Blog 5

Mark Nesbitt

ENG 201 2 p.m.

Blog 5

10/24/13

            Mal Cobb embodies the “evil demon seductress” trope.  Mal is Dominick Cobb’s deceased wife in the film Inception.  Seeing as Mal died, she technically does not fit the femme fatale trope.  Dom continually sees her projection when he journeys into people’s dreams to plant an idea, or to retrieve a piece of information from their mind.  Mal is a figment of Dom’s imagination that haunts him, constantly attempting to manipulate and control his every action and thought.  She does this in order to fulfill her malevolent master plan of eternally bringing them together again. Her actions throughout Inception coincide with many of the characteristics displayed by “evil demon seductress’’” in other various films.  Her name, Mal, is short for Mallorie.  She moved from France to be with Dom in the United States.  In French, "mal", means bad.  Mal's name happens to be the first indicator of the apparent bad news she embodies.  

            Similarities between Mal Cobb and other “evil demon seductress’” include highly skilled manipulation skills, along with a strong desire to control Dom.  In Mal’s death scene, the camera shows Mal outside her hotel window on the ledge of the building, lying in wait of Dom.  She plans to commit suicide.  This scenario proves to be common, however.  She often commits suicide in order for her to return to reality, when she wishes to slip out of a dream. Dom steps out on the ledge in order to persuade Mal back inside to safety.  They exchange in an adversarial and lengthy conversation that consisted of two conflicting sides.  Dom begs Mal in an attempt to convince her to step down from the ledge, because she mistakenly believes she is simply in a dream.  Mal pleads to Dom, assuring they would both return to reality after they jump to their death.  Here, Mal wants Dom to kill himself.  This displays Mal’s attempt to go to extreme feats in regards to toying with Dom’s emotions and thoughts, seeing as she knew all along the situation they were in.  She wants him to die so they can be together once again, and has no problem doing whatever it takes to accomplish this task by using her manipulation skills.  The words, reasoning, and actions displayed by Mal in this scene exemplify the “evil demon seductress” trope. 

            Mal possesses an extraordinarily strong sense to control Dom throughout the entire film.  One scene in particular that reinforces this statement occurs when Ariadne purposely take the elevator down to Mal’s hotel room to satisfy her curiosities.  Mal confronts Ariadne from her couch, igniting a conversation about true love.  She then proceeds to stand up and make her way over to the counter to grab a wine glass shard.  Mal begins stepping toward Ariadne with malicious thoughts, just as soon as Dom yanks Ariadne to safety in the elevator.  As this happens, Mal screams out, “You promised! You promised we would be together!  You promised we would grow old together!”. This in turn causes Dom to comfort Mal.  Mal’s control tactics were a success, as she attained a positive response from Dom.  She weakened him, and made him feel intense guilt for leaving her.  Manipulating Dom by trying to control his actions is her only goal.  She wants to be together again in limbo, and she is compelled to do whatever it takes to achieve this.  Mal displays utter selfishness with no regard to anyone else’s safety and well-being.  Her actions represent the “evil demon seductress” trope by acting as Dom’s antagonist.

            Mal’s sexuality comes into play when being compared to the “evil demon seductress”.  Clothed in a black, form-fitting dress, Mal emanates a certain eeriness.  She intimidates the people she comes into contact with.  Her voice is soft and feminine.  Her apparent attractiveness and femininity, combined with her warped fantasy-driven mind, make for a deadly character.  She utilizes her sexuality on various occasions in order to manipulate Dom.  Dom’s flashbacks of previous memories with Mal best demonstrate how she uses her seductiveness against Dom.  Mal would woo Dom by exercising her attributes of charm and sexuality in order to constantly fall deeper in love with each other.  Mal’s maliciousness has origins of deep-rooted, intense love she and Dom felt for one another.  Her sexuality and actions utilized against Dom all has to do with her love of him.  I would describe Mal as having tunnel vision, with Dom at the end of her view.  She is willing to go to any length to have Dom back.  It fascinates me by what people will do for love.  Mal is dark and twisted, but also beautiful and identifiable.  Her intense love of her partner causes her to turn into a monster, and also embody the “evil demon seductress” trope. 

Blog 3 Beauty Myth

Mark Nesbitt

10/20/13

ENG 201 2 p.m.

Blog 3 Beauty Myth

     There are many instances in modern society, and all throughout history, of certain existing beauty myths occurring in the females of our culture.  The concept of aging as a terrible occurrence happens to be the exemplary model of a beauty myth at work in the P&G brand, Olay, in regards to their lineup of anti-aging products.  Olay’s seven signs of aging display the company’s advertising efforts exploiting the aging beauty myth to sell their products to insecure women.  The advertising of products and false statements that Olay broadcasts allows women to further slip into a psychological black hole. This figurative black hole happens to be that believing the natural process of aging is extraordinarily detrimental to a woman. 

            Olay claims the seven signs of aging to be, in order: dark spots, sagging of skin, dull and glow-less skin, lines and wrinkles, dry skin, patchy skin, and open pores.  If you actually think about what Olay is portraying the signs of aging to be, you can simply deduce that these statements are wholly and totally false.  Literally any human on the face of earth, no matter the age, has one or more of these “symptoms” of aging.  I, myself, have dark spots, lines and wrinkles, dry skin, and open pores.  Honestly, who does not have open pores and dry skin?  That is a preposterous statement whose only reason is advertised to sell a product.  Olay’s seven signs of aging are based off of a lie to exploit the aging beauty myth in today’s society.

            The aging beauty myth influences women to constantly lie about their true age.  This example of the beauty myth in action happens to be something I have witnessed many times throughout my life.  My mom has four sisters, my dad has two sisters, and obviously, my family celebrates their birthdays.  My aunts always lie about what age they are turning.  It is a ridiculous thought to believe that you must lie about your age to please a controversial societal norm, and even more preposterous to lie to your own family.  Your age should not determine how people look at you, at least in a negative sense.  Many societies revere age and the elders, which is why the aging beauty myth confounds me.  One of my aunts even has Olay’s anti aging cream in her bathroom, as I had noticed over the summer.  I find absolutely zero reason to hide the person you are, and to attempt to cover up a wrinkle or two in order to please a ridiculous norm.  Of course my own opinions have no effect in changing the infectious nature of the aging beauty myth.

Women are influenced by such products as Olay’s, in order to relieve their intense self-criticism and societal pressures.  A great deal of women carry themselves in such a way as to be reminiscent of a young woman in her prime.  A first-hand example of this occurrence would be my previously mentioned aunts.  My youngest aunt is forty-four years old. Her non-professional wardrobe consists of clothing styles that are popular with girls right around my age, and that I would see on a day-to-day basis here on campus.  This demonstrates her sense of attempting to stay young and to keep up her persona of being young and full of life.  To prove this can happen, and does happen in some form or another to most every woman, she has a Ph.D. in kinesiology.  Having a Ph.D. is not a common occurrence, and is not representative of the population, which I believe further aides in proving that the beauty myth can affect any woman, not just the common, everyday housewife.  There are no exceptions to the grasp it has on the women of today. 

Commercials have a large impact on women when it comes to the women on the television.  Women want to look like the models on Olay’s television advertisements, rather than act age-appropriately.  No doubt you should express yourself, but some women take it a step too far.  I have witnessed many times a woman dressing almost identically to their daughters.  They also tan regularly, and use many cosmetic products, such as Olay, to alter their appearance to a more stereotype-pleasing image of the beautiful woman.  They even take it a step further and have cosmetic surgery performed by a plastic surgeon.  This is the epitome of insecurity, in which women take it further than just anti aging products. Some women want to feel like they are part of a young and beautiful category of society, which plastic surgery seldom cures.  As you can see clear as day, women like Joan Rivers, Donatella Versace, and Jocelyn Wildenstein all have been afflicted by the aging beauty myth. They want to keep pace with the young and beautiful women of today, but you simply cannot just defy the unstoppable force of aging.

The aging beauty myth affects many women in today’s society.  It is something that will probably never vanish.  It will remain ingrained in the minds of all women that seek to be beautiful in the wake of aging.  Products such as Olay will continue to exploit this seemingly innate characteristic of modern society that women will continue to crave a younger and youthful appearance.  Complying with this statement, women will continue to play into this stereotype, completing the relentless and never-ending cycle that is the aging beauty myth.

http://www.womansday.com/life/10-worst-celebrity-plastic-surgery-mishaps-103522

http://www.olay.in/Pages/SevenSignsofageing.aspx

Blog 4

From a very young age, girls have what society believes is the ideal woman ingrained into their minds, telling them how they should behave.  These impressionable youths soak up information like a sponge, which will in turn make them act in that certain manner.  Barbie is the quintessential model on how young girls learn what the image of the perfect girl/teenager looks like.  A great deal of young girls look up to Barbie, and even want to look and behave like her when they grow up. Barbie has tainted the minds of the female youth, and has caused much controversy because she undoubtedly complicates gender roles.

            If you were to look at a Barbie doll, you would think she is pretty.  She has long blonde or brown hair, she is very thin, and she has decently large breasts.  She is rather attractive.  In reality, Barbie is an extraordinarily false interpretation of the actual dimensions of the human body.  If Barbie were a real woman, she would be 5’9” tall, have a 39” bust, an 18” waist, 33” hips and have a size three shoe.  Barbie would literally need to walk on all fours in order for her to mobilize.  Her body proportion and body mass index is so twisted, that she physically does not have the means to menstruate.  By having Barbie look the way she does, it gives off the wrong message to young girls in terms of how they should look.  Being dangerously thin is the “norm” that Mattel is broadcasting, and that is rather warped. 

            Barbie is dressed to look like a supermodel, as she is clothed in many garments that are modeled after high fashion designer’s clothing lines.  Barbie wears many clothes and swimsuits that are very revealing, which is categorized as a feminine gender role.  The main color Barbie wears, and the most subconsciously associated color that you immediately think of when you hear: “Barbie”, is pink.  Pink is a color just like any other color, how can it be possible to feminize a color?  Barbie did just this.  She always seems to be wearing pink and everything about her life is pink, pink, pink.  From her car, to her clothes, and everything in between, is pink.  Barbie feminizes the color while at the same time de-masculinizes it.  She makes it seem like it is solely acceptable for girls to wear pink, but not boys.  This goes to show how Barbie is morphing gender roles into what is acceptable and what is not. 

            Barbie is even programmed to speak basic phrases.  An example of a phrase she says is: “Math class is tough!” which is clearly derogatory towards women, making it seem like the quintessential woman is stupid and useless.  Other actions Barbie seems to do a great deal of the time is shop and talk on her phone to her friends.  “Will we ever have enough clothes?” and “I love shopping!” are more programmed phrases she can speak.  This is portraying that the perfect teenager is always shopping, and not spending time doing much else such as math homework.  By having Barbie represent her actions so proudly, it is sending the wrong message to female youth, further stereotyping the perfect teenager gender role. 

            A Barbie is not complete without her accessories.  Not her makeup accessories or purse, but accessories such as her book on how to lose weight and her scale.  The only words printed on Barbie’s book reads: “Don’t eat!”.  How much more blatantly controversial can it get?  By saying, “don’t eat”, Mattel is directly telling young girls that in order to look like Barbie, you literally cannot consume food.  This can cause major physical and psychological health problems such as anorexia and bulimia.  In regards to Barbie’s scale, it is permanently stuck at 110 pounds.  This is conveying the notion that it is acceptable to be strictly 110 pounds in order to exude the essence of the perfect teenager, which also can cause major health problems.

            Surprisingly enough, there is an actual disease called “Barbie Syndrome”.  The exact definition from the free medical dictionary is as follows: “The drive, often of adolescent girls, to attain impossible standards of beauty, projected by toys—e.g., Mattel’s Barbie Doll—and the media, resulting in failure and frustration, issues related to body image, eating disorders, and self-image.”  Anastasiya Shpagina and Valeriya Lukyanova are girls in the Ukraine that have altered themselves to mimic the Barbie doll. This is actual proof that Barbie has a massive, life altering impact on the gender roles of females. 

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Barbie+Doll+Syndrome

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katyasoldak/2012/10/17/barbie-flu-spreading-in-ukraine/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20055694-10391704.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/21298/Mind&Body/Portrayl.html

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/idealabs/ap/essays/barbie.htm

Blog 1

I chose to use advertisements created by Nissan/Infiniti.  Jack Solomon's ideas about elitism and belonging show through in these advertisements showcasing the Infiniti G series, both sedan and coupe.  The reason for me choosing to do this blog on a car commercial is because it is the car I personally own.  I thought it would be interesting to look further into how the advertisers over at Nissan utilize some, if not all of the aspects of what Solomon was talking about in his "Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising" essay.  It is a possibility that the advertisement subconsciously made me want to buy that car, rather than one of their competitor's cars.  I picked a commercial from 2008, to show how they chose to display their advertisement around the time my car was made.  This older advertisement is interesting, because it makes you think that the Infiniti G35 coupe could be for anybody, but also not really at the same time by targeting the thrill seekers.  It is simple and complex at the same time. I also have picked one of their more recent advertisements that aired eleven months ago, because I thought it demonstrated the fantasy aspect of the advertiser manipulation explained by Solomon. 

Now, I will focus on the first and earlier advertisement.  The video starts off with a married couple holding their newborn baby boy in front of a shaky video camera.  This demonstrates the technique utilized by advertisers called “new realism” to make the audience think that the commercial is real, straight up, etc. because they want you to believe you are getting just the facts.  The commercial continues on showing a plethora of short home video clips of the little boy growing up, but at the same time he is always doing adventurous, thrill-seeker type activities.  Then, the grown up boy, obviously now a man, is in the beautiful G35 coupe driving alone down a highway bridge accelerating into the horizon.  It is this act of driving alone on the highway at high speeds that creates a sense of elitism and exclusiveness about their car.  I believe the advertisers are doing this so it makes any common, suburban, middle class person want to be that thrill seeking “lone wolf”, as Solomon describes it.  The advertisers want to subconsciously trigger your fantasy like thoughts and desires of being in a car like that, preferably theirs of course.  They purposely exploit your “American dream” desires so the consumer will purchase an Infiniti rather than any other car.  They want you to feel a certain and special type of way when you see an Infiniti.  Their goal is to make you believe that you belong in an Infiniti, ultimately leading to the purchase.  This is directly related to Solomon’s idea of elitism and belonging. 

Infiniti switched up their marketing scheme and adapted to changing times, which led to their newer commercial for the G37.  In the car, there is a couple that is rather good looking.  The woman is especially beautiful because Infiniti wants the male audience to think of beauty when they see the car.  They utilize sex appeal.  Just as Solomon explains, the couple never actually looks directly at the camera, creating the sense of elitism that you are special if you are in this car.  The man behind the wheel is casually driving right in the middle of a Formula One race, showing how the car is extremely fast, agile, sleek and overall just an extraordinary car it is.  This also taps into your unconscious desires because who would not want to drive as fast as racecar drivers in your own car.  The whole commercial is about elitism.  From the beautiful couple that both sexes would be attracted to from the consumer point of view, to the fast racing on a Formula One track with actual drivers, to the handling we see as it drives and by just the look of the car, although I prefer my coupe, the advertisers make it seem like the G series is in a class of its own.  Their slogan, “Luxury should inspire confidence at every turn, no matter what road you take” is masterfully crafted to make the audience really reflect upon what they just saw and read.  It sounds so remarkable and is a perfect ending to their highly appealing commercial.  It is just icing on the cake, making you want to drive one even more than you did just by watching the commercial. To be in one is exclusive and special, and that is essentially what the consumer wants and what the advertisers want you to feel and think. 

Both of these commercials exploited the consumer’s wants and desires and are prime examples of Solomon’s philosophies.  Infiniti clearly is doing something right in terms of marketing and selling their products.  Infiniti is a popular luxury car that is only increasing in popularity as time goes on.  This goes to show that the advertising firm they hired to create their commercials absolutely know what they are doing when it comes to making their audience feel special and making their car appeal to them.  Successful marketing is key when it comes to selling their cars.  These commercials are primary examples of how Solomon describes elitism and belonging. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h7SntpRZwZs#t=12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4QgCF5SoQ

Blog 2

There is a great deal of diverse advertisements that utilize certain aspects of the human body that are purposely accentuated in order to subconsciously attract their audience into purchasing their product.  I chose to blog about a Tom Ford cologne advertisement that is extraordinarily blatant and obvious that they are using a woman to captivate the attention of the male viewer.

Desire is a strong emotion that advertising agencies use to attempt to manipulate and exploit in the minds of their audience to make them feel a certain way.  It is almost as if they are tricking your subconscious into making you want to buy that product.  Solomon speaks on such acts in his “Masters of desire” essay.  Solomon states, “’Manipulate’ is the word here, not ‘persuade’; for advertising campaigns are not sources of product information, they are exercises in behavior modification.”  These advertisers are playing with your head because “America is a nation of fantasizers”.  Advertisers know what your desires and fantasies are, therefore allowing them to do things such as have nude females pose with a product aimed toward a male consumer base.  You would then associate the product, in this case cologne, with your sexual desires, which is something you think about a decent amount at random points throughout the day.  For advertisers, it is all about tapping into your subconscious desires to make their money.  Just as Solomon suggests, as long as your subconscious remains your subconscious, advertisers will continue to exploit it to manipulate you.

 The advertisement is comprised of three different, but similar, pictures of an oiled up female, who is obviously beautiful.  In the largest picture, the model has a bottle of Tom Ford’s first fragrance for men between her breasts, with her own hands covering her nipples.  Her fingernails are painted red.  This is significant because men are more attracted to a woman who is wearing the color red somewhere on her body, according to a breakthrough study conducted by the University of Rochester.  Her fingernails are a main piece of the ad since you notice them almost immediately, especially because they are just hardly covering her nipples, causing the male audience to statistically be pre-determinedly more attracted to the ad than if her nails were painted any other color, or not painted at all.  In the smaller pictures, the fragrance bottle is placed between the model’s legs, covering her vagina.  In the picture on the left side, the advertisers do not show any nipple, but rather cropping the image so close to the nipple you can view about half of her entire breasts.  Her legs are also spread open, and her hands are placed in a seductive manner upon her body, which is also the case for the other two pictures.  The ad is unashamedly sex oriented. 

“Sex never fails as an attention getter” and “advertisers like to bet on a sure thing” are statements that Solomon included in his essay.  Sex and sexuality in an advertisement is a compulsive force that acts to get your full attention, hook, line and sinker.  Solomon also mentions that a substantial amount of sexual oriented advertisements are created out of desperation by returning to the sure thing in order to ensure that the client is getting their money’s worth.  I feel it is impossible to determine whether or not this is the case with this certain advertisement, based on the fact that we have no way of knowing what the ad company was thinking.

In relation to Devor, this ad coincides with her quote, “feminine styles of dress likewise display subordinate status through greater restriction of the free movement of the body, greater exposure of the bare skin, and an emphasis on sexual characteristics.”  This ad in particular deals more with the two latter statements. The woman in the ad is literally completely naked, covered only by the bottle of cologne and her hands.  She is exuding sexuality, promiscuity, attraction and desirability, which helps urge the male audience to purchase Tom Ford’s cologne.  This advertisement is a prime example of how advertisers are using desire to construct a stereotypical notion of gender through the usage of an extremely provocative image.  A link to the advertisement is here: http://adland.tv/files/imagecache/postimage/media/print/tomforformen.jpg

A link to the University of Rochester’s psychological study on how wearing red enhances men’s attraction to women is here: http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3268