Task 2 Research into Existing Products: Music Video (Lady Gaga, Bad Romance)

The themes and perceptions in the Bad Romance video are distinctly similar to the themes in Lady Gaga's music video for Paparazzi. The messages she conveys in these two specific videos link to her feminist views and how the media perceives how a woman in the music industry should act. With this video in particular, there is a lot of product placement. The question with this is, does it take away the artistic value or does it just not matter. Similarly to the Paparazzi video, the narrative suggests a change in Gaga's character, starting as an innocent to a sexualised image.

The first shot that we can see is an establishing shot of Gaga surrounded by models, in a scene that looks very theatrical. She is wearing gold, which signifies wealth like it had done in her Paparazzi video. The music is also very significant in this shot as it fits in with the theatrical theme. This makes it seem like a play and Gaga is part of a theatre company. This shows that the rest of her video is a story, possibly retelling her experiences in the music business or just re-enacting what it is like to be a woman in the industry.

The play, or the rest of the video, starts when Gaga stops the music. The next scene then is set in a dark room with white capsules, one of which has the word "MONSTER" written in red with a cross symbolising religion, something that is also shown in her Paparazzi video. This is to show that Gaga's character is an abnormality in this institution of which the video is set. This then reflects how she is an abnormality in the music industry because of where she started to where she is now. As an artist who likes to shock her audiences, this would portray her as being different to her competition. As the story shows how this "monster" is turned into an object to make money, Gaga is sending the message that if you want it be successful, you have to sell yourself and do what is expected of you.

At the start of the song, the capsules open and Gaga and her dancers come out, moving grotesquely. They are dressed in an all-white suit with their eyes covered. The colour shows their innocence as they don't know what they're life will be after just emerging from the capsules, but it is more significant to note that the eyes are covered. It shows that these women are blind and naive to what is about to happen to them. Gaga is the focus in this scene as she is completely covered.

In this same section of the video, Gaga is filmed in a bath with extremely wide eyes. This is very childlike and shows her innocence before she is shaped into an object to please men. Like in Paparazzi, Gaga in this section advertises her own products. She is wearing her own earphones. This can either be seen as Gaga making more money through product placement or she could be doing it on purpose to send the message that you have to go against what you believe in to make money and be successful.

Two other women then drag her out the bath unwillingly, which shows her resistance to change into someone different. The idea that it is the women that change her, rather than men like in Paparazzi, shows that it is the pressure from other women in the music industry that push new artists into being something that they weren't before.

The women then give her a drink. This could represent the music industry as it is the drink that initially changes her but she further shows her resistance by spitting out the drink, which shows that she doesn't want to have all the pressures given to her by the industry.

There is a short shot of Gaga surrounded by white light, with minimal make-up, crying. This could be her past self when she was innocent and free to do as she wished as an artist. The way she is presented as crying could suggest the end of her past self.

In the next section of the video, Gaga can be seen wearing a large brown coat that the other women are trying to get off her. Around the room, there are men that seem to be giving money to Gaga. This shows her character as becoming more sexualised by the women around her. This could represent how women in the media and music industry have to be sexual to have fame as they have to appeal to men.  In this scene, she is wearing revealing clothing but it is still in white and silver, which connotes innocence. This could mean that there are mixed messages in the media. Women need to be sexualised but they also need to stay pure and innocent.

In between this setting, Gaga is seen in a frame. We can see her bones as she is depicted as being incredibly thin. This setting looks quite torturous, which could suggest that the industry causes pain to those who are working for it. 

In this scene, the men are paying money for Gaga, and she is sold as if she was an object. This is objectifying women and sends the message that women need to sell themselves to be desired. This could link to the mass of product placement, like for Beats, Nintendo and Nemiroff vodka, as she is selling the products of others and herself to get more money. This could be her own choice but also she could be forced to do this.

Gaga is then shown, frozen, in the middle of a circle of men dressed in lingerie. Again, this is sexualising women for male entertainment. Gaga could be showing that most music videos with women in now are highly sexualised so that men will watch them. Compared to how she was represented before, this image contrasts greatly as she now no longer is self-conscientious. She seems to know that she needs to please the men in order to survive, which shows that she needs to be this way to keep up with her competition in the media.

In the next part of the song, she dresses in a gold suit, with flashes to when she was in the bath at the beginning. This shows that she has been brainwashed to be the women she is now as she looks vacantly into the distance whereas in the flashbacks, she looks straight into the camera. In the flashbacks, she strangles herself, which could suggest that she dislikes the person she has become or that her past self has completely gone from her life.

The final scene shows Gaga wearing a Polar Bear robe as she walks towards her highest bidder. From the front, the robe gives her an air of innocence, but the Polar bear head behind gives a sense of danger. This suggests that some type of violence is going to be inflicted by Gaga. Like in Paparazzi, she is wearing glasses to shield her eyes. This way, her victim cannot see her intentions. There is a further message of violence by the cuts to the dancers and Gaga wearing red costumes, connoting danger. There are other symbols that suggest some up-coming violence, such as fire and Gaga's gun hand signal. In the end we see Gaga lying in a burnt bed with a skeleton. This could represent how she feels that, even though people try to change how she is, she will always come out on top in the end, like she did in Paparazzi.