4. Video Imagery
It's is obvious that Lady Gaga drew a healthy amount of inspiration from Thriller for her Bad Romance video. From the jittery, yet slick, zombie-like dance movies to the morbid, monster Halloween theme, the video can very much seem as a Thriller reboot for the modern age. However, in Gaga's defence, she was definitely consistent with her 'monster' theme throughout the entire album (The Fame Monster) and created interesting comments on the destructive obsessive nature of fame and notoriety in each of her released videos. Given that she herself writes all of her songs and conceptualises all of her videos, this is no small feat. Therefore, it would be unfair to say that she had not put her fair share of individuality into the video. The imagery used is still very much unique to Gaga. Similar? Yes, but not a complete rip-off. More of an updated, fresher interpretation. And really IS there any such thing as an original idea? Nevertheless, aside from the superficial similarities, the videos are also alike is in their ambition, commentary and reference to horror/thriller cinema. Jackson's Thriller was arguably one of the first music video to adopt a storyline and/or reference cinema. Apparently before Thriller no movie director would even have considered directing a music video, which were usually of the stand and sing variety. However, the entire Thriller video is very much a homage to classic horror movies, particularly with the use of zombies and werewolves. It is also set in the 1950s, the era of the classic horror films. Even the same sound effects were used as those from An American Werewolf in London. Also notice that outside the movie theatre in the video, there is a poster showing Vince Price's 1953 picture, The House of Wax. Lastly, Price, himself, as I mentioned earlier, is responsible for the creepy, evil laugh at the end of video. While one may think that Thriller video is fantasy-based, whereas Bad Romance is more metaphorical, there are still several similar reference points between them. In fact, one of the most popular, and controversial lines from BR, "I want your psycho, your vertigo stick, want you in my rear window, baby, you're sick!" seems little more than a vaguely horror(ible)-sounding, sexual innuendo. However, it was actually intended to be a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's three biggest pictures (Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window). Interestingly, all those films were made in the 1950s. All of the songs on The Fame Monster album, as I mentioned earlier, are a metaphor for one of Gaga's fears, with Bad Romance intending to be her fear of love. Thus, in the video, the dark nature of obsessive love is equated to a type of inner monster. Although she forgoes an actual transformation, like Jackson in Thriller, her lavish costumes are very much her version of such. Throughout the video, she is seen; in costumes that cover her eyes; wearing crab-like shoes and bejeweled headdresses which paint Gaga as an obtainable prize. The entire story of the video is that she is being auditioned off to a mafia-type gangster. So, one could argue, just from the storyline, that Bad Romance incorporates both horror and thriller themes. So, although, the production values of the common music video have skyrocketed in the last 10 to 15 years, it is still arguable that few artists have mastered the story-telling prowess of Gaga in recent history. Bad Romance is the pinnacle of her artistic storytelling success. In many ways, Gaga's work serves as a reintroduction of an artistry which the likes of Jackson, Madonna and Bowie founded but which has, recently, become lost in the haze.