Lady Gaga and the Death of Sex

1. When the author talks about Lady Gaga's affect on her young audience, does that imply that artists should feel responsible for the individual and collective effect of their art on their audience?

2. Is Lady Gaga the main person to blame for the Gaga Generation's blur of childhood and adulthood, and loss of value? 

3. What is it about Lady Gaga and her persona that has her fans so enthralled with her? 

I'd like to address my first question in this blog response. 

The author compares Lady Gaga to Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, and Bette Middler. Of the three comparisons, the Bette Middler comparison is the most compelling to me. It is true that Lady Gaga would do well to mimic the more musical and theatrical style of someone like Middler using the humor of vaudeville and the glamour of romantic, pop music. The working class background of Tina Turner and Janis Joplin, makes comparison of Lady Gaga with those iconic artists unconvincing. 

A far more meaningful comparison would be between Lady Gaga and the 1970's glitter and unisex idol David Bowie. Both Lady Gaga and David Bowie filled a vacuum between more culturally powerful and literate genres of American music. Bowie came along after The Beatles and the Renaissance of the 60's. And Lady Gaga came along after the music styles of Michael Jackson and Madonna. She came alone and filled the void. Both Gaga and Bowie adopted a bisexual, androgynous persona and both used their musical and theatrical gifts to portray themselves and their audience as consumers of hedonism. Both exploit bisexual fantasies and promoted sex as a recreational, casual activity rather than a sacred, beautiful, and culturally valued relation of intimate trust. Gaga and Bowie also portray themselves and encourages their audiences that self destructive behavior, such as drug use, was considered avant-garde, socially radical, and fashionable. 

Based on this comparison, a morally logical, if not statistical argument can be made that both artists promoted and encouraged high risk behavior and self destructive socialization among the young people in their audiences. How many lives were derailed? How many young men and women gave themselves away before they were ready because their concept of what was expected of them was warped? How many kids ended up in drug rehab programs? How many would have been protected from problems if they had not been exposed to the imagery and message of artists like this? 

I think the reason the Gaga Generation is so drawn to her, is because its something new. Something unique and "exciting" they haven't seen to that degree. Our generation has a need for constant stimulation, entertainment, and change. I like the point that Paglia makes that our generation's line has been blurred between childhood and adulthood. The line that distinguishes things that are meant for the innocence of being a child and the self-empowerment of adulthood. Our generation has been exposed at too young of ages to things that they are not ready to see. Therefore, warping their sense of that is expected of them.  

Finally, it must be said that both Lady gaga and David Bowie, has musical and theatrical gifts that can only be described as genius. That is why in order to defend themselves for the effect of their art on their audiences, they often made fun of and mocked themselves. But those attempts to shift responsibility away from themselves do not change the fact that they became very rich and famous peddling art that promoted hedonism instead of uplifting their audience.