I heard a lot of hype regarding Lady Gaga’s Telephone video with Beyoncé for a while now but never bothered to go look up the video myself. Well, last night I had the pleasure of being shown this video for the first time, and quite frankly I’m still not sure if I’ve recovered. I had what could best be described as something in between a seizure and whiplash.
I’ll say this much, Lady Gaga has mastered visual rape to perfection. I don’t really even have any concrete criticism on the video itself because I don’t even think I have the brain power to know where the hell to begin. I’m really seeing the correlation between women’s prisons and dance floors though, obviously uncanny.
Quote of the night, “Beyoncé, you’re better than that.”
Oh and last thought, bastardized Quentin Tarantino mash-up?
I don’t mean that in a pejorative manner. It just strikes me as trying to be high art, beyond something formulated to drive sales or beyond that which is used to promote typical pop music.
I say “trying” because I think it failed to achieve that status. Rather than being an interesting take on women’s empowerment, it strikes me as overly cartoonish and arbitrary. Maybe I’m missing the point. But I don’t think that is my failing. The video tries its hardest to conceal that element.
Well, she definitely went above and beyond what would be “necessary” for the video itself – so I’m going to go ahead and say (upon my own judgment and opinion) that this was an attempt at what might be considered high art. Both you and I are thinking in terms of her “trying” (and her eventual failure) because of the fact that if any point was trying to be made, it was lost in the convoluted imagery. There’s something to be said about the power of subtlety and why overexposure to just the aesthetic transforms any point trying to be made to nil.
You also mentioned that it strikes you as “overly cartoonish”, which wouldn’t necessarily be criticism if it were done intelligently, the viewer sees the lack of “wit” and substance which in turn makes the video look like more a joke than the satire it was trying to be.
And really, any “art” that requires one to dig to the point of exhaustion to see the message, really isn’t saying anything at all (and the artist probably knew THAT from the get go, whether they want to admit it or not).
Is this supposed to be considered high art?
I don’t mean that in a pejorative manner. It just strikes me as trying to be high art, beyond something formulated to drive sales or beyond that which is used to promote typical pop music.
I say “trying” because I think it failed to achieve that status. Rather than being an interesting take on women’s empowerment, it strikes me as overly cartoonish and arbitrary. Maybe I’m missing the point. But I don’t think that is my failing. The video tries its hardest to conceal that element.
I’ll match your Matthew Barney and raise you one impossible penis concealment.
Well, she definitely went above and beyond what would be “necessary” for the video itself – so I’m going to go ahead and say (upon my own judgment and opinion) that this was an attempt at what might be considered high art. Both you and I are thinking in terms of her “trying” (and her eventual failure) because of the fact that if any point was trying to be made, it was lost in the convoluted imagery. There’s something to be said about the power of subtlety and why overexposure to just the aesthetic transforms any point trying to be made to nil.
You also mentioned that it strikes you as “overly cartoonish”, which wouldn’t necessarily be criticism if it were done intelligently, the viewer sees the lack of “wit” and substance which in turn makes the video look like more a joke than the satire it was trying to be.
And really, any “art” that requires one to dig to the point of exhaustion to see the message, really isn’t saying anything at all (and the artist probably knew THAT from the get go, whether they want to admit it or not).
Recession era drag queens can’t even afford penises.