The Male Gaze, Advertising, and oppa Phillgnam Style!

2. TODAY
1) A different kind of icebreaker
2) Advertising and the Male Gaze: the
reading
3) Let’s rhetorically analyze some ads!
4) A commentary on rhetorical analysis of
visual media
5) Homework

3. Here we go!
So for four weeks I asked I had you
volunteer information about yourselves.
Today, I’m going to take you inside my world.
Warning– this is a nerd alert. You might want
to avert your eyes if you are easily offended
by dorkery.
But here’s something from my weekend.

4. One of my loves…
Is Saturday Night Live. You might not know
how great it once was– since it’s been so-so
during your lifetimes– but it was at one point
the most cutting-edge non-comedy club
venue for subversive comedy. You will
see, in Inquiry 3, the legacy that has left
(political satire). But I want to show you one
of the skits from this weekend’s show.

6. So… what?
I chose to share that for a few reasons.
1) I think it’s pretty funny
2) It does some interesting critical inquiry all
by itself
3) I instantly started doing rhetorical
analysis of the bit as I was watching.
Do you all know the video it’s referencing?

7. To transition…
Now I’d like to talk a bit about the reading
you did for today. It’s one way into rhetorical
analysis of advertising. The male
gaze, which it talks about, is something you
can apply to almost every visual medium in
Western culture.
So let’s talk just a bit about what that means.

8. The Male Gaze
Imagine this:
…meets this.

9. Resulting in ads like this…
Think for a moment
about the mixed
messaging here. This is
an advertisement– if
you can even see that
part of the ad– for
Pantene hair
products, targeted at
women. But where does
the eye go, thanks to
the male gaze, when
you see the ad? Her
gorgeous hair, right?

10. Gaze. Not graze.

11. Gaze. Not graze.

12. So with all of this in mind…
I want to do some rhetorical analysis of a series
of advertisements. I’m going to go through them
and give us some time to look at them and talk.

15. A number of
these, of
course, use sex
to sell.

19. You’re looking
at the
food, right?

20. But it’s not all
sex! I promise!

29. Remember
symbolism
?

33. Okay, maybe a little more sex

35. JUXTAPOSITION

36. Your eyes went here, right?

40. With all that, a comment
One of the things I have hoped to model to you
with these activities is not JUST how rhetorical
analysis can work but also how some things do
not lend themselves to a long analysis. For
example, look back up at the Hell in a Cell
poster. “CM Punk is symbolically represented
as the devil.” Okay, we’re done here.
You have to look at something complex, and
really dig into it, in order to do a
sustained, robust analysis like what this inquiry
calls for. Simple rhetorical analysis will not do it.

41. Homework
Read for class: CCM: “Good Hair” p.99 and
“Senators Use Rhetoric, Too” p. 106
Tumblr question: What is one ad from the
past year that vividly remains with you? Post
the first one that comes to mind.
Tumblr prompt: There are five posters on
my Tumblr. Pick one and do a rhetorical
analysis of it. Or pick two. They’re small.