Two Monocles
Influenced by Madonna's music video for Express Yourself and the clothing of the man it features, Gaga is first shown wearing two black monocles with lace instead of a glass lens. She has taken the male accessory and reformed it to her own tongue-in-cheek style. She is also seen smoking in another shot. This represents her fluid sexuality - supporting queer theory - and her desire for male power. Her headpiece is similar to a crown, symbolising the status and dominance she craves, not only as a woman in a hegemonic society, but also as a musician competing for a place in the charts.
Puppet Guard
Taking it a step further, Gaga exemplifies her dominance by presenting the men in her video as under her control. This man has strings attached to him, presenting him as Gaga's puppet which subverts the traditional gender roles in pop music videos. What's more, as he is positioned on the bed and semi-naked, one could read him as Gaga's sexual gratification. The whole video for Alejandro is about Gaga's love for her gay friends and how she wants their love, and the guard's appearance here demonstrates how she is forcing the men to be with her.
Latex Nun
Another example of intertextual reference to Madonna can be seen in Gaga's nun-like attire. Of course, it would be out of the ordinary to not sexualise the outfit, hence the tight latex. This is an ironic play on stereotypes as Gaga is not virginally pure as a nun is thought to be. The outfit shown here is one of two rubber nun suits that sexualises religion with the mixture of prayer beads and habit with latex and sexual behaviours. Klein, the video's director, argues the religious imagery is supposed to "represent Gaga's battle between the darker and the lighter forces."
Nude Underwear
Others, however, feel that Gaga's clothing and actions in the video are to provoke a reaction and draw attention to the singer. The scene here certainly supports this as the minimal skin-tone clothing Gaga is wearing portrays here as nude, but instead of being shown as weak, she is more dominant than the man on the bed. Madonna's Express Yourself is once again referred to with the the men metaphorically tied down to the beds, but the gender roles are reversed as it is not the female musician who is imprisoned here, but instead it is the males who are oppressed by the female.
Black Playsuit
A surprisingly normal outfit, Gaga's black playsuit and heels are worn when she is strutting up and down a catwalk. Her confidence and direct address with the camera invites the male gaze, yet her outfit prevents her from being sexualised. Even the colour is drained from the shot, leaving the image as bland as possible. It's as if Gaga is aware of the attention she recieves and instead of becoming a passive victim of it, she embraces it and uses the male gaze to make the audience aware that they see her - and other young women - as nothing more than sexual objects.
Gun Bra
Her empowerment is taken even further with her gun bra; presenting her breasts as weapons rather than sexualised body parts. It also ties in with the martial imagery in the video, aiding the portrayal of her as strong and powerful. "It’s a way to sexualize the body as well as to be ironic about that,” says Jill Fields, professor of history at California State University and author of An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie and Sexuality. The combination of weapons and soldiers with a semi-nude young female pop star is uncommon, and consequently challenges the audience's expectations of gender roles.
Masculinity
Echoing the beginning, Gaga ends the video dressed as a man. Her leather jacket (which commonly symbolises power) and black sunglasses are possibly used to obscure her femininity and make her look more masculine. Her hairstyle also achieves this as long blonde hair is seen as a very feminine feature, and here she has it pulled back to disguise any female appearance it gives her. However, underneath the jacket she is nude, symbolising how despite her best efforts to protect herself from being sexualised by society and the media, she is still vulnerable due to her sex.
