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Essay Three: Visual Analysis

 

In the introduction to“‘Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising and Violence,” the editors of Rereading America state that

Most of us like to think of ourselves as immune to the power of ads—we know that advertisers use sex to get our attention and that they make exaggerated claims about a product’s ability to make us attractive, popular, and successful.  Because we can see through these subtle or not-so-subtle messages, we assume that we’re too smart to be swayed by them.  But Jean Kilbourne argues that ads affect us in more profound and potentially damaging ways (488).

Undoubtedly, whether we are conscious of the effects that advertisements have on us or not, they and other types of images carry a number of intended and unintended messages.  Kilbourne believes that “the way that ads portray bodies—especially women’s bodies—as objects conditions us to see each other in dehumanizing ways, thus ‘normalizing’ attitudes that can lead to sexual aggression” (488).  What repeated messages and themes have you seen in advertisements and other images?  What attitudes do you believe that they normalize, and what do you think the consequences of this normalization might be?

 

For this assignment, you will choose three or four thematically linked images that you believe send a message or make an argument about gender roles in our society.  You will then write a paper in which you…

                …explain the message or argument that the images make.

…individually explain each image, carefully describing it and explaining how it makes the message or argument.

…tie all of the images together, explaining how they, together, reinforce the message or argument you have identified.

 

Your essay will be a minimum of four pages, typed, double-spaced in Times New Roman font, plus a Works Cited page (you should cite your images in addition to any other sources you use to support your argument).  Your essay should follow proper MLA format.