YvonneVee's Blog

Mar
16th

Mon

Okay, so I thought I would post this video because I was wondering what others would think about it. I guess you could say that this is one of my guiltiest pleasures because I know that I should not like it, but I can’t help it. And maybe that is one of the reasons why I cannot stop myself from liking it. It’s just that the song is just so catchy, I can’t get it out of my head once I’ve heard it even for a bit, and I just find the whole premise for the video so ridiculously hilarious. So, I initially saw this video on a show called the Whitest Kids U’ Know, which is kind of a crude, gross-out comedy series, some time ago and it just sort of stuck in my head, because it’s funny and so different from anything that I had previously viewed. So the video and the song and lyrics that go with it all have to do with a pretty difficult subject but are dealt with in a very comical way, almost making fun of a completely humorless subject. The video seems to hint at kids to use a false accusation of child molestation as a tool against their guardians. Throughout the video the singer seems to tell kids that if they are tired of their parents, lying about that is a way to acquire better [replacement] parents. Now, the first time that I saw this video I was at once both totally amused and disgusted and mad at myself for actually liking such a thing. I still don’t know if it’s “immoral” or totally wrong to like such a song or video, I mean, I think it’s very clear that the message of the song does not intend to be serious. I just think (or would like to think) that it is such a way of lightening a difficult subject. Nonetheless, I do believe that very young kids watching this might get a very wrong idea about something that should be considered anything but funny and perpetuates society’s light view on issues that should be dealt with more aggresively.

Mar
15th

Sun

Bad Infomercial, Baaadddddd…

So I was up pretty late last night, not something unusual for me, so anyhow, I was flipping through the channels when a particular commercial on the Instyler Rotating Hot Iron, a “new and revolutionary hair miracle,” caught my attention. Now, as much as I was amazed by said product and tempted into buying it then and there, I could not help but notice that throughout the demonstration the women who’s hair was being made “beautiful and sexy” were being brought down by the spokes model and celebrity hairstylist. Throughout the exaggerated infomercial the stylist constantly calls out the women on their hair faults by announcing how the product will bring body and shine to their “lifeless and limp hair” or tame their “out-of-control mane.” Now, I know that this is yet another marketing technique that urges women identify with a given problem so that they feel that they need and want to buy whatever product is being advertised, but it is still extremely blow-up just to make an impression. I mean, even my roommate exclaimed, “That’s me!” when the stylist described one of the devastating hair problems that was about to be fixed, when I honestly could not see what she was talking about. But still, I think that there are better ways of getting an audience to want to buy a product that does have to employ methods that will hurt views into felling that they need to buy something that promises to make their lives easier and more beautiful. With this, I feel that instead of helping women improve an aspect of themselves the promoters of the product only hurt women’s self-esteem and confidence. Just the tone that the stylist used when describing the hair problems of the women he was working on would have been enough to make me feel pretty bad about myself, I could only imagine how badly I would have felt if I was one of the women being criticized on national television.

Mar
10th

Tue

Recently I went to an American Apparel store, I had not gone in a relatively long time, and I noticed that the store is very big on what I think is sexualizing women. I saw that there are a lot of pictures of girls with their legs opened in the store catalogs and even on the posters within the store. Even some of the mannequins are arranged in very suggestive positions, they are obviously intended to be girls because they are displaying leggings and tights…these mannequins are all bending over. In the past, I might have not even noticed but now this really kind of upset me. I really like that store but I think it is giving a very negative image of girls and to girls. I mean, the catalog goes as far as showing very young topless girls; I know that that is just a technique to sell products, by making the store seem much more sexy than it has to be, because it’s a know fact that sex sells. I just think that it presents a very distorted image to it’s consumers, many of who are girls. This representation of women in positions that seem so sexual gives young girls the wrong idea about what they need to grow up to be; it shows that that they need to be as sexy as the beautiful models that are shown. And I’m not saying that being sexy is a negative thing, but it is intended for a particular stage of life. These are the images that are urging little girls to try to become woman way earlier than they need to. I know that this is something that happens in a bunch of other stores, like Victoria’s Secret, but American Apparel is not specifically a lingerie line. I just don’t see why I needs to use the female form so strongly just to sell its products.

Feb
2nd

Mon

The article by Greg Braxton, “Hollywood Loves BBFs 4-Ever” talks about the trend that involves the almost exclusive use of African-American women as the best friends of white women on both the big and small screen. Now, I had never thought about this, I probably would have never even noticed it; although I had noticed the lack of characters of color on Friends. However, something I have noticed is what I perceive as the use of white actresses in the characterization of the typical “dumb blonde”. An example that comes to mind, is the role of Chelsea in the Disney channel show That’s So Raven. Despite the fact that Chelsea is a redhead, she is for all intents and purposes the butt of this stereotype. The saddest thing is that I from what I remember as the show progresses she seems to get dumber and dumber. I really don’t know how the producers let this pass or what purpose it served. Did it amp up the rating? Another more recent example is, Sam, a leading character on the show iCarly on Nickelodeon. Now, unlike Chelsea, Sam has her witty remarks every so often (and blond hair), but still, this doesn’t stop her from being portrayed as a slacker student who constantly has no idea what her friends are talking about, which makes her seem stupid. I might just be overanalyzing these PG shows, but I really have to ask myself whether there is some underlying significance to these findings.

Jan
28th

Wed

I know this is on gender related topic, but I forgot to post it last week. So here it is. I was watching TV and I came upon this commercial for the new Axe hair products. The commercial, “Axe Hair Crisis Relief”, features an assortment of very good-looking male models, I found this interesting because you don’t usually see a commercial aimed at the male demographic as much as you do for the female one. The commercial demonstrates through several “bad hair” reenactments what the spokesmodel verbalizes: that these attractive men cannot be appealing to girls when they are having a bad hair existence. It presents the male viewer with the question, “If these male models can’t do it, how can you expect to?” So the only and obvious solution according to the commercial is to use their product. Like I mentioned earlier, this ad struck me because it is a basically a call to action for young men everywhere who want to attract the opposite sex and gives them a very specific idea of what they need to do it. It made me wonder what these types of ads make the young men out there feel. Does it affect them as much as similar commercial can effect girls? Does it give them the impression that what the commercial is saying is a reality; do they really believe that their appearances are ultimately what attract a female to them? Have they, like many of us girls felt the need to change or modify their bodies and appearances to fit the mold of what is considered handsome and alluring?

Jan
20th

Tue

A Women's Women's Article

In the latest issue of Seventeen magazine (November) singer/songwriter Pink speaks candidly about her very recent marriage break-up to motocross star Carey Hart. Now, I’m not the biggest Pink fan, musically speaking, but I do think she has a lot of great pop songs and that she is one of the best role models for young girls and woman in the media. One of her songs has even urged us not to be a “stupid girl”. In the interview, Pink opens up about what went wrong in her relationship. I found it funny that she mentions that she was very mean, I assume that she means to her ex-husband, because she feel that her childhood conditioned her to be this way. She says that the constant battling with her brother, fights that would damage both sides equally, he would win physically while she would verbally. I just find it odd that she says this, I mean I had never even thought about it, but how many woman would say the same thing, that they could not stand up to a male’s physical strength but could batter him with words?
Pink also says that the reason that women are scared to be alone is because “girls are packaged that way. We criminally underestimate ourselves.” When I read this I had to think for a moment, but just for a moment to realize that this is very true. Practically all of the advertisement out there shows us, woman, that we need to be a certain size, look a certain way, wear a certain make of clothes in order to be desirable. I wonder what other factors have made most of us into this self-undervalued human robot?

Jan
13th

Tue

Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women

I came upon this video when my roommate, who is also taking English Comp. 3, told me about it. And although the link I found, only shows a very small part of it, I still think it is very relevant to what we might talk about in class. The video, although it does seem a bit dated and at times even a tad extremist, still really made me think a lot about the commercial industry and the way it almost programs our society’s view of the female role in advertisement and in life. It gave me more insight into the way women are truly objectified in these sort of ads, showing them almost always in a very vulnerable and sexually-available way, in short, as weaklings… who are supposed to submit to a man’s every want and need. It also showed me how even from a very young age the gender roles are clearly defined. I found that the sort of portrayals of sexism and distorted body images, that I thought in this day and age, would be on their way to eradication, are still very much alive and kicking. I was surprised, to say the least.

Jan
8th

Thu

Still can’t get a hold of SOL… >:/