Blog 9 Mazda Tv Commercial

The Mazda Australia commercial reflects the way the environment is intertwined with people, and it focuses on creating a sense that the car is the key link between the two. This is an advertisement where not only is the car portrayed as a multipurpose vehicle, but also as an essential part of this culture since the narration shows how the car will be present in important instances of a person’s life. I find it interesting how the first man shown driving, is as if he was synchronized with the dolphins swimming by the shore, the narrator also tells how the man is brought to this place thanks to this car. What can also be noted from this first scene is the manner in which this actor is dressed. Not only can it be inferred that this man is wealthy, since he owns this car, but his attire refers to a business type of man. Such small detail correlates to the idea that although business men live in cities there is always the chance to escape into nature. As he drives alongside the ocean, the narrator tells how this car will provide the opportunity of “taking you to places that will take your breath away”. According to Noel Sturgeon, television has made us perceive and associate white men with wealth and technology. In Environmentalism and Popular Culture Noel states it is common for individuals to associate white men with technology and civilization” (28). This is the exact case in this commercial, this man represents wealth, sportiveness, and the car also adds to the technology aspect. The ocean in the background serves as a balance to this car; it is rhetorical strategy advertising companies use to attract diverse costumers.

The second scene of the commercial depicts a young woman leaving home, and how the car being portrayed is the factor that enables her to bring some of her home with her. It is as if the car not only reaches a material level but it becomes a connection between people and their lives. The proceeding occurrence that also shows how the car brings nature to people is when the couple park by fields, hence “sparking the moments one can’t help to seize” as the narrator says. These instances of the ad make me believe that the couple would not have had the chance of being at this one place without this car. It is as if it hadn’t been for the car the couple in the third seen would not have been able to feel connected this way, to have experienced romance in such a natural way. It is as if this car is the link between human’s life and nature. As if all of these instances where not enough for portraying the linkage of technology and nature, there is the addition of a typical view of the car cruising through the countryside. The usage of the scenes to integrate the audience, and help them relate to the product thought the mindset that this car is needed in order to have that connection with nature.

Works Cited

Sturgeon, Noël. “The Politics of the Natural in U.S. History and Popular Culture.” Environmentalism in Popular Culture. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2009. 17-49. Print.

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Blog 9

The ad for the Marc Jacobs’ fragrance, Daisy Eau So Fresh, shows a young girl lying in a field of daisies, dressed in white and holding a much larger replica of the original perfume bottle. This ad deals with gender and its association with nature. According to Noel Sturgeon’s book, Environmentalism and Popular Culture, the “representation of women as natural and nature as female is very common” (29). Since the backdrop of this ad is a field of daisies, this gives off the impression that the model is simply a flower in the field. She is portrayed as being indistinguishable from nature. This depiction is part of the common theme seen in U.S. popular culture that paints women as Mother Nature. This ad completely supports Sturgeon’s argument when she says, “Ads frequently portray women as landscapes, as surrounded or subsumed by nature, while men are often shown physically dominating nature” (29). Another pattern to note when observing this ad is “the association of white women with nature used to represent purity and health” (32). From the ad we can see that the woman has an extremely fair complexion, she most likely has blonde hair since another ad for the same Marc Jacobs’ perfume uses a blonde haired girl, and she is dressed in all white. Ever since Biblical times, white has been used to represent purity and wholeness. The designer’s choice to dress the model in white shows how she is so pure and thus natural, just like the fields she is posing in. According to Sturgeon, “Men’s nature is to control nature, while women’s nature is to be nature” (29). In this ad the girl is clearly trying to be nature since her body is strewn in the field and being caressed by the daisies. One last thing that I would like to mention is that the skin color of the model — the whiteness of her complexion — supports “the racist overlay of the association of good with white and bad with dark skin” (39). A white, female model embodies and supports the dominant tropes seen in pop culture: nature as female, representation of women’s nature as to be nature, association of white women with natures, and association of good with white.

Works Cited:

Sturgeon, Noël. “The Politics of the Natural in U.S. History and Popular Culture.” Environmentalism in Popular Culture. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2009. 17-49. Print.

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Blog #9 Instructions

In the first two chapters of her book Environmentalism and Popular Culture, Noel Sturgeon identifies common tropes of nature that reappear in pop culture and analyzes many ads and images to illustrate her points. For your final blog response, pick an advertisement from pop culture (a print ad or commercial) and analyze it as Sturgeon does–in other words, how can you interpret this product of pop culture using the concepts and arguments presented in the reading? In your post, feel free to show how the pop culture product you chose to analyze upholds or limits Sturgeon’s argument, and feel free to add to/extend her argument if needed in your analysis.

Additional Guidelines:

Interpreting pop culture is fun but this may seem a little different, especially since you are more accustomed to writing about written texts than print ads. As I said, use Sturgeon’s many examples as a guide to this type of analysis. Here are some additional guidelines to keep you on the right track:

1. Choose an ad and complete your own analysis/interpretation. Don’t choose an article where someone else has given their argument about an ad–this will not satisfy the assignment, as someone else has already done the hard work for you.

2. Use the reading and specific details from the ad as support–tell us what you think the ad is doing, then show us how you reached that conclusion.
*DON’T* give an argument without support–we’ll have no idea how you reached that conclusion.

3. Discuss how the ad you’ve chosen supports, refutes, limits, and/or extends the arguments presented in the reading and/or it’s greater significance (what’s at stake). Don’t assume that the ad you’ve chosen means nothing–saying that “it’s just an ad” is too easy. It’s also not true–everything is a text that can be interpreted in multiple ways. You may agree with some interpretations more than others, but it does not change the fact that an interpretation can be made.

4. Feel free to use this opportunity to be creative and take intellectual risks–just because something is not obvious, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. In fact, interpretations/analyses that are less obvious are often more interesting and demonstrate more advanced critical thinking. Just make sure, as always, to show us how you reached these conclusions.

5. Don’t stress yourself out trying to find the “right” answer. There is not a single correct answer–only interpretations. Some interpretations are stronger than others, but only because they are more strongly supported. So remember, the stronger your support, the stronger your interpretation.

5. Provide a link or other info to the ad you’ve chosen. If it’s a video, embed the video or post a link. If it’s an ad, scan the ad and embed it in your blog or post a link to the ad. We want to see what you are discussing!

This blog is due Monday, April 16. Comments are due Wednesday, April 18.

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