BLOG 6

Select an artifact you wish to analyze.  This could be a television show, a film, a toy, or any other tangible artifact.  Do Blog 6, a blog entry as a place to start.  First, make up a list of specific details you think are significant.  Then, beside each detail, write which facet of social identity (race, gender, class, sexuality) you think this detail is dealing with.  Finally free write about 500 pages about a few of these details.  Describe the details and explain their significance with respect to stereotypical notions of race, gender, sexuality or class.  Hopefully you can find a relevant youtube clip related to your artifact to include in the blog.

BLOG 5

The music video “Carry Out” by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake applies the gender stereotypes and the racial stereotype. The music video presents the gender stereotypes visually with the image and aurally with the lyrics. Also the video stars Timbaland who is a black man and Justin Timberlake who is a white man, and they wear different colors of outfit. Wearing different colors constructs racial stereotypes.

In the first part of the video, the women are dancing in front of a neon sign that says “Drive in”. Dancing in the dark place with only the neon sign light accentuates the women’s body postures because I cannot see the faces or clothes but the movement of women. The neon sign only highlights the women’s bodyline and gesture which lets the women to look more gorgeous than normal lights. The women dance to attract the guys and the guys are seduced by their dancing. Also they wear the tops which shows their According to the lyrics; “Baby, you are looking fire hot”, “I take you home baby let you keep me company”, Timbaland says that he is attracted to her. Since she is hot and attractive to him, he wants to take her home and stay with him. Also, by saying “I’ll have you open all night like an IHop”, Timbaland expresses that he is sexually attracted to that woman. Since IHop is the restaurant that opens 24hours, he means that he wants to have sex with her all night. Also the one of the women licks her finger and As written by Devor, femininity tends to attract man and masculinity tends to achieve dominance in  hierarchy. The women are feminine who attracts Timbaland with her dress, movement, and gesture to attract the men and the men are masculine who is attracted by femininity.

Secondly, the man expresses masculinity in 49 seconds in the music video. The lyrics says that “have it your way foreplay, before I feed you appetite.” This explains that the man tends to have a dominant power in their relationships, so he is giving her chance to do whatever she wants before he does what he wants. It shows one of the attributes of masculinity described by Devor. Devore writes that masculinity tends to show aggression to achieve power and also desires dominance. This line of the lyrics applies masculinity of the man in the video. Also the video represents femininity by the woman’s movement, facial expressions and dress. She wears a jumpsuit which only covers one third of her body so that the people can see her rest of uncovered body. She sits on the floor and dances to stand out her body. Her face also contributes to femininity because she opens her mouth slightly and opens her eyes only half way of her eye size which helps her to look sexier. Therefore, masculinity and femininity are reflected in both of the video and the lyrics.

Finally, the music video constructs a  racial stereotype by the clothes of the two singing men. Timbaland wears a black leather jacket and a black cap because he is a black man. Justin Timberlake wears a white jacket and a white cap because he is a white man. In the middle of the video, they both change to suit jackets but do not change the colors of the outfits. Timbaland wears a black color jacket again and Justin Timberlake wears a white color jacket again. The colors of their outfits present their races because they wear clothes that have colors of their races. By wearing different colors of clothes, Timbaland shows blackness and Justin Timberlake shows whiteness.

BLOG 4

            This Doritos commercial constructs the racial stereotype of African Americans in Omi’s reading and it also reflects Devor’s idea about masculinity.

            First of all, a big guy constructs the racial stereotype of blacks described in Omi’s reading. According to Omi, blacks are portrayed “as physically strong, but dim-witted.”(22) The big guy seems to be physically strong and big. He is tall and has big hands but he looks dim witted to get along with the little boy.  When he gives flower to the woman and enters the house, he tends to be a strong man. However, the little boy who is way shorter and smaller than him slaps him hard. This also looks dim-witted because he is hitted by a little boy even though he is described as a physically strong man.

            Secondly, the little boy shows the attributes of masculinity illustrated in Devor’s reading. When the boy slaps the big guy, aggression which is the one of the masculine attributes is expressed. As written in Devor’s reading masculinity tends to be aggressive and violent and also desires dominant power. In this commercial, the boy seems to be responsible for her mom because he is masculine. He is a dominance of hierarchy in his family. He also shows aggressive action and speech to achieve dominance in their relationship. This also reflects Devor’s idea of masculinity because Devor says that masculinity expresses aggression and masculine values occupy the hierarchical dominance.

BLOG 3

The Skyy Vodka ad uses the three social identities; class, sexual orientation, and gender.

First of all, the background that the picture is taken is in a high building in a city which indicates class. By the image of the night of city, the picture looks luxury and elegant. Also the name of product invokes class because sky symbolizes high class. Therefore, the ad applies class to advertise the product.

Secondly, the ad uses sexual orientation of women. The woman in the picture wears a black dress which does not cover half of her body. She puts her arm on the bench that the man is sitting on and slightly bent her leg to look sexier. She also faces the man to lure him. Her body gesture clearly shows the sexual orientation to attract the man.

Finally, the woman in the ad clearly shows femininity described in Devor reading. Devor asserts that each gender has its own characteristics; femininity uses dress, action, movement, and gesture to attract masculinity, and masculinity tend to be aggressive and violent to achieve dominant power. The woman in the picture wears black dress with high heels which enlarges femininity. Her body posture is obviously to lure the man in the chair. Even though we cannot see the man, the man’s had indicates that he wants to drink with the woman. Thus, this ad employs gender.

To conclude, the Skyy Vodka ad contains the three social identities. By the product’s name and the background of the ad, Skyy Vodka brings a high class. The woman’s gesture and face towards the man shows that the ad has sexual orientation. The woman also expresses femininity by her way of dress and movement.

Social messages in Ads

             Since the early 1990, people in the world imprint shocking and provocative pictures from billboards on hiway or magazines, not from television or photographers’ exhibitions. The picture of three hearts with letters ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘yellow’, the picture of black woman breastfeeding white baby, and etc. All of the pictures, there is a logo that says “United Colors of Benetton.” Benetton is one of Italian fashion brands. Usually, commercials of fashion brands focus on their design, luxury, trends, and beauty. However, unlike the other brands, the ads of Benetton contain social messages. To be suitable to their famous slogan, the advertisements of Benetton hire different colors and races of models. From tons of ads of Benetton, I chose one that reflects two aspects of social identity; race and gender.

             This is one I chose from the adverts of Benetton. There are two females and one baby in the picture; one is African lady and the other is European, and the baby is Asian. Benetton explains that the women are lesbian couple adopting an Asian baby. They all belong to different races and their skins are all different colors, but they are in same blanket. This picture shows that even though they have different skin colors and races, they are a family. It is not a common family we see in our neighbors; but Benetton is trying to say that we all are same people no matter which races we have. There are so many different people in the world but they all live on the earth. Asians are not different from Africans or Europeans because they are all humans with same hearts and bodies. To describe the unity of this family; the women are holding their baby with their hands together and are covering themselves with one blanket. This picture clearly illustrates united colors of a family.

             The picture also includes the social identity of gender. Since a long time ago, a couple of male and female is considered as a standard couple. In Devor reading, women and men have different roles; childbirth and maternity for women, supporting family and paternity for men. As men and women have different duties and powers, a combination of man and woman is a source to make a family. In the picture, the family has to females but not male. So it seems that they can make a couple but not a family. However, Benetton shatters perception of a family of a mother and a father. This advertisement asserts that there can be two moms for the kid. There are no gender roles in the family because the two mothers can separate and complete father’s duties. Benetton suggests that the social awareness of genders might be wrong by this commercial.

             We cannot say that they are not a family because they have different skin colors. And we cannot say that they are not a family because there are two women and no man. By this advertisement, Benetton tries to combine and unite races and change perception of gender roles.

 

BLOG 1

   This is the video from youtube to learn how to wear makeup like Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga knows how to make herself up and adorn herself to look confident and beautiful. She created and still creates her own beauty to become a star. Every time she brings new songs out, she comes with different styles and different make ups. As her styles and make ups become shocked to people, her songs also become famous and popular.

   People love stars and show their love by copying them or imitating them. Some people buy accessories, bags, or clothes that stars wear or have and some people wear makeup that looks like stars. By showing themselves like their favorite stars, people gain confidence and look more beautiful.

   This youtube video explains how to makeup like Lady Gaga when she came up with the song called “Bad Romance.” In the music video, Gaga wears makeup that exaggerates her big eyes and wears short curly blond wigs to match with her makeup. The makeup tutorial video explains details of Lady Gaga Bad Romance look. She wears blond wig that just looks like Gaga’s wig. She also wears multiple fake eyelashes and colored contact lenses to emphasize her eyes like Gaga. Of course there is computer graphic, not makeup, but still she imitates Gaga’s look on the Bad Romance music video.

  

   Makeup is one of the etiquettes to keep in public. And there are different styles of makeup depending on situations and places. Women have to wear appropriate makeup for different events such as weddings, birthday parties, clubs, and etc. For example, women wear beautiful makeup on weddings, but not too beautiful as bride because a bride is the main character for weddings.

   This video is a makeup tutorial for the clubs and parties. People take a lot of pictures so they want to wear makeup that makes them special and gorgeous. The club makeup posted on the video helps taking pretty pictures and makes women feel confident because they look beautiful. As shown in the video, she is more fabulous with makeup than without makeup. Since she is going to the club where she will take picture a lot, she takes picture herself during makeup. This step also helps finishing the makeup.

  

   The two videos teaches how to put on makeups and also gives tips about makeup. Also, we can see how beautiful she is after putting on makeup. She looks totally different in two videos. So women can change themselves depending on their mood by putting on different styles of makeup to look more gorgeous and to be confident.