I didn't get to hear the class discussion, but it seems like a large portion of the chapter in the book focuses on the gaze and how it incorporates us as viewers in different ways. This gaze from Mr. Lambert is giving me signals for all the wrong reasons. Let's just get it out of the way that I think the entirety of this cover is atrocious. The reaction from most of the public (and a good percentage of his fans) was the same, for various reasons. Actually so much so that he issued a statement thanking the people that "got it" and that it was meant to "deliberately campy". But I think he takes himself and his "brand" very seriously, likes good or bad attention from anywhere he can get it, and has too much of an agenda to really be in on this particular joke. So that gets that out of the way.
What's confusing here in terms of what we've read is the issue of androgyny. We already know that an important part of the gaze is the "other"; The person that the gaze is meant for and the power play between them. But who is the other looking at the front of this album? For the life of me, I can't figure out who he is marketing this to. It puts off the girls that think he's attractive because it's just too feminine. It puts off the (small group) of middle America who may like his voice because it's just too out there. And it puts off the gays who were rooting for him because it's just too stereotypical and so, so ridiculous. That leaves a very slim amount of people that are into this sort of thing. A very small amount.
I'm probably being a little all over the place with what I'm trying to say. But really what's happening is someone with such an intense desire to succeed taking all the right steps to becoming a big joke.
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