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Amanda Chandler
Dr. Kopp
Mini Analysis 2
4 June 2014
I intended to uncover the content of the Godzilla commercial by suing the
readings within the class.
What I actually wrote dissected the commercial looking for misogynistic
cultural and lacked a bit more on specific examples by explaining and define term
within the readings.
A lack of Sex Ed with Snickers
Often times your subconscious takes control unconsciously. You can see one
idea, but your brain may interpret it as something else. The commercial I chose
stuck out to me for no reason known to me. I could barely remember anything
other than a fun loving Godzilla and a Godzilla who destroys. My first viewing
When I first watched it, I noticed Godzillas and his friends happiness because of
Godzillas awesomeness. An idea of manipulation until perfect, conforming to
positive or liked ideas and becoming what society deems worthy stuck out, but it
didnt feel right. When the audience conforms to what society deems worthy is
comparable to reading the main idea and projecting onto the text what we want to
see there. I thought of another commercial, one where I would peer into the
counter ideas I held and look at it the way others viewed it. That couldnt work
Comment [1]: Not entirely sure what you are
trying to say here.
Comment [2]: I think you should add a
statement like this in order to tell the audience
about projecting and finding the main idea.
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either;(use since or because here) conflicts of ethics would rampage through my
thoughts. I took a break and watched clicked through some of Youtube channels
and happened upon a Sex Ed channel by Laci Green. Shes an articulate feminist
looking to shatter preconceived expectations about sex, gender, and overall decent
human beings. In the, You Can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101) video I
watched featuring entertaining the idea of breaking a womens womans hymens
during the first time. She humored the false thought that the hymen breaks
because of penetration, when in fact it simply expands. In our culture, often sex is
seen as soiling women; the more powerful male dominates women ultimately
breaks them. Along this video, the recent Isla Vista shooting by white male, Elliot
Rodger, angered by his inability to receive sex from the females he desired, I
began exploring his ideas of punishing the women he thought he deserved to
experience sex and pleasure with, his right as an alpha male. I had become
immersed in feminist and the misogynistic, the #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen.
All of the semiotics worked together to aid in the formation of my ideas for the
commercial; the images, the texts, the audio, the real world experiences; I didnt
realize this of course, until I rewatched the Godzilla Snickers commercial
projecting a surprise.
With previous knowledge from my Visual Rhetoric, and Multimodal
Composition and the assigned Evaluating Writing readings once again I am
Comment [3]: I like your description of Laci
Green.
Comment [4]: I would re-word this sentence.
"In correlation to the _____ shooting..."
Comment [5]: maybe try feminism instead of
feminist
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coming to the conclusion to look at things with an open view and for a second,
even third time to see something new. Gallop explains in "The Ethics of Reading:
Close Encounters" how we all project our prejudices on texts without realizing it.
Gallop suggests that projections are when we force our ideas on a text when in fact
those concepts are not written in them. Here, Jane Gallop would intend for me to
discover more than what is actually in the text, or the purpose. She wants to me
close read and discover my own content, what I see the author wants me to see.
This requires me to explore the details rather than the main idea or what the author
of a text wants us to see we can encounter surprises that change the original
projections of the text, the context. By doing so I examine the text for what is
actually there without my projections and prejudices. When we close read we can
find the controlling idea the author may want us to find, but also interpret it for
something else. The commercial, when examined in a new light, conveyed nothing
about a candy bar, but instead something much darker.
In order to understand
this newly found dark light,
let me introduced you to the
opening scene scene. Initially,
the commercial opens up on a
beach where we first seem
Comment [6]: Reword this to be a little more
clear.
Comment [7]: This seems to repeat what you
have already told us in this paragraph.
Comment [8]: Nice topic sentence to the
paragraph!
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four men and with Godzilla, who is towering over all the other humans. A woman
enters from the left wearing shorts, an unbuttoned shirt, a bikini top and long
brown hair. She waves to the testosterone pack who then shouts in excitement,
congratulating Godzilla on the female attention. The scene where the brunette turns
to look towards them while her body faces the audience demonstrates Bergers
theory of European nude vs. nudity. In Ways of Seeing Berger mentions how
European cultures use women in art to objectify their bodies and depict ownership.
European artists portrayed women holding mirrors to show vanity when the artist
was in fact the artist ideas and cultural norms exposed the perception, not the
women. It reiterates the idea that women are for viewing pleasure. Berger argues
that the nakedness in art is not for the owner, but conveys a message of
submission to the owners demands. As the woman's body faces the audience,
we become the men in the background, we objectify her body and with her face in
their direction she is acknowledging them, and in turn us, the viewers. The women
is subjected to having her body viewed by the men within the commercial and the
viewers outside of it. Her looking at men while placing her body in our view
shows us that she understands her objectification. Her body may be towards us, but
because her face is looking into the eyes of the men, us, she understands her
submission, her feminism. She might even go to challenge it.
Comment [9]: Great example of Berger's
theory!
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The largest idea I want to call attention to is the main character in the
commercial, Godzilla, who after all is a monster. Godzilla is larger than every
human in the commercial while his friends are short and clearly weaker than him.
The reptile is the only one who receives female attention, exhibits ultimate
strength, competition, bravery and or risk taking behaviors. The traits he exhibits
all relate to the idea that men are seen in our society as dominant and more
aggressive, which is seen in the actions of Godzilla throughout the commercial.
During a ping pong match with his four weaker male friends his aggressive shot
wins him the game and he receives praise from his peers. While four wheeling he
is the only character that gets air on the ramp and once again receives praise. While
at the party the women only seem to dance and wave at him. The audience will
notice that no other women are found than when with Godzilla. In the party scene
he is the only one in the company of girls, and there are several male bystanders
looking in his direction, possibly in awe of his masculinity and ability to herd
women.
My projections about the next scenes were proven wrong as I found the
darker side of the commercial emerging and the possible views it was portraying
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about sex. Unfortunately I have assumed, for the possible sake of convenience and
my own prejudice toward the commercial that the women who appears in the
separate scenes is the original women who first waves to the pack on the beach.
Regardless of the masculine and misogynist culture I have happened upon in the
Snickers commercial, which contends to the idea that it would matter if it were the
same women or not, as long as there is a women and the male is receiving rightful
attention, which are all stereotypical masculine characteristics. Godzilla, the
monster embodies all that it is to be male. It must be fitting that juxtaposed next to
the party scene where Godzilla, the masculine has the company of two women is
the scene where he destroys the town and throws cars at the same friends who
praised him seconds before. However, the girls are missing now in the destruction
scene. These two clips are not jaw dropping it is the following scene after the four
friends throw the Snickers bar into Godzilla mouth. Godzilla and his four friends
return to the beach for water skiing, this time conveniently accompanied with a
brunette. It surprised me here in this moment. The only time that a woman was
with other men was directly after Godzilla was satisfied. Godzillas face displays a
euphoric emotion, as if he has just experienced an orgasm. Additionally, the black
male friend is the male who unwraps the candy bar and throws it into Godzillas
mouth. This goes along with the common stereotype of black males becoming
criminals who rape. The end credits rolls with Snickers catchphrase, Youre not
Comment [10]: Possibly needs a more
definite topic sentence before you lead into this
paragraph.
Comment [11]: criminals who would do what?
Comment [12]: rape, sexual assault.. etc.
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you when youre hungry...Snickers, satisfies.
These words juxtaposed with the clips from the
commercial play off on the misogynistic culture.
Berger would argue that The Snickers acts as
product that you as a consumer need, want and crave. Sounds a bit like sex doesnt
it? The candy can motivate, empower and enable, in this case masculinity. The
following clips seal the deal.
We watch Godzilla dance with a women, next thing we know
Godzilla has been enraged and terrorizes the city. After being fed the
Snickers his anger releases and he return to him calmer, awesome
masculine state, with the company of a women. What caused the
anger?
The woman.
Its the same reason Elliot Rodger killed the women. He deserved them as
the alpha male. It was his right and he did not obtain them. Women apparently are
Comment [13]: Would your audience
understand who this is?
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still possessions in society. Did the women dancing with Godzilla no longer want
to pursue a romantic relationship? Was it ever a romantic relationship? Did
Godzilla attempt for a sexual encounter and was turned down thus inducing his
rage, the murder, the rape? After not
receiving what he wanted did the alpha
male morph into a monster? Was the
male so aggressive, so risky that the
only way to calm him down was to
satisfy him, to give him what he wanted, needed, deserved?
Thinking back to Laci Greens You Can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN
101) I thought about masculinity and virginity. The end credits of the commercial
display slow-motion clip of a snickers bar getting cloaked in Chocolate and then
breaking in half. The caramel and chocolate from the bar separate slowly and even
hang over the space in-between the breaking bar. Like the misconception of the
hymen breaking during sex the bar breaks too, corresponding with the misguided
idea. By displaying at the end of the commercial the chocolate bar breaking, it
reinforces the idea of men assuming power over women in society and sex. When
we dissect texts and closely read and examine them we begin to pick apart
ourselves and our ideas. Then, and only then can we revise ourselves, shatter our
prejudices, change and become aware of our projections we hold on others and
Comment [14]: I would somehow combine
the ideas of these last two paragraphs. It is a
lot of information that when combined I think
could make for a clearer conclusion.
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their works, which allows us to learn. Our ideas can grow, change and shape the
way we see the world, whether we are aware of it or not.
My ideas are my own, well, my own to an extent. I would not have looked
for the display of a misogynistic culture in a candy commercial without the
assistance the readings, the education, and the experiences I have encountered. Its a
tricky concept semiotics. As the idea of images conveying meaning, I have
discovered that the snickers commercial is as much about misogynistic culture and
not about misogynistic culture as is it about candy. My subconscious took the rein
for these ideas to form. However, they are not the real, true meaning, as there can
never be real meaning. Our projections can be considered only when there is
evidence for them. With the commercial I have dissected it and compiled evidence.
In turn, this evidence can be evidence for a completely different projection for
someone else. I urge you to challenge all they you take in. Dismantle your
projections, bring them to your own attention. We will always have projections and
I just want to promote the understanding and continually injury of projections.