Girl Power Representation in Lady Gaga’s Music Videos

Oleh :
Candra Pudyastuti Christinasari - C0307014 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

Lady Gaga’s music videos, Paparazzi, Telephone, and Bad Romance are interesting music videos since they present additional representation of Girl Power that cannot be found in another female singer’s music videos. It means that there is a shift in how Girl Power is perceived in contemporary American society. Although those music videos present unusual representation of Girl Power yet they are considerably successful music videos. Since music video is a popular culture product, it can be analyzed in its relation to American society. Therefore, this research is conducted to explain how the music videos represent Girl Power. This research is a descriptive qualitative research that takes three music videos of Lady Gaga as its source of data. The main data consists of lyrics, music,and moving images. It is supported with supporting data consisted of Lady Gaga’s another songs and music videos and some articles and related references about her. This research is conducted in American Studies framework. Thus, it incorporates various disciplines in the forms of theory and approach in analyzing the music videos. It incorporates semiotics theory, socio-cultural perspective, and also postfeminist theory in answering the research question. After conducting the research, it is found that in the three music videos of Lady Gaga, the values of Girl Power are represented through sexuality, style, and heroine characteristics. It represents unusual values of Girl Power that are rarely found in another female singer’s music videos. They turn the representation of a beautiful female style to a wacky style. In addition, they represent heroine as girls who do not hesitate to harm or kill others. It fits to the socio-cultural of American society nowadays that is filled with more complex issues. Keywords: Girl Power, Lady Gaga, Sexuality, Style, Heroine.