How does Lady Gaga's Bad Romance conform and subvert to the codes and conventions of a typical pop video?
Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' both subverts and conforms to the typical pop video. Throughout the video there are a lot of jump cuts to other scenes and events which are taking place. A multiple number of different events taking place is common in modern pop videos. There are also many close ups of Lady Gaga throughout the video, making her the main focus of the audience which is also a common convention is pop music videos. Gaga is always at the centre of each choreographed dance routine which also makes her the centre of attention and the most noticeable for the audience. The provocative clothing is also a common convention in pop music videos, especially by fairly similar artists to Gaga such as Rihanna and Beyonce. The iconography used within the video is traditional. The red clothing showing passion, the flames representing 'burning desires'. This conforms to the idea of female pop artists.
However, this music video also subverts to the typical pop video in ways. The artist herself has a Unique selling Point of being portrayed as quite psychotic, which is different to all other artists, and this is reflected in her music videos. For example the clothing which she has on in certain parts of the video, as some of her outfits look quite devilish and disturbing as well as the part of the video where she is getting burned by flames. As her outfits look quite demonic and devilish, along with the flames the video comes across as quite evil and both of these resemble hell. The amplification of her being portrayed as a slave that has been bought reflects on the title of her song, bad romance, which shows forced romance. This is specific to her music video and subverts to the common type of video where the female artist is seen as the heroine or the person in control, not the victim or the person who is being controlled. The iconography also subverts the common pop video. It uses a gothic set up which is unbalanced and gives of a psychotic impression. This video has the intertextuality of Madonna.
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