a musical consumption: Thematic Collection: Performance

Because we studied Rock n' Roll, we looked at performance quite a bit, everyday actually. We thought about the performance of voice, sexuality, and gender. We looked at their actual shows for a lot of our discussion, but what I want to focus on the performance of the person by the person. I am very intrigued at the notion that one is always performing--on stage and off stage. Can we really know who the "real" star is?
The only time we see celebrities and artists are when they are in the public eye; we do not know them personally or intimately. Therefore, most of what we see is what the want us to see. Except for those unfortunate events when paparazzi gets to close and captures things like Britney's exposed crotch. So they have the ability to be constantly performing and shaping their public identity. This raises the question of authenticity. Do they really feel they way they say they do? Do they really believe in the things we think they do? Basically, it what we see really who they are or are they just performing a certain type of person so that they can sell? When we see them are they just characters?
I first started thinking about this when we saw Lips, the lead singer of Anvil. Lips was a character that was used on the stage and in real life, it was a type of person the singer used. In the documentary we watched we saw Lips (I don't even know his real name) get a telemarketing job because he thought "Lips" would be good at aggressively selling things only to find out that his real person could not. On another note, today in class we discussed Lady Gaga and her contradicting performances. These stars, Gaga and Lips, also bring in the theme of a double layered performance meaning that within their performance, they are also performing a performance of sexuality. Sexuality is a performance, and the performers choose what type of sexuality they want to represent.
I think this discussion is circular. There is no way you can determine authenticity or performance. Is their performance true to who they really are, or is their "authenticity" just part of their performance? What is real and what is the show? It sounds like some fatal question that would precede the fall of a civilization or something in a book, but that is the "reality" of our pop culture today.

Here is an article featured in the magazine BAZAAR titled "The Real Lady Gaga." There is also some pictures of her fashion statements--look at those and think about the idea of her using those to always perform. The article is short and doesn't take long to read but here are three main paragraphs that relate to performance.

While this might seem a departure from more theatrical Gaga garb, she doesn't see the slightest difference. "I don't really view it as 'natural,'" she explains. "I think that artifice is the new reality. It's more about just being honest and sincere to the core of what you do. Whether I'm wearing lots of makeup or no makeup, I'm always the same person inside."
But does she ever look in the bathroom mirror in the morning and think, Here we go again? "Sometimes I do. It all really depends on my mood for the day. But I think the perception that I 'put it on' every day is probably not true."
In Gaga's mind, "putting it on" is subject to interpretation. "Don't you think that what's on the cover of a magazine is quite artificial?" she asks. "There's this idea that it's all natural, but everything's been staged to look natural. It is also an invention. It's just that my inventions are different. I often get asked about my artifice, but isn't fashion based on the idea that we can create a fantasy?"

Read more: Lady Gaga Fashion Interview - Real Lady Gaga Quotes on Style - Harper's BAZAAR

Interview with Eminem entitled "The Real Marshall Mathers." We are lead to believe that because he answers questions, this is the real man....but I think if you look at some of his answers you could make the argument that he is still performing. Look at his answer to the first question.

Link: The Real Marshall Mathers

Look at how sexuality is performed in these images. Performances are practiced an well thought out, they do every move on purpose so we have to view their sexuality as performed.