My source image is a Calvin Klein advertisement, starring Hollywood actress Eva Mendes. I found the advertisement not in a magazine, but on a website ironically called 'I Can't Believe It's Not Porn'. The site does not parody ads, as I was hoping it might. Instead it houses many very sexual images found in everyday print advertising. This advertisement is overtly sexual, and undoubtedly sadomasochistic. In advertising, this sort of imagery is common, though not always as obvious.
When I started this assignment, I had high heels in mind as a typical female signifier. High heels can also be, as those of us who have worn them know, a source of torturous pain. I thought it might be interesting to put a man in the extremely uncomfortable garb that women are encouraged to wear to in order to increase their desirability.
Combining the image of Eva with one of the strongest male athletic types with one of the highest pain thresholds- a wrestler- provides an interesting parallel, both visually and ideaologically.
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