The first thing my eyes are drawn to when I see this photo is the woman model placed right in the center. Even being female myself and completely heterosexual, she's obviously very sexy. The way she is positioned: her arched back, elongated limbs, blown back hair, lack of clothing, and simply a very nice body overall enhance this sexiness and sell that swimsuit. Being so desirable is the first way this woman is given power by the ad; her sex appeal gives her control over all that she attracts.Additionally, the woman of main focus is white while the men supporting her are very dark. Not only does this racial difference portray the woman as being more powerful, but it also weakens the dark skinned men. They all have very athletic bodies and only one of them would be needed to support the thin model. By having four, all dark, all extremely muscular men support her, they in turn, very ironically, look weak. She is looked at as being so divine, so much better than them, that four of them are needed. Also the fact that she is a woman is very contradictory to the typical female "essence" of wanting to cook, raise children and be supported by the man of the house, when instead, the woman has all of the control and the men are submitting to her.
Another point is the fact that two of the men's faces are completely hidden and the the other two are in part shadow while the white female's face is illuminated by light completely. This makes the woman the memorable individual whereas the men seem unimportant, being so indistinguishable, and they then could be easily interchangeable or replaced. The woman is also wearing an article of clothing (as minimal as it is) while the men have no clothing at all. This creates the idea of them as animals or being ignorant of their nudity while the woman is covered where she needs to be.
Because the white woman having power over the dark men is the whole point of the ad, this is then a huge political statement. The woman's white body is no longer seen as "neutral" or simply part of her biological individualism; she is labeled as a superior white person in contrast to the black men supporting her. The black men also fall into both stereotypes America has given them; both very athletic and also the ones at the bottom of the food chain. (I apologize for the bluntness of that statement.)
In conclusion, an ad that started out as a stunning woman being shown off in a glamorous light wearing an expensive swimsuit becomes a political representation of 1) white people being superior to dark skinned people and 2) women no longer thought of as just a wife, mother or homemaker, but powerful individuals who are allowed to express their sexuality openly and can also bring home the bacon without a man.
This is a very interesting advertisement. It does a very good job when we talk about raced bodies and gendered bodies. At first I didn’t even notice that the guys weren’t wearing any clothing. All I was looking at was the sexy looking woman in the middle of the picture. I also noticed the differences between the woman’s body and all of the men’s bodies. She is very thin and toned while the men are very muscular and big. She is also placed in this picture where it looks as though they wouldn’t even be able to feature another woman even though they have four men in the picture. This shows the power that she has over the men. That she is the main person in the photograph and the men are only in the background.
ReplyDeleteI love your reading on this. Your points are very clear and work very well with what you chose as your image. Was this image advertising the swimsuit? Because it seems as though they are simply advertising this womans' body. Very cool reading and image.
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