Damsel in Distress
Context: I found this image on Genderads.com under the ‘male gaze’ section and I am not sure of its original source. The website was started by Dr. Scott A. Lukas and focuses on analyzing the roles of gender and sexuality in advertising. This image appears to be advertising some sort of customer service provided for people who own this brand of vacuum.
Content: The content of this image is pretty complex so I am going to break it down into categories.
1) Women as stupid, incompetent, dependant
The success of this advertisement relies on the understanding that women are unable to accomplish anything on their own. From this image, it appears women can’t even manage to operate a simple vacuum cleaner without having to ask for help. The caption reaffirms this idea of someone coming to the rescue. The innocent, naïve look on the woman’s face constructs her as a ‘typical, stupid woman’ who can’t figure out what is going on.
2) Women as objects, dolls
The woman in this image is a white, presumably middle to upper class woman from the 1950s. She is so ‘made-up’ from her hair down to her heels that it is hard to believe she is a just an average woman doing housework. This links to the idea of representing women as sexual objects. Would she really be doing housework in a fitted dress that accentuates her breasts and wearing stockings and high heels? I doubt it.
3) Construction of gender roles
It is very clear what the expectations of women are in this image. Women should be sexy, skinny housewives who wear make-up and heels all day long. They should not be too intelligent or independent because that is what men are for.
4) The male gaze
This image also clearly constructs a male gaze. The woman appears to be literally ‘pinned up’ on display. She is bending over in a highly sexual position, her mouth is open, and her dress just happens to have gotten caught in her vacuum cleaner, revealing her perfectly shaped lower body.
5) Phallic symbol
The extension arm of the vacuum cleaner can be viewed as a phallic symbol. It is exaggerated in length and is located near her lower body. It has moved under her dress and then in an upward motion, similar to the action of penetration.
Form: This image is constructed in black and white with a plain white background. This allows the woman to be the focus of the image because there is nothing else fighting for our attention. She is mainly represented in white and light shades of grey, except for her eyes, lips, and stockings and heels. By making these few things darker, it draws attention to fragmented parts of the body and accentuates her sexuality. In addition to these elements, the use of lighting is very important in the construction of this image. If you view the image as divided into two triangles of light (the top left triangle and bottom right triangle) it becomes noticeable that the top portion of the image (containing the woman’s face) is in the dark—therefore, not important. The bottom right triangle (containing the woman’s lower body) is the only part of the image well lit—therefore given the most importance.
My reading/analysis: More than anything, this image relies on the recognition of the roles of a 1950's housewife. I believe this image represents the idea that women are not capable of accomplishing anything without the help of another person (male) and that they should only concern themselves with being proper women. This consists of working in the home and remaining skinny, beautiful, and sexy while doing so—all for the pleasure of men.