How J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter influence feminism in media today - Final

How J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter influence feminism in media today

J.K. Rowling. That is all you need before you have an image of Harry Potter and the worldwide phenomenon. When Rowling released her first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, she broke records in many aspects, yet was still in a constant struggle for something other than trying to make a living. She was battling for her rights as a woman in the writing business and for women everywhere around the world.

Before the world knew of Harry Potter and J.K Rowling, Joanne Rowling was simply trying to make a living by writing stories. Most readers do not even know her real name or the fact that she does not have a middle name. Authors have abbreviated their names since the earliest of records for both ease of memorization and with hope of receiving unbiased reviews by the public; of the many authors, C.S. Lewis, Homer, and Mark Twain are the most common. In Rowling’s case, it was the publisher who insisted on the use of a pen name in order to appeal to a larger audience.

Another thing to note is the absence of an about the author column on the back page of all Harry Potter book covers. Whether this was intentional for the sake of eliminating discrimination or in order to have a full picture of the story, I cannot quite be sure. To me it seems like a sneaky way to grab the attention of young male readers rather than to simply see J.K Rowling’s depiction of the story and into her vision of the wizarding world. Again, the publisher’s decision to not include any notion of the author shows how far companies will go in order to advertize to males. Despite the popular phrase, almost everyone judges a book by its cover. In advertising, the book jacket is a vital part in attracting readers and gaining a fan base. As a book intended for children, the images displayed on the book jacket are cartoon-like and yet display dark and manly color schemes. In doing so, a ‘male gaze’ point of view disguises the author’s identity.A larger audience in this case meaning both boys and girls because, according to her publisher, boys are less likely to read novels by female authors. It is often hard pressed to get into the writing business, especially as a female, but settling for a pen name in order to ‘get in’ can be considered unproductive in strict feminist views. Whether or not this strategy worked better than not having the pen name, no one will ever know however it does give insight into our society. Are we encouraging this behavior of discriminating authors based on their gender or is this an idea formed naturally an early age? This male perspective on everything, or the male gaze, becomes inherent as we grow and mature. Does the same thing apply but to girls wanting to read Harry Potter? Females are often portrayed as the fragile and pure members of society, and going as far as to say females are not encouraged to read fantasy novels such as Harry Potter is a disgrace. When authors such as Joanne Rowling publish under a pen name (J.K Rowling), we as a society are settling and making these posed situations true.

Rowling also used the subject of her writing to fight women’s rights. Harry Potter as a whole is a gateway to new realms of feminism and outlooks of the roles of women. While discussing the topic of feminism, my friends and I concluded that we as females want to be recognized as strong and able, yet we do not want to lose the chivalry shown by men.

Rowling effectively used female supporting characters to carry the story and display this modern view on feminism. The most obvious of female characters is Hermione Granger. From the start she is a book worm, a nerd, a geek, an outsider. As a reader you are put into the situation of wanting to root for the outcasts and are given a sense of the humiliation they go through. Throughout the course of all seven books, Rowling builds Hermione in all aspects. Her smarts are appreciated and life saving in many situations while she also matures in her looks while maintaining her geeky ways. Hermione along with her fellow female characters set a new standard for females in the media and act as role models for readers of all genders and ages.

Crafting a combination of modern and traditional female roles, Rowling places feminism into the media in ways that bring out the best aspects of it. Reducing her name into a pen name is degrading in a way, however, J.K Rowling did gain a seat for “women at the proverbial table,” inspiring young authors that anyone with a goal in mind can achieve that which they set out to do (Zeisler, 2008, p 21).

References:

“Harry Potter Book Cover Art.” World Wide Art. n.d. Web 12 Sept. 2011. http://www.world-wide-art.com/Mary_GrandPre/Harry_Potter_Harry_Potter_Limited_Edition_Deluxe_Book_Cover_Art_Set/vaid28718.html

“Hermione Jean Granger.” Fanpop. n.d. Web 20 Sept. 2011. http://www.fanpop.com/spots/harry-potter/articles/55603/title/hermione-jean-granger

Zeisler, A. (2008). Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

Women in advertisements (possibly Final?)

The ad in question can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRaVltezDxU

This blog post will be about how women are portrayed in advertisements on television. Although there are countless many advertisements i could use to illustrate my points in this blog, I believe this one I have will suffice. The point of reference that I will be referring to is a snippet from a soap commercial that was specifically marketed towards women with the slogan “Love the skin you’re in.” The commercials would always portray a young woman with well cared-for skin, claiming that this brand of soap would preserve and care for a woman’s skin and, therefore, outward appearance. The commercial sets a standard of sorts that women of the world should conform to, and their brand of soap will, in essence, transform part of you into this “perfect woman.” This not only reinforces the stereotype that a woman should always focus on their looks, but it also puts more impressionable girls, like the younger teenage girls, under pressure to be like this ideal woman (as if teenagers didn’t have enough going on already).

To me, the slogan, “love the skin you’re in”, seems like a sneaky way to try to get girls to focus on improving their looks almost exclusively. Women, for a large part of history, were nearly always “supporters”. They were nurses, housewives, workers, and hardly ever held any kind of true power over affairs. Today, women are still held to this type of role in the minds of many Americans to some degree. This advertisement is no different. It subtly reinforces the idea that women are to focus on their looks for the enjoyment of others, while at the same time provides a powerful marketing ploy that basically claims “if you use this product, you can become an ideal woman with perfect skin.” But what is a perfect woman? Well, the answer is that there simply isn’t one. So why do American advertisers act as if there is and, consequently, put pressure upon all of womandom?

Well, I believe the answer lies solely in the hands of the American people. Specifically, the allure of money and our consumerist society has the most blame in my opinion, though the old habits and stereotypical beliefs of Americans today also play a part. The goal of every corporation in all of America is to make a profit. Without profit, people lose their jobs due to layoffs and their way of life is jeopardized. Obviously, therefore, corporations are going to use whatever they deem necessary in order to keep their business afloat. This is part of the reason that these companies use these advertisements aimed at women’s insecurities. By taking stereotypical adages and modifying them so that a product can be seen as the solution to an age old problem (like a miracle elixir that can cure any ailment), companies make their product seem necessary to women of all ages. This only continues a vicious cycle-the more women buy the products under the pretense that they need it to please others with their outward appearance, the more the stereotype that women should focus on their appearance is rooted in our minds, which only serves to increase advertising’s power over the lives of women . And while all of this sounds like a heartless, terrible thing to do, (and to some extent, it is), we have to remember that these people selling these products are only doing so because they need to make a living just as much as we all do.

So what can we do to fix this problem with society? It’s a difficult question with many variables and things to consider. Is it worth weakening American industries and the economy and laying off thousands of workers due to lost profits so that women can “feel” more free from classical thought? Conversely- is it worth it for women to be oppressed and denied opportunities they could have enjoyed had they not been passed off as the weaker sex? Can the ideologies of a lifetime be simply replaced so easily? Should women feel weaker than man simply because of her double X chromosome combination? The answer to all of these questions should be a resounding “no”. But it’s not that simple. People have to put food on the table, but people have the right to have an enjoyable life as well. And if the continuing racist attitudes of the American people aren’t enough, time has shown many times that old prejudices die hard. And I am of the opinion that until the day comes that men and women are both completely equal in each and every way, (be it skin color, background, and gender(which is obviously impossible)), there will be prejudices and there will be discrepancies and there will be inherent differences between people. That’s what makes life not boring right? It’s up to us to suppress our prejudices against others, regardless of what kind of person they are, for the common good.



First picture: Pyott, C , (September 18) "Love is...Me and My Brand: Olay" , Retrieved September 21, 2011 from http://webpub.allegheny.edu/employee/I/iroy/weblogcmrt260fa2010/2010/09/love_is_me_and_my_brand_olay.html


Second picture: "Club Olay Logo" Olayoffers n.d Web 21 September, 2011 Retrieved from http://www.olayoffers.ca/clubolay/newsletter/june2006/ribbons.html


Third picture: "Snake Oil" blogspot.com n.d Web 21 September, 2011 Retrieved from http://herdingcatsgeorge.blogspot.com/2010/10/educational-snake-oil.html

How J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter influence feminism in media today - Draft #3

J.K. Rowling. That is all you need before you have an image of Harry Potter and the worldwide phenomenon. When Rowling released her first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, she broke records in many aspects, yet was still in a constant struggle for something other than trying to make a living. She was battling for her rights as a woman in the writing business and for women everywhere around the world.

Before the world knew of Harry Potter and J.K Rowling, Joanne Rowling was simply trying to make a living by writing stories. Most readers do not even know her real name or the fact that she does not have a middle name. Authors have abbreviated their names since the earliest of records for both ease of memorization and with hope of receiving unbiased reviews by the public; of the many authors, C.S. Lewis, Homer, and Mark Twain are the most common. In Rowling’s case, it was the publisher who insisted on the use of a pen name in order to appeal to a larger audience. A larger audience in this case meaning both boys and girls because, according to her publisher, boys are less likely to read novels by female authors. Whether or not this strategy worked better than not having the pen name, no one will ever know however it does give insight into our society. As adults do we encourage this behavior of discriminating authors based on their gender or is this an idea formed from an early age? This male perspective on everything, or the male gaze, becomes inherent as we grow and mature. Does the same thing apply but to girls wanting to read Harry Potter? Women and girls are often portrayed as the fragile and pure members of society. When authors such as Joanne Rowling publish under a pen name J.K Rowling, we as a society are settling. It is often hard pressed to get into the writing business, especially as a female, but settling for a pen name in order to ‘get in’ can be considered unproductive in strict feminist views.

Another thing to note is the absence of an about the author column on the back page of all Harry Potter book covers. Whether this was intentional for the sake of eliminating discrimination or in order to have a full picture of the story, I cannot quite be sure. As a fan of Harry Potter, I love being able to see J.K Rowling’s depiction of the story. It is a look into her vision of the wizarding world. It also brings up the question of whether the publisher did this on purpose or not. Despite the popular phrase, almost everyone judges a book by its cover. In advertising, the book jacket is a vital part in attracting readers and gaining a fan base. As a book intended for children, the images displayed on the book jacket are cartoon-like and are gender neutral, displaying no ‘male gaze’ point of view yet disguise the author’s identity. If I was an author lucky enough to have a book published, I would want my face to be known as the author.

Rowling also used the subject of her writing to fight women’s rights. Harry Potter as a whole is a gateway to new realms of feminism and outlooks of the roles of women. While discussing the topic of feminism, my friends and I concluded that we as females want to be recognized as strong and able, yet we do not want to lose the chivalry shown by men. Rowling effectively used female supporting characters to carry the story and display this modern view on feminism. The most obvious of female characters is Hermione Granger. From the start she is a book worm, a nerd, a geek, an outsider As a reader you are put into the situation of wanting to root for the outcasts and are given a sense of the humiliation they go through.

Throughout the course of all seven books, Rowling builds Hermione in all aspects. Her smarts are appreciated and life saving in many situations while she also matures in her looks and becomes attractive while maintaining her geeky ways. Despite the many strong modern female characters, Rowling also introduces the reader to more traditional female roles such as Madam Pomfrey. She is the caregiver and motherly figure within the books as the typical school nurse who is both kind yet strict. She is essential to the Harry Potter books as she keeps Harry alive multiple times throughout his schooling and shows that the characters are not invincible.

Crafting a combination of modern and traditional female roles, Rowling places feminism into the media in ways that bring out the best aspects of it. Reducing her name into a pen name is degrading in way, however, J.K Rowling did a great thing by gaining a seat for “women at the proverbial table,” inspiring young authors that anyone with a goal in mind can achieve that which they set out to do (Zeisler, 2008, p 21).

Resources:

“Harry Potter Book Cover Art.” World Wide Art. n.d. Web 12 Sept. 2011. http://www.world-wide-art.com/Mary_GrandPre/Harry_Potter_Harry_Potter_Limited_Edition_Deluxe_Book_Cover_Art_Set/vaid28718.html

“Hermione Jean Granger.” Fanpop. n.d. Web 20 Sept. 2011. http://www.fanpop.com/spots/harry-potter/articles/55603/title/hermione-jean-granger

“Madam Poppy Pomfrey.” Screened. n.d. Web 20 Sept. 2011. http://www.screened.com/madam-poppy-pomfrey/15-13683/

Zeisler, A. (2008). Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

FIGHTING ANGELS-final

FIGHTING ANGELS
-How women are represented in martial movies
By Chu Qian

As feminism becomes one of the hottest topics people have discussed today, it is widely represented in mass media, namely, the film industry. More and more movies now shift to display women in a more active position, especially in martial fighting movies, where this once being considered as weak and submissive group, turns to bravery and domination.

There are several movies whose heroin figures are extremely impressive and noteworthy: Kill Bill series and Resident Evil series. These two movies had been one of the Year’s bestsellers; using filming as the medium, they drew in millions of people worldwide to go to the theatre where they started to perceived the idea that women could also be the KILLING MACHINE, a term which had been so popularly used before to solely describe masculine male figures such as Rambo in First Blood. In some senses, women have replaced men in the pop culture of martial movies.

This Kill Bill Volume1 poster tells us something about the cultural background of using female martial artists. In the poster, Uma Therman is wearing the notorious yellow suits. If you can recall that it is the symbolic clothing of Bruce Lee, the Hollywood Chinese kungfu actor of 1960s, it will not be hard for you to get the idea that in fact Kill Bill wants to pay tribute to the male legendary actor Bruce Lee. Lee is a monument that is hard to surpass by any other man in martial art industry. Here I say “man” I mean real Man, in a gender perspective. All the centuries we have seen male figure playing around on stage and none could be as talent as him and in fact, many of us viewers get bored, so how can you modify the movie so that it pertains its attractiveness? The answer is, by using women as main characters in them. Also, if using an actor in this yellow suit, viewers will inevitably compare him with lengendary Lee when watching the movie, which was not what the directors expected us to do- they want us to enjoy the movies they make, rather than to question or criticize them against the original one. As a result the best way to solve the problem is to make it female. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen comments like “Uma stinks! She can’t rival Bruce Lee in every sense!” after the release of the movie, mostly are “Uma did so well, I like her playing what Bruce Lee had been playing!” It’s the power of opposite sex, the tendency to discorver the good traits in a different sex. So here stands a woman, with an undefeatable look on her face, with the clothes so perfectly fit to her body, with the curve of her thighs charmingly formed good angles with her samurai sword, and a long splash of blood all the way behind her. This makes perfect sense with the plotline: In the story, Uma played a role of Bride, an assassin who was savagely shot in the temple by her lover, and also her boss Bill, but she waked up in a few years to start a bloody revenge against Bill and his other assassins who had also taken part in the murder of the Bride and her husband’s family. As you can see, when pushed, women kill as easy as if they were baby-caring.

Movie posters also tell us a lot about the attitude of heroines in those movies. Let’s now shift to the poster of Resident Evil. Noticeably, Milla Jovovich is not wearing a bra! This is a really interesting detail because from this we can formulate an atitude this female character has. The function of brassiere basically is to hold breasts in a place that is pleasurable to look at, but who to look at? Of course, it’s man. “Male gaze” is the spotlight man concentrated on woman’s dressing, wording and behaving; male gaze is everywhere around a woman, restricted her from being a both physically and mentally free woman when she herself has felt being looked at. As a result, Milla’s no-bra seems to be a retreat women take to be away from this cage of male gaze . She seems to be saying, “ I don’t care if you like my breasts or not; all I wanna do is to get zombies down, not you down”.

To summarize, if a man just come to the theatre to see beautiful women, then martial movies are probably not the best for them: women in these movies very frequently get sweating, get bruised and get bleeding during fighting, which is going to impair their stereotypic impressions of submissive beauties. Besides, explaining from both the cultural background and feministic attitude shows that, using women in martial art movies has become both inevitable and popular. It is happy to see that women are no longer vases anymore in these movies- their confidence and independence have made everything that a man can do possible for them as well.

Resources:
1. Alexandra’s blog, “Horror Movie Coolie: Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil (2002)” Thursday, February 17, 2011 http://scare-tactic.blogspot.com/2011/02/horror-movie-coolie-milla-jovovich-in.html

2. Darryl Knickrehm (aka Dariru) “Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)” Friday, May 20, 2011 http://knickrehm.blogspot.com/2011/05/kill-bill-vol-2-2004.html

3. Dreamstime website, “KungFu Bruce Lee” wall paper, 2000-2001 http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-kungfu-bruce-lee-image6979337

Fighting Angel Draft 2

FIGHTING ANGELS

-How women are represented in martial movies

By Chu Qian

As feminism becomes one of the hottest topics people have discussed today, it is widely represented in mass media, namely, the film industry. More and more movies now shift to display women in a more active position, especially in martial fighting movies, where this once being considered as weak and submissive group, turns to bravery and domination.

There are several movies whose heroin figures are extremely impressive and noteworthy: Kill Bill series and Resident Evil series. These two movies had been one of the Year’s bestsellers; using filming as the medium, they drew in millions of people worldwide to go to the theatre where they started to perceived the idea that women could also be the KILLING MACHINE, a term which had been so popularly used before to solely describe masculine male figures such as Rambo in First Blood. In some senses, women have replaced men in the pop culture of martial movies.

This Kill Bill Volume1 poster tells us something about the cultural background of using female martial artists. In the picture, Uma Therman is wearing the notorious yellow suits. If you can recall that it is the symbolic clothing of Bruce Lee, the Hollywood Chinese kungfu actor of 1960s, it will not be hard for you to get the idea that in fact Kill Bill wants to pay tribute to the male legendary actor Bruce Lee. Lee is a monument that is hard to surpass by any other man in martial art industry. Here I say “man” I mean real Man, in a gender perspective. All the centuries we have seen male figure playing around on stage and none could be as talent as him and in fact, many of us viewers get bored, so how can you modify the movie so that it pertains its attractiveness? The answer is, by using women as main characters in them. Also, if using an actor in this yellow suit, viewers will inevitably compare him with lengendary Lee when watching the movie, which was not what the directors expected us to do- they want us to enjoy the movies they make, rather than to question or criticize them against the original one. As a result the best way to solve the problem is to make it female. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen comments like “Uma stinks! She can’t rival Bruce Lee in every sense!” after the release of the movie, mostly are “Uma did so well, I like her playing what Bruce Lee had been playing!” It’s the power of opposite sex, the tendency to discorver the good traits in a different sex. So here stands a woman, with an undefeatable look on her face, with the clothes so perfectly fit to her body, with the curve of her thighs charmingly formed good angles with her samurai sword, and a long splash of blood all the way behind her. This makes perfect sense.

Movie posters also tell us a lot about the attitude of heroines in those movies. Let’s now shift to the poster of Resident Evil. Noticeably, Milla Jovovich is not wearing a bra! This is a really interesting detail because from this we can formulate an atitude this female character has. The function of brassiere basically is to hold breasts in a place that is pleasurable to look at, but who to look at? Of course, it’s man. “Male gaze” is the spotlight man concentrated on woman’s dressing, wording and behaving; male gaze is everywhere around a woman, restricted her from being a both physically and mentally free woman when she herself has felt being looked at. As a result, Milla’s no-bra seems to be a retreat women take to be away from this cage of male gaze . She seems to be saying, “ I don’t care if you like my breasts or not; all I wanna do is to get zombies down, not you down”.

As a result, if men just come to the theatre to see beautiful women, then martial movies are probably not the best for them: women in these movies very frequently get sweating, get bruised and get bleeding during fighting, which is going to impair their stereotypic impressions of submissive beauties. Nevertheless, now we all could see that women are not just vases, and that they have the ability to do what men are capable of.

Website:

• Alexandra’s blog, “Horror Movie Coolie: Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil (2002)” Thursday, February 17, 2011 http://scare-tactic.blogspot.com/2011/02/horror-movie-coolie-milla-jovovich-in.html
• Darryl Knickrehm (aka Dariru) “Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)” Friday, May 20, 2011 http://knickrehm.blogspot.com/2011/05/kill-bill-vol-2-2004.html
• Dreamstime website, “KungFu Bruce Lee” wall paper, 2000-2001 http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-kungfu-bruce-lee-image6979337

How J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter influence feminism in media today - Draft #2

Pen names have always been a common trend in the writing world. This is due to the fact that authors wanted their works to be judged by their writing not by who they were or where they were from or what nationality they were. Authors have abbreviated their names since the earliest of records for both ease of memorization and neural views by the public. This includes C.S. Lewis, Homer, and one of today most well known author, J.K. Rowling. One does not even have to get to her last name before an image of Harry Potter appears. But the author is not the sole decision maker in pen names. Before the world knew of Harry Potter and J.K Rowling, Joanne Rowling was simply trying to make a living by writing stories. In her case, it was the publisher who insisted on the use of a pen name in order to appeal to a larger audience. A larger audience in this case meaning both boys and girls because, according to her publisher, boys are less likely to read novels by female authors. Whether or not this strategy worked better than not having the pen name, no one will ever know however it does give insight into our society. As adults do we encourage this behavior of discriminating authors based on their gender or is this an idea formed from within? This male perspective on everything, or the male gaze, then becomes inherent. Now, does the same thing apply but to girls wanting to read Harry Potte

Another thing to note is the absence of an about the author column on the back page of all Harry Potter book covers (see Image 1). Whether this was intentional for the sake of eliminating discrimination or in order to have a full picture of the story, I cannot quite be sure. As a fan of Harry Potter, I love being able to see J.K Rowling’s depiction of the story. It is a look into her vision of the wizarding world. It also brings up the question of whether the publisher did this on purpose or not. Despite the popular phrase, almost everyone judges a book by its cover. In advertising, the book jacket is a vital part in attracting readers and gaining a fan base. As a book intended for children, the images displayed on the book jacket are cartoon-like and are gender neutral, displaying no ‘male gaze’ point of view.r? Women and girls are often portrayed as the fragile and pure members of society. When authors such as Joanne Rowling publish under a pen name J.K Rowling, we as a society are settling. It is often hard pressed to get into the writing business, especially as a female, but settling for a pen name in order to ‘get in’ can be considered unproductive in strict feminist views. However, J.K Rowling did a great thing by gaining a seat for “women at the proverbial table,” inspiring young authors that anyone with a goal in mind can achieve that which they set out to do (Zeisler, 2008, p 21).

Harry Potter as a whole is a gateway to new realms of feminism and outlooks of the roles of women. When discussing the topic of feminism, my girlfriends and I concluded that we as females want to be recognized as strong and able yet men should continue to be chivalrous towards us. Rowling effectively used female supporting characters to carry the story and display this modern view on feminism. The most obvious of female characters is Hermione Granger. From the start she is a book worm, a nerd, a geek, an outlier. As a reader you are put into the situation of wanting to root for the outcasts and are given a sense of the humiliation they go through. Throughout the course of all seven books, Rowling builds Hermione in all aspects. Her smarts are appreciated and life saving in many situations while she also matures in her looks and becomes attractive while maintaining her geeky ways. The second major female character in Harry Potter is Ginny Weasley. Growing up as the only girl born in the family line and having five brothers, Ginny was always on her own, fighting for her place in a house full of boys. Although her brothers never let her play quidditch with them, she would sneak outside to practice, defying all rules set by her mother and traditional role. Despite the many strong modern female characters, Rowling also introduces the reader to more traditional female roles. As the caregiver and motherly figure in the books, Madam Pomfery is the typical school nurse who is both kind yet strict. She is essential to the Harry Potter books as she keeps Harry alive multiple times throughout his schooling.

Harry Potter Book Cover Art. N.d. JPEG file.

Zeisler, Andi. Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2008. Print.

Women in advertisements part 2

This blog post will be about how women are portrayed in advertisements on television. The point of reference that I will be referring to is a snippet from a soap commercial that was specifically marketed towards women with the slogan “Love the skin you’re in.” The commercials would always portray a young woman with well cared-for skin, claiming that this brand of soap would preserve and care for a woman’s skin and, therefore, outward appearance. The commercial sets a standard of sorts that women of the world should conform to, and their brand of soap will, in essence, transform part of you into this “perfect woman.” This not only reinforces the stereotype that a woman should always focus on their looks, but it also puts more impressionable girls, like the younger teenage girls, under pressure to be like this ideal woman (as if teenagers didn’t have enough going on already).

To me, the slogan, “love the skin you’re in”, seems like a sneaky way to try to get girls to focus on improving their looks almost exclusively. Women, for a large part of history, were nearly always “supporters”. They were nurses, housewives, workers, and hardly ever held any kind of true power over affairs. Today, women are still held to this type of role in the minds of many Americans to some degree. This advertisement is no different. It subtly reinforces the idea that women are to focus on their looks for the enjoyment of others, while at the same time provides a powerful marketing ploy that basically claims “if you use this product, you can become an ideal woman with perfect skin.” But what is a perfect woman? Well, the answer is that there simply isn’t one. So why do American advertisers act as if there is and, consequently, put pressure upon all of womandom?

Well, I believe the answer lies solely in the hands of the American people. Specifically, the allure of money and our consumerist society has the most blame in my opinion, though the old habits and stereotypical beliefs of Americans today also play a part. The goal of every corporation in all of America is to make a profit. Without profit, people lose their jobs due to layoffs and their way of life is jeopardized. Obviously, therefore, corporations are going to use whatever they deem necessary in order to keep their business afloat. This is part of the reason that these companies use these advertisements aimed at women’s insecurities. By taking stereotypical adages and modifying them so that a product can be seen as the solution to an age old problem, companies make their product seem necessary to women of all ages. This only continues a vicious cycle-the more women buy the products under the pretense that they need it to please others with their outward appearance, the more the stereotype that women should focus on their appearance is rooted in our minds, which only serves to increase advertising’s power over the lives of women . And while all of this sounds like a heartless, terrible thing to do, (and to some extent, it is), we have to remember that these people selling these products are only doing so because they need to make a living just as much as we all do.

So what can we do to fix this problem with society? It’s a difficult question with many variables and things to consider. Is it worth weakening American industries and the economy and laying off thousands of workers due to lost profits so that women can “feel” more free from classical thought? Conversely- is it worth it for women to be oppressed and denied opportunities they could have enjoyed had they not been passed off as the weaker sex? Can the ideologies of a lifetime be simply replaced so easily? Should women feel weaker than man simply because of her double X chromosome combination? The answer to all of these questions should be a resounding “no”. But it’s not that simple. People have to put food on the table, but people have the right to have an enjoyable life as well. And if the continuing racist attitudes of the American people aren’t enough, time has shown many times that old prejudices die hard. And I am of the opinion that until the day comes that men and women are both completely equal in each and every way, (be it skin color, background, and gender(which is obviously impossible)), there will be prejudices and there will be discrepancies and there will be inherent differences between people. That’s what makes life not boring right? It’s up to us to suppress our prejudices against others, regardless of what kind of person they are, for the common good.

Rough Draft of Blog #1

Pen names have always been a common trend in the writing world. This is due to the fact that authors wanted their works to be judged by their writing not by who they were or where they were from or what nationality they were. Authors have abbreviated their names since the earliest of records for both ease of memorization and neural views by the public. This includes C.S. Lewis, Homer, and one of today most well known author, J.K. Rowling. One does not even have to get to her last name before an image of Harry Potter appears. But the author is not the sole decision maker in pen names. Before the world knew of Harry Potter and J.K Rowling, Joanne Rowling was simply trying to make a living by writing stories. In her case, it was the publisher who insisted on the use of a pen name in order to appeal to a larger audience. A larger audience in this case meaning both boys and girls because apparently boys do not read novels by female authors. Whether or not this strategy worked better than not having the pen name, no one will ever know however it does give insight into our society. As adults do we encourage this behavior of discriminating authors based on their gender or is this an idea formed from within? This male perspective on everything, or the male gaze, then becomes inherent. Now, does the same thing apply but to girls wanting to read Harry Potter? Women and girls are portrayed as the fragile and pure members of society. When authors such as Joanne Rowling publish under a pen name J.K Rowling, we are settling. It is often hard pressed to get into the writing business, especially as a female, but settling for a pen name in order to ‘get in’ can be considered unproductive in strict feminist views. However, J.K Rowling did a great thing by gaining a seat for “women at the proverbial table,” inspiring young authors that anyone with a goal in mind can achieve that which they set out to do (Zeisler, 2008, p 21).

Another thing to note is the absence of an about the author column on the back page of all Harry Potter book covers (see Image 1). Whether this was intentional for the sake of eliminating discrimination or in order to have a full picture of the story, I cannot quite be sure. As a fan of Harry Potter, I love being able to see J.K Rowling’s depiction of the story. It is a look into her vision of the wizarding world.

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Image 1:

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Harry Potter Book Cover Art. N.d. JPEG file.

http://www.world-wide-art.com/Mary_GrandPre/Harry_Potter_Harry_Potter_Limited_Edition_Deluxe_Book_Cover_Art_Set/vaid28718.html

Zeisler, Andi. Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2008. Print.

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