Recently watching the documentary film, MissRepresentation, in zero period for the past couple days, I have become increasing aware of how media is rehashing and redistributing (what I thought to be an ancient idea but is actually still present today) the idea of objectifying the woman.
What this documentary brought to my attention was from magazine advertisements to movies and business success, the idea of the woman not being so much of a human but rather an ideal object to obtain is what is promoted. And it lies on the base of promoting the value of body image to women in order to become what society is so crazy about.
This advertisement for Dolce & Gabbana fragrance is a perfect example. Here, we have a male model holding a the woman, giving off an air of control and authority between the two of them. Looking at this part of the image, the reality assumption portrayed is that men carry authority and leadership in life. Focusing on the woman now, we see that she is the main attention drawer of the ad. Particularly because of her almost exposed body. Wearing a bikini, she emphasizes the idea that you need to have a good-looking body to find a good-looking guy. Therefore, the value of body image carried on.
Since this ad is originally promoting the fragrance, the technique of Glittering Generalities is used to show that with the fragrance, you can become this girl. The fragrance can also be a simple solution. Using it will make up for your body image or enhance it, will make you attractive, will make you desirable. With these techniques the needs for affiliation and attention are covered.
And though this ad is for Dolce & Gabbana fragrance, it is impossible to exclude these seemingly timeless values of visualizing the woman as an object instead of a person in control. Specifically in this ad, and I'm sure many other ads as well, the needs and techniques all revolve around this value of creating the ideal woman image according to media, and ultimately male standards. All these values of molding the woman to male ideals has ultimately become woman ideals as a result. And the reality of a subconscious sexist environment and way of thinking are not unusual sights but in fact are quite common if one were to look closer at the everyday forms of media in our lives.
I totally agree with you Megan! After seeing Miss Representations, I also began to realize that more women are been objectified. I agree with you that it uses simple solutions because even for other women products, they use the typical attractive woman. It's interesting because you wouldn't think that women would really appeal to them but they do because they want their bodies.
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