Jo Calderone Performs at the 2011 VMAs! Let's make a discussion, Stigmata readers!

We're still gathering our thoughts on Jo Calderone's performance (and, Lady Gaga's performed absence) from tonight's VMAs. While we're crafting our thoughts into mature essays, we're hoping you'll share with us your reactions and preliminary ideas regarding tonight's performance. Let's make another amazing discussion, Stigmata readers!Topics to consider:Jo Calderone accepts award for Best Female Video; highlights the idea that Lady Gaga is not there to accept the award. Jo Calderone, speaking about Lady Gaga: "She left me!" Jo Calderone, speaking about Lady Gaga: "I want her to be real!" Jo Calderone, speaking about himself: "How am I supposed...

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On Plastic: The Endless Garment

By Laurence RossThe following is the seventh piece in our series on Lady Gaga’s “Yoü and I.” For previous analyses, click here.Imagine (if possible) a woman dressed in an endless garment, one that is woven of everything the magazine of Fashion says, for this garment without end is proffered through a text which is itself unending … This endless garment has a double dimension: on the one hand, it grows deeper through the different systems which make...

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Gaga is a Narcissistic Masochist and You Should Be One Too

By Spencer JacksonThe following is the sixth piece in our series on Lady Gaga’s “Yoü and I.” For previous analyses, click here.The ghostly masochistic bride means everything and her brawny sadist groom nothing. The guests, well, they might be disappointed. In juxtaposing the earthy, country ballad “Yoü and I” with the violent, mythological landscape of its video, Gaga masterfully detourns from within the patriarchal longing of the quintessentially...

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Oh Jo, Make Me a Cyborg

By Samantha CohenThe following is the fifth piece in our series on Lady Gaga’s “Yoü and I.” For previous analyses, click here.This year for my August 16 birthday, Gaga released a fantastical-violent video-world containing my favorite things: cyborgs, “nature,” mythical creatures, dolls, Jo Calderone. Also on my birthday, a friend sent me excerpts of Martin Buber’s essay I and Thou. The umlaut on “Yoü and I”’s “u” makes me almost think that Gaga intends...

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Part of Yüyi’s World

By Alexander CavaluzzoThe following is the fourth piece in our series on Lady Gaga’s “Yoü and I.” For previous analyses, click here.Yüyi the Mermaid was introduced to the public imagination when choreographer Laurieann Gibson leaked a faint notion of the concept for Lady Gaga’s music video “The Edge of Glory”: “I just know that we’ll be feeling very fishy.” The ichthyologic teaser was enough to spark speculation that Gaga would be appearing as a...

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