Postmodernists gone Gaga!

Blog article for February 2, 2012: Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a general wide-ranging term which can be applied to several fields of culture such as literature, art, philosophy and politics among others. It being a literal translation for "after modernity", refers to the incipient or actual dissolution or distortion of the culture and other social forms associated with Modernity. Postmodernism is largely considered as the reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific or objective, efforts to explain reality. Postmodernism is an avant garde phenomena, it showcases passion for the new, the unique and the weird.

According to the reporters, Postmodernism challenges traditional convention and thought by its mere existence. Upon understanding this by reading the group's PowerPoint presentation, there was this one person in my mind whom for me exists as the epitome of Postmodernism theory.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta or more commonly known as Lady Gaga is a record artist who topped the billboards, sold thousands of albums and garnered millions of fans in just a span of several years.

Her career began when fellow recording artist Akon noticed her vocal skills and star potential and signed her up under the label Kon Live Distribution. She then came to prominence as an independent recording artist following the release of her debut album, The Fame (2008). This album gathered a mix of critiques and appraises and proved to be a critical and commercial success as it topped charts around the world. 

"Gaga is well-recognized for her outer sense of style as recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five Grammy awards amongst twelve nominations, two Guinness world records and the estimated scale of 15 Million albums and 51 Million singles worldwide. Billboard named her both the "2010 Artist of the Year" and the Top Selling Artist of 2010" ranking her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s Decade. Gaga has been included in Time's annual "The 2010 Time 100" List of Most Influential People in the World as well as Forbes' list of "The World's Most Powerful Celebrities" in the world. Forbes also placed her at Number 7 on their annual list of the world's "100 Most Powerful Women."

Source: Official Lady Gaga Biography 

Personally, I like Lady Gaga as an artist. I consider her singles to be very unique and interesting, too interesting to miss. At one point, I asked myself the pressing question everyone else is talking about - Why is Lady Gaga this popular and influential? The answer for me is her Postmodern style of looking at things, her Postmodern character, the way she uses Postmodernism as a model for her music, her music videos, her clothes and her overall persona.

Lady Gaga is the epitome of Postmodernism thought for me because basically she challenges every tradition there is in every opportunity she can.

Jayme Jones, an analyst, said that "Poker Face" lyrics, written by Lady Gaga is about sex, gambling and more sex - more to the point, the faces or "poker faces" a prostitute puts in during work, or if you prefer to call it, intercourse. (Source: Analysis of Poker Face) Discussing (and seemingly propagating) sex and gambling is not an easy task but Lady Gaga still released this song to say that even prostitutes have control and strength even if it seems like they do not.

The Vigilant Citizen published in his sought after blog that "Bad Romance" actually describes the dark and ritualistic inner-workings of the entertainment industry by symbolically depicting Gaga as a sex slave. (Source: Analysis of Bad Romance) To mock the music industry as such would be a grave sin, many would say, but Lady Gaga does not agree. She found the way which the entertainment industry is run to be too old, too automatic, lacks spontaneity, freedom and liberation and thus she sang about it.

Lady Gaga mentioned in an interview with Arjanwrites that the song Paparazzi was about her personal love-hate relationship with the media. She says that media is a source of both truth and lies, a source of inspiration and paranoia. These days media can really affect society in so many ways. Lady Gaga notices the faults of media and presents it to society through this song.

Finally, in her song Judas, Lady Gaga analyzes the negative effects of structured religions, more specifically Catholicism. She believes that having a faith in such a structured religion is superficial and she questions the right of the Catholic leaders, in this case even mentioning Jesus and Judas as representations, to rule over the Catholic populace. She rejects the idea that a structured religion will guide a believer towards eternal life.

Lady Gaga, a very liberal thinker with a capacity to share to the world her thoughts, her passion for the new, the unique and the weird, and the capacity to speak out for what she truly believes in and stands out for.

♥ Reese Corpuz