar, a profound, mysterious and extremely important concept in the Mysteries of occult societies. (The Occult Meaning of Lady Gaga’s Video “G.U.Y.” 2014)
In another train of thoughts, in the next setting, Gaga is taken to the castle’s Neptune pool where her death ritual takes place, which is followed by her rebirth. Her salute to Himeros, the god of sexual desire, is followed by a transformation of all the setting into a white one, while all actions become highly sexual. This is also a stereotype on female sexuality that is present in many of Gaga's works: there are more feminine sexuality consistently constructed media artifacts today to attract the audience, and it is clearly shown that Gaga's mainstream video is applying the theories of male gaze and feminism to create audience interest. Thus, Gaga becomes a sexual object and it is shown that she is desirable, while trying to demonstrate how it’s OK to find power in allowing yourself to be vulnerable. Therefore, the video is playing with words, meanings and double significance in the lyrics: with the title “G.U.Y.” being an acronym for “Girl Under You,” Lady Gaga is also experimenting with feminism and the idea of gender-defined behaviors, role reversals, and sexual politics in a relationship. (Sciarretto 2014) She is OK with giving up control and submitting, but wouldn't mind wearing the tie sometimes, which could mean she wants to be the 'man' or at least adopt the responsibility of the male power structure in the relationship, so they would be swapping the submissive and dominant positions. Therefore we can say that an important ideological position of the video is feminism because the singer believes in her own strengths and is confident that she can sometimes be the man and find her own power when it comes to deciding in a relationship. Nonetheless, the following scenes picture Gaga’s persona as artificially built and completely empty inside, not capable of any sentiment, if we take into consideration the Lego symbols and their connotations.
Finally, while Gaga’s rebirth seems to be all about love, she is also brewing a revenge master plan, a plan that includes Michael Jackson, Gandhi and even Jesus being resurrected; each of these three characters are meant to represent a trait that is present in Gaga’s vision of the ultimate perfect “guy”. (The Occult Meaning of Lady Gaga’s Video “G.U.Y.” 2014) A fatalist Gaga and her clone army storm the office building and Gaga force-feeds some execs the blood of Jesus, Gandhi, and Michael Jackson, and the video ends with thousands of cloned “guys” mindlessly leaving the Hearst Castle to conquer the world. This scene is a metaphor for the world we live in: it presents how the elite sees consumers of popular culture: a bunch of brainless clones doing what they’re told. So the dominant ideological position in the video is consumerism, as it obviously suggests a tragic truth – the way in which consumers are treated and viewed by the elite: the ordinary people, the consumers, are only a bunch of brain-washed individuals trained to buy and consume what the elite, seen as a representation's frame, produce. The video, therefore. emphasizes the shift away from values of community, integrity, and spirituality, toward materialism, loss of self-decision making and disconnection.
To sum up, profoundly steeped in the elite’s symbolism and mythology, “G.U.Y.” music video tells viewers where the messages communicated in popular culture emerge from. This is the interpretation of reality suggested by Gaga's art product: the same way William Randolph Hearst manipulated public opinion with his brand of “yellow journalism”, today’s culture affects public opinion through pop icons. In short, “G.U.Y.” is a typical Lady Gaga video, and like all typical Lady Gaga videos, it has a strong meaning and representation. While the story appears to be empowering and uplifting, its factory-created, mindless clones and occult Illuminati symbolism actually glorify mass mind control and elite repression. As the singer also declared, the video is actually a metaphor waiting to be discovered and understood: "The video is a journey… written like a visual story. But it is sort of a metaphor for my life and the many things I've been through. It's indicative of how disorientated I feel in my experience of pop culture and the pedestals we put people on." (Lady Gaga explains 'G.U.Y.' music video: 'It's a metaphor for my life' 2014)
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Ștefana Palade
Journalism, Third Year
Media Analysis
re…