These are the thoughts and musings of a group of critical media studies students from DePaul University. Some of us are new to the field but we are all scholars who critically consider the world around us, and are ready to contribute to the body of knowledge on how media interacts with and helps shape our cultural world.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Hypnotic
Women and their curves have all the guys going wild. For two days the topic of discussion has been the female’s physique. To elaborate, Monday I read Crossing Over the Latin Body, in my Media and Cinema studies class, a chapter that emphasis Jennifer Lopez body rather than her work. Today in my Intercultural Communication class, we discuss how the women, in the Disney films, body changed from conservative to exotic, as the female characters go from being White to people of color. Last but not least, while I was visiting my Grandparents I saw a commercial for “Elephant Insurance.” In this commercial all I can remember is a woman in her bra and panties, trying to cover up as much as she could with one hand, while talking about being stuck in a storm because of car troubles in the other hand. I believe the wind caused her to lose her clothes. Anyways, after watching this commercial I tried to figure out the purpose of making her partially dressed. Then it came to me, males… males are their targeted audience not females. Guys go into a trance, as if they being hypnotize, when a partially naked women is on display. After being submerged into a two day marathon of women bodies, all I want to know is why and how, did we successful come to a point where she is NOT a she, but body parts, to be manipulated and used?
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Veronica G.
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Great points. All those things are really related and I am pretty amazed that that is a real commercial for INSURANCE. It is really a feat of the imagination to create a link between a barely clothed woman and Insurance so bravo to the ingenious advertising team of Elephant Insurance!
ReplyDeleteI think it is worth mentioning though, that the objectification of women by individual men (as in: consumers/ men who think these commercials are hot) is a learned skill. This is one way that patriarchy also hurts men: it dehumanizes women making it difficult for men to relate and see them as more than meat. Also, the image of men as objectifiers, sex-crazed, beings is a construction of Patriarchy. It's just another box made by Patriarchy, this time men have to shape themselves to fit into it.