Gaga/Lacan: ARTPOP and the Discourse of the Hysteric

By Jacob W. GlazierIn quest, without respite, of what it means to be a woman, [the hysteric] can but stave off her desire, since this desire is the other’s desire, never having achieved that narcissistic identification that would have prepared her to satisfy the one and the other in the position of the object. Écrits by Jacques Lacan, p. 378I’m not a wandering slave, I am a woman of choice.My veil is protection for the gorgeousness of my face…Do...

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So What Do We Want to Do With Your Body?

By Eddie McCaffrayI felt pretty vindicated by “Do What U Want” – not gonna lie. The song comfortably encapsulates three key Gaga/ARTPOP-era moves: first, the song suggests some form of sex or a sexual relationship as a metaphor for Gaga as an artist; second, the song suggests a traumatic moment of (self-)destruction as integral to the Gaga persona; third, the song suggests the body as a valueless or low-value raw material for Gaga’s continuing self-creation...

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“Beautiful Little Fool”: Re-watching “Lucky”

By Meghan VicksTest this hypothesis with something other than reason and more like intuition: we are all Britney Spears. Self is split into midriff/truth-b(e)arer Britney vs. Hollywood Britney. Hollywood Britney can’t see herself despite the ubiquity of her image, whereas midriff/truth-b(e)arer Britney can’t convey her truth no matter how needed it is or how mesmerizing her abs are.   Britney mise en abyme; self in the abyss; self made manifest in a world of fun-house mirrors.Struggling to see herself in her own reflection (or a reflection of a reflection ad infinitum) – which, of course, is the only way to self-knowledge, but this...

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GS Announcement

After nearly four years of intensive critical-creative output and interaction with popular culture, Gaga Stigmata, in its current journal incarnation, will be coming to an end at the strike of midnight on January 1, 2014.In these final months, we are requesting submissions in the following three veins:(1) Any new essays on Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP era (2) New essays on any pop cultural phenomenon that manifests what we call a “stigmata effect” – that is, the blurring of lines between superstar and fan, between high and low art, between art and interpretation, between the “original” and the “copy.” In particular, we are interested in essays about...

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Miley’s War: Love and Rebellion in the Millennial Trenches

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