I Don't Want to Think Anymore

When I first tried to watch the brand new Lady Gaga video for “Telephone” featuring Beyonce, my computer was extremely slow so I gave up after hitting the four-minute mark. However, my cousin Colleen who is a senior Communication Studies major asked me for my opinion.

Colleen told me that she was a bit disappointed with the interpretation of the song, since she loves the song and feels that the video doesn’t bring the story to life as she expected. She also mentioned that the video was made in the same spirit as the “Papparazzi” video in which fame and the media kill celebrity. In past interviews, I’ve heard Gaga say that she does everything with a purpose and message. In other words, every controversial act is not done without thought and reasoning.

Immediately getting into rhetorical criticism mode, I watched the almost-ten-minute-long video in its entirety. The first thing that really caught my attention was the Diet Coke curlers Gaga wears in her hair when she picks up the payphone and starts singing the song. After that, the product placement became more apparent as it occurred. Virgin Mobile, Chanel, Polaroid, Miracle Whip, etc. This is likely something that stood out to most viewers. I knew Gaga, if true to her mission, would never accept product placement as advertising in her work so I tried to look at the bigger picture.

To me, the song is about feeling tied down in a relationship; the speaker is unable to have fun with the distraction of the consistent phone calls on a night out with her girlfriends. The video seems to illustrate that brands hold us hostage in a world of consumerism. Gaga feels imprisoned by the media as it throws brand after brand, product after product at us to the point of consumers not realizing their decisions are often made for them.

In typical released-inmate fashion, the first thing Gaga does is to seek revenge with her partner-in-crime, Beyonce/Sasha Fierce. She does this by killing the enemy (arguably those individuals and consumers who accept media messages without thinking for themselves, or perhaps the controllers of the media itself) with their own poison: the brands that have become staples in American life. By turning the poison against those who use it, Gaga and Sasha Fierce feel free despite the inevitable consequences they will soon face for their inexorable crime.

A few days ago, I found an article
on AdvertisingAge about the product placement in the video. Each product had some kind of tie with the Haus of Gaga or Lady Gaga herself, but the message I got from the video was nowhere to be found.

Isn’t it funny how critical thought can actually lead you to a message beyond someone else’s vision?


Click here to view the official video.