Monday, May 23, 2011

5 23 11

What was life *BG?

Furthermore, what was life **BTW?



(* BG = Before Gaga)
(** BTW = Born This Way)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Judas Kiss / Gaga Kiss



In her new video for her second single Judas from her third album to be released 23 May Born This Way Gaga reenacts the story of Jesus and Judas, modernized, with a middle Eastern aesthetic. There is so much happening in this video but I think the most provocative moment is the Judas kiss/Gaga kiss.

The Judas kiss is known to signify the betrayal of Christ.
Gaga inserts hereslf as a median between these two oppoisites - Jesus/light/goodness and Judas/darkness/evil. She not only inserts herself between them but also gives Judas a deadly kiss perhaps cancelling out the effect of his kiss that signifies the betrayal of Christ. She 'kisses' Judas wi th a gun that shoots lipstick as a bullet that Gaga smears on his face. The gun appears again in this video as a symbol of the phallus that Gaga herself is wielding, robbing Judas of his power.
Perhaps all of this also speaks to the need to abolish stereotypical dichotomies - light/dark, evil/good, the I and the other, activity/passivity - and recognize that in fact opposites are one.

Ergo, Gaga is not merely playing the role of median bringing opposites together, she is abolishing them completely demonstrating the Christ and Judas are one in the same.