By Rev. Christopher N. West

What makes us who and how we are in the world? Reductive approaches to personhood try to isolate a particular abstract aspect of our identities as our defining characteristic – an approach known as ‘essentialism’, as it seeks to reduce personhood down to a vital ‘essence’. For this reason, sacramental theologian Louis-Marie Chauvet describes the human person as a ‘person-body’ – a complex embodied and embedded mystery. We do not merely possess bodies; we are embedded in them – our bodies are material, socio-cultural, traditional, and crucial aspects of our identities.

Conceptions of what this ‘person-body’ means are seen not only in high- and low-brow literature but in the kaleidoscopic world of pop culture. One of the most interesting conceptions in recent days comes from Lady Gaga, in her new single, ‘Disease’, and its music video. Such releases are now, by custom, exhaustively covered in real-time by reaction videos and comments on social media and streaming platforms. Gaga’s new release did not fail to amaze and surprise audiences, even those not deemed ‘Little Monsters’ or those resistant to the strangely wonderful world Gaga fashions and inhabits.

This short article offers a provisional response to ‘Disease’ and its presentation of the ‘person-body’. It is provisional in that responses to ‘Disease’ are still emerging, and also in that it bears up under multiple engagements and interpretations. The meanings of the song and its video are inexhaustible and dynamic.

Here, Gaga emerges as a figure of both chaos and creation. ‘Disease’ is not only a visceral exploration of identity but also a mediation on the strangely wonderful nature of existence itself. The video is at once horrific and beautiful; in it, we encounter the myriad ways in which Gaga grapples with the nettle of personhood, the fragmented nature of the vile-beautiful ‘person-body’ in its various expressions.

To engage with ‘Disease’ is to confront the paradoxical nature of the ‘person-body’ as both a mysterious reality and a confection – something manufactured, a reconstruction of the self that is both performative and intensely personal. It is a confection that, when crafted with the right ingredients, can be irresistibly enticing.

For too long, and particularly in Western thought, the notion of a preordained, predetermined, prefabricated identity has been influential – a ‘pure’ essence or ‘vocation’ somehow compromised by the weight of societal expectations. The prevailing narrative suggests an apparently basic state from which the particular ‘person-body’ deviates, rather than recognising the ‘person-body’ as a fluid and ongoing co-creation. The ‘person-body’ is an evolution – a confection of ingredients to produce something sweet.

Gaga, in the ‘Disease’ video’s multifaceted portrayal of herself – Mother Monster and continually re-confected monster – embodies a difficult yet productive dialectic of creator and created; the ‘person-body’ is not a singular entity to be discovered, but a rich tapestry to be woven from the threads of experience, success, failure, struggle, and reinvention.

Gaga’s ‘final’ – yet also provisional – form emerges from a pool of black vomit. Here, we have a powerful symbol of rebirth and transformation. The visceral (and I mean that quite literally) imagery well depicts the struggle of confecting the authentic ‘person-body’: the chaos from which we must rise, the darker aspects of self that must be acknowledged and embraced. The horrific body, marked by both horror and beauty, is a reminder that even in our most fragmented forms, there exists the potential for wholeness and integration.

As Gaga transgresses the boundaries of horror and beauty, she exposes the constructedness of societal norms. Her fashion choices – a leather mask and talon-like nails, reminiscent of her appearance in the Hotel Cortez – undermine conventional understandings of aesthetics, and expose the ways in which the very categories of beauty and horror are themselves constructs (whether agreed or assigned). Fashion and identity are interwoven; the body becomes a canvas upon which societal expectations are both imposed and subverted. Identities are not merely found but created, often in opposition to the prevailing narratives that seek to define or constrain us.

The imagery of the masked chaos figure and the street fights between various iterations of Gaga serve as metaphors for the internal battles faced in the quest for authenticity. The masked persona is a representation of internal chaos, that which we may wish to hide yet cannot escape. The car crashes, the grappling with the self, and the black vomit all echo a tumultuous relationship with identity and self-acceptance. Daylight, often symbolising clarity and resolution, in this context, reveals the persistent nature of internal struggle; the darkness lingers even in broad daylight, unnoticed by those around us. The battle for acceptance often rages quietly beneath the surface, unseen yet profoundly felt.

Gaga faces the claustrophobia of chaos and the inevitability of encountering the darker self, here understood not as moral transgression but as a recognition of our fractured nature. In facing these fears, Gaga suggests a path toward integration and re-making: towards a whole ‘person-body’. Her journey becomes an almost sacramental act, a grace-imbued ritual of self-discovery that embraces the entirety of the self as sacred, even the pieces that are difficult to reconcile. The body becomes a site of sacramental power.

In the song lyrics, the repeated lines about smelling sickness and offering a cure evoke a deep intimacy: our vulnerabilities can also serve as pathways to understanding and grace. Gaga’s invitation to ‘bring me your desire’ perhaps resonates as a call to re-making, a reminder that our bodies – often perceived as sites of guilt or shame (not necessarily guilt or shame from wrongs done, but guilt or shame imposed upon us) – can also be vessels of love and connection. Her powerful imagery of ecstasy and the body serves as a reminder that our corporeal experiences are integral to our understanding of the self.

Identity weaves together the threads of chaos and beauty. ‘Disease’ challenges us to reconsider our understanding of selfhood and invites us into a space of vulnerability and transformation. The journey toward self-acceptance is not linear but cyclical. In embracing every facet of ourselves, we discover not only our identities but also the divine presence that resides within, waiting to be reclaimed and celebrated.

Gaga’s art transcends mere music or spectacle; it thoughtfully engages with the essence of humanity. By embodying the fluidity of the ‘person-body,’ she traverses boundaries between horror and beauty, exposing the constructs of societal expectations. In this, Gaga invites viewers to confront their vulnerabilities and identities. Her performance, then, may serve as communal re-making – a cyclical dance between chaos and creation.

Rev. Christopher N. West is an Irish Anglican priest and postgraduate student. His research focuses on the performance of symbolic actions in worship, emphasising the visible connection between liturgy and contemporary concerns (climate, justice, and inclusion). Christopher actively contributes to the Church of Ireland media and its academic journal, Search. His work on the Eucharist as an embodied experience has been published as part of the Braemor Series.