Tufts Shows Its 'Poker Face'

Tufts University has gone Gaga. That is, the school’s Experimental College is following in the footsteps of the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, Arizona State, and Wake Forest by offering a course on the gender-bending poptart this semester:

EXP-0005-S: Gaga’s Holy Monsters
Through in-depth analysis of her musical, textual and visual aesthetics, this course will explore Lady Gaga’s work as represented mainly by her music videos in relation to the implications for gender and sexuality. This course will investigate how her work draws on Christian ideas and practices to frame her commentary on issues of gender and sexuality, and how such appropriations may yield positive and/or negative effects.

Tufts senior Emmanuel Hernandez — a double-major in music and religion — is leading the class, which kicked off yesterday. The Fame Monster’s impact on fashion and design is indelible. And her Born this Way Foundation (just down the street at Harvard) and campaign against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy clearly demonstrate her stance on LGBT politics and sexual equality. I’m most interested in how her work draws on Christian ideas.

The BostonInno blog suggests that if Gaga is indeed taking over higher ed, Emerson should be next in line, if only because of this epic, 9-minute long lip dub:

(And, yes, the Emerson Quidditch team makes an appearance during “Poker Face.”)