Thinking Critically About Visuals: Lady Gaga

According to the text, knowledge is generated through the use of existing concepts derived from past experiences. As we assimilate new information, we generate new concepts. But quite often, the new information which seems most salient to us is that which resonates with our preexisting ideas. The question then arises how innovative artists can create new ideas and cause people to question their preconceived notions. A good example of an artist who has done this can be seen in the form of Lady Gaga (p.318). In some ways, Lady Gaga embodies a familiar figure, that of the blonde bombshell. But in contrast to women like Marilyn Monroe or even Madonna, Lady Gaga has often deliberately spoofed the image of the hypersexualized blonde. In many of her videos like “Telephone,” she has embodied an image of unquestioned female power and she has also come out as a strong supporter of gay and transgender rights. In fact, as can be seen in her image, Gaga often dresses like a drag queen. Despite being female, Gaga shows the constructed nature of femininity by exaggerating it.

In the photograph, Lady Gaga has an enormous blonde wig, teased to the point of caricature, and a black veil deliberately covering up her face, as if to underline the constructed nature of her image and the fact that it is covering up her real self. Her shiny white underwear and bra are being worn as outerwear. Gaga suggests that femininity is exaggerated and located in social constructions and clothing, rather than in anything real about the human body. She dresses herself like a work of performance art, and even her body language with her nails bared like claws suggests aggressiveness and an attempt to deliberately posture and position herself in a particular way. The image suggests there is nothing natural about Gaga or femininity