visual culture: March 2016

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Bibliography/Reference`s

HOFSTEDE, G., 1980. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values. London: Sage Publications.

Bongiorno R, Bain PG, Haslam N (2013) When Sex Doesn't Sell: Using Sexualized Images of Women Reduces Support for Ethical Campaigns. PLoS ONE 8(12): e83311.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083311

VCU Scholars Compass (2014) PETA’s Objectification of Women. Available from: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=uresposters [Accessed 15th March 2016].

The Telegraph (2016) Gender pay gap widens with women earning an average of £5,000 less, reports ONS. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-business/10513636/Gender-pay-gap-widens-with-women-earning-an-average-of-5000-less-reports-ONS.html [Accessed 15th March 2016].

Business News Daily (2012) Why Sex Sells…More Than Ever. Available from: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2649-sex-sells-more.html [Accessed 15^th March 2016].

Mail Online (2011) Sex DOES sell... and here's why: Attractive men and women in adverts affect our capacity for rational thought. Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2040218/Sex-DOES-sell-Attractive-men-women-ads-affect-capacity-rational-thought.html. [Accessed 15^th March 2016]

Answers (2010) How much is the Mona Lisa worth? Available from: http://www.answers.com/Q/How_much_is_the_Mona_Lisa_worth. [Accessed 15^th March 2016]

Business Insider (2012) 18 Ads That Changed How We Think About Women. Available from: http://www.businessinsider.com/18-ads-that-changed-the-way-we-think-about-women-2012-10?op=1&IR=T. [Accessed 15^th March 2016]

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.

Some claim the subject’s lack of eyebrows is representative of high-class fashion of the time. Others insist her lack of eyebrows are proof that Mona Lisa is an unfinished masterpiece. But in 2007 ultra-detailed digital scans of the painting revealed da Vinci had painted on eyebrows and bolder eyelashes. Both had simply faded over time or had fallen victim to years of restoration work

. In a society where a masterpiece can be called ‘unfinished’ due to an uncharacteristic appearance of this era. I am going to explore how an industry uses and abuses women’s appearances to sell products. Who better than to represent a women dominated industry that generates an income based purely on body image than the most expensive woman in the world with the complete opposite image of what is seen as attractive in this current culture. From Vogue scare stories of young women eating tissue in order to maintain a body image, I am asking whether Da Vinci had been right all along and does the fashion industry have a corporate social responsibility in order to protect these young women.

The fashion industry often promotes rape culture. There have been many examples of fashion ads showing women in compromising positions, most shockingly the 2013 advertising campaign of Lebanese designer Johnny Farah promoting his line of hand bags, which he did by showing a woman wearing a bag over her head while a man stood behind her, pulling on a belt wrapped around her neck. By stripping back, the industry I will be looking at what era woman became sexual objects to be obtained in order to sell a product. I have noticed three trends associated with this industry. It’s now common to see more parts of the body exposed. There is more emphasis on the size of women’s breasts. And easy access to all these images has made it all more acceptable to society. However different time periods had different cultural views about how they view women.

How adverting has changed

The roles of females predominantly been domesticated in popular culture, especially in advertisements. Many advertisements contain women in roles such as cooks, maids, babysitters, as well as sex objects in order to sell product. When advertising began, advertisements were once shown to sell a product, however, as years pass, advertisements begin to objectify women and begin to use women as a way to sell products

Reichert said this upward trend in erotic ads is a reflection of society. "It takes more explicitness to grab our attention and arouse us than before," he said. "In the early 1900s, exposed arms and ankles of female models generated the same level of arousal as partially nude models do today. We can see during our lifetimes the changes in sexually explicit content on television, movies, books and other forms of media beyond just advertising."(BusinessNewsDaily 2012).

The shift of sexualisation has happened very swiftly within the industry. Going from this tame although subjective advert in 1893 for Gold Dust washing powder. Where the woman, although covered up is portrayed as a domesticated creature. It’s not until a century later in the 1990s where we begin to see the emergence of extreme sexualisation of women advertising products anywhere from Camera, like in the picture to continuation of a domesticated line.

Why my cultural text – Mona Lisa

The cultural text that I have chosen in the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa to me represents woman hood of the 16^th century and how much it has changed from this time to the present. Long before the sexualisation of advertisements however the underling idea that the spectator is still of ‘man’, showing that the most desired and expensive woman of our time is not an object of lust but of rarity. This began the process of thinking that the reason that sexualised imagery is used is due to how accessible everything has become due to the online boom. The ideology behind John Berger’s argument has not changed throughout time that the assumed spectator would be a male and modern times have used this over and over again. Society is now in a position where these images are only going to get younger and more reviling as boundaries become pushed and the norm. However, to answer this I will have to look at periods of time that advertisements have changed.

I have also chosen this as my cultural text as it is the essence of culture. The most famous woman, painting and embodiment of culture. When I think of culture it conjures images of the Mona Lisa. Valued at approximately $700,000,000 in 2009 with the primitive ideology John Berger explained being rife at that period of time and how nothing of such nature has ever come close.

Why are women sexualised in advertising?

Society makes no secrets that the use of sexualisation of women in advertising makes for a good advert, and this is proven time and time again. Especially in the fashion industry. In recent years’ sexualisation of women has been used anywhere from clothing to fast food to promote their products. The level of sexually explicit content varies drastically on who is being targeted by these adverts. Products designed for young adults aged 18-25 have the highest level of sexually explicit content. These commercials not only use sex to sell their products, but often women are being objectified and taken advantage of in advertisements by being presented as this “ideal” figure disillusioning young women from reality. This disillusion has led to a number of scare stories throughout the media of young women trying to achieve these body imaged.

It’s obvious that sex sells, but the question that lingers is why sex sells and what audience sex appeal mainly targets. Sexually explicit content is present for both genders; however, it is especially worse for females in advertising. Advertisers hope to capture the attention of potential buyers by showing a half-naked woman in a seductive post. In 2015, Kelly Brook became the face of Sketchers trainers. Showing that sex appeal can be added to anything. Within this advert she flirts with topless male models whilst being sat on a bed. Advertisers hope by featuring a sex icon like Kelly Brook who embodies the beauty and sex-appeal many people desire, that it will draw customers in and increase sales. Advertisers intentionally try to appeal to the male audience reinforcing John Berger’s arguments that ‘man’ is the true spectator.

Putting a model seductively on the cover of a magazine or wearing a piece of clothing on sale has long been a ploy beloved of advertisers. The science behind how this works is very fascinating. scientists have discovered exactly why sex sells products. Seeing an attractive woman in an advert excites the areas of the brain that make us buy on impulse, bypassing the sections which control rational thought. (Daily Mail 2011) The idea behind why women are constantly subjected to this, is purely based on the idea that ‘man’ is the ideal spectator and thus will sell more products this way.

PETA’s Objectification of Women

In support of my argument I came across this article written by Abir Malik (2014) that reinforces my argument around the treatment of women in western societies in industry has the desired purpose and belief that ‘man’ has the power to make a real change. As pointed out in the article 60-80% of Peta’s active members are women however this still does not reflect in its target market in its advertising. The purpose of these adverts is to not only shock its audience, which is what Peta is known for but to use it to gain sponsorship and money from people viewing this advert. In a society where the average male counterparts earn 15.7% (Daily Telegraph 2013) more than a female these adverts are directed towards these individuals. People who are ideal candidates for targeting towards are middle class families with two incomes and research shows that in this demographic the male of the family is far more likely to be earning more. Furthermore, this ideology is so embedded into western societies, organisations such as Peta are willing to contradict their own ethical approaches in order to gain responses from its audience.

Even more damaging to the message these advertisements are having is that this organisation is set up for the prevention of cruelty to animals. These advertisements such as the one above portray women as equal to or lesser than animals. Where these adverts have a positive or negative effect on the campaign Peta use of shock advertisement is purely designed to draw attention to the organisation. Society has bread such a culture where these adverts are acceptable and with this idea that ‘man’ is the spectator women will be subjected to this kind of treatment until change is forced to happen, like laws in France. Research has also shown that these kinds of imagery are more negative than positive for such organisations. Bongiorno’s research concluded that men found the sexual advertisements to be arousing but that did not relate to the support for the cause. This proved their hypothesis that using sexualized advertisements for ethical cause would actually decrease the intention of supporting the cause (Bongiorno, 2013)

What is a cultural text?

Firstly, by breaking down these two words we can attempt to produce a definition that encompasses both words. The definition of culture is vast and just like art varies from country to country. Culture governs a person’s actions based upon their values, attitude and ideas. Culture cannot be owned by one single person nor can be given as a gift. It is not something that people are born with, however being born gives you the right to be part of it. An entity that shapes working relations, from the coal mining communities of Wales to the bustling city of London. A hive of activity with the purpose of enriching communities and the people within them. Hofstede (1980, pp. 21-23) defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”.

The suffix to this phase is the word ‘text’ and I feel that this is a more straightforward word to describe. A text is a written body of work that forms the basis or core of a book or other printed material. The Oxford Dictionary (2015) defines it as: “A book or other written or printed work, regarded in terms of its content rather than its physical form.” This made me question can a text be a painting? Overall I determined that a ‘text’ alone can’t be a painting, however a cultural text can be. If a person’s values are taken into consideration when defining culture, then a cultural text should reflect this. When one thinks of culture around of the world, artwork is prominent in this thought. A cultural text sends a cultural message that goes beyond what we can see initially. This is why I have chosen a painting as my cultural text.

Mona Lisa

Facts

Title: Mona Lisa
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Year: 1503 – 1506

The Mona Lisa is quite possibly the most well-known piece of painted artwork in the entire world. It was painted by the Leonardo Da Vinci between 1504 and 1519, and is a half body commission for a woman named Lisa Gherardini. Her husband, Francesco Del Giocondo requested the work by Da Vinci just after the turn of the century. It is perhaps the most studied piece of artwork ever known. The subject’s facial expression has brought about a source of debate for centuries, as her face remains largely enigmatic in the portrait. Originally commissioned in Italy, it is now at home in France, and hangs on display in the Louvre in Paris.

Background

The work was requested by her husband, Francesco Del Giocondo. Lisa was from a well-known family known from Tuscany and Florence and married to Francesco Del Giocondo who was a very wealthy silk merchant. The work was to celebrate their home’s completion, as well as a celebration of the birth of their second son. Not until 2005 was the identity of Mona Lisa‘s subject fully understood, though years of speculation have suggested the true identity of the painting’s subject.

Leonardo Da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is famous for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons, of course, for the popularity of the painting is the artist himself. Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most recognized artist in the world. Not only was Da Vinci an artist, but he was also a scientist, inventor, and a doctor. His study of the human form came from the study of actual human corpses.
Because of his ability to study from the actual form of the human, he was able to draw and paint it more accurately than any other artist of his time. While the Mona Lisa may be revered as the greatest piece of artwork of all time, Da Vinci was known more for his ability to draw than to paint. Currently there are only a handful of paintings of Da Vinci’s, mostly because of his largely experimental style of art, and his habit of procrastination. Among his most famous sketches is the Vitruvian Man, which anybody who has ever studied anatomy, human biology, or art knows very well.

Theft & Vandalism

The Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre in France in 1911. Pablo Picasso was on the original list of suspects questioned and jailed for the theft, but he was later exonerated. For two years, the masterpiece was thought to be forever lost. However, in 1913, Italian patriot Vincenzo Perugia was arrested for the crime of stealing the famous painting, and the original artwork returned to its home at the Louvre in Paris. Perugia was an employee of the Louvre at the time, and he believed the painting belonged to Italy. For two years he kept the famous piece of art housed in his apartment, but was discovered when he tried selling to a gallery in Florence, Italy.

Over the centuries, the famous painting has withstood attempts at vandalism as well. The first occurrence of vandalism was in 1956 when somebody threw acid at the bottom half, severely damaging the timeless masterpiece. That same year, another vandal threw a rock at the work, removing a chip of paint from near her elbow. It was later painted over. Afterwards, the piece was put under bulletproof glass as a means of protection has kept the painting from further attempts at vandalism and destruction.

Monday, 7 March 2016

Status of women

Status of Women

The text Ways of Seeing (J. Berger 1972) by John Berger explains in great depth about how women have been portrayed in art and who the true spectator is. Where a women’s lover is included in the image more often than not the women is facing outwards, towards the true spectator. In fact, almost all of post renaissance European artwork is frontal, showing a clear divide of the western world and its ideas of how women are looked upon and the rest of the world.

African, Indian and pre-Columbian art predominantly sexual imagery has a completely different take. Women fully embrace their lovers, almost seen as equal by the opposite sex in these cultural texts. Each member of the image both being active participants entwined within each other, showing the focus of different cultures shifts from being ‘man’ the external spectator. This may possibly explain why there are less well known African, Indian and pre-Columbian artists in Europe as it almost feels uncomfortable to look at, looking in on a personal moment rather than being invited to by the simple gesture of looking out of the image in European culture.

In a society where women are subjected to earning less and having less power in industry than most men, women are portrayed as a weaker sex. The image that is given to young women is that they lack influence and in order to gain this they must jockey on the back of other men rather than their own. This is where John Berger starts to influence my work as he noted, “Men ‘act’ and women ‘appear’.” Western art is littered with this idea that women are the subject with men acting as the viewer. This is also reinforced time and time again in advertising. Women are used anywhere from hair products to chainsaws. With such a strong cultural tradition that sees women portrayed with the idea that the ideal spectator is man. It is has become a custom that female adverts to be emphasised on to certain body parts such as breasts or legs.

From this text I had identified some key words that sum up the authors view and make strong connections with my research. These words are Vanity, Sexual, Spectator, Man and Superficial. Men and Women are not equal, John Berger elegantly puts it as “Men act and women appear.” This reinforces the argument that the imagery of women has one purpose and that is the be admired by men. This ideology still permeates throughout modern culture and media practises. The introduction of a mirror into the image shows a women’s vanity but as time has changed, one could argue that this idea has just changed objects. From a mirror to a camera.

I am asking the question that: in Western culture does society subject women to extreme conditions, both physically and morally, in order to develop an industry around using the imagery of women with the idea of the presumed spectator is ‘man’?

With my focus being on an industry being built upon the subjection of women, who better than the most expensive women in the world to be the subject of my cultural text. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Contents Page

Content Page

1. Ways of Seeing

2. "Cultural text"

3. Mona Lisa

4.PETA’s Objectification of Women

5. Why are women sexualised in advertising?

6. Why my Cultural text-Mona Lisa

7. How Advertising has changed.

8. Poster

9. Bibliography/Reference`s