Post Modernism In Music Videos

Aspects of Post-modern videos

• Parody • Irony• Discontinuity • Paranoia • Playfulness • Bricolage• Intertextuality • Emphasising Patiche • fragmentation

Postmodernism In Relation To Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is extremely ambiguous with her ideas at which she reaches a point where she is like no other artist around. She’s merely an entertainer rather than a singer. People go to see her in concert for a show rather than to go just for her singing. She uses simple dance routines, which on their own would be quite dull, however her large sets and strange costumes make her style interesting and extremely popular.

Post-modern video (hyperreality)

Baudrillard claims that our existing society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is of a simulation of reality. He believes we can’t separate the image from the reality. By this he means that the approach in which the message is mediated becomes more important than the meaning of the message itself. Marshal McLuhan coined the phrase ‘the medium is the message’.

Applying to Lady Gaga:

Lady Gaga is a stage name Stefani created for her image, she is rarely referred to as Stefani Germanotta. She keeps her personal life and her superstar status separate, this in turn gives her the ability to control her image and allows her to get away with outrageous things, like wearing a meat dress. When fans see Lady Gaga they focus on her image and fashion rather than her everyday life.

In an interview she said “I have mastered the art of fame.” By this she means by creating a hyper-real version of herself with outrageous fashion as Lady Gaga she is able to keep the public and press attention away from her personal life as Stefani.

Analysis of Postmodern Music Video

Paparazzi Directed By: Jonas Akerlund

Representation of what its like to be rich

Reality and the representation

Pastiche / homageGeneric conventions of a ‘golden age’ Hollywood film of which Lady Gaga is the leading lady

Sunset Boulevard movie (1950)

Narrative and stylistic and intertextual references

Intertextuality and the blurring of bouderies The breakdown of division between binary divides. Lady Gaga as a humanoid

Metropolis movie

References To Popular Culture

Reference to the innocence of Minnie mouse

Hitchcock Homage

Reference to film Vertigo