Study Task 2

A critical analysis of an image which sums up the Gaze

This shoe campaign from Australia promotes the way men think women should look, 'There's a preoccupation with the visual image- of self and others- and a concomitant anxiety about how these images measure up to socially prescribed ideal.' The woman in the advert is tall, slim, well dressed and beautifully. She promotes a body image that most women would like to gain but in some cases is unattainable. This false view of what the typical women looks like puts the women in society in an insecure position, 'beauty advice, fashion tips are effective precisely because somewhere, perhaps even subconsciously, an anxiety, rather than a pleasurable identification is awakened.' This idea of women feeling as though they don't measure up to the women on the billboards or on the magazine is a constant reflection in the public eye. Th way the media has become self-obsessed with image is unhealthy and has an impact on females. The men in this campaign play an important role. The strong image of the male at the front reaching for the women as though she is out of his reach suggests that not only is she unattainable for the women to become her but also for the men who want her. It also suggests that she is some sort of object that can simply grabbed hold of. The unachievable concept in this campaign also implies fantasy rather than reality; 'The saturation of society with images of women has nothing to do with men's natural appreciation of objective beauty, their aesthetic appreciation  and everything to do with an obsessive recording and use of women's images in way to make men comfortable.' This suggests that men are inclined to the idea of certain aspirations of women but when it actually comes down to it, they prefer to stay in their comfort zone and keep things the way they are used to. 'Advertising in this society builds precisely on the creation of an anxiety to the effect that, unless we measure up, we will not be loved.' This proposal of how advertising spends to much time trying to meet up to the societies expectations is intensified in this advert. The media think they know that the public want to see, the 'Mouth, hair, eyes, eyelashes' but in fact it is all built up pressure. The number of males out number the one women in the image, the men having no tops on and sporting a masculine physic suggests a sexual reference.