Throughout the semester, prompts based on class readings, screenings, lectures, and discussions will be posted on this blog. Responses will be graded on their level of critical thinking, pertinence, engagement with class texts, and grammar/spelling/proofing/
length. Be sure to read the prompt carefully and fully engage with the content of the class materials. At the bottom of your response, type your FIRST NAME and the FIRST INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME (e.g. Claudia Z.).
Friday, February 3, 2017
Week Two: Response 2.4
Artists are constantly responding to the politics of popular
culture in their work.Watch Yolanda
Dominguez’s performance art piece Poses.How does the piece connect with
some of Jean Kilbourne’s observations from Killing
Us Softly 4?
Yolanda Dominguez’s art piece Poses, was funny, awkward, but also powerful due to the message it is sending. Dominguez used advertisements of models and had ordinary women portray the exact same pose in public and catches the expressions of how people react to the women. Poses connects with Jean Kilbourne’s observations from Killing Us Softly 4 by presenting the unpleasant positions advertisements and marketing companies have women position in. Kilbourne presents how women are often portrayed in the media, pointing out how women are usually taking up little space in the positions they are put in, but also in odd and awkward positions. This connects to Dominguez’s piece by one of the women in the video bending over with her hand in her mouth in the middle of the crowed, not looking appealing, but rather looking misplaced and unpleasant. What Kilbourne’s note was through Killing us Softly 4 was to let her audience know what is being shown on advertisements and commercials is not the realistic manner women look or behave. Dominguez’s art piece was the visual to reveal how unnatural women would look if in reality they would pose the way the women in magazines and advertisements do. Dominguez’s work made Kilbourne’s theory and thoughts come to life by demonstrating how outrages it is to display women in ways that is not only the unrealistic style of poses, and what better way than to respond by having women do the same poses women are frequently being represented in society’s advertisement and marketing. Poses helps better understand the obscured expectations and appearances normal women are anticipated to live up to in their everyday lives. Both Kilbourne’s and Dominguez’s where sending a message to people, letting them know that is not normal, but rather it would be odd if in reality women would pose and be the way advertisements and marketing companies display women. Joselyn G.
Yolanda Dominguez had the vision of bringing the poses of models in magazines and advertisements to reality to see how they translate in every-day life. Based off of Dominguez`s performance in Poses, it is clear that the replicated poses brought out concerns in the bystanders around the model. People were confused, scared, and concerned. It was completely out of place to see a woman posing in an unnatural way and people felt the need to make sure the model was alive and to even seek out the police. These reactions support the observations of Jean Kilbourne in Killing Us Softly 4, in which she says that these models twerk their bodies in unnatural positions that vary between trying to make themselves disappear, being nothing but an object, and even poses that suggest abuse to the model. It`s interesting that people sought the police during the Poses performance for a woman looking like an out of place statue, yet there are no questions asked when a company launches advertisements like those that Kilbourne displayed, featuring woman being stuffed into a trunk, or a lurking shadow suggesting an ominous assault. There are hints of violence to be seen in many magazines, but no one seems concerned for the beautiful, skinny models. When those same poses were put in a normal setting without skinny models covered in name brands, people were uncomfortable and confused because no one in this natural context would pose and twerk their bodies the way that models do. Yet young girls still aspire to have the bodies that exude such odd poses and will go to unhealthy lengths to reach that. This is why, according to Kilbourne, so many young girls and women have insecurities about their bodies that can develop into eating disorders. An important note is that there were no men in Dominguez`s performance, which makes sense because men are always the powerful ones in modeling. Rarely will you see a man cowering, on the ground, or trying to make their body inexistent. Model men get to keep their dignity and not be objectified like the women are, as supported in Killing Us Softly 4. Both of the videos are powerful and prove that models obstruct our views of normalcy when it is “high fashion” to be unhealthy, unnatural, and in danger. Regina D.
Art can be used for many things, and made for many reasons. The artist Yolanda Dominguez has an art performance title “poses.” It is composed of various women doing different poses in public spaces. The women are frozen in this pose as people walk by them. Some stand and stare, others just walk by. Dominguez creates this very awkward atmosphere between the woman posing and the observers. These woman make the audience very uncomfortable to the point where people are going up to them asking them what they are doing, or maybe if they are ok. Dominguez recreated different poses from fashion magazines with normal woman, to portray how unrealistic these poses are. That a woman going about their day would not in the middle of the street with a hand in their mouth or lay down on the pavement. This ties in with Jeans Kilbourne’s “killing us softly 4” where she talks about how magazines portray women in very unrealistic ways. Kilbourne talks about how women are turned into objects, they’re humanity is basically being taken away from them, as they stand there lifeless. Kilbourne talks a lot about how the woman in magazines are made up, they aren’t real woman, so that fact that Dominguez uses real woman to pose as fake woman is very disturbing, because it’s just simply so unnatural. Both Dominguez and KIlbourne talk about how women are how unrealistically being represented in advertisements. They are turned into objects that are used to sell products. In Dominguez “poses” towards the end you can see all these people approaching the woman trying to interact with them, some even help them get up. To me that was very powerful, I feel like that was a symbol of freedom, helping them get up, that was a way of telling these women you don’t have to conform, you don't have to fit in, you don't have to look like them. You can be you who want to be. Mary C.
Art is a powerful way of expanding on politics of popular culture. Yolanda Dominguez’s performance art piece, Poses, brings attention to the negative ways that female models are portrayed in society and parallels themes from Jean Kilbourne’s film Killing Us Softly 4. Women in this video go to populated areas and recreate a pose that models have done in magazines. These uncomfortable and unnatural poses cause individuals walking past to react with shock and concern. In Kilbourne’s film, it is shown that many advertisements portray women in these uncomfortable positions. The women in these ads are often told to pose in ways that make them take up less space. Although many of the models are already underweight, they are forced to contort their bodies in ways to make them even smaller. It is important to note that although many of the demonstrators in Poses received reactions, some went unnoticed. This can be attributed to the fact that they are taking up less space and look as if they are frozen objects. The reactions of the onlookers in Poses show how unnatural and demeaning advertisements are. People rush to help some of the women and the police are even brought to investigate the odd positions that the women are in. Models are made to look weak and small, sometimes even hinting towards abuse or violence. Advertisements or “high fashion” photographs normalize objectification of women and dehumanize them. Models are just used as a means of selling a product. Poses shows us how unnatural the pictures we see everyday in magazines and commercials truly are. Everyday women aspire to be like the models we see in the media, but these images are extremely unrealistic. Constantly seeing these images can be detrimental to individuals viewing them; for example, eating disorders and violence against women are just two of the consequences resulting from these unrealistic depictions. In conclusion, both Kilbourne’s and Dominguez’s films are powerful representations of how unrealistic the advertisements surrounding us are.
Yolanda Dominguez’s performance art piece Poses challenges how advertisements portrays women as an object. Performers mocks the poses that models in the advertisements make and stand in the middle of public which draws concerns and attentions from people. It seems like people’s concerns derived from the uncomfortable and unnatural poses that performers were in. In Killing Us Softly 4 by Jean Kilbourne, she shows many examples of models posing in unnatural and awkward posture while holding an item in advertisements. People generally seem to be bothered by the awkwardness of the pose the performers in but the viewers of advertisements often times doesn’t question or get bothered by the outrageous poses that models are asked to be in by the advertising companies. It almost seems like women are used as a display case or item holders in advertisements. Unnatural poses insidiously exacerbates the idea that women should be seen as an object. This subtle violence audience face every day has not only made us jaded with objectification of women but also made women to objectify themselves. In the video Poses, there were some strangers who looked at the performers and smirked or were ridiculed by them. The advertisement perpetuates that only thin, white skinned and young women are considered as beautiful and often portrayed as a work of art while women who doesn’t fit into the descriptions aren’t considered as beautiful. Jean Kilbourne is concerned and warns her audience that woman objectifying themselves lead women to judge their body harshly but also to judge other women’s body with unachievable standards. In addition to further perpetuation of unidealistic standard of beauty, women are in risk of having eating disorder, depression and other health concerns. Both Yolanda Dominguez and Jean Kilbourne wishes to reveal and bring awareness of the dangers of objectification of women in media.
Poses brings the absurdity, infantilization, and violence against women and their bodies in media, specifically modeling, to the real world. By using women that represent the average female body type and women of all ages and races, Dominguez’s performance undermines the definition of “model” by having everyday women make the same poses as models in advertisements, and placing them in the real world. One of the most interesting things this reveals, is how these poses are perceived to be dangerous or harmful to the women. As Jean Kilbourne points out in Killing Us Softly 4, in hundreds of ads women bodies are: strategically cut into pieces, shown being dominated, and often portrayed as objects. So when in real life a woman casually drapes herself next to a flower bed, or sits statue-like in a McDonald’s in these same model poses, suddenly people are concerned about her health and well being. This reveals just how violent these ads really are, and shows that as a society we have become desensitized and even complacent to these unhealthy depictions of women. This also reveals a distinct level of absurdity to the way our culture wants models to be perceived in advertisements. Kilbourne also went into depth about how the media demands women to fit a specific beauty model— thin, white, and tall. So when a young, thin girl is photographed sticking her fingers in her mouth while holding a robot toy, our culture is supposed to think couture, but when a woman stands on a crowded street and does the same thing sans robot it comments on the normalization of eating disorders in both the fashion and everyday worlds. Women are not only supposed to fit these impossible beauty standards but they are encouraged to stop at nothing to obtain said perfection. It also speaks to the infantilization of women through these ads, another of Kilbourne’s points, and reveals a truly terrifying image— even our children struggle with bulimia. Autumn D
In Poses, Dominguez tampers with the disconnect between seeing a pose in a magazine and witnessing it in real life. Yolanda puts average women in awkward positions and gets a reaction from passersby who most likely wouldn’t bat an eye if they were to see these in magazines. These reactions are quite fascinating because in “Killing Us Softly 4”, Kilbourne makes the point that a lot of people say they “don’t pay attention to ads”. Even though people say they don’t pay attention to ads, we still consume and process these pieces subconsciously and that idea is further personified by the random people worrying if the women were okay; sometimes even aiding them if they seemed hurt. The random people’s reactions to the women in Poses just highlights how unrealistic and uncomfortable modeling can be. In a magazine, the models might look pretty or alluring, but in real life the stances simply make the women look like they’re in pain. Aside from the disconnect between a fantasy (the models’ poses) and real life, there were also other topics that were explored through Dominguez’s piece. In a lot of the poses, the models seemed lifeless, dazed, or were even infantilized. Although it only loosely ties back to Kilbourne, the models are essentially being dehumanized. Instead of being seen as the subject of the photos, these models are seen as mere objects that can be contorted into whatever form the photographers please. In place of appearing powerful and strong, the photographers choose to make the models appear frail and vulnerable. When the models aren’t put in weird positions, they get infantilized. One of the photos shows a grown women putting her fingers in her mouth, mimicking what a toddler would do. Women being sexualized, objectified, and infantilized are all topics that Kilbourne touched upon in her film. The works of these two women complement each, proving exactly what the other stated. -Hector B.
Dominguez’s video sets out to portray how modeling creates unreal women and has them in poses that are awkward and unnatural. She does this by using real women who are doing the same poses commonly done by models in public places. The video is an eye opener because translating these poses from media to real life highlights many issues. Kilbourne mentions how advertisement’s power derives from its effectiveness in manipulation the subconscious. Many people believe they are not affected by advertisement. Yet they never came to question how unreal these women are but find the video funny since they women look so odd. The subconscious component in advertisement is difficult to determine since they are designed to be subtle and they have become a part of everyday life. Focusing solely on the women chosen for advertisement, it becomes clear what “ideal women” is used to set an unrealistic standard of beauty. The general representation of women becomes underweight women who are white or white passing. This inaccurate representation influences how women view themselves, which Kilbourne says is challenging healthy narcissism. Another odd but commonly seen aspect in advertisement is the portrayal of women having a guilty relationship with food. The women used for Dominguez’s video are not underweight which aids in exposing how awkward these poses are but it does show how real women are profitable. If advertisers used real women as models, then they would not rely on tactics that target the subconscious for effectiveness. The cumulation of advertisement’s subconscious influence has led to eating disorders plaguing women in the western society. Dominguez’s video can physically show a few of the issues that Kilbourne has noticed in our media and that is valuable in the movement to correct the damage caused by media. -Vincent I
Yolanda Dominguez’s art piece Poses, was funny, awkward, but also powerful due to the message it is sending. Dominguez used advertisements of models and had ordinary women portray the exact same pose in public and catches the expressions of how people react to the women. Poses connects with Jean Kilbourne’s observations from Killing Us Softly 4 by presenting the unpleasant positions advertisements and marketing companies have women position in. Kilbourne presents how women are often portrayed in the media, pointing out how women are usually taking up little space in the positions they are put in, but also in odd and awkward positions. This connects to Dominguez’s piece by one of the women in the video bending over with her hand in her mouth in the middle of the crowed, not looking appealing, but rather looking misplaced and unpleasant. What Kilbourne’s note was through Killing us Softly 4 was to let her audience know what is being shown on advertisements and commercials is not the realistic manner women look or behave. Dominguez’s art piece was the visual to reveal how unnatural women would look if in reality they would pose the way the women in magazines and advertisements do. Dominguez’s work made Kilbourne’s theory and thoughts come to life by demonstrating how outrages it is to display women in ways that is not only the unrealistic style of poses, and what better way than to respond by having women do the same poses women are frequently being represented in society’s advertisement and marketing. Poses helps better understand the obscured expectations and appearances normal women are anticipated to live up to in their everyday lives. Both Kilbourne’s and Dominguez’s where sending a message to people, letting them know that is not normal, but rather it would be odd if in reality women would pose and be the way advertisements and marketing companies display women.
ReplyDeleteJoselyn G.
Yolanda Dominguez had the vision of bringing the poses of models in magazines and advertisements to reality to see how they translate in every-day life. Based off of Dominguez`s performance in Poses, it is clear that the replicated poses brought out concerns in the bystanders around the model. People were confused, scared, and concerned. It was completely out of place to see a woman posing in an unnatural way and people felt the need to make sure the model was alive and to even seek out the police. These reactions support the observations of Jean Kilbourne in Killing Us Softly 4, in which she says that these models twerk their bodies in unnatural positions that vary between trying to make themselves disappear, being nothing but an object, and even poses that suggest abuse to the model. It`s interesting that people sought the police during the Poses performance for a woman looking like an out of place statue, yet there are no questions asked when a company launches advertisements like those that Kilbourne displayed, featuring woman being stuffed into a trunk, or a lurking shadow suggesting an ominous assault. There are hints of violence to be seen in many magazines, but no one seems concerned for the beautiful, skinny models.
ReplyDeleteWhen those same poses were put in a normal setting without skinny models covered in name brands, people were uncomfortable and confused because no one in this natural context would pose and twerk their bodies the way that models do. Yet young girls still aspire to have the bodies that exude such odd poses and will go to unhealthy lengths to reach that. This is why, according to Kilbourne, so many young girls and women have insecurities about their bodies that can develop into eating disorders. An important note is that there were no men in Dominguez`s performance, which makes sense because men are always the powerful ones in modeling. Rarely will you see a man cowering, on the ground, or trying to make their body inexistent. Model men get to keep their dignity and not be objectified like the women are, as supported in Killing Us Softly 4. Both of the videos are powerful and prove that models obstruct our views of normalcy when it is “high fashion” to be unhealthy, unnatural, and in danger.
Regina D.
Art can be used for many things, and made for many reasons. The artist Yolanda Dominguez has an art performance title “poses.” It is composed of various women doing different poses in public spaces. The women are frozen in this pose as people walk by them. Some stand and stare, others just walk by. Dominguez creates this very awkward atmosphere between the woman posing and the observers. These woman make the audience very uncomfortable to the point where people are going up to them asking them what they are doing, or maybe if they are ok. Dominguez recreated different poses from fashion magazines with normal woman, to portray how unrealistic these poses are. That a woman going about their day would not in the middle of the street with a hand in their mouth or lay down on the pavement. This ties in with Jeans Kilbourne’s “killing us softly 4” where she talks about how magazines portray women in very unrealistic ways. Kilbourne talks about how women are turned into objects, they’re humanity is basically being taken away from them, as they stand there lifeless. Kilbourne talks a lot about how the woman in magazines are made up, they aren’t real woman, so that fact that Dominguez uses real woman to pose as fake woman is very disturbing, because it’s just simply so unnatural. Both Dominguez and KIlbourne talk about how women are how unrealistically being represented in advertisements. They are turned into objects that are used to sell products. In Dominguez “poses” towards the end you can see all these people approaching the woman trying to interact with them, some even help them get up. To me that was very powerful, I feel like that was a symbol of freedom, helping them get up, that was a way of telling these women you don’t have to conform, you don't have to fit in, you don't have to look like them. You can be you who want to be.
ReplyDeleteMary C.
Art is a powerful way of expanding on politics of popular culture. Yolanda Dominguez’s performance art piece, Poses, brings attention to the negative ways that female models are portrayed in society and parallels themes from Jean Kilbourne’s film Killing Us Softly 4. Women in this video go to populated areas and recreate a pose that models have done in magazines. These uncomfortable and unnatural poses cause individuals walking past to react with shock and concern. In Kilbourne’s film, it is shown that many advertisements portray women in these uncomfortable positions. The women in these ads are often told to pose in ways that make them take up less space. Although many of the models are already underweight, they are forced to contort their bodies in ways to make them even smaller. It is important to note that although many of the demonstrators in Poses received reactions, some went unnoticed. This can be attributed to the fact that they are taking up less space and look as if they are frozen objects. The reactions of the onlookers in Poses show how unnatural and demeaning advertisements are. People rush to help some of the women and the police are even brought to investigate the odd positions that the women are in. Models are made to look weak and small, sometimes even hinting towards abuse or violence. Advertisements or “high fashion” photographs normalize objectification of women and dehumanize them. Models are just used as a means of selling a product. Poses shows us how unnatural the pictures we see everyday in magazines and commercials truly are. Everyday women aspire to be like the models we see in the media, but these images are extremely unrealistic. Constantly seeing these images can be detrimental to individuals viewing them; for example, eating disorders and violence against women are just two of the consequences resulting from these unrealistic depictions. In conclusion, both Kilbourne’s and Dominguez’s films are powerful representations of how unrealistic the advertisements surrounding us are.
ReplyDeleteNicole H.
Yolanda Dominguez’s performance art piece Poses challenges how advertisements portrays women as an object. Performers mocks the poses that models in the advertisements make and stand in the middle of public which draws concerns and attentions from people. It seems like people’s concerns derived from the uncomfortable and unnatural poses that performers were in. In Killing Us Softly 4 by Jean Kilbourne, she shows many examples of models posing in unnatural and awkward posture while holding an item in advertisements. People generally seem to be bothered by the awkwardness of the pose the performers in but the viewers of advertisements often times doesn’t question or get bothered by the outrageous poses that models are asked to be in by the advertising companies. It almost seems like women are used as a display case or item holders in advertisements. Unnatural poses insidiously exacerbates the idea that women should be seen as an object. This subtle violence audience face every day has not only made us jaded with objectification of women but also made women to objectify themselves.
ReplyDeleteIn the video Poses, there were some strangers who looked at the performers and smirked or were ridiculed by them. The advertisement perpetuates that only thin, white skinned and young women are considered as beautiful and often portrayed as a work of art while women who doesn’t fit into the descriptions aren’t considered as beautiful. Jean Kilbourne is concerned and warns her audience that woman objectifying themselves lead women to judge their body harshly but also to judge other women’s body with unachievable standards. In addition to further perpetuation of unidealistic standard of beauty, women are in risk of having eating disorder, depression and other health concerns. Both Yolanda Dominguez and Jean Kilbourne wishes to reveal and bring awareness of the dangers of objectification of women in media.
Judy L.
Poses brings the absurdity, infantilization, and violence against women and their bodies in media, specifically modeling, to the real world. By using women that represent the average female body type and women of all ages and races, Dominguez’s performance undermines the definition of “model” by having everyday women make the same poses as models in advertisements, and placing them in the real world. One of the most interesting things this reveals, is how these poses are perceived to be dangerous or harmful to the women. As Jean Kilbourne points out in Killing Us Softly 4, in hundreds of ads women bodies are: strategically cut into pieces, shown being dominated, and often portrayed as objects. So when in real life a woman casually drapes herself next to a flower bed, or sits statue-like in a McDonald’s in these same model poses, suddenly people are concerned about her health and well being. This reveals just how violent these ads really are, and shows that as a society we have become desensitized and even complacent to these unhealthy depictions of women. This also reveals a distinct level of absurdity to the way our culture wants models to be perceived in advertisements. Kilbourne also went into depth about how the media demands women to fit a specific beauty model— thin, white, and tall. So when a young, thin girl is photographed sticking her fingers in her mouth while holding a robot toy, our culture is supposed to think couture, but when a woman stands on a crowded street and does the same thing sans robot it comments on the normalization of eating disorders in both the fashion and everyday worlds. Women are not only supposed to fit these impossible beauty standards but they are encouraged to stop at nothing to obtain said perfection. It also speaks to the infantilization of women through these ads, another of Kilbourne’s points, and reveals a truly terrifying image— even our children struggle with bulimia.
ReplyDeleteAutumn D
In Poses, Dominguez tampers with the disconnect between seeing a pose in a magazine and witnessing it in real life. Yolanda puts average women in awkward positions and gets a reaction from passersby who most likely wouldn’t bat an eye if they were to see these in magazines. These reactions are quite fascinating because in “Killing Us Softly 4”, Kilbourne makes the point that a lot of people say they “don’t pay attention to ads”. Even though people say they don’t pay attention to ads, we still consume and process these pieces subconsciously and that idea is further personified by the random people worrying if the women were okay; sometimes even aiding them if they seemed hurt. The random people’s reactions to the women in Poses just highlights how unrealistic and uncomfortable modeling can be. In a magazine, the models might look pretty or alluring, but in real life the stances simply make the women look like they’re in pain.
ReplyDeleteAside from the disconnect between a fantasy (the models’ poses) and real life, there were also other topics that were explored through Dominguez’s piece. In a lot of the poses, the models seemed lifeless, dazed, or were even infantilized. Although it only loosely ties back to Kilbourne, the models are essentially being dehumanized. Instead of being seen as the subject of the photos, these models are seen as mere objects that can be contorted into whatever form the photographers please. In place of appearing powerful and strong, the photographers choose to make the models appear frail and vulnerable. When the models aren’t put in weird positions, they get infantilized. One of the photos shows a grown women putting her fingers in her mouth, mimicking what a toddler would do. Women being sexualized, objectified, and infantilized are all topics that Kilbourne touched upon in her film. The works of these two women complement each, proving exactly what the other stated.
-Hector B.
Dominguez’s video sets out to portray how modeling creates unreal women and has them in poses that are awkward and unnatural. She does this by using real women who are doing the same poses commonly done by models in public places. The video is an eye opener because translating these poses from media to real life highlights many issues. Kilbourne mentions how advertisement’s power derives from its effectiveness in manipulation the subconscious. Many people believe they are not affected by advertisement. Yet they never came to question how unreal these women are but find the video funny since they women look so odd. The subconscious component in advertisement is difficult to determine since they are designed to be subtle and they have become a part of everyday life. Focusing solely on the women chosen for advertisement, it becomes clear what “ideal women” is used to set an unrealistic standard of beauty. The general representation of women becomes underweight women who are white or white passing. This inaccurate representation influences how women view themselves, which Kilbourne says is challenging healthy narcissism. Another odd but commonly seen aspect in advertisement is the portrayal of women having a guilty relationship with food. The women used for Dominguez’s video are not underweight which aids in exposing how awkward these poses are but it does show how real women are profitable. If advertisers used real women as models, then they would not rely on tactics that target the subconscious for effectiveness. The cumulation of advertisement’s subconscious influence has led to eating disorders plaguing women in the western society. Dominguez’s video can physically show a few of the issues that Kilbourne has noticed in our media and that is valuable in the movement to correct the damage caused by media.
ReplyDelete-Vincent I