Beyonce

Beyonce:



















Here links to 'Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame' media sources which provide some of the primary data that will be used for the analysis of Lady Gaga. You can find Overviews | Business and Marketing | Law and Legalities | Old and New Media | Fans and Concerts | Gay Culture | Religion and Politics | Sex and Gender | New York

LINKS TO POWERPOINTS

LADY GAGA DISCOGRAPHY(HER ALBUMS)

LADY GAGA MARKETING GENIUS

LADY GAGA MARKETING 2

ARTPOP - RIPPING OFF OR PASTICHE?(APPLAUSE)

 

LADY GAGA - STEFANI VS. THE MONSTER


Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta; Lady Gaga learnt the piano from age 4 and was  privately educated before auditioning for Broadway roles. She was initially unsuccessful but decided to follow a course at NYU in drama and performance, known as the Collaborative Arts Project. She wrote papers on pop artists and was clearly motivated by this period in particular.  After writing for artists like The Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and New Kids on the Block, she was eventually signed by Akon.  Lady Gaga is unusual in her depth of ability in a genre that is often focused on the visual. 
Her versatility of being able to perform a mix of live piano based jazz or boogie - and then suddenly change to live dance demonstrates a rare talent that not only writes her own music, but can perform, play and make a subversive statement on the way - be it gay rights,women's rights or just walking onstage covered in red meat.  Her influences range from the glam' rock of David Bowie to the overblown stadium performances of Queen (one of their 
records was called 'Radio Gaga') as well as the pop art world of Andy Warhol where 'everyone is famous for fifteen minutes'- she ironically plays on the nature of 'Fame' as a monster that is essentially short-lived (Her second album is titled 'The Fame Monster'(2009)).           





Consider these images (below) from the Lady Gaga music video 'Telephone' (directed by the notorious Jonas Akelund - he made the video for 'Smack my bitch up' by Prodigy') - what point is she or the director making? 

What point do you think she was trying to make with the mock advert?  When you note the references being made we are able to further understand the narrative of the music video - here they are below - did you pick up on any?
Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn' is a famous depiction of Marilyn Monroe - an iconic sex symbol of the 50s and 60s; but how much was her and how much was a construct of the media?  By showing her image as a mixture of colours and edited  artwork we are made aware of how the entire persona is a media production - nothing more.
The above is a 1950s advert, pre-Vance Packhard's 'Hidden Persuaders'book, when the consumer society had no idea as to the level of manipulation and use of Maslow to influence the  public's spending - why do you think Gaga/Akelund incorporate such images in their video?  How does it help the narrative?  

Madonna poses for her mid eighties promotion of 'Open Your Heart'.  Note the similarity with the previous image of Lady Gaga; Madonna was well known for her acute business sense and for representing female self empowerment despite playing the part of an overtly sexual performer.  Why do you think Lady Gaga references Madonna in her video?
Pierre et Gilles are renowned artists known for their uniquely lit photographic portraits - producing a sense of kitsch romanticism (see above) - where is this used in the video, and why?
Thelma and Louise, a classic 1980s film which featured two women breaking free of their traditional male-dominated roles and going on the road to cause havoc.  

   

Now answer one of the following essay questions on the video:
1:  Explore the different representations of women or ethnicity in the video.
2:  Most media texts target a range of different audiences - how true is this of the chosen video?  
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Is Beyonce a postmodern artist?  


Postmodernism:


Modernism                     Postmodernism 
Serious                            fun 
Design                             chance 
Invention                        recombining 
Forward looking            retro 
Good Taste                     excess/anything goes 
Possible utopia               likely dystopia 
Rational                          antirational 
Beliefs                             cynicism 
Art object                       the process 
Classical music              dance music 
Authorship                    chance and technology 
High culture                  pop culture 
Agreed moral centre    values relativism 
Elitism                           populism  
Development                 fragmentation 
Depth                             surface
Beyonce - a modern day mixture of the last thirty years of musical influences.
Has she just copied or developed?  
Yes - short singles of 3 min referencing major artists, apparent fixation with fame (Fame Monster) heavy dependence on the 'look'  
No:
Strong acoustic ability - trained pianist, writes her own songs. No miming.  Concentration on 'live' performance rather than production ability.
Issues - Bisexuality and bullying, subverts the traditional values associated with pop icons (although Madonna and Pink have already brought these issues to wide public notice. ============================================= 
Duchamp, Warhol, Fukuyama, Postmodernism, Modernism, Pruitt Igoe building, can you put these in chronological order? 
What events have been considered to herald the end of Modernism? 
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