The task was to textually analyse Lady Gaga’s song/music video for the song Telephone (Ft. Beyoncé).

The start of the video imitates features of Quentin Tarantino and features intertextual references from both Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. The popping red and yellow adapt a retro style more known to be used in the 80s.

Although not a reference to a particular movie, this is a textual reference to herself, which highlights the widespread rumours of Lady Gaga having a phallus, which she ultimately denies in this video by revealing herself nude for everyone as a proof.

This is further complemented by the two guard’s conversation:“I told you she didn’t have a dick.”“Too bad.”

Although another unclear reference, this can be loosely taken as a reference to Retro 50s Boy with Space Age Glasses ID Cigarette Case, which was a possible influence for the creation of the cigarette glasses seen in the video.

Another reference to Lady Gaga herself is through one of the inmates, which is shown to be wearing Lady Gaga’s designer in-ear headphones.

This ultimately lets Gaga advertise herself.

This is a possible reference to the popular hair curlers of the 50s style. Although not an outdoors fashion accessory, it did help women achieve the popular hairdos of the time.

This proves that Lady Gaga has made a postmodern video by referencing the styles of previous decades, not just the movies.

Another way in which Gaga references the previous fashions is through having a leather jacket with the A for Anarchy on the back of it, which was a must-have for the anarchists of the 70s as well as 80s. Spikes on the jacket are also accurate, as anarchists were usually people interested in rock and metal music genres and spikes were great for expressing the tough music one was into.

Illuminati in GagaMany popular celebrities are accused of belonging to the secret society of Illuminati, which works for the devil in order to bring more souls to hell after the fans of these celebrities die. The idea’s – that Gaga could be one of them – hilariousness is addressed by Gaga in this video, as she appears to be wearing a symbol on her shoulder that is a cross between the Illuminati triangle and the Devil-goat’s head.

Another very likely reference to the movies, this time from the 101 Dalmatians of 1996, in which Cruella De Vil was known to wear extraordinary fashion. Lady Gaga has mimicked this with an exaggerated headwear, gloves and a revamped dress.

The use of a polaroid makes it a desirable product once again but also highlights the setting of the video to be a mix between the past and the modern day, as many vintage ideas and objects are put to use alongside contemporary. Also, in some movies of the previous decades, we’ve seen the use of polaroids in intimate scenes, which also appears to be the case for the scene in the Telephone, as Beyoncé is posing seductively.

References to American culture by putting the flag onto many objects as it makes the objects more desirable/attractive and shows or increases patriotism.

A peace sign taken from the 60s hippie movement. This is juxtaposition in the making, as Gaga appears to have a tattoo of the sign, which promotes peace and mutual wellbeing, however ironically, she is about to poison everyone. This could also be taken religiously, as the tattoo is on her left hand, while left is always believed to be the path leading to wrong.

A similar choice of an outfit to the Nurse in the movie “Kill Bill”, in which she dressed up about to poison someone.

This proves Gaga’s video is postmodern, as she has chosen as similar style to the character of a movie, further overshadowing her later actions (of poisoning).

The patch in the video turns out to be a telephone.

References to Gaga’s previous videos.

The dog is from her video Poker Face

The glasses are featured in Paparazzi

Yet another blurring of the reality and fiction, as Gaga uses news reports in her video alongside the pictures taken for her Paparazzi video, thus suggesting she is creating a movie which is divided into many music videos. This is likely to be influenced by Daft Punk’s movie Interstella 5555. This is another proof that Lady Gaga has created a postmodern video.

Pussy Wagon is taken from the movie Kill Bill and is likely to be an exactly the same one used in the movie, as every detail of it – including the number plate – is exactly the same.

Moreover, this is another evidence that the Telephone video is postmodern.

Lastly, the end of the Telephone shows Gaga and Beyoncé speeding away from the cops after a successful homicide in a diner. The characters Thelma and Louise from Thelma & Louise (1991), where they drive off into their deaths from the Grand Canyon after being chased by the cops.

EXTRALady Gaga’s video has end credits as a movie would, however what makes them special is the direction they go in. While end credits are known to roll from top to bottom, Gaga’s end credit roll in the opposite direction, thus suggesting her lack of mainstream.