Image Assignment

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

SKILLS USED: Academic Research; Graphic Design; Adobe Photoshop.

Image Assignment – Statement of Approach

For the purpose of the image, we were leveraging the form of the triptych in literal and symbolic ways in order to contemplate the past, present and future of the topic under investigation. I studied constructs of masculinity and femininity in American popular media to explore how representations create and reflect our society’s perceptions of gender in order to help my viewer see how their gender identity has been shaped by their environment, and encourage my readers to take initiative in individually defining gender outside of a strict binary for themselves and for their families.

Foundational Image Analysis: I chose to use central images that center around children and their perceptions of gender because it is in childhood when many of our identities are being formed. As our society begins to consume media images (not just television) at an exponentially greater frequency, and at younger ages, this issue becomes even more relevant.

Past: For my past image I chose images of Cinderella and Prince Charming because they have been important characters in the lives of children for generations. Although the Cinderella characters have been popularized in Europe since Charles Perrault’s 1697 print version and the classic Disney adaptation was released in 1950, their presence has remained predominant today. These images bring to mind the story that they are contained in, and the character’s traits, goals, and values. Their images connote an idealized version of beauty and romance.

Present: For my present image I chose an image of a boy wearing a 2011 Captain America costume because it shows the current role that hero characters play in children’s lives. Heroes, especially those superhuman, are often reflections of a society’s ideals. From the start, Captain America was envisioned as the ideal American response to evil. This man was transformed from being invisible to society – suffering from health problems, thin, and nonathletic – to a celebrated hero – big, muscular, hegemonically masculine, and aggressive fighter. The mythic meaning of the Captain America costume is that patriotism, strength, fighting, hegemonic masculinity, and value are all linked and are things that all American men should strive for. Strength is favored over vulnerability, especially emotional.  Idyllic characters like Captain America help to “frame gender” (Myers. 2012.) for impressionable kids, and often do so (as Captain America exemplifies) in very restrictive ways.

Future: For my future image I chose not to use something historically recognizable. By using a silhouette instead of a photo, I removed specificity and allowed for a wider audience to place themselves in the frame, and thereby be interpolated into the image. I was inspired by how artist Kara Walker uses silhouettes to deal with issues of identity, often obscuring or removing visual confirmation of her character’s race or sex and asking the viewer to fill in the blank with their own imagination. In this way, Walker forces her audience to confront what information leads them to make assumptions about a figure’s identity, and affords them the opportunity to create different meanings by changing what they imagine is underneath the silhouettes. In my case, I wanted the silhouetted figures to become blank slates for the viewer’s vision of gender in the future. The mythic meaning of this image is that parents should be close to their children and support them. I used this image to reinforce the importance that future generations and their parents have in determining how our society defines and lives out gender (hopefully in healthier, more open-minded ways).

Image Interrelationships: By juxtaposing many different idyllic male archetypes, I highlighted their common traits – muscular, violent, confident, heterosexual, domineering, etc. – and how these all pose themselves as role models for boys and men. By choosing images from different times in history, I illustrated how hegemonic masculinity has taken different forms over time, but retained many of its same traits. By placing images targeted at adolescent and adult audiences I commented on how both kinds are widely digested by children. Whether advertising is meant for children or not, it is increasingly accessible to them as time progresses, and so we must think about the impacts that all media has on youth. By juxtaposing an accumulation of visual hegemonic gender ideals, which do not align with the general population, and subverting them with text, I exposed how notions of gender are constructed rather than just existing inherently.