There are so many other things I could write about, but have run out of time... so I decided to recognize these pop culture icons by giving out Raunchy awards. I'm sure I would make Ariel Levy proud! :)
The nominees for Raunchiest Christmas Song are:
Merry Christmas Baby by Christina Aguilera
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt
And the Raunchy goes to.....
The nominees for Raunchiest TV Show are:
The Bad Girls Club
The Girls Next Door
The Bachelor
(Notice how they are all reality TV...hmmm
And the Raunchy goes to.....
The nominees for Raunchiest Movie are:
Wild Things
The Girl Next Door
Austin Powers (any of the three)
And the Raunchy goes to.....
The nominees for Raunchiest Song are:
Don't Cha by The Pussycat Dolls
I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry
I'm a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears
And the Raunchy goes to.....
I feel like this one needs some explanation. It's actually more mild than the other two, but I really feel like it is the epitome of raunch culture. Girls hear it at parties, and feel the need to put on a show, just like Ariel Levy states so many times.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Raunch Culture and Vegas
In her conclusion to Female Chauvinist Pigs, Ariel Levy states:
"We have to ask ourselves why we are so focused on silent girly-girls in G-strings faking lust" (Levy 198).
I have to admit I have fallen into this trap before. My husband and I went to Las Vegas this summer and decided we would be all risque and go to one of the typical Vegas shows. Obviously, my husband was pretty excited for it. He even researched which one we should go to. We ended up going to a show called Fantasy at the Luxor. One of the guidebooks voted it the best show for couples...which made me wonder how much more male-centered the other shows could even be, because this one seemed to be pretty much geared toward men.
Anyways, back to my story. Even though my husband was more excited for it, I can't say I was dreading it. I figured it would be a fun Vegas thing to do. Little did I know...
We paid about $100 for our two tickets. Both of us left the show knowing it had not been worth the money. I couldn't quite put it into words that really explained how I felt about it until I read Levy's book, and specifically the sentence I quoted at the beginning of this post. I knew it wasn't as sexy as I thought it would be, but I couldn't explain why. Now I know it is because even though the "dancers" were extremely good looking, it was fake lust. It is all just so fake. Of course, I don't know why either one of us expected any different. The older I get, Vegas seems to be the city of "fake"- fake wealth, fake history (the Luxor and the Paris buildings to be exact), fake glam, etc.
"We have to ask ourselves why we are so focused on silent girly-girls in G-strings faking lust" (Levy 198).
I have to admit I have fallen into this trap before. My husband and I went to Las Vegas this summer and decided we would be all risque and go to one of the typical Vegas shows. Obviously, my husband was pretty excited for it. He even researched which one we should go to. We ended up going to a show called Fantasy at the Luxor. One of the guidebooks voted it the best show for couples...which made me wonder how much more male-centered the other shows could even be, because this one seemed to be pretty much geared toward men.
Anyways, back to my story. Even though my husband was more excited for it, I can't say I was dreading it. I figured it would be a fun Vegas thing to do. Little did I know...
We paid about $100 for our two tickets. Both of us left the show knowing it had not been worth the money. I couldn't quite put it into words that really explained how I felt about it until I read Levy's book, and specifically the sentence I quoted at the beginning of this post. I knew it wasn't as sexy as I thought it would be, but I couldn't explain why. Now I know it is because even though the "dancers" were extremely good looking, it was fake lust. It is all just so fake. Of course, I don't know why either one of us expected any different. The older I get, Vegas seems to be the city of "fake"- fake wealth, fake history (the Luxor and the Paris buildings to be exact), fake glam, etc.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sex Sells
This ad is offensive in so many ways. It's been known as the Dolce and Gabbana "gang rape" ad, and eventually got pulled from print when the National Organization for Women protested against it.
The designers never admitted any fault: The designers maintained even as they pulled the ad from print that they "do not feel [they've] ever gone too far." On this ad, Stefano Gabbana said, "it does not represent rape or violence, but if one had to give an interpretation of the picture, it could recall an erotic dream, a sexual game."
This obviously represents violence. She is being held down even as she is attempting to escape. The gaze we spoke about in class is definitely in play here. He is looking at her, and therefore has the power, as she is looking elsewhere.
To me, advertising seems to be an area where feminism loses ground. Of course, this is partially because of the old adage "Sex sells," but there are so many ads that show women in a degrading way. I took a Gender Studies class where we all had to bring an ad in over the course of the semester. I think that in addition to sex selling, this is also one of the causes of raunch culture. Because so many women believe that feminism has achieved its goals and we are now equal, they fail to see the things that oppose their ideas.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Empowerment or Raunch Culture?
Jennifer Aniston is featured in the current issue of GQ and when I saw it, I immediately thought of raunch culture. Truthfully, it made me a little sad, because I used to love to TV show Friends. I just couldn't deny it though. Some of the pictures and some of her quotes seem to be the epitome of what Ariel Levy is talking about when she describes raunch culture. In bold are sections from the article that related to our discussions in class.
That body—well, as you can see, it defies both time and nature. I ask Jen how she felt about this cover shoot. “There is a moment when you walk in and see the wardrobe—it’s basically a tie—and you think, Where’s the underwear?” she replies with a laugh. “But it felt really good to be that comfortable with myself—and to lie on men as furniture.”
You know, it's great that she feels comfortable enough to be so open. And I can fully admit that she looks amazing! However, it's interesting that she is wearing men's clothes in all of the pictures. If you click on the link to GQ, the other pictures include her just wearing a men's dress shirt, or just men's dress pants. I know the magazine came up with the wardrobe, but it's interesting that she seems all for it because she feels it is empowering.
As we finish lunch, she talks about the project she seems most excited about: a movie she’s developing called Pumas, in which she hopes to star with Elizabeth Banks.
“It’s sort of a female Wedding Crashers,” she says. “It’s these two girls who are aspiring cougars. It is so a comment on the sexual double standard—and what’s been ironic is how hard it’s been to get this movie made. Studios want it, but they’re afraid of Middle America. They’d want to change it; they’re saying, Oh, you can’t do that, people just can’t imagine you…” She’s alluding here to Hollywood’s formula for romantic comedies and her default character within them—offbeat, likable, and unlucky in love. As she talks about Pumas, you get the sense that she’s feeling a little hemmed in by the tabloid über-narrative that frames her life—the one in which her failure to remarry and procreate is a cause of Deep and Lasting Sadness—especially when that false story line gets in the way of her career.
“Look, I think all women at some level just want to rage against the machine,” she says. “There are just too many movies out there that don’t empower women—movies in which their only way of being happy is finding a man. And you know, that’s not my favorite theme.”
I hadn't heard of this project she is working on. It does sound interesting, and I'm not surprised they've had a hard time getting it made. Not many comedies have female leads- there's been a few lately (Juno and Baby Mama), but most are centered around men. But when she says that this will be a movie unlike all the movies out there that don’t empower women—movies in which their only way of being happy is finding a man," I feel like she is lying. If this is a movie about "aspiring cougars," it probably is a romantic comedy with a twist, but still a romantic comedy where people are coupled up by the end of the film.
So what to make of “The One Where Jen Lashes Out for the Second Time in the Six Weeks Leading Up to Her New Film!”? Well, for starters, consider that “what Jen really thinks” is a commodity worth millions in pre-opening box-office publicity.
This quote is talking about things she has said recently about Angelina Jolie and the lead-up to her divorce with Brad Pitt. While it doesn't have anything to do with feminism, it stood out to me because this is what our whole class has been about- learning how pop culture has been a commodity. Therefore, all pop culture icons, like Jennifer Aniston, are commodities as well.
That body—well, as you can see, it defies both time and nature. I ask Jen how she felt about this cover shoot. “There is a moment when you walk in and see the wardrobe—it’s basically a tie—and you think, Where’s the underwear?” she replies with a laugh. “But it felt really good to be that comfortable with myself—and to lie on men as furniture.”
You know, it's great that she feels comfortable enough to be so open. And I can fully admit that she looks amazing! However, it's interesting that she is wearing men's clothes in all of the pictures. If you click on the link to GQ, the other pictures include her just wearing a men's dress shirt, or just men's dress pants. I know the magazine came up with the wardrobe, but it's interesting that she seems all for it because she feels it is empowering.
As we finish lunch, she talks about the project she seems most excited about: a movie she’s developing called Pumas, in which she hopes to star with Elizabeth Banks.
“It’s sort of a female Wedding Crashers,” she says. “It’s these two girls who are aspiring cougars. It is so a comment on the sexual double standard—and what’s been ironic is how hard it’s been to get this movie made. Studios want it, but they’re afraid of Middle America. They’d want to change it; they’re saying, Oh, you can’t do that, people just can’t imagine you…” She’s alluding here to Hollywood’s formula for romantic comedies and her default character within them—offbeat, likable, and unlucky in love. As she talks about Pumas, you get the sense that she’s feeling a little hemmed in by the tabloid über-narrative that frames her life—the one in which her failure to remarry and procreate is a cause of Deep and Lasting Sadness—especially when that false story line gets in the way of her career.
“Look, I think all women at some level just want to rage against the machine,” she says. “There are just too many movies out there that don’t empower women—movies in which their only way of being happy is finding a man. And you know, that’s not my favorite theme.”
I hadn't heard of this project she is working on. It does sound interesting, and I'm not surprised they've had a hard time getting it made. Not many comedies have female leads- there's been a few lately (Juno and Baby Mama), but most are centered around men. But when she says that this will be a movie unlike all the movies out there that don’t empower women—movies in which their only way of being happy is finding a man," I feel like she is lying. If this is a movie about "aspiring cougars," it probably is a romantic comedy with a twist, but still a romantic comedy where people are coupled up by the end of the film.
So what to make of “The One Where Jen Lashes Out for the Second Time in the Six Weeks Leading Up to Her New Film!”? Well, for starters, consider that “what Jen really thinks” is a commodity worth millions in pre-opening box-office publicity.
This quote is talking about things she has said recently about Angelina Jolie and the lead-up to her divorce with Brad Pitt. While it doesn't have anything to do with feminism, it stood out to me because this is what our whole class has been about- learning how pop culture has been a commodity. Therefore, all pop culture icons, like Jennifer Aniston, are commodities as well.
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