Not Another Holocaust Video

Ok monster-kittens.

You’ve seen it all over the internet by now; the video premiered Tuesday and it’s Friday so it’s pretty much old news.  All the Madonna comparisons have been made (whether it’s being called homage or a rip-off depends on how much you like the Lady and how much you miss the old Madonna).  Other references to other videos abound—whatever music videos have been around for how long now?  (1981, 1^st video aired on MTV but the idea has been around since…well, Wikipedia says the 1960’s). And movies were around for how long before that? (Let’s say 1890, it’s a tricky question)

My first version of this SAY-SOMETHING-ABOUT-ALEJANDRO started with a chat about Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926)…which I haven’t seen.  Which I feel I should see but like…it’s long. And German.  And …it looks scary and it looks like something I wouldn’t understand.  And I have enough WTF moments in my day-to-day life, thank you.

Having seen Alejandro I’m kind of wishing I had seen it so I could intelligently dissect what’s going on in this video and make good references to other art, besides freakin’ Madonna videos.  But, this is not going to be an undergrad paper about Gaga compared to …everything else ever. It’s me, rambling.  This isn’t Harpers. It’s Soldout.  Snark n music n stuff.

Snarky aside: Really, guys? Is that the best you can do? It’s like a MADONNA VIDEO? Have you not experienced any other art in your life?  Can you only make video-to-video comparisons?  Y’know Madonna wasn’t an original herself and was just trying to be Marilyn Monroe, right? (Actually that article's pretty good, but you get my point, EVERYONE saw the Madonna parallels.) Maybe I’m just an uncultured dork who didn’t have MTV as a kid but my first thought after seeing this:

was not Madonna video.

How about… THIS:

Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis wearing his sassy lil monocle.  Today we’d probably call it steampunk, back then it was just called awesomesauce (actual slag of the late ‘20s, truth).  Obviously Gaga is the director of her world here… I could go on, but you get it.  (Ok, no, it’s not IN the movie but … look at them! It looks cool! Shut up!)

Thesis:  With Alejandro, Gaga continues the trend she started with Telephone:  visual elements in her video will be practically incongruous with content of its song and much more to do with paying homage to a director or a theme.  With Telephone—Tarantino’s Kill Bill, a little Thelma and Louise… Badass Lady Movies (BLM).

Here, while there are a lot of Metropolis parallels, I think the overall theme is German Dominance Struggle Movies (GDSM…um…haha?).  Or um, ok, I’ll say it. Holocaust movies.  Starting with the snow in the splash pages which reminds me of snow in Schindler’s list, which in the film turns out to be ash from the concentration camp furnaces.  That connected seemed pretty simple.  Also uh, Gaga KLEIN?  Guten Tag, can we get any more Deutch?  Alejandro…deceptively Spanish sounding…and Spain was ostensibly neutral in WWII but they supplied materials to the Germans…and Franco was pro-Germany but at the time they were just coming out of their own civil war so maybe the line “he’s going to fight your fight” refers to Hi—Ah, yes, see that I’m losing you.  Back to the video.

From the opening shot of military uniforms chillin’ I was thinking Germany.  And then the dancers marching around a loading dock?  Do you all not see the Star of David happening there?  What else could that be? That’s not accidental. Although the other guy seems to have a Christmas tree and that whole scene makes me think of aliens or Star Wars…and then there’s the alien Queen Gaga in some Lovecraft-type get up…which also references Metropolis…and there’s a frozen heart (?) with nails in it? On a pillow?  Man that’s rad. 

It’s like when the evil queen in Snow White asks for Snow White’s heart as proof of her death but here it’s like…well, Hitler n Jews? Maybe?  We hear a victorious roar in the background, which I’m digging…something epic’s going to happen and I am PSYCHED!  And it’s a funeral, and then there’s the heart… ok I have no idea what these have to do with the Holocaust but they’re freakin DARK and the Holocaust is some heavy shit so the mood compares at least.

I’m still not sure who’s in the coffin.  Is it the guy with the spiked helmet? Is he Alejandro? He's the guy with the nun at the end...are they in heaven?  Or Mexico, rejoice?

And then there’s the nun stuff.  How about… The Sound of Music?  It takes place in Salzberg, Austria, and while it appears to be a fun story about a feisty governess and the family she falls for, once you watch it as an adult, you realize is about Nazis. Bam!

Now for the lightening round!

• Guys in shorts doing calisthenics outside in the snow in front of a supervisor sitting around smoking? Concentration camp again!
• Guys wrestling?  The Berlin Olympics of 1936!
• Emaciated dudes—who seem to be really into each other—with bowl cuts in a barrack? Concentration camp!
• Androgyny and sexy short haircuts?  Well, I’ll tell ya, with the short hair Stefani’s nose is lookin a leeeettle bit Jewy. 
• Moving in strong, rigid formation and looking fierce in helmets and boots? Gestapo!
• Unheeding obedience to a leader with a penchant for uniforms and goose-stepping? Nazis again!

Near the end, Gaga does a little dance wearing a vest and cute bob haircut…

and wears a sweet bra made out of machine guns. 

MTV called it a “two gun Fosse salute.”  Yes, it’s definitely Bob Fosse, the guy who famously choreographed and directed Cabaret, a play about…yes, Germany and … you in the back? Right, the Holocaust!   

And then there’s the riot with fires… (“the flames that burned before him”)?  Not sure about that.

Then they throw the nun around in an orgy…and I dunno if that has anything to do with the holocaust or what but I think it turned me on.

And the film burning up at the end…when you’re waiting for something to happen… it’s creepy but pretty great.

Gaga said this video was about fashion and “a celebration of my love and appreciation for the gay community”… and she sure does love up on some gays in parts of the video.  But we know they’d rather be lovin’ up on each other.  Queen of the Gays is a pretty popular trope, though…and?  What’s that?  Yeah, yeah, Madonna.  Ok, fine.  But, y’know, Hitler hated the gays so… it still goes with our theme.

Afterthought: As I’ve rewatched the video I’m starting to think it is about power and places in society; with Gaga playing several characters…also fairytale archetypes and the Holocaust.  If I figure it out I’ll post a follow up.

What does this have to do with Alejandro calling her name? 

Just smoke your cigarette, and hush.