The song opens up to a wide shot of all the cast members featured with Lady Gaga posed on her throne in the centre. Levi Strauss binary oppositions are distinct as the females are dressed in a pure white in different costumes and the men in black fixed in various positions. This gender binary opposition suggests the men are the bad part to play in this whilst the women are good as the colour white has connotations of purity and goodness. A large white dog is also amongst the people, and noticeably all animals in this video (the small hairless cat who appears later) are white which could be suggesting an animalistic feel about women. As the song begins, we are presented with a low angle shot of 3 bottles of Vodka called Lex Nemiroof. This informs us of the music videos topics addressed and its associated areas (drinking) as well as showing us the video is a very post modern text with some product placement.
The reoccurring semantic of white can create a blank canvas feel as futuristic females crawl out of white pods (labelled as Monster) which are not human and distinctly science fiction/alien like. the white latex suits worn by them are not individual and could be a a visual metaphor for saying the women in the current era within the music industry are what the audience wants them to be rather than them making a career that concerns themselves. As the connotation is a monster/non-human creature, these figures could be directly addressing the unique non-passive Lady Gaga fan base.
Gaga is force fed a liquid by two females who are dressed similarly to those in the pods. This physical struggle could be a reference to her early career in the music industry where her audience/fans defined who she is and perhaps the overwhelming influence her fans impose on her and along with the music industry trying to mould her into their own sexual icon; something that is mocked towards the end of the music video. The body language of Gaga shows naivety when we see a wide eyed Gage in a bathtub which is used to create an innocent effect suggesting when she started out she was a naive young girl and complicit. These shots occur after and in between the force fed which could be to show it was her newness and vulnerability to the fame that led her to do drastic acts and act out of social norms.
It is also important to notice the women are not handling her with care and could be, ironically, manhandling her. Halfway through the video some of her layers of clothes are pulled off and the she is revealed to the men, who wait sat down on chairs. The viscous nature of this stripping of her is symbolic of her having no choice to do this in order to get the attention yet she is then in a better situation for her career than when she started as she has an ownership over men, refereed to in the line "cause you're a criminal as log as you're mine". This also opens up a very clear divide between the two sexes and perhaps is Gagas way of hitting back at her criticism for being outlandish as it is primarily men who view her as this icon of which she could be seen to take advantage of in order to benefit for herself. s the men are wearing golden coveted masks to over/partially cover their face, this connotes wealth and or/secrecy so perhaps the men in past life have been these figure types, as referred to in her other music video Papparazi.
The movements of Gaga in this sequence change to her crawling along the floor which is somewhat animalistic and can be compared to the fur less cat seen earlier; The cat is bare visually, open to see yet very noticeable due to its distinct bodily feature of having no hair whilst Gaga is open to see in her fame, her music could be argued as typical/basic yet her physical appearance in the dresses and style she wears make her very noticeable therefore it is appearance alone that gets noticed in a culture where a picture/image conveys a message due to having an audience which can view and see their music icons instantly.
At the end of the video, Gaga is seen holding a fur jacket, from a white bear whilst in the background fire engulfs the man who she was in front of. By wearing this across her body, it resembles a proud look as i f she has slain an animal and wearing it's fur for comfort/protection. This could be seen as reversing the views in the music industry. Instead of women sometimes being seen as the pieces of meat, or animals, Gaga could be delivering the message it is in fact me who are the real animals and have primal outlooks. The polar bear is also significant in that is endangered so by Gaga claiming this as her own, it could be a message to her critics to say she is prepared to stamp her dominance as a female singer and will fight her way through anyone or anything no matter how high or much their value is. The man who is assumed to be burning behind Gaga is briefly seen lying on a bed, burnt to a skeleton next to Gaga which indicates that Gaga has won and does not care for men.
