Paglia (feminist & philosopher) on Madonna & Lady Gaga

[Daedalus]

Hi guys,

I've just been reading up a little on Camille Paglia (American feminist h go on: ) and her views on Madonna and now Lady Gaga. To give you a quick idea of who Paglia is:
Paglia is an entertaining and brilliant cultural critic, but she has a habit of throwing out too many ideas and references and in the end securely grasping only a few–she’s like an octopus determined to juggle with all eight tentacles when two would suffice.
From: http://anonym.to/?http://www.bootle...-and-lady-gaga-whats-bette-got-to-do-with-it/
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Opinion: Madonna - Finally, a Real Feminist - nytimes.com/video

Paglia stands by her assessment of the pop icon in 1990 during the era of the controversial and sexually charged “Justify My Love” video. She calls the op-ed “prophetic” and warns that feminists today dismiss Sarah Palin, whom Paglia considers a harbinger of a new kind of feminism, at their peril.
See: http://anonym.to/?http://www.advoca...ertainment_News/Paglia_Defends_Madonna_Op_ed/
And as for Paglia's take on Gaga? X_X :
Paglia [sees] Gaga as a hypocrite for creating a bizarre public image that has nothing to do with her privileged Manhattan upbringing or corporate deals.
Paglia’s argument, which is not only that Gaga isn’t sexy but also that young people wouldn’t know a true sexual icon if she stepped out of a laptop and offered a free lapdance. Their world has been pathetically attenuated by too much technology: “Their own voices have atrophied: they communicate mutely via a constant stream of atomised, telegraphic text messages.” But Gaga’s voice isn’t atrophied or atomised. It has both snarling command and an unpinnable mystery that suggest the breakthrough, not the absence, of inchoate emotion.
From: http://anonym.to/?http://www.bootle...-and-lady-gaga-whats-bette-got-to-do-with-it/

Hopefully some of you guys will have an opinion, either for or against Gaga, her music, style and overall vision/direction (or lack there of). Also who is your favourite, Madonna or Gaga? :thinking: Personally, I would say Madonna!

 

[jeansGuyOZ]

I thought Paglia exaggerated Madonna's influences a bit, but was basically pretty spot-on. I can't stand GaGa on several levels.

If asked to name my "favourite" (why is there always this assumption that all gay men must love both these artists?) I would pick Madonna by default. She comes across as far less fake, and has done much better songs.

 

[ritsuka]

Interestingly, it is alleged that Bradley Manning used a fake lady gaga cd as a decoy while he was really copying the 'collateral murder' video etc. to expose the US government with; I don't think she has made a statement of support for his cause. Otherwise, I don't believe I've ever heard/seen lady gaga, but I find Madonna very dull and typical, and I feel that she stole rather than celebrated items from gay culture such as in her song 'Vogue.' She might as well be oprah or martha stewart, and certainly doesn't have less corporate ideals than gaga does.

Do we really need mainstream 'sexual icons' to appeal to everyone? In his poem 'Howl' Allen Ginsberg celebrates one of his boyfriends, Neil Cassidy, as his own sexual icon, which is much better I think. I don't like the condescending baby-boomer identity politics Pagalia employs, though--just because she didn't use this technology when she was young doesn't mean it's that bad.