Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Murdered is the new black

Vox ex Machima has a roundup of some of the more disturbing stories of violence against women in the news;

and connects them to the apparent trend for fashion victims. As in: models made up to look like rape, assault, and murder victims. From that Dolce and Gabbana ad to America's Next Top Model.

You can find some of the actual photos at Zap2It, or back at Vox. Warning: stylized as they are, some of them are pretty frigging disturbing. I think, anyway; and I'm not as easily disturbed, I think, as some.

The comments via Top Model are kind of friggin' surreal. I mean, I get it: aesthetics über alles, but um. Why this? No, seriously, wtf?



Renee
Poisoned by a Model

...

Miss J: What's great about this is that you can also look beautiful in death.

...Nigel: You look incredible in front of me here. You look beautiful in this picture. This is a full package right now. (later) I think Renee does photograph a little on the old side, but it's still a beautiful face.

...


Dionne
Shot by a Model

Miss J: I love the broken-down leg. It's absolute genius

...

Felicia
Decapitated by a Model

Twiggy: I think she's very beautiful. I don't like this photograph this week.

Miss J: You're so used to moving, that when you're dead, you're just that: capital D-E-A-D, dead.

Nigel: All the other girls managed to have some sort of spark even in this sort of morbid situation. I think I look at you in this picture, and you actually just look dead. One of the simplest things, like acting dead, can be the most challenging. The problem is that you didn't do anything. You just gave up and thought that that was being dead.



I also thought of this post by my pal fastlad, who made the following connection:

9 comments:

Central Content Publisher said...

Did you read the whole Dolce and Gabbana ad story? It's weird that all the commentators in the article are comparing the ad in question to porn, when clearly the issue with the ad is violence. The same with the comparison to the British removal of a knife fight ad to an ad suggestively advertising a lesbian tv show.

Do these people not realize the difference between sex and violence?

Mind you, I sort-of oppose banning depictions of violence. I'd rather people talked about them. But, the level of discourse that pops up around this stuff is just mind-numbing.

Anonymous said...

ugh, these ads are so gross. I like fashion and style and all that stuff that is supposed to make me a mindless sexbot or something, but these ads are going way too far. violence is NOT sexy.

belledame222 said...

when I first saw the D & G ad, I thought it was ambiguous enough to pass as "group sex" rather than "rape," although I still found it creepy and unnerving. they ALL look kind of shiny and blank and dead.

in context with all the rest of it, though...

yeah.

and yeah, i don't get the porn connection either; -most- mainstream porn that i'm aware of is far less disturbing to me than that necrophiliac shit.

Trinity said...

I haven't seen the ad, but those model shots don't bother me. I can totally see why they would bother someone else, though. I think I'm missing in gene somewhere. That said, the comments do creep me out. There's something strange about discussing who looks better dead. And the comparisons they're making make absolutely no sense.

Anonymous said...

Ick, that last comparison is kind of gross, too. Movie posters aren't always that much better than fashion ads, I've noticed, when it comes to implied violence.

Central Content Publisher, I agree on not banning things, but there's a difference between legally banning and just making the depictions socially unacceptable. I have no problem with the latter, and if grassroots action will get advertisers to think twice about what their images convey and whether they're okay with that, then I'd be thrilled.

belledame222 said...

yeah, i mean: the whole point of ads and popular TV shows and such is that they think they're gonna sell product and earn them money. if it's made abundantly clear that it's having the opposite effect--why, then, they're likely to try something else, unless they're terminally stupid. hey, it's the American way; when in Rome...

belledame222 said...

and, welcome, vox.

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