Gagafesto, "fear and loving", gagablog 12

I want to clarify how I believe Gaga uses evil in a practical sense and what I mean by scaring people. It is easy for me to go on a tangent about Gaga dressing as sexy as she sometimes does and I am using this as a way to adress the potential for fashion to "scare" people, in this case, to scare them out of hang-ups about sexuality. But of course this is not the only theme people should address with fashion, and the things that make people uncomfortable to think about and hold us back from understanding each other come in many forms besides sexual. The contention over sexy clothes is something I believe most people can relate to, though, and someting I think Gaga is clearly on the side of taking pride in oneself, in one's body. But I am certainly not suggesting that sexy dress is ideal for everyone - I personally do not think it fits my style and is subjective based on what is appropriate for each person. I think this goes without saying and I do not presume to restrict anyone's freedom, especially little monsters' "boundless freedom", with any moralizing about dress by going into details about "standards". Because people are individuals and ultimately decide what is appropriate for themselves. I will say that even without knowing anything about fashion I can appreciate how intentional Gaga is in what she wears, how she is very conscious of the message she is sending. and being appropriate for the occasion. I think about how classy she looked for her interview with Barbara Walters and how she did one portion of interview with Anderson in nothing but bodysuit, and I like to imagine that I understand what she meant by it. So I am not passing judgement on anyone's fashion sense but I will say that we should also emulate Gaga in being intentional about the message we are conveying and appropriate for the occasion in the way we dress.
And I focus on sexy dress because I love sexy Gaga and it is something everyone can understand how it pleases many people but makes some people "uncomfortable" - and that is what I am talking about, this "scaring people" as a mild form of evil that I think helps us grow as a society. I am talking about the artistic and shock value both of the beautiful human form and the beauty of expression. As much as I love Gaga's sexy outfits I appreciate her huge wild costumes that don't show off her perfect form even more, in a way - well, having her wear both really large and really small costumes makes this easier to fully love both styles. The thing about Gaga's "crazy" outfits that I want people to emulate is the wya they can "scare" people - I don't mean sending children running crying, but the kind of bold creative statements she makes with fashion that just command attention, beckon fascination, and make people think new thoughts. I realize I can talk forever about it, but to actually express new thought is the goal and there is not as much sense talking about it compared to doing it - I just wanted to refine what I was trying to say about fashion, from my limited understanding of it, and say that it is the spirit of inspiration and the desire to introduce new thought and wake people up that is so essential. To fashion, yes, but of course in every artistic expression. And of course there will not be many people - or anyone - who can pull off what Gaga does with fashion and music, but she encourages us all to do more, or maybe to get started for the first time. Even as I write this I am listening to the Surgeon General, Dr. Regina, accept her Image award from the NAACP and she said that "sometimes we need someone to push us out of our comfort zone" in order to grow to be the people we can be. This is the type od "scariness" I am talking about, the ability to surpirse and refocus people and then inspire them to do the same for others. I think it is easy to see how Gaga is literally doing this for the whole world, since "everybody" pays attention to what she wears and it is truly the spirit of Art. This is what I want to focus on more than anything, the Art of Gaga, which I think is ultimately Love. It is the best way for me to express the way I see Gaga as divine, because as an aritist myself, Art is the pure divine, within me and others, within the world of ideas and the world of love and the world of nature. And as soon as I paid attention to Gaga I coud see how strongly she is with inspiration, how full of Art she is. "The Force is strong with her." You can easily see how Gaga has set a new superstandard for entertainers with fashion, so that many of them are trying 10 times as hard on their appearance to only look 1% as cool as Gaga - but they are focusing on the surface and trying to catch up. I am talking about how little monsters will start to show off more, in their dress, songs, dances, words, writing, and art. Because we are not trying to catch up with her in an industry, we are with her already in love and are responding to the Art within her and within ourselves.
Every form of Art inspires I guess it is something special about Gaga for me that makes her the Perfect form of Art. Because I can see already how much more she has to offer, it is truly infinite, and the power she has to inspire people. I don't mond admitting that I have always had far-reaching creative goals and have had various artistic expressions through the years, but have always felt like I was putting off really going for it, despite all sorts of motivations and messages from the world to go for it, to "get up, get out and get something." (Outkast) When Gaga became famous, I realized that it was "on" and I have to give her credit, both for inspiring me with her music, fashion, words and videos and also for truly inspiring me to finally get moving - since becoming devoted to Gaga I have written and completed more songs, started putting them and cover songs up on youtube, written much more about my ideas of divinity / Gaga, and finished my novel and started a sequel with greater energy and new directions for the story. I have to give her credit for this, and give Love itself credit for it. Because the reason Gaga is such a great artist is that she loves Art passionately, that she loves the word, us, passionately through Art. The same is true of every artist, everyone who does work with love - to me there is something special about Gaga that you either respond to or don't but one peculiar thing about her is how many people do respond to her.
I can best describe it with a story, a fairy tale. Just imagine any fairytale children, the heroes of the story, walking through a forest or entering a strange place, with faries all around who just have not been revealed yet. Of course they do reveal themselves, its a fairytale, and maybe they play a little trick and the story has a bunch of little faries in it then the heroes walk back to normal life with a strange experience. This is the way I think most people think about art or love in the world, that there are little pieces of it like fairies hidden in the woods or some strange place.
But imagine the story is a little different, where one of the faries makes the girl have a more intense experience, or a Fairy Princess shows the heroes a way into the fairy realm - where everything becomes Fairy, not just a little piece here and there. This is the way I see the world really is, a fairyworld completely filled with love and art, but hidden in the world that is generally seen, so the love and art seem scarce. For me, Gaga is like the girl who has the special experience, or the Fairy Princess - opening a gate between our world and the next.
I won't deny that even seeking this kind of thing out it can be scary, intense - and when it is a surprise it can be quite a shock to find that the world is really full of love and art. But it is a better world that way, and this is a better world the more we can recognize it. Yes, it comes with facing our fears to pass through that gate, but the light showing under the door is love, it makes a path of love showing the way, to a wall of light and welcome when the door is opened, to a world of all light on the other side.
I'm so pleased that Gaga has opened this door for me and many others and is welcoming us into the bold world of "boundless freedom". The blast of light, genius, love and art that comes through is surprising, and the fierce nature of creativity that can be scary, but I love her for showing it, reminding us how attractive it is and that it is comfortable to live there.