Detailed Semiotic Deconstruction of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance

Detailed Semiotic Deconstruction of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance

• 1.
  The wide shotangle shows Lady Gaga’s dancers wearing body suits that are revealing to their lower half of the body and they make people look at their private area more. This is a negative portrayal of women as I believe Lady Gaga may be trying to show the audience that women are only seen as sexual objects. This relates to Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ as they are dressed in provocative clothing that will make them seem appealing to men. This idea is enhanced as all the women are wearing a head gear that covers their faces. This suggests that women are only viewed and judged by their bodies. The wide shot allows the audience to see that all but one of the women are dressed in the same way which connotes that a lot of women dress to impress men and that there is the odd few that try to break the stereotype.
• 2.
  This shot relatesto Andrew Goodwin’s Theory on pop videos. Andrew Goodwin’s theory on Star image is that the star will be promoted through their video using frequent close-ups and other techniques. I think this still image supports his idea as Lady gaga is portrayed as being an out of the ordinary pop star that breaks the codes and conventions. The large eyes could also indicate a sedated state from drugs.
• 3.
  This shot relatesto when Lorch said that “…videos make significant use of the visual element, presenting to the eyes as well as the ear, and doing so, conveying truth inexpressible discursively.” This is because it is a close up that makes Lady Gaga’s heartbreak seem very extreme. It suggests that one of the truths of heartbreak is that it can put you in a mentally unstable state. It also relates to what Simon Frith said about videos that they do not tell a story in the expected way but rather create a mood, a feeling to be evoked in the experience of viewing. This wide shot allows the audience to see how the women are there solely for the men’s entertainment. This shot could relate to Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze as the shot makes it seem as if the women are dancing for the mean in sexual costumes that could have only been worn to please the men’s eyes. The fact that some men are topless suggests that this could be done as a result of
• 4.
  the female gaze.This is because they are showing off their assets in order to seem appealing to the women and seem more attractive. However, a contradictory point to this could be that the men are only topless to show off their muscles and for them to show off their tattoos. This is a way of them showing off their masculinity to the women that are dancing for them. This shot coincides with Betty Freidan’s book ‘Feminine Mystique’. This is because the shot shows Lady Gaga on her knees crawling towards the guy who is standing above her. This suggests that the man is very powerful and this conforms to the stereotype of men being the dominant sex in a relationship. The fact the fact that you can only see the man’s legs shows that as the audience, we do not need to see his face in order to understand and feel the authority he has over Lady Gaga.
• 5.
  This mid-shot showsLady Gaga posing naked in a cage which conforms to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory. This is because a naked woman is usually always appealing to men and it is done in order to be pleasing their eyes. Having a cage in this shot suggests that she’s just in there as a sexual figure that is trapped and only is there for passers to stare/admire her naked body.
• 6.
  In this still,Lady Gaga is seen as a sex slave. I believe this is a way of Lady Gaga expressing her political views on how the sex trade is glamorised in the 21st century. It shows how women are in society as sexual objects that are only valuable when men are willing to spend a lot of money on them. The fact that there are diamonds around her suggests that they represent the beauty of the soul and pure ideas. However, as they are floating in the air, it suggests that the beauty is unable to expand as
• 7.
  a result ofsexual corruption. This is because Lady Gaga is dressed in her underwear which automatically stands out from the diamonds afloat around her. This close up shows Lady Gaga as very natural which different to how we usually see her. The shot exposes her vulnerability. She is maybe being used as a representation of women’s vulnerability in the media and the impact of this. This use of a high angle shot reduces her status which could represent how the way women are presented in the media reduces their status in society. The wide shot allows the audience to see how clinical and manufactured the room in which the women are in looks. This could represent the commercialised society we live in as they want women to be plastic and presented as barbies. This interfere with their mind and perception, which has turned them into monsters created by society.