Lady Gaga

First, a confession: I want to like Lady Gaga and be able to enjoy her music, ideally as something of a pop confection--sweet, not very long-lasting, and ultimately disposable. As a person who listens to a wide (and admittedly weird) variety of music, this is something that I would like to strive for. As a person with disabilities, however, I am left wondering about what, exactly, I should find at all progressive about Lady Gaga's representation of (temporary) disability in the video for "Paparazzi." Other bloggers--most notably Wheelchair Dancer--have covered the now-infamous 2009 MTV VMA performance of this song; however, the promotional clip is also worth examining at length, particularly due to its messages about (temporary) disability, race, and the public/private binary.