Task 2.1: Bad Romance Music Video Analysis

Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

Analysis

        Lady Gaga has, over the years, become an iconic pop artist whose worked is often used as a form of rich text. This is due to her ability of creating music videos that lead audiences to many interpretations of the same content. She utilizes the media to share her ideas and adds meaning to what may appear as “randomness” at first glance. Her videos are a figure of postmodernism as they all include self-references embedded within them by portraying her own thoughts and actions. She is also a strong LGBT supporter and this is more often than not depicted in her music videos.

           

In contrast to other pop artists at the time, Lady Gaga did not hesitate to adopt blatant product advertisement in her videos. Product placement is one of the major things in media nowadays as it exposes companies “promoted” by a celebrity figure to the public. This may significantly increase revenue of the company and lead viewers to feel a connection with artists by supporting a product 'endorsed' by their favorite celebrities. In this music video Gaga specifically promotes “Parrot”, a speaker company, and “Beats”, a headphone company led by Dr.Dre. Beats individually produced earphones to go alongside Gaga's video, this was done for publicity.

The
narrative of the music video depicts Lady Gaga's character's development throughout the performance. Starting from a creature-like human to an innocent, wide-eyed personality to later on transitioning into somebody who has accepted or been overtaken by the system, which in this case is the music industry.

During the first stage of the music video Gaga's character emerges from a 'pod-like' coffin along with others representing birth, or new beginning. Out of these pods are released animal-like humans whose features are covered in white. This shows the blindness and oblivion of those entering the environment being depicted by the artist in this video. Lady Gaga's pod specifically has a red cross with the word “monster” written above it. This is to bring more attention onto her as the most important figure and also as a reference to her fan base, also known as the “little monsters”.

As the video progresses, her character becomes more self-aware and her features are revealed but is shown as wide-eyed and disorientated. This is used to show innocence. This sort of innocence is abruptly abused as she is forced to strip out of her current clothing and is forced to drink vodka. Alcohol in the media is often a substitute for drugs meaning that she is forced onto a vulnerable state where she can manipulated by those around her. After attempts to struggle she eventually gives in by raising her head and arms upwards shown as if it were to be an act of 'praise' to whoever is behind the occurrences. This scene in the video is used as a representation of the struggles of giving into the norms and conforming to what is expected out of those in the industry.

The final stages of her 'evolution' lead to many sexual references, comparing the music industry to selling out for sexual favors. In the lyrics Gaga refers to famous Hitchcock films: 'Psycho', 'Vertigo', 'Rear Window'. She uses these titles to create a sexual innuendo that follows the narrative of the video, this is known as intertexuality as it refers to an outside form of text. The lyrics of the song represent desire for something malign. This is used to show the relationship of artists as well as a form of self-reference, meaning that although the industry is very imperfect the craving of fame and fortune overshadows the flaws.

In conclusion, the music video has a strong narrative that includes self-reference to Gaga's love-hate relationship with the industry. This is done by progressively going from no knowledge of the environment to using 'illuminati' symbols to portray outside control and confidence once having been overpowered by what the industry offers. Colors within the video are used alongside this to show the transition from white to red, from new, innocence, to control, self-awareness, and acceptance.

Task 2.1: Short Films Comparison

'Wasp’ and ‘Gasman’ Comparison Essay

A short film is a form a media used to convey a message to a general audience. These often depict common aspects of life and show us certain situations through the perspectives of those living them. This is mainly used to give a sense of understanding of what may be going through their heads that have gotten them in these scenarios. The message of short films is very dependent on those watching it as it never gives a direct message but rather leaves you to have a think about what the director was trying to say.

To truly understand short films you must not view it from your own perspective but rather from the view the director is trying to portray. The films often touch upon controversial subjects that are very based on the opinion on those watching these films. For example, in ‘Wasp’ a very financially unstable single mother of four children is shown going through the struggles of trying to live her life in a way that perhaps a single mother shouldn’t be. Most people would straight away express the opinion that the mother should have her children taken away. However, others who may have been in any circumstance that comes close to that shown in the film may justify the situation.

In this film specifically, the director focuses on how the decisions the mother makes affects her children. Although many of the things she does seem like acts of negligence, she also has a side of her that loves and cares for her children. While taking away the children from this mother may lead them to a better life, would the emotional scarring of losing the mother they grew up with be more important? One may argue either way however, I believe that if the mother is not willing to reach out for help and make rational decisions that will affect the children's lives positively then they should be placed in a better home with a family that has the resources to take care of them. The ending of the film shows the resolution to the mother's life when “David” decides to take care of them and act as a father figure to the children. This may be seen as a reason not to take the children into care as the family's situation may change from day to day.

Meanwhile, in the film Gasman mise-en-scene is used to show that even with financial stability and the resources to provide a happy life for a child you might still find yourself in emotional struggles that from an outsider's perspective may not be as big as the family's issues in 'Wasp' but may impact the children just as much as instability would.

Camera shots in 'Gasman', such as this close up of the little girl, are used to portray what is going through the girl's head with her actions. Towards the beginning of the film the camera emphasizes on the father's importance to her as the possibly the most important person in her life and who she loves the most. As the film progresses the girl runs into inner conflict and the camera specifically focuses on her jealousy and inner anger as she slowly feels as if she's losing her father's attention.

Both directors portray in their short films their own perspectives of childhood and what conflicts may arise within the lives of children. Andrea Arnold is very outspoken about her childhood saying that she came from a struggling family with young, separated parents which very much relates to what the children in 'Wasp' are going through. While Lynne Ramsay's goal is to send a message as to how a parent's actions directly affects their children by showing a situation caused by the parents' actions from the perspective of the child rather than that of the adult.