Perfect Balance Of Fantasy And Reality Essay

, Research Paper

Potential in the Perfect Balance of Fantasy and Reality

In her 1998 Seattle Weekly article, .You Get Me Closer to God,. Lauren Goodlad discusses the media.s exploitation of sadomasochism and society.s inability to accept it as the norm. She believes that in such a sexually divided and competitive culture, sadomasochism is inevitable, and would not be so perverse if men and women learned to communicate. Goodlad claims that with the increase gaps between genders, everyone is expected to abide by their masculine or feminine roles and this forces them to suppress their true sexual desires. By being daring enough to break these gender rules, the media creates for us fantasies that we are too insecure to create for ourselves. In applying Goodlad.s ideas of human sexuality and gender lines to an ad for Candie.s fragrances, I found that advertisements using a hint of sadomasochism while maintaining society.s view of .manliness. may be the next biggest thing, because they combine both the fantasy of erotic appeal and the reality of gender roles.

At first glance, the ad depicts an attractive woman lying across the lap of a macho man. On her perfectly made up face one notices the direct eye contact. On her lean figure one notices a fitted outfit. By masculine standards, what makes this woman desirable to most any man is what Goodlad describes as the pin-up look, ... liposuction and surgical implants.. face-lifts, diet pills... (37). Although the falsities may not be the case with this specific Candie.s girl, she nonetheless has all the makings of the Victoria.s Secret model that women want to be and men simply want. In analyzing the pose of the woman.s shapely body, it is debatable whether she is in a position of submission or one of power. The evidence that supports the latter is the man in the picture. Dennis Rodman, known as a macho bad-boy, is dressed in satin, Capri pajama bottoms holding the book Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus. He is evidently deep in thought and by no means aggressive in this scene.

Where a woman is usually the one to read and contemplate the meanings of a relationship and the man is the nonchalant dominator, the role reversal in this ad is obvious. This woman is repressing the man with little more than her legs and buttocks, yet her arms are casually behind her head instead of taking part in holding him down. This position literally places the woman .on top,. and shows her maintaining it with little effort. The ad has broken society.s gender roles by allowing a sexy, desirable woman to be in a non-submissive position of strength. Even her countenance reflects this fact. The Candie.s girl is staring directly into the viewer.s eyes with a look of satisfaction and boldness, while her counterpart is looking away with an expression that is indecisive and Mona Lisa-like, meaning it.s hard to define and varies with one.s perception. These traits, as Goodlad points out, are all characteristics of a typical female .trapped in self-fulfilling prophecies of [their] own making. (37).

Clad in black, the color most often related to dominance and evil, and giving no attention to the man she is suppressing, this woman obviously has power. On the other hand, Rodman is wearing orange satin, but does this mean he is weak and suppressed. The tattoos, the piercings, and the muscles all tell me no because these are characteristics related to withholding pain and having strength, which represents masculinity. Therefore, the reality of a man.s role to be macho still exists in this ad. What makes it appealing is the fact that the masculine gender role coexists with the fantastical idea of a woman who is dominant and desirable, this latter fact being proven by the Candie.s girl.s own looks and expressions. This combination cannot be achieved in real life due to human insecurities, and the fact that it does exist in this ad is the main part of its appeal. Men are supposedly ... consumers of macho lifestyle products: beer, cars, fast food, video games, action movies, sports, and most notably, a new wave of soft-porn men.s magazines like Maxim and Details. (36) while women .establish their credentials as pin-ups. (36). These points made by Goodlad subsist in this ad, but at the same time the woman is shown to have dominance over the powerful man, which she insists cannot happen in reality, .[women.s] sexual submissiveness is incompatible with strength. (38). What Goodlad insists is that the expected roles of men and women today, does not allow women to have any control. But the Candie.s ad disproves this, by showing a woman dominating a powerful man, and the ad goes a step further to show that not only can this happen but people actually respond positively towards it.

Rebutting Goodlad.s statement, I think the Candie.s ad shows how the media has once again found a new form of advertisement to lure buyers through the creation of something even more fantastical than just sadomasochism. What they have done is combine something that fulfills people.s desires, sadomasochism, with the natural roles that these people play in their everyday lives, the masculine male versus feminine female image. With this unity, the outcome is a modernized form of soft-porn which satisfies both the inner, sexual cravings of viewers and also culture.s expectations of feminine and masculine roles. This new formation then is still fantastical, but has a