Analysis of new Lady Gaga's music video - Disease

Lady Gaga – Disease
In depth analysis of the symbolical meaning

After a time that definitely felt like too long, Lady Gaga drops a new song, a new iconic song that takes all of us back to the Mother of Monsters’ birth.
The song’s title is “Disease” and the lyrics, the video, everything in here is absolutely sick.
Definitely not a coincidence, the official video of the song has been dropped on Halloween.

The location of the video is the most stereotypical American quiet, bourgeois, bigoted neighborhood, but we are straight away dragged into the darkest atmosphere when the focus of the camera spots a car crash in which a woman has been deadly hit by a white car.
The woman is lying on the car hood, and she is Lady Gaga herself. The car driver is a creepy figure all dressed in black with a big hat on and its face which is fully covered in black too.

Cars keep on driving on the street has if nothing has happened and Gaga wakes up, blood under her nose and watery eyes: she is a zombie.
This is a clear reminder to 911 where we saw Lady Gaga involved in a car crash that almost killed her, and we saw everything that was going on into her head while she was dying. At the end of that video, paramedics brought her back to life and she woke up from that whimsical dream realizing what was truly happening. In this video, she is apparently dead, and nobody saved her, so she is a zombie now.
More than that, when the creepy car driver is showed, it moves its claws on the wheel in a way that could show its will to actually kill Gaga: it was no accident.
Zombie-Gaga crawls onto the car hood (this scene reminded me a lot of The Ring movie) and we find out that we can see one of the car driver’s eye and her mouth: she is Gaga as well.

Following conspiracy theories, we might say that Gaga shows us only one eye to represent the Eye of Horus, a masonic symbol, and she has to unzip her mouth to speak because she is trapped in the Illuminati cult and enslaved by it. Later in the video she will also wear a chunky choker or collar which is a clear symbol of slavery.
Suddenly, a brunette Gaga (dressed in country clothes to represents her more country song and, most probably, the movie “A Star Is Born”) comes running out of nowhere and she starts fighting with the black-haired Gaga. Thinking about Gaga’s carrier, here we can see how she is fighting not just with her own self, but with all her past identities and all the characters she played through the years.

After the street fight, we are taken into a kind of warehouse where one Gaga is chained to a pipe and another one is lying under her feet; basically, she is fighting against herself once again. These twin Gagas represent The Fame and The Fame Monster and their clothing reminds me of a lot of the oldest Gaga videos such as Bad Romance or Alejandro. Here the eyes are less watery which could mean she is almost her true, alive self and the hair are blonde on the roots and black on the length, therefore a mix of her two personalities. Villain Gaga (the one with the hat on that should represent Joanne era) is watching from another room, separated by a window and she is apparently enjoying watching herself torturing herself.

We are back on the street, it is not clear for me if this is before the accident or after, but Gaga is clearly walking like a zombie and Villain Gaga inside the car is listening to an unpublished Gaga’s song. The Zombie-Gaga realizes what’s going on in the car and she starts running while the Villain Gaga in the car chases her.
Now we see the Villain Gaga out of the car standing and her costume is HUGE. The hat, as we said, can be a symbol to recall Joanne era, but it also reminds me a lot of the Wicked Witch of the West costume and I think this reference is made even more clear by the staff she has in her hand (aka the broom of the witch) and the strong wind that starts to blow around her.


Given that the song is called “Disease” and an this point the lyrics say “I could be your doctor, I can cure your disease”, this costume might also been inspired by the historical figure of the Plague Doctor.
This character is known to wear a very long nosed mask which was supposed to protect the doctor from contracting the plague when visiting patience, but it was also worn by those who had to pick up corpses from the street to burn them to avoid the spreading of the plague.

The shape of the legs also reminds me of a huge insect such as a mantis and disease and mantis would make two of the seven plagues of Egypt.
Villain Gaga is finally shown without the hat and the mask on and we can see that her eyes and eyebrows are different from one from each other. The right eyebrow is black and shaped in a form that represents anger, while the eye underneath it is red and sick. The left eyebrow is fully blonde, almost invisible and shaped in a sweet, rounded form, the eye underneath it is the true Gaga’s eye.

The Villain Gaga with no hat on is also wearing a black veil which both symbolizes Born this way era and mourning and grief: Gaga is mourning herself.
The hatted Gaga now throws up black mud and from it a new Gaga is born: slicked back hair to represent Chromatica era. After her birth, this Gaga hugs the villain one as if she was grateful to her, but when she takes of the mask showing her real face, the newborn Gaga starts running and she is chased by all the other versions of herself and by closing walls.

At the end of the video the Villain Gaga goes back to the car walking in a satisfied way (if such a thing even exists) and for a sudden frame we can see her full face blonde and wearing a crown of thorns as in 911 and Judas.

I think, meaning wise, this video is amazing. Gaga always talks about her terrible past and what she had to go through, but she is also very open about her mental health situation and all the issues she is still fighting with. In 911 she repeats on and on that she is her own worst enemy and here we can clearly see it.
No other actor than Gaga in the video, no big visual effects and still it is absolutely horrifying because what could be worse than being trapped in you own head?
Apparently Gaga is back to her old self with a monstrous video and at the same time she is chased by her past and she tries to run from it in any possible way. She tries to be reborn even from mud and she runs, once again, for her life.

The lyrics, starting from the title of the song, express this feeling of hopelessness that make you become your worst enemy believing that poison will be your saviour. Specifically, I think Gaga refers to her addictions to alcohol and drugs, but it may also be interpreted in a more deep and psychological way.

There are no more tears to cry
I heard you beggin' for life
Runnin' out of medicine
You're worse than you've ever been

(Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby
(Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die
(Ah-ah) Poison on the inside
I could be your antidote tonight
(Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby
(Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die
(Ah-ah) Poison on the inside
I could be your antidote tonight

I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease
If you were a sinner, I could make you believe
Lay you down like one, two, three
Eyes roll back in ecstasy
I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya
Cure your disease

You're so tortured when you sleep
Plagued with all your memories
You reach out, and no one's there
Like a god without a prayer

(Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby
(Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die
(Ah-ah) Poison on the inside
I could be your antidote tonight
(Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby
(Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die
(Ah-ah) Poison on the inside
I could be your antidote tonight

I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease
If you were a sinner, I could make you believe
Lay you down like one, two, three
Eyes roll back in ecstasy
I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya (Cure)
Cure your disease

(Ah) Cure your disease
I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya

Bring me your desire, I can cure your disease
If you were a sinner, I could make you believe
Lay you down like one, two, three
Eyes roll back in ecstasy
I know all your secrets, I can cure ya, oh
Cure your disease

Let me know what you think about this analysis and if you have anything to add to that!