Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Griffin, Alexandria

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

American popular culture, especially American popular music, is a dominant source of media, both as entertainment and information, for much of the world. As such, the more recent genre of music videos, combining songs with visual storytelling, has added to the power of popular music to make lasting and oftentimes controversial statements through this combination of audio and images, especially by adopting and claiming symbols and themes commonly found outside the popular music realm and associated with seemingly unrelated audiences and values. This thesis will compare the “sacrilegious” music videos of Lady Gaga and Lil Nas X to analyze and deconstruct the themes of Christianity, gender binaries, and queerness present in their work, and their subsequent use of Christian symbols as shock value both as commentary and as a story-telling device. These videos demonstrate how both popular artists use Christian themes, often associated in American politics with conservative values, to incorporate shock value into their work and the role it plays in not only in capturing attention. But also, in conveying socially progressive, provocative, and even controversial ideas, including ideas that bring gender identity and queerness into the mainstream discussion. These aspects reflect not only the artists’ personal beliefs and struggles with issues like identity, but also make statements that address the influence of Christianity on American culture and politics. Their focus on Christian symbols and themes calls into question who has claim to these symbols, for what purpose, and the assumptions of the meaning inherent in those symbols to include or exclude. In other words, questions of who will be saved, who is a “sinner,” and who is worthy plays out in a larger societal and political context. Finally, I examine the artists' use and interpretation of these concepts in various music videos, such as Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” music video, and Lil Nas X’s “Montero”.

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