While Lady Gaga’s current focus might be to shake the disease of Lee Quinzel after her foray into the DC Universe with Joker: Folie à Deux, she’s actually embodying her version (and even a dash of Margot Robbie’s) of the character more than ever in the video for “Disease.” Directed by Tanu Muino (always expanding her “directing stars” repertoire, from Cardi B to Lil Nas X to Doja Cat), the setting for the video takes place in an “Anywhere, USA” type of suburbia (Gaga is clearly cosplaying in and with this backdrop, what with being a “big city girl” her entire life)—granted, is there any other type? In fact, the first frame almost recalls the look of the neighborhood in Edward Scissorhands, except without the pastel color palette.
Indeed, this particular neighborhood is decidedly drab, complete with the beige cars that pass Lady Gaga by while she’s bowled over on the hood of a car, blood coming out of her nostrils. The driver responsible for hitting her? Why, herself, of course. Or at least the version of herself that looks like she’s wearing an updated edition of the plague doctor costume (you know, the one with the beaked mask) with some Freddy Krueger-esque gloves. Part of that update is showing only one extremely bloodshot eye through her leather gimp mask. In fact, this entire “aesthetic” and scene seems straight out of a Ryan Murphy series (and, yes, Gaga has been “under his tutelage” before, so it doesn’t surprise).
Unfortunately, just as the two appear to get somewhat comfortable with one each other’s presence, yet another hostile version of Gaga in a sandy blonde wig shows up behind the black-haired Gaga to attack. This all speaks to Gaga’s statement about the music video, which she distilled via her Instagram account by saying, “I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons. It’s never been easy for me to face how I get seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me feel claustrophobic. ‘Disease’ is about facing that fear, facing myself and my inner darkness, and realizing that sometimes I can’t win or escape the parts of myself that scare me. That I can try and run from them but they are still part of me and I can run and run but eventually I’ll meet that part of myself again, even if only for a moment.” To be sure, there is a lot of running in “Disease,” mainly by the black-haired “matrix” Gaga (to use a term from The Substance).
It is this “real,” “core” self that is perpetually attacked by other, more hostile iterations of her personality. In this sense, too, Gaga doesn’t seem to have fully shed her “Lee Quinzel skin.” Which is perhaps why the next “milieu shift” out of the suburban exterior is in a dark indoor setting that looks like an “office-ified” version of Arkham (and also kind of like that office Billie Eilish is in for the “Birds of a Feather” video). Chained to a metal bar that runs across the room at almost ceiling length, the only thing that keeps Gaga from total wrist and arm torture is being able to step on another Gaga below her while Plague Gaga looks on from behind a glass window. As for the pair of Gagas she’s observing, the two are in the same “skivvies” getup and wig (one with blonde roots and black hair) as they get into a tussle with one another. Nothing Madonna didn’t already do in the 2002 video for “Die Another Day.”
In the next scene, Plague Gaga is in the car again in hot pursuit of Matrix Gaga, who realizes this bitch is trying to run her over (talking of Madonna, the A Functioning Gay Instagram account made a series of memes with various pop stars in cars during one of their music videos, cut in such a way so that it looked like they were the ones about to mow her down—obviously, Madonna in the “What It Feels Like For A Girl” video was the first slide among the many). Determined to “hit her mark,” Matrix Gaga is equally as determined to outrun this hostile version of herself. Alas, as Gaga also added to the above statement, “Dancing, morphing, running, purging. Again and again, back with myself. This integration is ultimately beautiful to me because it’s mine and I’ve learned to handle it.” In short, to “embrace her inner darkness.”
That much is effectively done with a scene of Plague Gaga in the middle of the suburban street dancing erratically (which has been her way in the past—namely, the circa The Fame and Born This Way eras that her “Little Monsters” idealize so much) as many fall leaves blow violently around her. Which, of course, is in keeping with the suburban aesthetic, what with gardeners and their leaf blowers being a staple of that environment. Her “willingness to look ugly” (even if in a still-manicured way) is also in keeping with the Harley Quinn school. Because the motto remains: “Cute but psycho, psycho but cute” (even if the cuteness isn’t always “coiffed”). And that Plague Gaga sort of is as she vomits black bile onto Matrix Gaga while the latter lies prostrate on the pavement in front of her.
Apparently, this grotesque gesture is all it takes for Matrix Gaga to fathom that Plague Gaga is not the enemy—she’s just the “slightly kooky” side of herself that she can’t suppress. Therefore, it’s better to treat that aspect of herself with kindness if they’re to inhabit the same headspace (even though that trick wouldn’t work at all if this were set in the Smile universe—and, speaking of, Gaga was the model for the Skye Riley [Naomi Scott] character in Smile 2).
The peace between the two is ephemeral, however, with Matrix Gaga suddenly running away from Plague Gaga again, only to end up trapped in the space between two houses that start closing in on her (relating to the claustrophobic feeling Gaga mentioned above). And as Matrix Gaga appears to accept being “stuck,” the final scene cuts to Plague Gaga strutting down the suburban street, her back to the camera—off to the next destination where she might torment someone from the inside. Harley Quinn, a former psychologist (before becoming more “patient material”), also knows the power of such mental warfare.
