"I hate it already. A gay anthem, whether it’s 'I Will Survive' or 'The Man That Got Away' or 'And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going', BECOMES a gay anthem because we find ourselves empathizing with the singer’s passion or pain or exuberance. It’s the realization that their pain is our pain too, that their joy is our joy etc. It’s that our commonality has brought us together.“It’s ALMOST NEVER because it was written FOR GAY MEN TO HELP GAY MEN DEAL WITH BEING GAY MEN. That’s just cynical and obvious. It’s like bit like Susan Sontag’s explanation of “pure camp” being something that strives for greatness but fails spectacularly, while “contrived camp” is something that intentionally sets out to be bad and cannot, therefore, be as satisfying.
“Gaga here isn’t allowing us the choice of deciding whether or not this song will be a gay anthem (like 'Bad Romance'), she’s TELLING US that it is, and that makes it somehow less pure and less satisfying. It’s contrived. I haven’t heard the melody yet, and although I’m sure it will be a foot-stomper, I already feel manipulated."
The lovely James St. James, quoted on the great new Tumblr Gays Against Gaga.
• Image from I Hate Gaga by David M. Buisán.
• Many thanks to Buy Kurious for the tip-off.
Posts
I'm more worried about people on tumblr missing the point of ironic racism. :(
ReplyDeleteNo idea. Anyone?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's not a great song and kind of missed the point of how a song becomes embraced by people, but at the same time I'm not sure you realise just how influential she is for young gay boys. If the song helps a couple of youngsters accept their sexuality, or for others to be more tolerant, it can only be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteYou can look at it as a piece of skilful marketing, but I think her intentions were good, even if it seems a trifle vulgar to some. This Target deal stinks for a start.
Crap song mind.
^ Hi,
ReplyDeleteI said exactly that as a caveat in an earlier post on Born This Way...
"Lady Gaga is clearly A Good Thing - cause she clearly moves and inspires a lot of young gay boys..."
- http://www.fagburn.com/2011/02/lady-gaga-born-this-way-racist.html
Maybe I could have said something similar above, but it was really just a plug for the GAG tumblr which I thought was interesting - though some of the contributions are just snobby and cliched "Pop/Dance music is rubbish, people who like it are stupid, I am so great..." crap.
The Target deal was on the onus that they donated money to LGBTQ charities and supported her favourite causes. ALL of her Virgin Mobile profits go to charities that support young American kids kicked out by their parents because of their sexual orientation.
ReplyDeleteAs Target continued donating to Republican anti-gay candidates, she has OFFICIALLY ended the exclusivity deal.
"Dear Target.com Guest,
Thank you for your pre-order of Lady Gaga’s new album, Born This Way. We wanted to let you know that Target.com will continue to offer pre-orders of this album and will sell the standard and deluxe editions at Target stores and Target.com beginning May 23; however the deluxe edition is not exclusive to Target."