In 1984, the North American MTV held the first edition of the Video Music Awards (VMA). As a final attraction, a show by Madonna was announced, who at the time was experiencing her first rise in the world of pop music. The singer, who would later become queen of pop music, caused scandal when she performed the song "Like a virgin" dressed as a bride. At the end of her performance, Madonna rolled on the floor and her private parts were exposed. She caused a stir and, from then on, her career took off. The rest of her story needs no comment.
If in the 80s Madonna shocked the conservative sectors of society by performing with a major symbol of virginity, last Sunday (28), during the 2011 edition of the VMAs, singer Lady Gaga's kick to her detractors and "rival" singers was to emerge dressed as Jo Calderone and asking everyone: is he a man? Woman? Both? After all, what does Lady Gaga want?
On the opposite way
It is no exaggeration to say that Lady Gaga, since her emergence, has chosen to go against the mainstream commercial recipe. If we take as an example her first big hit, "Just Dance", we see that her reverberation among the current generation is precisely in the values imbued in the song: "Young people who just want to dance".
Lady Gaga did not invent the wheel, but it is undeniable that her emergence and rise is directly connected to her time: a time in which bisexuality is on the lips of many people and homosexuality is addressed in song lyrics. The transgender issue is increasingly out there, among young people who preach the rule of not defining sexual orientation and are guided only by carnal desire.
It is not a sexual revolution of identity, but we are certainly facing an artist who has, like no one else, subverted the issue of gender and brought back the debate on androgyny, already so encouraged by David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Brian Molko, Jeffree Star and others.
jo calderone
By appearing dressed as Jo Calderone, her male alter-ego, Lady Gaga shattered all expectations that revolved around her appearance during the music awards. Starting with the media interview session, when called by the name "Lady Gaga", Jo Calderone was emphatic when saying: "Gaga is not present, I came in her place". What was heard was laughter and mockery from the journalists present. More than drawing attention to her alter-ego, Gaga drew "common" reactions from the public that "different" people are used to experiencing: mockery, strangeness and discrimination.
Some journalists, including Brazilians, classified Jo Calderone's performance as "bizarre". Checkmate. Gaga's latest album is titled "Born This Way". Each subject is what they carry and have to live in the midst of a conservative society (Brazilian, American, European, Hindu, etc.) that operates automatically under the symbols of heterosexuality and hygiene.
Jo Calderone's "bizarreness" not only put the media in check, but also Calderone's competing singers, who this year went to the presentation wearing clothes inspired by Lady Gaga. After all, what was Katy Perry's costume? She herself couldn't hide her embarrassment at wearing such clothes... By cross-dressing as Jo Calderone, Lady Gaga revealed that she is not at this crossroads just to be "different", she showed that she uses her body as art and a manifesto and that people can be the way they want. To do this, you just need to feel comfortable in the chosen identity.
