Case Studies - MUSIC VIDEO: Postmodern Features

A choice of: šCamera, Editing, Mise En Scene, Sound, Semiotics, Signifier:

MUSIC VIDEO: LADY GAGA - G.U.Y.
- No fixed narrative structure

Interetexual References:
- A series of poses as Greek and Biblical goddesses - Links to the lyrics "Greetings Himerous, God of Sexual Desire, Son Of Aphrodity"
- The appearance of Jesus, Gandhi, and Michael Jackson - signifying the perfect 'G.U.Y.' to which Gaga takes their blood to create the perfect model man.
- Gaga as Lego art -
- The Hearst Castle - known for eloborate parties, rumoured to be where Fitzgerald gained the idea of The Great Gatsby.
- The cast of The Real Houswives of Beverly Hills
- Andy Cohen as god

The video is broken in a number of sections:

The Fallen Angel

It begins with a bunch of men in suits fighting in a field, grabbing at dollar bills. Then we see Lady Gaga on the ground with wings on her back and an arrow piercing through her back. The men may represent the music industry. Gaga was an angel flying in the sky, minding her own business, then was shot down, becoming a fallen angel. And who is the most important fallen angel in History? Lucifer, of course.

Back in the video, a wounded Gaga gets up and walks towards civilization, ending up in front of the Hearst Castle. The location of the video is significant for several reasons. The castle was built by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, one of the most powerful and richest men in American history and the inspiration behind the film Citizen Kane. 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.

VENUS

When Gaga enters the castle, the song Venus begins. Gaga’s entire album is centered around multiple representations of Venus (in the video for Applause, she is dressed as Venus as depicted in Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus). In G.U.Y, the theme of Venus is still central in numerous symbolic ways.

Since ancient times, the planet Venus has been known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star. 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. In this symbolically-charged setting, Gaga is taken to the castle’s Neptune pool where a death ritual takes place.

Re-Birth

After the death ritual, Gaga is reborn and greets Himeros, the god of sexual desire. Her hair is now platinum blonde and, from being an angel, Gaga is now all about sexuality.

Does this represent the creation of the persona of Lady Gaga by the occult elite music business?

While Gaga’s rebirth is happening the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills make an appearance playing the role of the muses, daughters of Zeus. The fact that they clearly do not know how to play these instruments and that there’s obviously no harp or cello in the actual song add to the fact that this is all about being fake, phony and plastic. The music industry will put an artist in a position whether they like it or not.

Is Gaga artificially built?

Also further along in the video, Gaga holds a Lego apple with a bite taken out of it, intertextually referencing Adam and Eve and the story of creation from the bible.

Revenge

While Gaga’s rebirth seems to be all about love, she is also brewing a revenge master plan and has captured parts of the perfect 'GUY', Jesus, Michael Jackson and Ghandi.

All of these figures were killed by the “powers that be” in their time, after which their message and “aura” was used for all kinds of foul agendas. Also, you might have noticed that there are four tombs, but only three men are shown.

Gaga and her clone army storm the office building and Gaga force-feeds some execs the blood of Jesus, Ghandi and Michael Jackson.

The video ends with thousands of cloned “G.U.Y.s” mindlessly leaving the Hearst Castle to control the world.

SUMMARY

Gaga begins as a fallen angel who got shot down from the heavens by greedy business men. She is then “initiated” inside a Hollywood-occult-elite castle where she is reborn as a lustful blonde goddess. She then quickly uses her powers to create an army of clones using blood from Jesus Christ, Gandhi and Michael Jackson.

Shot at the Hearst Castle, a mansion built by a high-level Illuminatus, G.U.Y. tells viewers where the messages communicated in popular culture emerge from. The same way William Randolph Hearst manipulated public opinion with his brand of “yellow journalism”, today’s culture affects public opinion through pop stars. The video starts with symbolism that is strongly Luciferian – and Luciferianism is all about becoming gods. Then Gaga actually becomes a god and starts giving life to a new race of clones. Of course, all of those messages are coated with a large amount of “love” and sexiness to make them easy to digest for today’s average viewer.

In short, G.U.Y. is a typical Lady Gaga video. And like all typical Lady Gaga videos, while the story appears to be uplifting and “empowering”, its factory-created, mindless clones and occult Illuminati symbolism actually glorify elite repression and mass mind control.