# Gaga's new 'Telephone' video- "I told you she didn't have a dick."

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gagas-new-telephone-video-i-told-you-she-didnt-have-a-dick/532292>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 12, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gagas-new-telephone-video-i-told-you-she-didnt-have-a-dick/532292 "2010-03-12T20:44:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 8

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gagas-new-telephone-video-i-told-you-she-didnt-have-a-dick/532292/141 "2010-03-21T07:20:52Z")

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> [@Zephyurs](#):
>
> Her point is to build a brand and to give the American people exactly what they want.

This is more damning of the “American people” than it is praising of Gaga.

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**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gagas-new-telephone-video-i-told-you-she-didnt-have-a-dick/532292/142 "2010-03-21T07:43:56Z")

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> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#):
>
> C’mon lets get some prespective here. I think Pokerface is a fine piece of pop and she can be very entertaining but what she say she does and what she actually does are two different things. You’re a fan I can understand you wanting to defend her but to say what she does is in any profound way , other than any other self referencing songs etc about “fame” or “celebrity” is just an exaggeration.  
> Eg: Getting your video “banned” but not really banned is just the most obvious way to “enrage” certain reactionary parts of the media and others. It’s not new and its not that clever.

You’re glossing over her visual work. The music adds to her visual work, but doesn’t go too far on its own merits. Her visual work - her videos, outfits, and performances - are very thoughtful and meaningful. It’s more than just being self referencing and getting your video banned from MTV.

> [@](#):
>
> ## I’ve nothing against low brow but but to use the “she does profound art not low brow pop music” argument to make her out to be anything else than an entertaining performer who wrotes her own stuff. Good for her but I suspect the fine art world doesn’t rate her either in that respect. With a few exceptions what she does is mostly pretty conventional in form and content. Entertaining sometimes, but in reality , she challenges the status quo very little.

What she does is no where near conventional. I don’t know of any other artist that has put as much thought into his or her performance art as Lady Gaga does. Her music is conventional, yes, but she uses it in very unconventional ways when she creates her videos.

I know it’s tempting to dismiss her as a conventional pop artist and not try to dig any deeper into what’s in her videos and performances. But if you are going to dismiss her as conventional, at least acknowledge the reasons people have for believing she is more than a conventional pop star.

Here is a deconstruction of [Telephone](http://onlywordstoplaywith.blogspot.com/2010/03/lady-gagas-telephone-observations-and.html). I don’t see how you can read that and claim that Gaga makes conventional music videos.

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