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Jun 8, 2010

Ale Ale Alejandro!

Warning: Long blog post ahead.
But if you want to read a well-thought analysis on the Alejandro video, please continue. :)

As we have stated a hundred times already, Mustart has been dead, and you can blame school for that. We still have another two weeks until we're done. :(

But Alejandro just came out today! I couldn't help but ditch my school work for one night to blog about this. Oh I love Lady Gaga so much. So so so much. Huge fan over here, yup. In fact I'll be seeing her live at the Monster Ball on July 11. Excited! ♥
Gaga's latest 9-minute masterpiece was directed by the art genius Steven Klein.
Klein, who is a photographer, has a long list of clients, including but not limited to Interview Magazine, V Magazine, Vogue, GQ, POP, Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, D&G, Yves Saint Laurent, and the magnificent Madonna. He is well known for his eerie, vulgar, homoerotic imagery he uses in his photography, which evidently maneuvered it's way into the Alejandro video.
Immediately, I had to take matters into my own hands and dissect this video to the best of my ability. You gotta love this woman for her ambiguity; she never limits herself as an artist. She manages to take songs that seemingly have one literal meaning, and twists them through her performances and music videos.

I haven't had the chance to fully comprehend this video as of yet, there's still much to fish out and discover.

Here we go.
Starting off, the video opens with a group of gay men marching together as an army of soldiers. My belief is that they are marching together as united individuals who have a war to win with religious groups in society and the government, who do not accept them and thus, discriminate.

Then we see a piece of meat (I can't really tell, at first I thought it was a heart, but now I'm not sure although it's clearly an organ or body part) that has the anarchy symbol on it. It's frozen, cold; a reflection of the way the government is towards homosexuals. The best way to describe this is Death to the Government, or at least, death to it's prejudice laws. This scene is totally up for interpretation. During the 'funeral' she speaks: I know that we are young and I know that you may love me, but I just can't be with you like this anymore...Alejandro. Taking that into account, they must be mourning because they have lost love, or rather, their right to love.

The song kicks off into dance-mode. Gaga is seen wearing an army-fied version of a crown headpiece. She looks like the Queen of their army. Perhaps, leading a war for revenge of what they have lost. Now, there was only one thing I knew about the video before watching it: that it was about her relationship with gay men; she wants their love, but they want a different love...a pure friendship, rather than a romance. Looking at this scene, she may be leading their army but she is still hurt, or so it seems by the look on her face; perhaps because she knows it is not her love that they want, but she proves her loyalty to them for the undying friendship they have given her by leading them. But--keep in mind that she is struggling...because there's a difference between someone who leads you to a fight, and someone who fights with you.

Gaga as a latex nun is probably one of the best things I've ever seen, simply because I find it humorous.


Ok, jokes aside now.

It's important to note that nuns are not supposed to engage in sexual activity. Her being dressed as a nun parallels the way a gay man views her, as something that they will not love, or make love to. Gaga has also stated that she is a very religious person but finds religion confusing, which leads me to think that these scenes with her as a nun, praying with a rosary in her hand, represent her praying for help; to find a way to understand what to do. She cannot choose which side to take, because while she is religious, religion condemns the people of this community that she loves and is friends with.

We now move onto a more sexual scene involving nothing but men in heels, beds with ropes, and Gaga. Further portraying the struggle that she is in, Gaga seems to try and blend in with these men now, trying to be like them. After all, she is the only female around many men she loves and appreciates but is torn and still feels like she does not fit in with them, despite the fact that she is accepted. It's evident, because of all the switching between roles on the beds; they cannot decide what part she can take.

And then the men form a circle around Gaga, draped in a latex cloak with symbols of the Antichrist on it. You could say she has rejected religion, but it's unclear whether she is rejecting it as a whole or simply rejecting certain views it has. She's through with the struggle and realizes what she is going to fight for. Gaga then consumes (literally) a rosary, as a way of saying that religion has consumed her to the point of madness and confusion.

The army is now walking towards the battle pridefully; as if they are walking down a runway, with plenty of stride. But Gaga does not take on the role of a leader anymore, she is now more unified with them.

Seemingly random at first, Gaga is singing (looking a little like Bono?) with a wooden cross situated behind her. This has got to be her way of saying she will sacrifice anything for them, including herself. After all, the crucifix is a representation of how Jesus died for our sins. Homosexuals are viewed as wrongdoers and she is ready to take the stones that are to be thrown a them. I also believe that this scene is symbolic of what she has said on countless occasions that they have given to her; spirit, for they were the first community to wholeheartedly accept her music the way the rest of the world has now. So now she sings for them.

Yeah, and then there's a good 20 seconds of another man appearing in the video. But he doesn't look anything like the other beauties with bowl-cuts. To be completely honest...I think he is the only straight man in the video. I really do. It's not coincidence that all those men had the same haircut, body, and clothing, because they're all gay, and by having them look so similar it represents that. But this straight man looks at it all in anger; it could be anything that he's furious about though. My guess is that it's because Gaga, a woman that he may possibly be lusting after, is supporting something that he doesn't like (homosexuality) or perhaps it's the other men themselves that he's looking at so revoltingly. And it also seems like he's watching something, probably a tape--notice how in the scene where she's singing into the mic there is a timer on the bottom...hmmm.

 Gaga is pushed and thrown around by the group of men while she is still cloaked in her robe, but then she strips down to almost nothing, letting go of it all. And now she's just herself and has accepted both things that she was battling between.

Finally, we have the last scene. A man with a gun, and Gaga as a nun. Both tied with puppet strings, meaning that they have no control. But in this scene they both appear to be dead, and then Gaga's face is extinguished. They are not controlled by anyone anymore.


And there you have it, my analysis of the Alejandro video. If you actually read through all of that, I commend you. And if it made sense, then you deserve a cookie, because while I tried, it's very hard to pin down something so interpretive and say this is what it means!

 I do however hope you enjoyed reading that and PLEASE leave a comment below! Would love to hear anything anyone has to say on the video.

xx

CREDITS: Screencaps from Lady-Gaga.net

20 comments:

  1. this was great, gratz :D

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  2. You're really observant.
    Thank you so much for clearing this up for me!

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  3. COOOKIESS!!
    Kidding, this actually made quite some senseee :) A non gaga-fanatic like me wouldn't have guessed that behind a video like that, lyes so much meaning and purpose. :) I like.

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  4. Okay, I watched the whole video, and I feel.... well, I didn't like it :p

    http://itscohen.blogspot.com/

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  5. I always look forward to new videos from Ladygaga!! It's always entertaining! xoxoxoxo

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  6. i love your blog! you have great posts. keep up the amazing work

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  7. Just watched it, thank you for sharing and agree you have a great interpretation of the meaning behind it.

    Have a great time at the show!!

    xo

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  8. hahah lady gaga is awesome!
    a lot of people criticize her but her whole music thing is an art form I reckon :)
    xx

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  9. I'd watched the video and then dismissed it. Great job on analysing it!

    xx miss anonymous.

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  10. Omg, I love this post! The video and song is so awesome!
    - Adele
    MOLTOCURIOSA.COM

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  11. thats a great analysis of it... and yes i did read the whole thing through!
    im still not sure if i like this video though... and i am up there with you in the realms of gaga obsession! i may have to watch it just a fewwwww more times! haha
    and you are very lucky to go to the monster ball! i saw it in march when she was in australia and best.concert.of.my.life. wow. she is godly that one :) xx

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  12. Great analysis of the video. She does a good job of creating provocative pieces of work - which is quite a feat when most videos are scantily clad women withering on a bed. At least there's meaning when Gaga withers on a bed.

    (Be sure to drop by and enter to win a Wendy Mink Jewelry necklace - retail value: $175!)

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  13. People really ripped this video, but I loved it. The whole mood of this video was amazing!

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  14. Thanks for the indepth analisys :) I love Gaga but wasn't a big fan of this video - it was tad too raunchy for my taste, BUT I respect her and her work.

    I heard you like Alexander Wang's Diego bucket bag ;) http://www.fvncy.com/2010/06/homage-to-great-alexander-wang.html

    KeepItFvncy,
    M.E.

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  15. love gaga... cool video

    http://donotshoeme.blogspot.com/

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  16. wow that was awesome dude. at first i was a bit confused by the vid but now i get it.

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  17. that was an absolutely stellar analysis. you portrayed the entire video perfectly. I never understood it to its entity, but I knew that there was a deep meaning to it. (Hello Steven is a genius here!) a lot of people of youtube were commenting (when it first came out) on how grossed out they were, and how they didn't get it, but if this was posted, I think they'd fully understand it and stop being so "if I don't get it in 2 seconds, it's dumb".

    thanks! I loved it!

    xxo
    http://fashioncontagious.blogspot.com/

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  18. I've watched the video once, and it's super hot! I LOVE IT. I didn't make all those connections, but am going to re-watch it right now. (yes, i'm aware i'm beyond even drag-queen time in my late first viewing of the video)

    ;) lori, vancouver, canada.

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