Task 2.1: Research Into Existing Products - Bad Romance

Lady Gaga – ‘Bad Romance’

As the music begins to play over the video we are shown an establishing shot where which we can see a dark room with light shining through a small slit in the window and large white pods occupying its space. The light shines through onto each pod and then onto the next one and finally onto the wall and the room lights the pods up and they awake. The pods then open to reveal women dressed in tight white latex with their eyes and ears covered. This could connote that young girls, especially girls in the music industry, are at first blank slates who are then moulded into what the industry and buyers want them to be. The covering of their ears could connote that the industry doesn’t want any outsiders to inform the ‘blank slates’ how manipulated they are being when they are joining the industry. Their covered eyes could also show that the industry doesn’t let them see certain things and they are not allowed to view products to take inspiration from, they are only to do as they are told. However, their mouth is uncovered which suggests that the only thing that anyone wants is their voice, their talent and they want to use that innocent voice to communicate to fans and sell them the product.

Gaga also appears in a bathtub, connoting that she is clean, pure and innocent, before the music industry has corrupted her and her image. She is dressed in total white and has most of her body covered which again implies that she is innocent. Medium shots of Gaga shows her wide-eyed which again is a physical metaphor for how innocent people are when they first go into the industry. Gaga is also wearing earphones which could suggest that she is being constantly told what to do or how to do things in the industry.

This close up of Gaga shows her being forced to swallow some kind of liquid, presumably an elixir or poison. This connotes that people perhaps are forced into being something that they are not when in the music industry.  A long shot shows that it is also women who are forcing her to drink the elixir suggests that the music industry brainwashes women into tearing each other down, slut shaming one another etc. Gaga could be trying to show that women are pitted against one another into who can be the biggest, hottest, craziest thing at the time. When standing in front of the men to be 'auctioned' and 'judged', it is again the women who are essentially forcing her to do something. In this case they are removing her clothing, this could suggest that in the music industry it is the women who are telling other women to dress more provocatively in order to succeed.

Throughout the video the women mostly wear white and the men wear black. The use of binary oppositions presents women as innocent and submissive, whereas the dominant use of black in the men's clothing shows how patriarchal the music industry is. This low angle shot shows the image of Gaga crawling on the floor is shown in-between a male's legs which connotes that he is standing up, therefore taller than her. The use of proxemics here is intentional to show how men tower over and control women in the industry and women have to start from the very bottom, taking orders in order to achieve. The image of her crawling also connotes that she is begging to get to the top and so again shows a degrading view of women.

Gaga changes to a black, more revealing outfit when being 'auctioned'. It first shows Gaga through a long shot and then switches to close ups of her in her new state. This connotes that the industry and it's figures have corrupted her and shaped her to be exactly what they want her to be, which isn't necessarily what she wanted to be. It could also connote that now that she has been moulded into what they wanted her to be she is now on the same level as men (wearing black) and successful. At the end of the music video Gaga is wearing red, this could suggest that she has and others have to find a balance of what the industry is forcing them to be and who they are and so they are now stronger and less innocent than they were before but are not totally corrupted and brainwashed as the industry would prefer.