American Culture Defined

The American culture is incredibly diverse and varies among regions, ethnicities, and genders, at least, so it's difficult to try and pick any one thing to define it. The complications increase when one considers there are different types of cultures -- there's pop culture, traditional culture and subcultures, to name a few.

But last year was easily a groundbreaking year for one individual who dominated the music scene and changed people's perception of pop culture for years to come: Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga won nearly 50 awards last year alone, including ones from MTV, the Grammys, Nickelodeon, People's and Teen Choice, and a variety of international ceremonies. She had five singles, and another was released shortly after we entered 2010. All of these songs can still be heard on pop radio stations an entire year later. Stefani Germanotta has become an international phenomenon.

Easily, one of clearest ways she has achieved this status is by being more than just a music artist. Lady Gaga is known just as well for her outrageous fashions and off the wall live performances. Anyone who saw her perform "Paparazzi" at MTV's Video Music Awards last year could vouch that, depsite liking or disliking it, it was certainly memorable. Here it is, if you haven't seen it:



Lady Gaga is so incredible because she devotes herself completely to the persona she's created. She toes the boundaries of "acceptable" pop culture, and people are drawn to her for it. Her song "Poker Face" is about thinking of being with a girl while being with a guy, her outfits are constantly extreme, and she embraced the rumor of her being a hermaphrodite by recently appearing in a magazine wearing a strap-on. But her persona aside, she is truly talented. She's a powerful singer and plays the piano, so it's not that she's famous only for being eccentricly outrageous.

She may not represent the American culture of the everyday person, but Lady Gaga is surely one of, if not the, top people of 2009. If she can take the entire nation by surprise and has the success to back it up, then she deserves "The Fame." Besides, the country could use someone to keep everyone on his toes.