TASK 2 Lady Gaga-Bad Romance Music Video Analysis

Lady Gaga's music video Bad Romance was directed by Francis Laurence in co-operation with Gaga herself. The video was filmed in LA. To many critics of the video, it seems like the video compares the music industry to human trafficking, and generally found the video impressive.

In the opening establishing shot, we see Gaga on a throne surrounded by people wearing white. She herself is wearing gold, this show us that she is the star, the most important person in the video, whereas everyone else in the video is at her bidding. There is also a Great Dane to the side of her, it looks like it is the same dog as in the Paparazzi music video. Dogs can symbolise power and loyalty, which both can be reflected in this shot. A criticism which was raised about this video was the use  of product placements, especially dealing with matters as controversial as Gaga often does. Straight away we see product placements for alcohol. In the next shot we see strange pods.

This give religious connotation to Christianity thought the cross symbol on one of the pods, such it is one, which contains Lady Gaga. In this shot she is wearing white. This would symbolise innocence and purity.
Later on in the video, we see how Gaga portrays her views on the music industry thought metaphor in the video. She makes it out to seem like she is transformed into something completely different. She shows this though the scene where it is like Gaga is drugged by two women. Through this, Gaga blames women as well as men, to conforming to possibly misogynistic practices in the entertainment industry.  She compares the industry to human trafficking. Gaga is presented in a room to wealthy looking men, the room seems similar to something like a car show room. This objectifies the women in the room, making them seem like possessions.  Quite jagged movements are made in the dance, this makes the women seem broken and damaged. This fits in well with the theme of the video, as Gaga gas been broken to fit with what is expected of her, this is how she portrays the music industry.

Soon after this, this is a transition, which seems to be outside of the narrative in the music video, where Gaga is spinning around in a gyro like ball. This might be symbolic to say that the narrative is about to go full circle, with Gaga on the top. The way the gyro spins makes it look like she is the centre focus, that she is in control of her own world. In the next part, she has took control of the situation and killed the antagonist. In this scene she is wearing all white. This takes a twisted comparison to the first time she wore white, as now, we know she is no longer innocent and the colour no longer carries these connotations. Behind her there is a fire, this is seems similar to a phoenix, as if she were reborn from the fire that consumed the person who was holding her down. There is also large use of animals in this scene. She wears what looks like the hide of a polar bear and a white rat or mouse in her hair. This might symbolise that she might look weak, but she is powerful.