Judas is a song off the new Lady Gaga album: Born This Way. Lyrics to the entire song can be found on Lady Gaga's website Ladygaga.com.
The whole reason I decided to make a Judas video was because it paralleled how I felt about my life. I have been feeling uninspired, unhappy, lethargic, bored, and uncomfortable with just about everything that surrounds me. So I prayed for inspiration... and a few days after I was listening to the lyrics of this song at the gym when I realized it's about betraying yourself. By saying "I'm in love with Judas" you are surrendering to all the negative thoughts that exist within you. You are giving them power and you are letting your ego control your life and the decisions you make. And it was like a huge light bulb!!! That's exactly what I was doing... giving all my negative thoughts and my rather large ego empowerment. Doing this will never serve any one. So I decided to make a change and film a video about this.
The video begins with red lettering (the color of martyrs) which reads "We Betray Ourselves." Because at some point all of us will give into the negative thoughts we have about ourselves. In other words we all make mistakes and no one is capable of perfection. When we let the negative thoughts control us... part of our spirit dies. The God that exists inside each and every one of us dies. Therefore the first image seen is the most powerful iconographic image in Western civilization: The Crucifixion.
Two characters are portrayed in my video: The Christ Character who represents love of self, freedom, and expansion and the Judas character who represents false pride, restriction, and settling. For those of you who do not know Biblical history... Judas is said to have betrayed Jesus when he gave up Jesus' whereabouts to Roman soldiers. He did this because he was afraid for his life probably. And F.Y.I.: Your ego will fight for IT's life. Take note that both characters are portrayed by the same person (me). This is because both characters are the same person. There are always two sides to everything and every one. It's the design of the universe. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
One of the best aspects and most successful visually in the video (for me) is the use of the cape. As anyone knows... the cape is one of the "true" signs of a hero... But I have Judas in a cape... because sometimes our ego tricks us into believing we are something we are not. The second shot in the video is of the cape expanding (there was a fan underneath me). So with the first two images I'm saying that when you surrender to the negative, part of you dies and your ego becomes empowered.
In art, Jesus is most often depicted with a halo around his head which symbolizes his divinity. Therefore the first FRONTAL shot is of the halo leaving Judas' head because here comes the broken record: when we empower the ego we relinquish our divinity- our worth- our potential.
And then the BATTLE ensues. Good vs. evil. You'll notice that all of my dance moves are very combative and punchy. This further pushes the idea of fighting... and luckily it's the only dancing I'm really okay at given my martial arts background. My friend Reggie jokes that I have a signature more: the Fist Pump! Also the struggle to keep the cape on and floating about in a magical way represents the struggle of the ego to stay strong.
All backgrounds that I have used are crosses in one form or another... symbolizing all the crosses that we will bear in life... all the obstacles that we will face. There are shots with chains involved... obviously chains can be responsible for holding us down.
Towards the end of the video there is a focus on my faith tattoo. Immediately after is a profile shot of the Christ character rising up off the ground and reaching towards the light... to reach for control.
In the end, it is up to us to decide our own fate in life. "Do I remain a victim?" or "Am I worthy of greatness?" The video ends with the Christ character OFF the cross, alive, and breathing DEEPLY.
"I am Frank Boccia and I am worthy of greatness."
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