Response to Jessica's "The Cult of Gaga"

Here is a link to Jessica's post "The Cult of Gaga": http://let-your-lightshine.blogspot.com/2012/01/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html 

Jessica, I could not agree more with what it is that you had to say about there being a popular culture phenomenon that ends up acting as a huge icon to many, many people. Madonna, Britney and now Lady Gaga have all acted (or continue to act) as some sort of beacon that fans flock toward, downloading all of their songs, attending as many concerts as possible, and purchasing merchandise from these concerts to have a shirt with their idols name on it.

 

In no way at all am I exempt from these activities, as I myself have a fair share of Backstreet Boys and Kelly Clarkson shirts and CDs. So along with Lady Gaga, who at this moment in time seems to be taking the lead, I believe that all celebrities, or any element of popular culture, can serve some sort of religious function in society. All this does, is as you said, creates cults within society that people identify themselves with as a member of Lady Gaga’s little monsters, or how can we forget Justin Bieber “Beliebers”.

I do believe that it is something to think about in terms of how impressionable adolescents are. They see Lady Gaga and her music videos. Many want to dress like her and be like her, without really listening and being aware of what she is saying. For example, Backstreet Boys seem harmless enough, but when you listen to their songs as a 20 year old, you realize how sexually loaded the content is. This seems like nothing, however, when compared to the extremely in your face dress and lyrics of lady Gaga.

 
As was mentioned in class, yes Lady Gaga does identify herself as a Catholic and her beliefs in stopping bullying and right for everyone to be himself or herself are founded in good morals. But the fact of the matter remains that this is not the side that adolescents see when they watch her in concert or in a music video. They see very sexually charged performances, and as children are constantly surrounded by media and popular culture, it is sad to say that much of their information comes from these sources of popular culture.

I found this video to be very interesting!: