Lady Gaga's music videos for "Paparazzi" and "Telephone" directed by Jonas Akerlund are highly intertextual, referencing many famous films. "Paparazzi" references Sunset Boulevard and Chicago in its narrative of a fading star seeking fame after murder. "Telephone" imitates Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill through its stylings, dialogue, and some scenes that are homages to those films. Both videos also reference each other, showing Lady Gaga's success in branding herself through intertextuality across her own works.

1. Lady Gaga is one of the most inspirational artists in terms of
pop culture and post modernism, as her music videos are
typically narrative based and feature huge amounts of
intertextuality from incredibly famous and iconic scenes in films
and music videos. Both Paparazzi and Telephone were directed
by Jonas Akerlund, he is an auteur and has developed his own
distinctive visual style which can be clearly seen in both videos.

2. PAPARAZZI
The video uses generic
conventions of Hollywood
Films, a pastiche or homage to
the iconic film period, with the
use of classical titles, which isn't
typically used in the music
industry and within music
videos. (A similar method of
adding titles is used in
Telephone, starting to recognise
Akerlunds style?)

3. There are also intertextual references to Sunset Boulevard, both in narrative
and in style, a fading star desperate to be back in the limelight and after
murdering her "lover" is thrown back in to the newspapers.

4. But the overall narrative is also very
Chicago, stylistic choices reference the
scene in which Roxie Hart is taken to
prison after murdering her lover and
which causes her fame to escalate.
This is shown through lens shots, notice
how the artists and Roxie Hart both
stand in similar positions.

5. The video also makes homage to
Hitchcock and his film "Vertigo", there
is also the use of the icy blonde
female lead who was typically always
used within Hitchcock's films, also
known as the "Femme Fatale" who
buggers up the heroes plan. Lady
Gaga's video also blurs fiction and
reality with the use of lens shots, as if
photos are being taken of the two
characters.

6. TELEPHONE Telephone imitates the
stylistic features of
Quentin Tarantino, and
features intertextual
references from both Pulp
Fiction and Kill Bill.
Telephone makes homage
to both films.
'Telephone' uses a similar
bold popping text to the
Tarantino Font used in
Pulp Fiction, with popping
yellow and red colours,
adopting a retro(ish) style.

7. 'Telephone' also makes intertextual references
to the characters in both films, Lady Gaga
refers to Beyoncé as "Honey Bee" similar to
the character in Pulp Fiction "Honey Bunny",
although this may seem coincidental, a scene
in a cafe shows Beyoncé sitting opposite
another male character, the framing and
scene is very similar to the opening scene in
Pulp Fiction where "Honey Bunny" and
"Pumpkin" discuss robbing the cafe. There
are also intertextual references to the character
of Ele Driver in Kill Bill, as Lady Gaga takes
on her role, in the scene where Ele Driver
dresses in a Nurse outfit in order to kill the
Bride. Lady Gaga wears a similar outfit,
however at the height of postmodernism uses a
telephone as an eye patch, she also takes on a
similar persona, by poisoning the cafe
customers.....very Ele Driver.

8. There is also an intertextual reference to the "Pussy Wagon" used in Kill
Bill, this is also a reference to the sexuality in the music video but also a
reference to the truck driven by the Bride in Tarantinos Kill Bill film.

9. 'Telephone' also makes intertextual references to Lady Gaga's own music videos, audiences have
speculated that 'Telephone' is a continuation of 'Paparazzi', as we see the album cover image for
'Paparazzi' used as Lady Gaga's "Wanted" picture on the TV screen. There were also pop
culture references to Disneys Mickey Mouse when Lady Gaga wears a pair of glasses, these
same glasses are seen worn by Beyonce in 'Telephone'. Lady Gaga has successfully branded
herself so that intertextual references from her own works can be seen within others.