RESEARCH INTO STAR IMAGE

Textual Analysis
Lady Gaga - Alejandro

In Lady Gaga's music video to her hit single "Alejandro", we see mixed themes of religion, government, and a group of "evil" people, most likely supposed to resemble the lluminati. The video opens up with men in stockings, heels and police caps, all asleep with guns by their side. In the background appears to be something in the shape of a torpedo. At about 20 seconds in, if you pause the video, you can see that the long gun on the table is actually pointing to an invisible line, dividing two sets of white circles, which can only be seen for a millisecond. The circles appear to be the division of a light hanging overhead, but as Gaga is known for throwing in very obvious but sometimes subtle symbolism in her videos, I'm sure these white circles could represent something else entirely. At first glance, they actually resemble female eggs, or the uterus. The only "cop" that appears awake is a man with an emblem on his chest; I can't quite make out what the emblem is, but I'm sure it's symbolic of something. Then we see different men marching, with one holding a pyramid-shaped object on the left hand side, and one holding a hexagram-shaped object on the right hand side. The hexagram appears to have five bars going through it, which perhaps could be a symbol of the media (hexagram= 6 = an "evil" number.) In this sense, it could symbolize how religions like Gnosticism or Paganism are "restraining" or "enslaving" people (pentagrams have five points, and are closely tied to these religions.) The hexagram could also be seen as representative of the Star of David, so perhaps the bars in front exist to make an anti-Semitic statement (the video does have a Nazi-like feel.)

What's more, the Star of David is essentially two opposing triangles put together; from a Gnostic perspective, these two triangles represent the union of the male and the female Also,, this union of male and female is thought to be connected of the idea of androgyny, and how God is considered to be sexless. In this way, perhaps the hexagram with bars in front is reflecting someone or something being against the concept of androgyny. Of course, the pyramid is the common symbol for the Illuminati. In addition, the man holding the hexagram is facing forward towards the camera, while the man holding the pyramid is marching backwards (you can tell by their shadows.) Depending on Gaga's intentions, this could mean either that the pyramid-concept is positive and should be integrated in our society, but it is moving backwards, or not surviving, OR, this could mean that the pyramid-concept is evil, and she's telling us that we better "wake up", as said in the lyrics, before it's too late. There are ten men total, with the first "line-up" consisting of 7 men in the back and 3 in the front...Seven and three are both powerful numbers in mainstream religion. Next, we go to one of the many versions of Lady Gaga present in the video. She is wearing a heart-shape around her head and huge glasses over her eyes. At this point, this video already appears to have connotations of Alice in Wonderland(Queen of Hearts,). Around the heart-shape are various white lights, some noticeably brighter than others; I can't be sure, but it appears that there are ten white lights total. She then is seen carrying a heart with a pin in it, on a pillow, before she does the "one-eye thing," (where she covers one of her eyes.) The heart itself could be representative of the "bleeding heart" of Christ, or the Sacred Heart, while covering one of her eyes could be symbolic of the "All-Seeing Eye" concept, used by the Illuminati. Next, we see the second version of Gaga walking in front of a coffin, with the Gaga above looking down from her fortress; this is very similar to the White Queen/Red Queen concept from Alice in Wonderland, and if this is the case, then it seems that the good, White Queen is sacrificing her heart to the evil, Red Queen. This also could be resembling the relationship between the Devil and Lucifer (dark and light,) especially when she says, "I know that you love me, but I just cant be like this with you anymore."

Lastly, we see a soldier attached by strings, like a puppet, holding a gun by his genitals. This could be representative of the "mind-control" that supposedly will be introduced by the government in the near future. The last scene of Gaga is the version of her who is in the coffin, and she is held to the coffin by strings as well. Behind her, the strings or wires form the shape of an upside down triangle. The camera goes close-up to Gaga, who's face disturbingly dissolves like acid from the screen, before the video concludes. Overall, "Alejandro" is open to multiple symbolic meanings as it is so complex and diverse in imagery. What is clear, however, is that Gaga undergoes some sort of transformation throughout the video, rejecting one religious belief and embracing another. The question is whether or not she is promoting something evil or something good, and whether or not she herself volunteered to take on this transformation, or if someone else tricked her into "selling her soul" to the music industry, and inevitably the "powers that be." She is basically saying that she is inbetween good and bad, a connotation that is featured in several videos of her, supporting her star image, being mysterious and scandalous but at the same time sending a message.