By Roland Betancourt
Note: This essay was presented at the Northeastern Popular Culture
Association’s Annual Conference at Western Connecticut State University on 12
November 2011. This paper – which addresses the crucial aspects of image
virality, Jo Calderone, and Pierrot – has not been altered in any fashion since
it was written back in 2011. The original draft from which this derived was
written before the “You and I” video and before Jo Calderone’s manifestation at
the 2011 VMA; as such this essay bears
witness to the coherent unfolding of Lady Gaga’s project over these subsequent
years in a salient manner – particularly given the role that the figure of
Pierrot played within this very argument, a figure who has recently come to the
forefront of Gaga’s work in “Applause.”
