In response to Miranda Simpson's "The Gaga Gospel"

In response to Miranda's post entitled The Gaga Gospel, I had never before actually seen the video for Judas - other than hearing it on the radio quite often for a period of time after its release last year - and am so intrigued by the multiple, and explicit, religious imagery and
symbolism present in both this video as well as in it's accompanying lyrics. 

As a Christian, it would be easy to say that some of this borrowing from Christian imagery could be seen as offensive, mainly because of the juxtaposition of all of these elements with incongruous (and provocative) elements such as guns and sex - but in all honesty, I found it very intriguing to see the various creative applications of all of these constituent parts, combined with overt sexuality, violence and other such visually striking elements. In ways, I believe this is one of the main reasons why videos such as this are important artifacts in the study of popular culture - today's generation, especially young adults, are so used to being over-stimulated by all of the media that engulfs them in their quotidian surroundings, that it would be highly unlikely for a boring video that lacks such juxtaposing elements to strike any real interest in them. Whether or not this is a testament to a lack or gain in cultural appreciation in today's younger generation is an entirely new topic in itself. I really do have to say that I strongly agree with your comment that appreciation of her work, more specifially her striking music videos in which she takes a great part in bringing to completion: "comes down to a matter of opinion - appreciation of music and music videos is akin to appreciation of art and films - it is highly subjective". Subjectivity is key in considering whether or not this borrowing of Christian imargery is offensice or merealy entertaining, however it is without saying that she is definitely pushing new creative boundaries that are shocking to watch.