Editing Cher (section)

=== Music videos and performances ===
{{Further|Cher videography}}
[[File:Cher Dressed to Kill D2K (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Cher sits on a chandelier-like stage prop, wearing a black and nude vampire-themed outfit with a feathered headpiece. Bare-chested male dancers with fake horns pose around her.|Cher performing on the Dressed to Kill Tour in 2014]]

Cher's music videos and live performances have frequently reflected her public image, addressing themes such as [[Self-concept|self-construction]], [[Human female sexuality|female sexuality]] and the [[Perfectionism (psychology)|pursuit of perfection]].{{sfn|Tasker|2002|p=193}} Her concerts often include biographical montages and [[self-referential]] visuals. Author Diane Negra described them as multimedia retrospectives that merge different phases of her career into a cohesive stage narrative and frame performance as a form of autobiography.{{sfn|Negra|2001|p=175}} ''The New York Times'' observed that Cher's onstage appearances alongside projected images of her younger selves function to reaffirm and reclaim earlier identities,<ref name=Pareles2002/> while the ''Los Angeles Times'' described her shows as rooted in "her larger-than-life story [and] [[Personal mythology|mythology of self-reinvention]]".<ref name=powers2008>{{cite news |date=May 8, 2008 |title=Full of Vegas sparkle |first=Ann |last=Powers |author-link=Ann Powers |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-08-et-cher8-story.html |access-date=March 15, 2025 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625063437/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-08-et-cher8-story.html |archive-date=June 25, 2021}}</ref>

In her 1991 ''Cher... at the Mirage'' concert video, she subverted the typical staging of female pop performances by replacing female backup dancers with a [[Female impersonation|male dancer impersonating her]]. Dressed in a replica of her 1986 Academy Awards outfit, the impersonator initially appeared to be Cher. Cher then emerged in a different costume and began performing, while the impersonator interacted with oversized [[prop]]s symbolizing fame and media attention.{{sfn|Tasker|2002|p=193}} Negra interpreted this segment as Cher casting herself as the narrator of her own life story, using the impersonator to emphasize her status as a "[[Persona|fictionalized production]]" shaped by media and performance—a dynamic she described as offering audiences a "pleasurable plurality".{{sfn|Negra|2001|p=175}} Commenting on the scale of her shows, Tony Spilde of ''[[The Bismarck Tribune]]'' wrote that "[Cher's] lavish concerts have become bigger than the music they're meant to promote".<ref>{{cite news |first=Tony |last=Spilde |date=April 11, 2003 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |title=Waiting for Cher |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bismarck-tribune-waiting-for-cher/163895112/ |newspaper=[[The Bismarck Tribune]]}}</ref> James Sullivan of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' credited her with influencing the development of stadium-scale concerts, stating, "She's comfortable enough to see such imitation as flattery, not theft."<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=Sullivan |url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Cher-s-still-a-diva-to-believe-in-Farewell-Tour-2814925.php |title=Cher's still a diva to believe in / Farewell Tour takes Oakland crowd on glitzy, sentimental ride |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=August 5, 2002 |access-date=January 18, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131213145/http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Cher-s-still-a-diva-to-believe-in-Farewell-Tour-2814925.php |archive-date=January 31, 2016}}</ref>

Cher's 1980 video for "[[Hell on Wheels (song)|Hell on Wheels]]" employed cinematic techniques,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-1308990661/filming-the-hell-on-wheels-spot|date=March 1980|title=Filming the 'Hell on Wheels' Spot|first=Roger|last=Flint|magazine=[[American Cinematographer]]|access-date=January 18, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216044526/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-1308990661/filming-the-hell-on-wheels-spot|archive-date=February 16, 2016}}</ref> and film historian [[Lawrence J. Quirk]] described it as one of the earliest examples of a modern [[music video]].{{sfn|Quirk|1991|p=272}} The 1989 music video for "[[If I Could Turn Back Time]]" was the first to be banned by MTV,{{sfn|Tasker|2002|p=193}} due to controversy over Cher's performance aboard the battleship {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}}, where she straddled a cannon in a leather thong that revealed her tattooed buttocks,{{sfn|Semonche|2007|p=161}} accompanied by [[homoerotic]] imagery featuring [[sailor]]s.{{sfn|Horn|2017|p=198}}