Power

The power that I have chosen to portray in my bridge are the respective powers of Lady gaga and Oprah and how they chose to use it. Lady gaga – although a world renown singer does not use this title simply to promote her songs/music videos/costumes etc., but further utilizes it and essentially makes most of it to change the mentality  of several individuals – who feel that the only way to fit in to society is by conforming to the norm.  Hence her costumes are not just a way to draw attention to herself, but stimulates others to draw attention to themselves. The absurdity of her outfits serves to allow the individuals to feel like they are allowed to be themselves, by making herself appear as a ‘freak’.

Similarly Oprah uses her power to influence people for the better, unlike lady gaga she has a more direct approach where her agenda is to raise the rights of woman, African Americans, and raises awareness to the issue of poverty. Oprah’s direct approach includes funding schools, making education accessible to those who cannot attain it, acting as a sponsor, and physically visiting third world countries to provide her assistance.

Out of the two, Oprah is the most influential. As for Lady Gaga, a lot of people become too distracted by her outfits and her unusual nature to be influenced or even realise her ultimate goal. Her costume is seen as an art, rather than to serve any functional purpose.

Such power in my bridge is represented by:

The bridge has two separate components, that of Lady Gaga and that of Oprah. The arched shaped curves are used throughout the whole structure so that overall it appears as one coherent and hollistic structure. Lady Gaga’s side is seen to have several curves, randomly arranged, and pointing in all directions. Can one walk through her side? Well anything is possible, and if one were determined they would be able to cross it, but would encounter these several curved shaped obstacles along the way. The fact that one’s path is impeded is representative of Lady Gaga’s attempted influence of society through her costumes etc, and how society fails to realise her ultimate agenda (of allowing people to be themselves)– having obstacles such as her outfits/performances coming along the way. The different direction of these curves represents her morphing personality. Hence she is influential as a singer and for her unique personality, but is not influential the way that she’d want to be.

This bridge is linked to her office. Her office and elevator are comprised of randomly arranged shapes. Her elevator in particular incorporates both the curve of the bridge and the random shape her office is comprised of. The random shapes used to construct her office is representative of her crazy personality. The stairs also differs from regular stairs, shaped in a trapazoidal manner.

Oprah’s side of the bridge can be utilised. The curves are not randomly arranged, depicting her more organized personality. This sense of direction depicts her ordered approach to getting her message across, and how effectively her message is delievered. Unlike Lady Gaga’s side of the bridge, the curves now act as a facade to the bridge rather than obstructing it. Such curves further leech onto the valley itself, and although the curves now come out in different directions, their protruding nature symbolizes Oprah’s increasing and spreading influence. (Lady Gage has no such feature in her component of he bridge).


Her office likewise is comprised of several rhombus’ to depict her directional approach to communicate her message (as rhombus’ tend to point in one direction). Another notable component is the scale of Oprah’s office – it is comparatively larger than that of Lady Gaga’s to depict her more prominent role. Oprah's office further represents her kind and warm hearted personality as shown by the use of the soft shaped oval stairs. Oval shapes are further used in her elevator, and also incorporates the curves used in the bridge which stand straight and are directional (unlike those used in Lady Gaga's elevator).

The division depicts the two different approach of the women in impacting the society.

The colours used in the meeting place are derived from the colours used in their respective offices, depicting the integration of powers.

The dining table denotes an integration of the offices of the two woman, with the curved shape table (Oprah's office), and the randomly shaped seats (Lady Gaga's office). Many textures are applied to this bridge – again to represent this integration.