Women in Media
I’ve always been very intrigued by the images of women in media. More often than not, the media focuses and worships them based on their sexuality. One example is Marilyn Monroe. Her photos have been mimicked and re-shot by different actresses, like Britney, Paris, and Lindsay. Monroe was, in a sense, the original tabloid queen, her image and likeness still retain marketability. Coincidentally, all these women live their lives under the scrutiny of the media, and their sexualities are weaponized, willingly or not, selling their images for their self-sustainability in the entertainment media industry.
Women can technically be emblematic of the media, precisely apt because she is the image of constant obsession and fixation in media. In a world where women’s sexuality is weaponized, women attempt to take control of some of their objectification as a method to attack and survive. This draws parallels as to how media will use vicious methods against its competitors to ensure their livelihoods and survival.
Against the exponential increase of accessible information in our fast-moving digital age, NM has to struggle aggressively against the tides of competitors in order to stay relevant.
“Suggestiveness”
Concept: News Media uses the element of desire and suggestiveness to sell its messages to its audience.
My piece focuses on society using suggestiveness to mask disease, presenting it in a circular state of decay. The disease is how News Media has lost its proper sense of respectability and is falling into the rabbit hole of gutter politics, by using vapid and aggressive ways to clickbait people into reading. Many images are used in this composition to depict the prevalence of images creating a cluster of competition.
The composition starts in a cyclical downward spiral, with a large focus on the top on Monroe, slowly dwindling down decreasing in size till the final image of a woman with a hairdryer. The composition highlights the exponential increase in violence in the suggestive images, from an increasing metaphorical weaponization of sexuality- women using sexuality to their own advantage, as evidenced by Monroe, to a literal weaponization of sexuality- as evidenced from the actual weaponization of the hairdryer, which is a traditional feminine symbol.
The spiral creates an element of interactiveness as the composition can now be turned around, highlighting how the violence of sexuality is used exponentially through media’s eye, using it as a weapon to sell its messages.
After the review, Joy said that this idea was too large and I needed to narrow down my scope to something more concrete. She explained that I needed to meet my classmates halfway and allow them to understand at least half of what I am talking to them about. My ideas and perspectives should only come across as hints or suggestions so to provide internal thought and reflection from the viewer.
Personally, I was feeling very conflicted about my topic too.
“Media uses women to sell itself, so what?”
After much more research, I decided to link it to the concrete relatable theme of Capitalism. Media uses these scintillating images for an important purpose beyond ensuring self-sustainability. It sells ideas. This comes as a particularly interesting topic which i explore more in my post here: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/yuol0001/forest-gump-final-presentation/
