Monday, 10 November 2014

Lady Gaga Fame advert





The advert supports Gauntlet’s view of women, where they should be able to get what they want out of men. Lady Gaga is letting the men climb on her, so she is getting what she wants from men, because she does not seem to mind from her facial expression. Gauntlet thinks men should not dictate the terms of the relationship. The advert is the opposite way round, because if anything Lady Gaga is in charge of her relationships with men. She is seen bigger than them, which signifies she has control. Gauntlet also holds the view that women should have the right to look and dress however they like.

In the advert Lady Gaga is naked, connoting that she is in control, and does not have to wear clothes if she does not want to. However arguably the men covering her could signify that the men are controlling what she wears, because they are dressing her themselves. Also arguably the advert could connote that Lady Gaga is innocently lying down, and the men are walking all over her. McRobbie believes that woman should know their own bodies and needs, which the advert supports. This is shown by Lady Gaga lying naked, she looks very relaxed and confident with her own body. She has no problem with men viewing her because she knows her body and needs. McRobbie also thinks that women should make their own decisions based on their own interests, and not what other people want them to do. The advert connotes that Lady Gaga is in control through her expression and size, which shows she is in control and made her own decisions.

The size of Lady Gaga compared to the men connotes that she is powerful, and that she is not purely there to be a sexual object. Possibly the male gaze theory is reversed, with the men being sexual objects for Lady Gaga’s desire. The advert could support Mulvey’s theory because a seductive, naked woman is on the front. However the message the advert shows does not support it. The male gaze theory states that women are styled to be displayed to make maximum visual and erotic impact. But the advert is not created to do this, otherwise the men would not be climbing on her. The advert is aimed at women , and so it was not designed to draw the attention of men. It signifies to women that with the perfume they can be just like Lady Gaga, which is being in control and powerful. Lady Gaga is looking away from the men, which signifies she is too powerful for them. The perfume is called Fame, which signifies when famous women are above men. They have a function in media other than being a man’s desire, showing that the advert is against the male gaze theory. Therefore the advert connotes that using the perfume gives women fame, leading to them becoming powerful.

According to Freud’s Madonna/Whore theory, Lady Gaga would be a whore. Lady Gaga is not seen as the stereotypical female wife, and so she would not be a Madonna. Nothing in the advert signifies that Lady Gaga is good at ‘wifely’ domestic activities, such as cooking and cleaning. Lady Gaga is not hiding her body, but showing it to all the men. She looks unashamed of showing her body, meaning she is a whore. However the mask she is wearing could be to signify that she is hiding her eyes, because she is innocent and pure, and so possibly a Madonna. However this is probably not the case, the mask connotes that she is mysterious and sexual. The mask makes her look like a bad girl, and experienced in the bedroom, signifying in the theory that she is a whore.

The reason I have analysed the Lady Gaga advert is because in the future we will be creating our own media text, a film opening sequence, and this can me think about how I will construct female characters. However this task was mainly practice for analysing, and including theories. In the future I will analyse film opening sequences, and I first need to be able to analyse still images.

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