Marry the Night – the Gagameister’s latest video/short-film – is, according to the singer, her most autobiographical. It’s also one of the funniest things she’s done since showing up in drag at the VMAs.
Little Mermaid meets Fame. Skinny nurses (with great asses) in custom Giuseppi Zanotti and mint hair nets styles like berets. An anguished Gaga weeping after some unknown medical procedure, surrounded by lobotomized ladies in lingerie. Cars exploding like Michael Bay just walked onto the set. (Yes, it’s 13 minutes long. Deal with it.)
The appeal of Lady Gaga lies in a delicious dichotomy: She is 100% committed to both heartfelt earnestness as well as ferociously self-deprecating piss-taking. She takes herself very seriously, except she really doesn’t. If you take a step back from her hyperreal drag performance as Jo Calderone you can see the Monty Python-esque absurd humor at play (and her tongue lodges firmly in her cheek). Her humor is very subtle, and her detractors tend to only see the over-the-top costumes and deride her too-easy pop music (which, given her more alterna-singer-songwriter roots, is a bit of a let down in its simplicity at times.) But I stand by the definition that this is one epic piece of performance art. Sure, it’s self-congratulatory, but only insofar as it’s self-immolating. Try not to take me too seriously, she seems to say. Since humor is the best way to contend with something to fickle and fleeting as fame.
Single pic (love the dumpling hair) via
