John Wayne MV Intrepretation

[Guy 15]

I have noticed there aren't many interpretations posted (at least not in a collective manner), so I'm making this thread in case anyone wants to go ahead and post/re-post their own.

I'll go ahead and post mine to start. Remember, this is an opinion (broke mine into short and long versions). The artist herself may have provided a very different reasoning for the elements of the video, but I like to interpret things myself anyway.

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TLDR: The upgrades of travel (from horse to motorcycle to car) felt like a progression into each generation. And the purported wildness and vices of the past continue to "crash" into the next. And these vices may be the more obvious understanding of the song--her attraction to "dangerous" men.

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More detailed rambling:

I thought of the video in the broader context of the album--the inter-generational impact of tragedy (the death of her aunt, Joanne). I recall on Genius (the website), there was the interpretation that the way "John Wayne" is sung is actually a homophone for "Joanne". At first listen to the song, I heard this as well, perhaps because it is an easier rhyme with "man", the lyric in the previous verse.

Being "strung out" on "Joanne" provides basis for my perspective of the song and video.

The Million Reasons video serves a striking juxtaposition for the way Joanne--the album and the person--are presented to viewers. The pink hat and outfit with the white background give off an angelic vibe (to me at least), which is why I, and maybe some of you, jump to the conclude that it the depiction of Joanne herself. This also makes sense as the video is based on the idea that her family are the reason for pushing forward.

Cut into John Wayne, we see quite a different depiction--maybe not the clean, memorialized version we often lend to those no longer with us, but a more rambunctious, more human version. The car scene includes Lady Gaga in this outfit as well, which I took to be the more wild side of her aunt. I do not mean this as any disrespect to her aunt--we are all human, and we all have a "wild" side, regardless if the video is exaggerating it.

The upgrades of travel (from horse to motorcycle to car) felt like a progression into each generation. And the purported wildness and vices of the past continue to "crash" into the next. And these vices may be the more obvious understanding of the song--her attraction to "dangerous" men.

Another basis for this interpretation was something Lady Gaga said: the possibility that she may not even know who her real dad is because his character has been so affected by the death of his sister. In turn, she may be questioning if many of her own qualities are a product of the past. This provides the other possibility that her aunt wasn't wild at all, but her tragic death led Gaga's father into supposed self-destructive behavior (drinking), which influenced Gaga's own behavior and attraction to self-destructive men/relationships (i.e. "two lovers heading for a dead end").

[Lee 62]

I felt the video was more biographical of her time in the industry. With each mode of transport being a different era. The Horse (Fame), Motorbike (Born this way), Car (ARTPOP) as they seem to have similarities. Motorbike being in the born this way album cover and her outfit being dark like the album. Through the car scene she is seen to go off track with alcohol abuse, sex, drugs and killing things, to end up crashing, similar to the problems she faced going through ARTPOP. Then at the end for her to accidentally kill herself 'oops' shows how Joanne is a totally more stripped down direction different to what she use to be.

Also, I thought it was an interesting note that she always seemed to be driven by someone else and hurt by them (I know the song is about a line of tricky relationships but as a different interpretation) I thought this could be her manager or management team throwing stuff at her face. This is interesting when at the start of the car scene she is dressed in Joanne like clothes attempting to get the drivers (her managers) attention for him to then ignore her and pass her the alcohol that leads to her demise.