DOTLAN EveMaps

One of the most elusive and complex artists of our generation, Lady Gaga represents not only the hedonistic, existential despair of the modern age, but also a glimmer of hope and a deep-seated, wistful longing for traditional values. Let us first consider the very nature of her as an artist. Not content with the name that her parents gave her - Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta - she has boldly made a statement of self-definition. As surely as Napoleon reinvented himself and defined his time by crowning himself Emperor of France, Ms. Germanotta has performed a similar act. Not only did she choose her own name, Gaga, but also took on the persona of a "Lady" - refined, aristocratic, from a different and more elegant age.

Her corpus of work is similarly impressive. Her hit single "Just Dance" is not only a revival of modern pop, but also a stunning narrative of an innocent, confused girl thrust into the midst of a world of hedonism. It is the first step toward her inevitable corruption, fall, and ultimately, catharsis and transfiguration. As we shall see, the totality of the experience of Lady Gaga's album "The Fame" is necessarily intertwined with grand themes of music and forbidden love, and is the spiritual heir to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde as well as owing a debt to the poetic but non-musical Inferno by Dante.

After being tempted into abandoning the good of the intellect and "just dancing", the heroine-Gaga is subjected to a radical assault on her view of love. In the second track, "Lovegame," we can see lyrically that love, which was something once treasured and divine, is now reduced to something pedestrian -- a mere "game". "Let's have some fun, this beat is sick," she sings, her tone mechanical and robotic - a sign, surely, of the sickness that she feels infesting her own soul. As an individual, she is beginning to be subsumed into the hedonistic masses around her.

This theme is born out in the following track, "Paparazzi". It opens with a powerful statement of crowd-identity: "We are the crowd", she sings. Like the damned in Dante's Hell, she has lost her own identity and can only be understood in the context of an observer (in Hell, Dante; in The Fame, the ideal listener). The loss of identity is not total, though, not yet - her verses end plaintively with "I", that strong assertion of self, but soon degenerate back into the mass pronoun "We". Furthermore, the "I" pronoun is used most often immediately before "Paparazzi", suggesting that she is no longer defined as a human being, but instead as a social role. The choice of "Paparazzi" reminds the listener of the overall theme - as a spectator to the Gaga-heroine's corruption - and serves to shame the listener into a greater appreciation of this role.

Following "Paparazzi," the mood of the piece changes dramatically. In the philosophical interlude "Poker Face", Gaga questions the act of interpretation itself. Can anyone truly understand the artist as their own self -- read their poker face? Gaga seems to think not: "like a chick in the casino, take your bank before I pay you out" brings the artist's elusiveness into a painful new light.

Gaga continues her descent throughout the next few tracks. In "Eh, Eh" she expresses notions of confusion and regret (my friends keep on tellin' me that something's wrong") but does not make any apologies for her corruption. However, she also makes an attempt to shift the blame onto the nameless "Boy" in the song, subtly suggesting that she is not responsible for what she has done to herself. The next track "Starstruck" continues this trend, hinting that she has been corrupted by a charismatic, alluring Other.

The title of the seventh track, "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" suggests that Lady Gaga is beginning to come to terms with her fallen state. The choice of the word "Dirty" in the song is illustrative: despite having all worldly pleasures, she feels tainted and filthy by them. The fact that this song is the seventh