This is a symbol that has become icon for the Mother Monster, and is a look frequently duplicated by Her Little Monsters. Gaga’s music videos maintained their secular nature until the debut of “Bad Romance”, in which there is the first signs of the religion to come.
In the opening of this video we see first the image of the coffins, a dark sign of the permanence of death. But then we see one coffin is labeled with a red cross, and the word “monster.” The cross is a Christian symbol of the sacrifice their God made for them, and the very first religious element we see in Lady Gaga videography. The label of “Monster” on the coffin likewise is the first time her videos present what is now her honorific title. From this coffin is born the Monster Herself, which is the first evidence of her elevation to a more-than-human status. By crawling out of the coffin and denying death, by resurrection, Lady Gaga likens herself to the Christian Jesus. Her next video, “Telephone”, returned to her secular habits, showing no signs of the brief, if substantial, religious essence of “Just Dance.” But in her ninth music video we see the birth of her powerful religious symbolism in the song “Alejandro.”
While the lyrics of Alejandro are secular in nature, the video she puts them to is far from it. The opening of the video shows a militaristic group of men holding the Jewish Star of David as a standard and marching to the opening bass line. Then, about half way through the video, Lady Gaga is pictured in a red latex habit of a Catholic nun holding a rosary. In these she presents herself as a religious servant, but the sexualized nature of her character and the focus on her denotes otherwise. While there is no clear message in her video, there is undoubtedly a religious theme. Her skimpy nun costume seems a crude mockery of the brides of Christ, and a mockery of the Catholic faith. It continued with her pattern of escalating religiosity of her videos, but it no way foreshadowed her next video.
“Bad Romance” and “Aljandro” showed Lady Gaga’s clearly contorversial opinion of organized religion, and served to deny popular Christianity. But her next video was completely unprecedented, because it did not draw it religious symbolism from any faith, but provided in the first two and a half minutes of the video a whole new creation story and theology for a religion all Her own: The Church of the Mother Monster. The single release of the music video for “Born This Way” opens with a declaration that “This is the manifesto of Mother Monster” and continues to elaborate on a creation story of “a race within the race of humanity.” In this manifesto, Lady Gaga calls herself the “eternal mother”
In the intro to this video, the Church of the Mother Monster was born. It stands as the sole scripture (so far) of the Religion of Lady Gaga and outlines the most basic structure of a cult that is sweeping the globe. It shows a creation story, it lays down a moral creed, it creates a duality, and leaves open the Gaga canon to continue what is yet to happen in the Mother Monster’s life on earth. It opens thus:
“This is the manifesto of Mother Monster: On G.O.A.T, a Government Owned Alien Territory in space, a birth of magnificent and magical proportions took place. But the birth was not finite. It was infinite. As the wombs numbered and the mitosis of the future began, it was perceived that this infamous moment in life is not temporal, it is eternal. And thus began the beginning of the new race, a race within the race of humanity, a race which bares no prejudice, no judgment but boundless freedom.
In this brief but explicit manifesto, we are introduced to the Mother Monster herself, her place of origin, the creation of her people, and the moral dictate she leaves to them. From the start, Lady Gaga is described as something not of this earth, but of a nondescript “Alien Territory” that is owned by the government. What “government” is not specified, but by including such an earthly institution in her description of Her origins, Lady Gaga alludes to her ever present involvement in earthly affairs, as well as mortal involvement in the matters of a deity. This mutualistic relationship between Goddess and subject is a key feature in the popularity of Gaga.
Next the Manifesto declares the birth and existence of a “new race, a race within the race of humanity.” This can be interpreted to mean the huge and ever growing fan base of Lady Gaga, known affectionately and proudly as Her Little Monsters. This declaration names them the special chosen race of the Eternal Mother, a race birthed by them in another world and delivered to this life to follow the teachings of Lady Gaga. And what she teaches is vague, if simple.
The creed she offers her followers is simple: “bares no prejudice, no judgment but boundless freedom.” This doctrine leaves much to interpretation, and only the future will tell what the Little Monsters will do with this ambiguous dictate. But this dogma does not stand alone, the Manifesto continues:
"But on that same day, as the eternal mother hovered in the mulit-verse, another more terrifying birth took place, the birth of evil. And as she her self split into two, rotating in agony between two ultimate forces, the pendulum of choice began its dance. It seems easy you imagine to gravitate instantly and unwaveringly towards good. But she wondered: “How can I protect something so perfect without evil?”
In this second half of Her Manifesto, we see the expression of duality in the Religion of Lady Gaga, for after she gave birth to her race of Little Monsters, she gave birth to evil. This duality is expressed as an inherent part of not only Herself, but of all of her creations. What is interesting is that the Mother Monster does not deny evil side of her nature, but chooses to embrace it as a tool to protect her most perfect race of Little Monsters. This again illustrates the incredibly unique relationship Lady Gaga has with her Little Monsters, one where She is both master and servant, where She serves and is served.
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