In the video, Lady Gaga wears a nun's habit and swallows a rosary. One blogger writes concerning the video,
[T]he video mixes homoerotic, S&M and Nazi motifs with some pretty interesting latex nun costumes...and some odd rosary scenes (Lady Ga Ga swallows one in the video).Does this automatically make this video blasphemous? Some do. Pop star Katie Perry recently commented on the video via Twitter,
Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke. (Source: CNN)I think a more critical eye is needed to examine the video. Is there use of religious symbols? Yes. Does that automatically make is blasphemous? I don't think so.
Some are comparing this video to Madonna's "Like A Prayer". I can remember my mom telling me that I wasn't allowed to watch the video for "Like A Prayer" because Madonna "compared herself to Jesus". Being nine at the time, I really couldn't argue with my mom and I didn't have any theological training at the time.
Mark Judge of the Washington Post disagrees with the comparison of Lady Gaga and Madonna,
Lady Gaga is no Madonna. That some conservatives are conflating the two performers is yet another sign of the pop culture (and even religious) illiteracy of the right. I myself am a conservative, and it always demoralizes me when people on the right fumble the ball on popular culture, particularly in the field of pop music.Judge goes on to write,
Now, taking a lead from Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, everyone is comparing Gaga to Madonna. To me Madonna will always be a mediocre talent, but one of her better songs is "Like a Prayer," which came out in 1986. Many conservative culture warriors wrongly considered the video for "Like a Prayer" blasphemous, and are now juxtaposing it with a new video by pop star Lady Gaga. In the video for her song "Alejandro," Gaga is dressed in a red latex nun costume. She swallows a rosary, and is depicted in scenes of sadomasochistic sex and Nazi marching troops. As night follows day, conservatives went nuts. Donohue called Lady Gaga a "Madonna wannabe." The rest of the right wing photosphere fell into place.According to Judge, the similarities between Lady Gaga and Madonna pretty much end on the surface. He concludes his article by stating,
They will miss a crucial fact: Madonna's video for "Like a Prayer" is an intelligent and even devout meditation on grace, love and conscience. Lady Gaga's is lazy trash.
When "Like a Prayer" was released, it was completely misunderstood by conservatives. A bishop condemned it. So did Donohue. On the other side, liberals mindlessly defended Madonna without understanding the message of the video. The only truly coherent analysis came from Fr. Andrew Greeley, a liberal Catholic priest. "Like a Prayer" was blasphemous, wrote Greeley in America magazine, "only for the prurient and the sick who come to the video determined to read their own twisted sexual hang-ups into it. Only for those who think that sexual passion is an inappropriate metaphor for divine passion (and thus are pretty hard on Hosea, Jesus, Saint Paul, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Saint Teresa of Avila)."I have to agree with Judge. I think Christianity on a whole lacks a good cultural theology, so we only look to the surface and often, we miss the broader message that can be found in music videos.
Lada Gaga's video for "Alejandro" is not just slightly dissimilar to "Like a Prayer" - it's like a fascistic antipode. There is no moral story, no call to conscience. The very language of the bodies is different. In "Like a Prayer," Madonna and the gospel choir dance with freedom and individual joy. They are powered with the power of the Holy Spirit, which gave Madonna grace the courage to fully respond the call from her conscience. In "Alejandro" the dancing is militaristic, joyless. The scenes of sadomasochism are cold and dehumanizing; they reek of fascism. The entire thing is cold.
HT: James McGrath
Lady Gaga is no Madonna | The Washington Post
My turn for once. Given what we know about Gaga's approval of homosexuality and the gay rights movement it seems hard to deny the homoerotic nature of some of the video. Her videos are sexually charged and this one seems the boldest one yet. Good to see you do not let your daughter watch the videos. And not too tangential, but what about how these videos impact on young girls? Remember the pole dancing 8 year old girls?
ReplyDeleteGood point Todd, I thought there was something very wrong with the pole dancing girls that you mentioned...although it's not their fault. The fault for that has to rest on the parents.
ReplyDeleteI would say given today's cultural norms, these videos, like Lady Gaga have a major impact on young girls and it's probably not a positive impact.
Good point Todd, I thought there was something very wrong with the pole dancing girls that you mentioned...although it's not their fault. The fault for that has to rest on the parents.
ReplyDeleteI would say given today's cultural norms, these videos, like Lady Gaga have a major impact on young girls and it's probably not a positive impact.