http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2010/08/01/im-not-feminist-i-love-men-rethinking-lady-gaga-s-postfeminist-rhetoric-and-its-potential
The article starts off by stating that Lady Gaga has been a dominant force in pop culture, often challenging the position of women in the music industry. The general idea of the article is the debate of whether or not Lady Gaga is a feminist. Gaga's performances bring up the longstanding arguments that call out the double standard placed on female perfomers, that they are expected to be sexual but only up to a certain point. Gaga states in the accompanied video that she is not a feminist, although some may believe that her work would suggest otherwise. The author of the article states that Gaga benefits from feminism, saying that it has allowed her to become a successful businesswomen. The accompanied video clip raises question about the place of feminism within contemporary pop culture. The article ends by saying that perhaps it is Gaga's assurance that she is not a feminist that allows the public to accept her.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Sex-in-Advertising:-Does-it-Sell?&id=14551
This article discusses the affect that the sex appeal has on the success of an advertisement. It starts off by describing how men will generally be more attracted to long, beautiful, female legs than they will be to cute little puppies. Also, many women would also be more drawn to the attractive set of legs because it may give them the desire to have legs like that of their own. The theme of this article is that sex in advertising does have a positive effect on sales to a certain point, but too much of it will give consumers a negative impression and turn them away from the product or brand.
Lady Gaga article:
ReplyDeleteA big binary opposition I notice throughout the article is tradition vs. change. Some of the words/phrases I notice for tradition are conforming, standards, and status quo. For change, I notice the phrases social change, out-dated, and progressive. This opposition may be something you can explore. How feminism as well as the way people look at feminists has changed, if it has at all. Also mentioned a lot is the double standard between men and women of the displaying of sexual actions. A question you could consider is: Why would Gaga's assurance that she is not a feminist allow people to accept her? and How do people look at feminists, and how has that view changed over time?
Sex appeal article:
ReplyDeleteI like that the article discusses how some sex appeal in ads attracts attention, but too much does not have a very good effect on consumers aside from the attention it grabs. A strand of negative actions toward brands who use too much sex appeal is apparent through the words: scandals, controversy, and boycotts. The discussion of just enough vs. excess could be investigated. How much more success do ads with just enough sex appeal have than those with too much? The mention of emotion in the article sort of catches me off guard. It could be thought of as an anomaly. In the article emotion opposes attention. Attention does not necessarily mean positive emotion, in fact, too much attention could mean negative emotion. You could maybe look at the difference between the amount of attention an ad receives vs. the kind of emotions that come out of it.