In Well’s response
“Gender, Fashion, and the Gaze” she reveals how advertising has exploited
racist and sexist ideologies, especially that of women. Now, we see this every
day in our society such that we have become numb to it; immune to the
objectification of woman and their likeness that it seems to be expected.
Society has seen these gender roles since the beginning of time, and
advertising has only further developed this representation of women being
passive and a mere sexual object. Well’s mentions how even the photography of
hands reveal how women’s hands are shown as “decorative and caressing” while
men’s hands are pictured as “active and controlling”(Wells 233). Wells also
discusses the commodification of the body and its packaging and fragmentation
in commercial photography. Both men and women are picked apart, piece by piece
to find which one suits the adveritisement’s needs the most. The several
photographs shown in this part of Well’s book reveal women’s bodies chopped up
into pieces like Pretty Polly ‘Lovely Legs’ cosmetics advertisement, 2008.
There is no care or interests shown towards the woman’s identity or even her
face. All she is in this photo is a pair of nice legs. And that’s what society
sees women as. A nice set of legs. A pretty smile. Big eyes. Smooth Lips. Women
have been taught to embrace this. To smile and say ‘thank you’ when we are
generalized to these extents. It is supposed to make us feel good, feel
fulfilled. Digital manipulation and technology has only made these ideals of
“beauty” even farther from reality. Nolita,
No Anorexia, with Isabelle Caro, 2007 exemplifies the outcomes of society
trying to conform to these impossible standards. Isabelle’s emaciated body
gleams next to the fuchsia Nolita
logo and poses as a symbol of a disease plaguing the fashion industry. It is
rare that a magazine such as this would shed light on such an issue when some
of it is a repercussion of their own advertising.
2 comments:
Janice Winship's observation about the contrasting treatment of men's and women's hands in advertisements stuck with me. I recently looked through some Life magazines from the 1940s in a used bookstore and found, to my surprise, hands! Dainty lady hands, painted and on display. And working man hands, building or active in some way. One image of inert lady hands advertised lotion--the caption read something along the lines of "keep your hands pretty!" Certainly masks all the hard skilled labor those lady hands were up to during the war! I also noticed that the images of men's hands were usually attached to bodies, while women's hands were disembodied. I'd like to pay attention to this trend in contemporary advertisements and see if anything has changed!
Winship's examination of hands as portrayed by the media was interesting, and inevitably reminded me of Zoolander. The reality is that advertisements have been pushing gender and gender stereotypes for ages, how many commercials nowadays say "Be a Man, Use X". It's all part of their plan to keep the two genders different therefore justifying any inequalities. Advertisements can and will influence nearly every aspect of your behavior, and this examination echoed this fact; we see masculine photos of men in advertisements and very feminine photos of women.
-Matt
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