Music Videos
Lady Gaga "Alejandro"
In January 2010, Gaga began casting for the music video of “Alejandro”.[72] It was directed by photographer Steven Klein,[73] whom Gaga considered the right choice as he understood her “I am what I wear” lifestyle, theater background, “love of music and love of the lie in art”. She discussed her respect for Klein. “[W]e’ve been excited to collaborate and have a fashion photographer tell us a story, the story of my music through his lens and this idea of fashion and lifestyle.”[74]
The video thematizes military homoeroticism and celebrates Gaga’s admiration of the gay community.[75] She explained it is about the “purity of my friendships with my gay friends, and how I’ve been unable to find that with a straight man in my life. It’s a celebration and an admiration of gay love—it confesses my envy of the courage and bravery they require to be together. In the video I’m pining for the love of my gay friends—but they just don’t want me to be with them.”[76] For Klein, the video is “about a woman’s desire to resurrect a dead love and who can not face the brutality of her present situation. The pain of living without your true love.”[77]
On the television talk show Larry King Live (2010), Gaga released a black-and-white portion from the video, in which she and her dancers perform variations on a sharp military march throughout.[75] The video premiered on Gaga’s official website and her YouTube and Vevo accounts on June 8, 2010.[78] Days after the video’s release, Gaga posted on her Twitter account: “Men are men … A soldier is a soldier.” Anne Kustritz wrote that it was posted at a time when she was publicly opposing “don’t ask, don’t tell”, a policy by the United States Armed Forces, which prohibited discrimination against closeted homosexuals but also barred openly gay people from military service. Kustritz opined the video hardly portrayed this and it was unclear whether it was for or against the policy.[22]
Date:
April 15, 2010
Director:
Stephen KleinProducer:
Jil Hardin
