Gaga and the Death of Sex
Interesting essay. Full disclosure: I only say interesting because I’ve thought many of these thoughts (Gaga as sexless, Gaga as pandering, Gaga as Madonna avatar, Gaga as somewhat death-obsessed), too, but I’ve never thought enough to extrapolate behind her as a persona or icon. So, yeah, it speaks to a generational shift and all that, but the way Paglia presents it seems too us-versus-them, and in that way, lazy. I also think it’s funny that a critical piece about Lady Gaga is written by none other than Camille Paglia, herself a kind of lightning rod.
Sometimes I think it’s too easy to say we’re getting stupider as time goes on, and then I watch “Morning Glory,” having read a million times that it’s nothing more than a “Broadcast News”-lite. The latter is one of my favorite movies of all-time. The former, despite having Rachel McAdams delivering a performance that deserves to be showered with awards, is the monstrous antithesis of “Broadcast News.” Sadness accrues.
