Feminism and Vogue Cover Essay Example for Free

Feminism and Vogue Cover Essay 1. Theories * Concept of gender * Before 1970s: No concept of Gender * 1970s: Concept of Gender over determinism * 1990s: Diversity of Sex * Sexual desire is not natural instinct but product of society language (for example the re-production, instinct,..) * The society code of desire * â€Å"Feminist argue that media images of women are always directed at men and that women are encouraged to look at themselves and the other women the way men do† (Betty Friedan, 1963) * â€Å"Masculine Standards† are forced on women and used to evaluate women. * The nature and extent of hegemonic towards clothing and fashion * The magazine’s conceptions of women’s roles as expressed in its fashion photography fit a model of conflicted hegemony characteristic of American media and popular culture. * Fashion photographs generate enormous dissatisfaction among women because they create unrealistic expectation that most women are unable to break. * Fashion is a form of hegemonic oppression  an obligation weigh heavily on female 2. Analysis: Cultural Context * Cultural context Hegemonic and the power of fashion and clothing are expressed by choosing an influencing top singer Rihanna – the World’s sexiest woman according to Esquire magazine (2011) * Affect strongly to readers/buyers. It influents readers to follow the trend. * Overview Beautiful model Super make-up Beautiful/trendy dress Tone red-hot Simple color: focusing on the model * Detailed view: Posture: leaning away posture of the body, only show the face straight (intentionally turning her body inside) - raise the curiosity, create  the attractiveness, and hide away the imperfect part of her body. Make-up: extra make up especially focus on the lips (notice that Rihanna has beautiful full lips) (focus on the beautiful point of the model to gain attraction), also create the red hot ton-sur-ton with the dress. Clothes: tight to the body, show all the body line Show a lot of naked parts of the body, especially the sexy parts of a woman’s body (half of her breast and legs are showed) Action: pulling up her dress a little bit - sexually attractiveness is showed. (This could be understood that because the masculine standard is forced on women, therefore women found this is attractive. Only men want to see sexual poses and women are target, women are the physical attributor of sexuality) Masculine standard: short hair, strong facial expression, tattoo on the shoulder. Wild background (outside) Color: simple colors. Simple colors show mature. Only focus on red and the background’s color which is, somehow in the same tone color with the eyes - emphasize the focus to Rihanna’s eyes Stereotype: There are 2 stereotype facial expressions of the model on magazine cover 1. Exaggerated manner of smiling 2. Vacant gaze, directed at an unseen object. * These stereotypes of facial expression represent the subject is passive, alienated and not in control of the situation. * Because in this magazine cover, the facial expression is the 2nd type so they make the focus on the eyes. *Moreover, the lips of the model are a little bit open which shows sexual desire and insecure feeling. Headlines: The headline is the biggest and on top because it caused attention and Vogue is considered to be the most famous magazine about fashion - women get attracted by the name and will want to buy. Tittles: in white and only the main focus to attract women are in large font. What attract women? See the largest title under Rihanna’s name: I love to have fun. When this tittle is located in the sexy hot picture, ‘have fun’ sounds sexually. And that’s why it attracts women. * Women also want to have fun in ‘sex’ because it is always considered that man is the subject and woman is the object in sex so women  want to find joy of the other way around OR it can also be understood that women have the masculine standard force on them so they want to see what man want to see. Survey: What is the first thing that drags your attention when you look at the cover of this magazine (Vogue cover November 2012) * Although it is a woman magazine but focus on what man want, not what woman want. How magazine affects: The thinking that girls with big breast and small belly and long legs and full lips,†¦.are the beautiful girls comes from the media, actually the magazine’s concept. Beauty concept or sexual desire as well are all because if the society Sadism Cover Girls * What is Sadism? How is it represented in society? Sadism refers to the pleasures received by infliction of pain and suffering on another person for reasons of sexuality. Sadists paly a dominant role and get contentment by observing the masochist suffer. This caused by arousing incidents of sexual satisfaction and is represented through forms of sexual role play. Such examples including master and slave or teacher and student relationships * How Vogue creates a sadistic impression on its readers? Components that determine sadism. 1. Title â€Å"I love to have fun† sexually explicit headline. 2. Cover story is based on Rihanna, a sex symbol   3. The theme â€Å"Red Hot† sounds more sexually explicit in tone 4. Rihanna`s dress is revealing, pulling her dress up and strapless top 5. Rihanna`s pose is very sexual, her face shows emptiness and desire on her face * In the covers impress the sadistic pressure of people? 1. No need of help in mastering love moves that women can resist Since, the cover represents a girl that is beyond reach in real life, it completes the fantasy. This would help the men create confidence in them and be aroused into mastering love moves. 2. It doesnt create an intention but to help a man feel less guilty. It is fantasy and does not exist in real life. This helps men feel less guilty about their sexual fantasies 3. Women take satisfaction, parading all manner of fineries (clothes, furniture, travel destinations) that a successful woman might buy, or at least admire. While it surely exists to sell ads, t does remarkably well in exploiting ambition, and creating insecurity.