As I was gathering together images to represent “my media influences” (shown above), I realized about half-way through– Whoops! These are all men. I had Johnny, Michael, Chuck, and was about to go for Stevie, when I thought, I need some more women up here. Sure, Potter has a female author, but I wasn’t sure I wanted her to be the forefront female representation (especially with her most recent controversy). So for a second there, my mind just blanked, and I panicked. Holy crap. My media influences have been dominated by the patriarchy. And I call myself a feminist.
Of course, is that really much of a surprise? Being an English major, I am exposed to a primarily male dominated literary canon, but I honestly expected better from my training as an English major. From my classes, I am incredibly familiar with the literary theories and schools of criticism listed on the Purdue Owl website. A lot of my classes have especially focused on applying Marxism, Feminism, and Queer theory (all of which can end up in conversation with one another when analyzing texts)– which is why I was a little disappointed in my instinct to pick male media influences above all others. It’s not that I’m anti-male, because true feminists care about equality for all genders– it’s just that I feel like some female representation among a list of greats is required. So, if I was going to apply a literary theory to my range of media influences, I would probably start with a feminist critique and look into the reasons why my instinct went where it did.
Speaking of Feminism, that’s the topic of today’s assignment, where we watched the Peloton ad that went viral and Ryan Reynolds’ response in the form of a vodka ad. I can definitely see how the Peloton ad could have been construed as sexist. The ad features a female who is gifted an exercise bike by her husband. This ad leans toward hetero-normative ideals of feminist identity, where the female must maintain a specific body image in order to appease the gaze of her husband while simultaneously achieving a certain status of self-worth.
However, this type of sexist interpretation was more subtle than most. From beginning to end, it could be perceived as just a woman enjoying a gift from her husband, which is probably where the backlash to the criticism stems from. Many people might argue the commercial is simply what it is, and there is no deeper anti-feminist motive to the company’s message. Maybe he just sincerely cares about her health, or maybe she asked him to buy her Peloton bike– we don’t know the back story!
I say, to each their own. Personally, I didn’t find the ad offensive to my own sense of female identity or beliefs, but I could definitely see where others might take issue. Logically speaking, it seems either side of the argument is warranted by the many possible sides one could take on the matter. But I want to hear what you think! Leave your own thoughts on the matter in the comments below: What is your take on the Peloton ad? What do you think of Ryan Reynolds’ response?
Melissa Voita - JMC 309 