Fay: Transformation of IMages

Original image: (Sports Illustrated, December 2012)

Remixed Image: (backgrounds from Crate and Barrel, Spring 2013)

I began with an image advertising the new Lexus. On one side of the sedan is a male and on the other is a female. Nothing odd about this image, right? However, if you dissect the image, it says a lot about gender and technology. The man is on the driver’s side of the vehicle. This is suggesting that he is taking the wheel once the couple gets into the car. He stares straight ahead while the female stares at him. I see this as an allusion to the fact that females aren’t necessarily interested in automobiles, but rather more interested in attracting the male gaze. I saw this type of role assignment happening in many ads in a variety of media. Commercials for detergent often positioned women poring it into the washer machine; Ford truck ads in the Sunday newspaper feature a rugged man proudly petting his new truck; Finally, networks with shows like Top Gear (BBC) and Real Housewives of Georgia (Bravo) gear not only the themes of their shows, but also the commercials during breaks toward specific genders.      

My remixed image, therefore, contradicts what I have seen as typical gender-biases in technology advertisements. On the right, a man from the Lexus ad stands with his friends in the kitchen preparing food. Behind them is a white board with a “to do” list reminding him to go grocery shopping and to yoga at 10am. I have been so well-trained (or brainwashed) by the media that I immediately assumed that the to do list in this Pottery Barn catalogue was written by a woman. On the left-hand side of the image is the woman from the original image standing in a living room watching baseball on a flat screen television. So many television advertisements aim to appeal the sports-loving, beef-jerky eating, manly man. Here, we see a confident, attractive woman enjoying what most would believe to be a masculine pastime while her male counterpart prepares food for her in the kitchen. The domestic roles have changed as well.