Ooh La La over Lady Gaga
Okay, true confessions time: I showed my 14 year-old son Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video.
No, it wasn't a mistake and yes, I'd do it again. You might be asking, "Who is Lady Gaga?" Or maybe you're shaking your head and tut-tutting to yourself, "What in the world was she thinking?"
I'll explain.
First, I should point out that nearly every teenager in this country has heard of Lady Gaga. Yes, even yours. Even if you tell me that your homeschooled daughter rarely leaves the pristine confines of your 500-acre ranch in Wyoming, I'll still insist that I'm right.
Blame it on the People magazine sitting on the empty chair at the dentist's office, or even blame the little screens above the check-out counter or gas pump whose job it is to keep us distracted, sell us things, and feed our culture's desperate, insatiable hunger for celebrity gossip.
You could even blame Time magazine for exposing your child to Lady Gaga. Just a few weeks ago, the magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Why did they honor her that way, this singer with the bizarre fashion sense and lyrics that include "Don't be dirty ice cream, baby" and lots of "rah-rah-ah-ah-ah"s and "GaGa, ooh la la"s?
(It may have something to do with the 15 million albums and 40 million singles she's sold. Just one week after her latest video, Alejandro, was posted on YouTube, it had already been watched 20 million times.)
My point is that she's a huge presence in popular culture right now and had I not showed my son "Telephone," he likely would have seen it at a friend's house or while flipping through the cable channels at his grandparents' house, sooner or later.
You're probably wondering what this big lead up is all about. How bad could it be? Well, "Telephone" is thick with raunchy sexual material, bad language, and even clunky product placement. (While making sandwiches, Lady Gaga is careful that the Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip labels squarely face the camera.)
In it, singer Beyoncé plays a character who bails Lady Gaga out from a rather … ahem … unconventional prison. Together they drive to a diner and poison its customers who, near the end of the video, lie dead around them as they do a big dance number.
If this makes you want to see it, let me recommend that you avoid the "official explicit version." Actually, I've never seen that one, but having seen the "official clean version," I feel qualified to say so.
One afternoon, when his younger siblings weren't home, I asked my son if he'd seen "Telephone." He hadn't, but it heard it being described at the lunch table. I asked him if he'd like to see it. He shrugged, either because he's more into artists like Jack Johnson and Coldplay or because he didn't expect I'd show it to him. But I did. We skimmed through, pausing to talk.
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Doreen Ashley
Gaga is a beautiful woman with the balls to fight for equality when many who don't have a real conviction opposing it sit by the wayside and let harmful stereotypes run their course. I'm glad she forced you to see some things you didn't want to otherwise and I'm glad she's drawing attention to things that people take for granted. How many of you, barring scripture, can honestly say you disapprove of gays? What legitimate reason can you offer? And considering, does it really make you feel warm and fuzzy inside to be a lesser version of Westboro? I certainly hope not. "It's always wrong to hate, but it is never wrong to love." ~Lady Gaga
Talita
Whilst it's commendable to sit your son down and have a good discussion- perhaps take a look at discussion about her style and music been linked to the Occult/Free Masonry and Monarch Mind Control. This is why our children should be at least aware of what they are watching/hearing/seeing. Hidden symbolism- means they will accept cultural mind control via TV without even noticing it. http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=3423
Lawrence
Lady Gaga? Ahh, I wish for the simpler days when kids could sing along with Herman's Hermits - I'm Henry the VIII, I Am or how about I'm Into Something Good just for fun.
Doreen Ashley
I have been a youth pastor for years...and let me tell you, the parents that "think" they are protecting their kids from exposure to the more sinful or immoral aspects of our fallen culture are deluded. Kindly meant. I get it. Every parent wants to raise up kids that are healthy, make smart choices and for Christian parents, that choose to follow Christ as their leader. The reality of adolescence is that youth will always follow their own journey and a necessary part of establishing their beliefs and personality apart from their family's is rebellion to some extent and exploration. I now work for a secular agency in the social service sector working with youth mentors. I do a media study where we watch several videos, clips of television shows etc, to prep the mentors for youth culture. Lady Gaga videos are rich conversation fodder. Would I show them to youth. Yup...and have. And you know what? They were all from strict, religious homes...and they had ALL already seen the videos and clips. Parents want to think their kids are not involved in stuff...and to be certain, some are not. However, many more are watching, participating and involved with many things that would pain their parents, if they knew. Teens like to keep their own secrets. I think a parent being brave and walking their kid thru some it, is a good thing. With that said, I do often wonder where we draw line. Do we watch porn with our kids so we can have a discussion? Man, this gets complicated, doesn't it?
Doreen Ashley
I'm just wondering whether I should care about Lady Gaga. Should I be repulsed, impressed (at least at her marketing), or indifferent. Is it really so difficult artistically to simply (if that is what she does) flaunt social mores and try to shock people? I'm skeptical about the value of paying any attention to her at all. Do I have to care about all the trashy pop art out there? What criteria should I use? But I see the sense in making your kids aware of such displays and discussing the issues they raise.
db
To Cattie, You're right! I think the postings have shown two trends. One, that a parent is willing to let her child watch gross sexual stuff just for its didactic value, which, by the way, breaks more Scriptural principles than they can imagine. And two, that well intended Christians, watching Lady Gaga, have lost the sense of inward revolt when seeing gross sexual images, just because this stuff is packaged in nice art form. How can one reading the same Bible and worshipping the same crucified Savior not feel the pain - I am at a loss to explain!
Cattie
I just do not get the whole Lady Gaga craze. Before seeing this video, it was mainly the wastefulness and extravagance that disgusted me - she could probably feed a third-world country with the money it took to make just one of those ridiculous dresses. But it's also the promiscuity, the "it's all about me" attitude, and most disturbing of all, the fact that *everyone thinks it's so great.* That's the part that freaks me out. When Glee had Lady Gaga songs one week and touted the idea that she was a good role model for teens, I left a disappointed reaction as my facebook status. Subsequently, I got a lot of backlash - as you can imagine - but the part that really rattled me is that a few of the people arguing with me were Christians. They were saying that Lady Gaga just promotes individuality, and that there are a bunch of artists who are just as promiscuous as she is, so why was I singling her out? I was stunned. Maybe after seeing this video, they would change their minds. The random murdering, the frankly gross sexual stuff (not that sex in itself is gross, but the way it was depicted here disgusted me, to be honest), and Gaga's signature wastefulness and "it's all about me" vibe...I just don't get it. The song isn't even all that catchy. Why are people so crazy for her? I hope the Lady Gaga thing blows over before I have kids. I don't want her influence touching them, if I can help it. At all. Though by that time, someone with a worse message will probably have shown up on the scene...it's a neverending struggle, I guess.
Doreen Ashley
Thanks for the thoughtful post. Am middle-aged and enjoy some of Lady Gaga's songs (as fun pop dance music, nothing more nor less). Her stage shows - and videos - are certainly meant to be provocative (and not just sexually). While I don't like a lot of the imagery in them, I *do* think there's some real talent in her staging (bubble piano with matching bubble outfits, etc.). Lady G. is a very young woman, really - and it might well be that she's become trapped in the image she and her creative team have made for her. In live performance footage (closeups) she looks quite vulnerable to me... and *young,* very young. I truly hope and pray that she's able to survive the more soul-eating aspects of celebrity. (I would also love to see other readers/commenters here viewing her as a human being rather than as some kind of messenger from the devil.)
arp
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world.
Krista
Ah, I see that I should have credited Jennifer and Ellen for the comments instead of John and integritymother.
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