Monday, April 30, 2012

Advertisement & The Bluest Eye

  Old Spice Commercials and The Bluest Eye

    In Old Spice commercial's males are portrayed as superhuman body builders who are obsessed with power.  The advertisements in their commercials consistently endorse extreme masculinity through humor.  Even though male figures in the Old Spice commercials have unrealistic appearances and characteristics, men are still held to the standards of advertisement. Similarly, Morrison illustrates the role that advertisement has on young girls in The Bluest Eye.  At a young age Claudia is expected to love and accept a blue-eyed white baby doll and is never given an option to choose a colored doll. Colored doll's in the 1940's were not considered beautiful enough by advertisement standards to keep in stores (21). Claudia also rejects the idea of admiring Shirley Temple because she did not believe that Shirley Temple was cute despite advertisements claim that she was the quintessential figure of beauty. However, Claudia grows to love Shirley Temple's radiance after concluding that acceptance of society's perception of beauty is merely a horizontal step.  The candy made appealing in the 1940's by the blue-eyed white symbol of cuteness named Mary Jane molds Pecola's perception of beauty.  She now believes that she is inferior to Mary's advertised beauty; similar to how Old Spice commercial's creates an inferior feeling in male's perceptions of their own body (50).


      Advertisement creates unrealistic expectations for both males and females.  In the Old Spice flex commercial the main character, Terry Crews, illustrates the standards set by advertisement for men through his unnaturally muscular body.  Even though Old Spice is not advocating that men should have "talking abdomens,"  the commercial associates being powerful and dominant with being over muscular.  The commercial creates a superior man in order to convince men that the Old Spice product is essential to being a powerful man.  The glorification of an unrealistically muscular and powerful men in this advertisement creates a universal image of what a superior man should resemble.  By the standards created in the commercial, any guy that does not use Old Spice or is not well-built is an inferior male.  
      Similarly, standards of beauty are set for little girls through advertisement's depiction of "blue-eyed dolls" manufactured. Because "all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured," Claudia, an African American girl, receives the doll for Christmas (20).  Even though African American's naturally do not posses the traits of beauty chosen by advertisers, Claudia is still held to the same standards.  In fact she receives the gift as a statement that says "this is beauty, and if you are on this day 'worthy' you may have it" (21). The blue-eyed doll represents a superior beauty that is naturally unattainable for African Americans.  In fact the standard set by the dolls appearance ultimately excludes African American girls from being labeled as beautiful.  Claudia is unable "to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped her" when she dismembers the doll because there is no solidity behind the beauty of blond-hair blue-eyed doll (20).  Because advertisement created an unrealistic standard of beauty, girls with darker skin are considered to have inferior external appearances.    
      In the Old Spice commercial, Terry is illustrated to be the quintessential "powerful" man.  As Terry proclaims his dominance, his bicep agrees with him and grows another arm with an equally massive bicep. This humorous depiction of a superior man illustrates advertisement's creation of male values.  Even though men are not expected to grow an extra arm, they are required by media's standards to glorify muscularity.  The pursuit of a muscular body is for many an "adjustment without improvement" because all people are created different physically.  Similarly when Claudia "learns to worship [Shirley Temple] and delight in cleanliness" she understands that the change in heart is "an adjustment without improvement" (23).  The adjustment in perception stems from advertisement's created norms that are forced on generations to accept if they too want to be accepted.




    In the Bluest Eye, Pecola wishes to become advertisement's illustration of beauty when she purchases a Mary Jane piece of candy.  Similarly Old Spice associates their product with power, dominance, and masculinity in order to deceive customers that the body wash is essential to being an attractive man.  The blue eyes of Mary Jane are perceived to be the essence of beauty to Pecola (50).  When Pecola purchases the candy she believes that "to eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane, Love Mary. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane" (50).  Because the advertisement has convinced Pecola that the blue-eyed white girl is the quintessential face of beauty, Pecola begins to associate true prettiness with the product.  The advertisements in Mary Jane candy's and Old Spice are designed to make the customer crave the products by enhancing the sonsumer's insecurities. Because Pecola feels inferior to the image on the candy, she purchases it with hopes of becoming like the advertised girl.  Similarly because certain men feel inferior to the muscular man portrayed in the Old Spice commercial, they buy the product with the back thought of becoming a step closer to a "powerful" man.

   



Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Jay Gatsby v. the Celebrated Lifestyle

The obsession with acquiring knowledge about celebrities and their lifestyles is applicable to the famous Jay Gatsby. Gatsby leads a celebrated lifestyle where he throws extravagant parties, which everyone wants to attend, and he lives in a grandiose house. But along with his celebrated lifestyle comes the curiosity from everyone who attends his parties and the gossip about who he is. During one of Gatsby’s parties, a girl commented that “somebody told her they thought he killed a man once” and another girl mentioned, “It’s more that he was a German spy during the war” (44). These women share some sort of concern about who Gatsby is and feel the need to voice absurd rumors.
Like Gatsby, modern day celebrities, deal with the obsessions people have about them and the rumors that are spread about their lives. People are always curious about what a celebrity is wearing, who they are dating or divorcing, and what type of scandals they are caught up in. Most people gain information on a star’s life through magazines such as OK magazine, Star Magazine, US magazine, or even TV shows such as Entertainment News. These magazines and shows publicize the private information regarding a star. In recent news, Amanda Bynes was arrested for a DUI and she had LILAC hair in her mug shot. Similarly, Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian were caught wearing the same outfit, but who wore it best? All these updates are almost laughable because people are actually concerned with celebrity’s lives. But why? Why do people allow themselves to become wrapped up in these absurd rumors that don’t affect their lives?
While at Myrtle’s flat in New York, Nick notices “several old copies of Town Tattle lying on the table together with a copy of Simon Called Peter” (29). Myrtle, a woman who is trying to make her way to the top of the social ladder through Tom, reads the Town Tattle in order to be up to date with the wealthy lives of others. Gossip is commonly associated among the wealthy because they have nothing better to talk about than what other people are doing. Myrtle, as a part of her passing, tries to be a part of the gossip and the Town Tattle suffices as her resource. As a way of integrating herself into the upper class, Myrtle tries to imitate what wealthy women did and read. Because gossip is a symbol of leisure among the upper class, Myrtle believes that if she participates in the gossip, then she’ll be one of them.
Gatsby’s house is also representative of his celebrated life because it is overwhelming and majestic. Like most celebrities, Gatsby tries to show off his wealth with flashy objects, including his Hotel De Ville replica of a house. As a member of the “New Rich”, Gatsby feels the need to advertise his wealth. His house was a “factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (5). His attempts to show off his wealth are very clear in the design of his house because it is obviously very regal, but it also doesn’t quite fit in with the scenery. Similarly, celebrities in the 21st century tend to advertise their wealth with mansions fit for a family of fifty. There are also TV shows, MTV Cribs, that allow people to be taken inside a celebrities house and to see where they live.
But because Gatsby shared the acclaimed life of a celebrity, he also experienced the loneliness of a celebrated life. Although Gatsby held huge parties with hundreds of people, there was a lack of interest in Gatsby himself. When Gatsby died, there was zero interest in him from all those who were obsessed with who he was. During Gatsby’s funeral, Nick and owl-eyed glasses notice how no one has attended the funeral because they “couldn’t find the house” and owl-eyed glasses notes “why my God! They used to go there by the hundreds” (175). Sadly, Gatsby did not actually have any friends because everyone was just using him to get a foothold in the upper class. Although everyone was extremely interested in his life, no one actually cared when he passed away and he was completely forgotten by most people. When a celebrity dies, there are always people who are sympathetic and upset because they are fans of the famous person. But the fans only appreciate the music, or movies the person made, rather than whom they actually were. Although it is made out that celebrities have thousands of grievers, this is false because people wouldn’t be so upset if it were just another normal person who passed away. When Michael Jackson passed away, multiples of people were upset, but only because a great musician had died. Not because this amazing person whom everyone was close to had lost their life. The sad reality is that like Gatsby, no one cares that a genuine person is gone, just that they won’t have any more parties to attend, or that no more great albums will be made.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Cars of The Great Gatsby



     
The Yachts

contend in a sea which te land partly encloses
shielding them from the too-heavy blows
of an ungoverned ocean which when it chooses

tortures the biggest hulls, the best man knows
to pit against its beatings, and sinks them pitilessly.
Mothlike in mists, scintillant in the minute

brilliance of cloudless days, with broad bellying sails
they glide to the wind tossing green water
from their sharp prows while over them the crew crawls

ant-like, solicitously grooming them, releasing,
making fast as they turn, lean far over and having
caught the wind again, side by side, head for the mark.

In a well guarded arena of open water surrounded by
lesser and greater crafts which, sycophant, lumbering
and flittering follow them, they appear youthful, rare

as the light of a happy eye, live with the grace
of all that in the mind is fleckless, free and
naturally to be desired. Now the sea whoch holds them

is moody, lapping their glossy sides, as of feeling
for some slightest flaw but fails completely.
Today no race. Then the wind comes again. The yachts

move, jockeying for a start, the signal is set and they
are off. Now the waves strike at them but they are too
well made, the slip through, though they take in canvas.

Arms with hands grasping seek to clutch at the prows
Bodies thrown recklessly in the way are cut aside.
It is a sea of faces about them in agony, in despair

until the horror of the race dawns staggering the mind;
the whole sea become an entanglement of watery bodies
lost to the world bearing what they can not hold. Broken,

beaten, desolate, reaching from the dead to be taken up
they cry out, failing, failing! their cries rising
in waves skill as the skillful yachts pass over.


           For the upper class and those of the working-class, the choice of automobile seems to be a very important one. The proper choice legitimizes a spot in the upper class while a poor one shows a deficiency of taste and culture. Gatsby and Tom both drive expensive cars, but with different purposes. Gatsby's gaudy Rolls-Royce is meant to travel slowly and show off to those who can't even dream of owning one. Tom on the other hand, chooses a quick coupe, reminiscent of William Carlos William's yachts. His car of choice gets him from place to place "quickly and skillfully," and he judges Gatsby for his choices.


   
"I'd seen it. Everybody had seen it. It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns. Sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory, we started to town" (64).

        Gatsby's Rolls-Royce might typically be considered a car for the long established upper class, but in his never ceasing effort to achieve that status, he put so many extras and options onto his car that it looked simply ridiculous. He designed a car to be driven around in and seen by everyone. He wanted something that attracted attention, his first mistake, and it accomplished that goal. As Nick said, everybody had seen the car, he even goes so far as to compare its brightness to a dozens suns, a shining beacon of wealth to show off his fortune. Nick's, and Fitzgerald's, vocabulary in describing the car is even mocking to an extent, exaggerating the wealth inherent in the car with words like "rich," "swollen," "triumphant,""terraced,"and "monstrous." He shows the car as the decadent means of showing off that it is. Nick himself feels the effects of the car once he gets in, he feels as if "behind many layers of glass," like being under a magnifying glass, Nick feels as if he is being scrutinized and oogled at by the public eye. And while Gatsby certainly thinks this is a characteristic of the car to be desired, Nick does not, and Tom certainly would not.



         Tom's choice in automobile on the other hand, is one of old-money taste. In choosing a "silver coupe," Tom chooses a pricey car, but at the same time, not one meant to scream out to all present how much the driver was worth. Much more reminiscent of the "skillful yachts," Tom's car travels swiftly through places like the Valley of Ashes. To someone like Myrtle, the metaphor is complete. When she sees Tom's coupe driving towards her working-class home, its as if she has, "Arms with hands grasping seek to clutch at the prows." The coupe to Myrtle represents a possible means of escape from her barren life, and she jumps at the opportunity to align herself with the driver for as long as possible. Although the coupe represents the essence of mobility crucial to the upper-class,  Myrtle ending up crumpled and lifeless on the street shows that this mobility is something intrinsic to the old-wealth and no one else.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Jay-Gatz and Tony Montana, The American Dream


This idea of the "American Dream," or the belief that anyone can make it to the top, has truth to it. However, both Gatsby and Tony have their own interpretation of this dream. The idea that America is the land of opportunity encourages many to work as hard as they can so that they might gain material wealth.  There are countless similarities between Jay-Gatz in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and Tony Montana in the movie "Scar Face." Both start  as poor yet very determined men set on making it to the top no matter what.  Tony came to the U.S. in May of 1980 from Cuba after Fidel Castro opened the harbors in order to let many of his people join their relatives in the U.S.; however, many of the refugees, like Tony, were the "dregs" of Cuba's jails.  Facts scrolled across the screen at the beginning of the movie note that out of the 125,000 refugees, 25,000 had criminal records.  Gatsby was also from humble beginnings.  Gatsby starts off with "a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants" (98).  However, despite both men's less than fortunate beginnings, they climb the criminal ladder and achieve their own version of the "American dream."

After achieving success, both men are determined to show off their wealth.  This gaudy extravagance, and in many cases tasteless display of wealth, is a very "new rich" thing to do.  Gatsby has "a man in England who buys [him] clothes" and Tony wears "$800 suits" (92).  However, their display of success does not stop there.  They have overly accessorized cars to the point of being tacky, throw lavish parties and live in large gaudy mansions.  

  Tony's Cadillac                                                        Gatsby's Roll's Royce 


Fitzgerald never says if Gatsby is a bootlegger, but the reader can assume that he is.  The idea that Gatsby is involved in a shady business is referenced throughout the book.  He is always stepping away for important business calls, offers Tom a questionable business opportunity, hangs out with people who are said to have "fixed" the World Series, and says it took only 3 years for him to make the money to build his "hotel de-ville."  Furthermore, the idea that Gatsby is a bootlegger is also brought up by Tom when he says, "A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers" (107).  Tony, like Gatsby, gains his wealth illegally as one of the largest cocaine dealers in Miami.  This criminal acquisition of the "American dream"makes it appear much less legitimate to those around Gatsby and Tony.

Fitzgerald is making a point about the American Dream and its corruptness in his book, "The Great Gatsby," similarly to the way Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone are making points about the American Dream in their movie "Scar Face."  Both pieces illustrate how the authors believe there is a right way and a wrong way of achieving the American Dream and that the "wrong" way or criminal way never pays in the end.  The wealth gained through criminal enterprise does not gain the respect of others and this point is demonstrated when both Gatsby and Tony end up dead in their pools after their corrupt version of the American Dream has crumpled around them.  Fitzgerald, De Palma and Stone make it a point to have Tony's wife leave him and for Daisy to leave Gatsby, as well as leaving their once elegant homes in shambles.  Although Gatsby and Tony believe they have made it to the top and achieved the American Dream, in reality they did nothing and are still nothing.