marvbr117

[marvbr117]

Areas of Exploration, Persepolis

Satrapi uses multiple subtle methods throughout the first page of the comic to create meaning.

The one most hidden in plain sight one is the color. The whole comic is black and white, therefore automatically equalizing all the content of the pages, this mirrors how the veil equalizes women into all being the same, this notion is further highlighted with the first two panels, in which all the schoolgirls are lined up for a school picture. However, in this picture it is very hard to differentiate the schoolgirls due to the veil having made them all the same and stripping their identity.

The color in this comic also helps highlight contrast between the purity and the corruption of the third and fourth panels. With the 3rd panel being a group of people protesting against the veil, the act is aggresive and has negative connotations (dark -> black), meanwhile the 4th panel is schoolgirls entering a school while being told to wear said veil, with no protest, the schoolgirls are innocent and are just on their way to learn (innocent -> white)

Lastly in the the 5th and last panel of the page, you can see what's going on inside the schoolyard. The girls are playing around with the veil, using it as a leash, putting it over their heads to resemble a monster, removing it because its too hot, nothing serious. You can see that the girls don't respect the veil. However if you go back to the 4th panel you realise this is not meant as disrespect. In the 4th panel you see a teacher giving them a veil with no explanations, simply telling them to put it on, therefore its evident that the girls dont have much respect fort the veil, simply because they misunderstand it.

[marvbr117]

Symbolism of the paperweight in 1984

My focus is not on the paperweight as a whole, rather than it's components. The coral itself represents the illusion of freedom and rebellion and the clear material encapsulating the paperweight (most likely a sort of glass) represents the life of the idea (as an adjective). The glass is a protectiveness, a shield against letting this dream get scathed.

When Winston finds and buys the paperweight, it's a physical representation of Julia and Winston's rebellion against the party.

When the glass is shattered by the thought police, the illusion's protection is shattered as well, both the coral and the illusion of rebellion crumbling down onto the floor.

[marvbr117]

How can people see the same thing differently? Do the ads from HSBC promote open mindedness?

Perspective is what builds the world around us. Wether we like it or not we have a perspective on every little thing we experience wether it be toast being burnt or a job contract getting terminated. 

The ad shows four different scenarios, a woman being crowned proom queen, a picture of shoelaces (hinting at a child learning to tie their laces for the first time), and an astronaut on the moon 

These are all achievments, to us some of them seem insignificant next to the ones next to it, in most cases being crowned prom queen seems inferior to landing on the moon, one requires being popular and pretty, and the other one requires years of training and a fair amount of scientific knowledge. 

However, what if it wasn’t us who was looking at this ad? what if it was a 16 year old girl who spent last weekend excitedly shopping for prom dresses, with her biggest wish right now being to be crowned queen at the americian tradition known as prom.

Now switch out the 16 year old girl with a 4 year old boy, this little boy has been obsessed with space for as long as we can remember, even at the non-verbal age he was excitedly squealing at the TV whenever a docuseries about the planets was shown. Now for him while the shoelaces are exciting, the astronaut dream is euphoric, while the prom queen is disregarded entirely.

How significant an event is depends on the person’s perception, and their own personal values and beliefs. This HSBC add is trying to showcase just that.

[marvbr117]

Reflection on: Representation

Imagine a male politician was depicted instead of a female politician. How would the effect of this image be different, if he were to appear in the same position with the same clothing and facial expression? How are male and female politicians represented differently by the media and for what reasons?

There’s always been the stereotype of men being seen as big strong powerful figures while women are seen as more innocent, delicate, and submissive. While in today’s society women and men find themselves breaking out of these gender-typical norms, this concept still manages to sneakily manifest itself, this magazine cover being a very good example of it. 

The photo here uses very understatingly feminine traits, such as the crossing of the politician’s legs and the hand on her face. When first looking at this, the femininity of the image does not jump out at us, however, if we mentally replace the woman in the image with a man (still in the same position) we would be slightly off-put, in fact to some it may seem a bit humorous. 

A quick Google search of “male politicians on magazine covers” or “male politician magazine covers” will demonstrate that whenever the full or upper body of a male politician is shown they’re sitting/standing straight with their arms in a powerful/authoritative position (e.g crossed in front of their chest or on their hips). 

However, a lot of the time, magazine covers presenting male politicians usually do not use full body shots, instead opting for a close-up of their face, meanwhile with female politicians they’re most of the time if not always in a full body shot. This may contribute to the narrative of the focus on women’s appearance (such as clothes, body, etc..) overshadowing their intellectual properties, with this focus still being present in politics. Despite these intelligent women being in positions of power women politicians still tend to receive more attention to their appearance and personal life than men do. 

Adding further contrast to the visual narrative between the two genders in their expression, typically men are seen with strong, serious expressions. Women on the other hand are usually sporting soft, sometimes smiling expressions. This brings us back to the stereotype that women are more “delicate”, “soft” or generally less aggressive. Contrubuting to this, women often face more criticism for being aggressive or ambitious, while men are often praised the same traits.

This all contributes to the argument that amid societal strides toward equality, the inability to completely shed ingrained gender norms remains a stark reality, as shown in media representations of politicians