(Untitled)

[feralseraph]

So Vogue Italia has done a pretty intense photo series entitled "State of Emergency". It's interesting- you know something's pretty pervasive when it starts cropping up in photo shoots... And I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the rather (and I'm sure, purposeful) misogynistic attitude present in the photos. A comment on the perceived role of

Comments

[dreammephisto]

Wow, like the person prior just said, that is intense.

However, the depiction of women being in those type of scenarios isn't shocking. I've seen stuff like that on TV. I think Thelma and Louise as one of the earliest (or at least famous) portrayals of women gone bad comes to mind. And of course shows like La Femme Nikita or Alias show powerhouse women.

I guess it's only disturbing that it is being used to sell clothes, whereas otherwise on the movies and tv it is to provide sexy role models of women kicking ass and taking charge.

This was all better worded in my head, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, my favorite is definitely of the one with her head on the sidewalk and the cop's foot on her neck and his baton being a bit nosey.

[dreammephisto]

Oh, and of course sexy role models on tv and movies are often used to boost ratings of course too.

[feralseraph]

Well, I generally agree with you. My real sticking point is that I'm not sure if it IS disturbing that they're using it for a fashion shoot. I mean, most security incidents at this point in time are a tremendously de-humanizing experience for people. Police or security guards or military personnel aren't looking at someone as a person; they're looking at them as another potential threat to be screened. I think in most of those cases a lot of the sort of treatment that people receive is almost solely based on appearance (not being involved in those situations myself from the security end I can't really say, but I SUSPECT it's this way). In other words, I can't imagine that women who look like they do in these photos would actually experience the boot on the neck. So from that end, is it important that the photos highlighted the really striking nature of that sort of image? Isn't it hypocritical and pathetic in the extreme that I might be able to look at a picture of a woman in a burqa undergoing some treatment like that and feel

[eversearching]

The other striking aspect (for me) is the linking of violence and sexuality in a way that is telling. The images are extremely sexual, and they are images of men (and, in one case, a very de-feminized woman) basically having free and unrestricted access to an unwilling woman. If these images were of people in the exact same poses and facial expressions, but the men in civilian clothes, we would see these as being acts of blatant violence. In these images, however, the uniforms give the impression that this is government sanctioned and in the realm of what is legal- and, in fact, invited

[feralseraph]

I'll write more later about the longer issues, but as for the quickie question - I just meant that it had crossed my mind that the fashion industry hardly has a particularly progressive track record on the treatment of women (ie. rampant examples of objectification). Given that, I was just musing on whether the fact that the industry as a whole promotes rather suspect attitudes to women means that a photo shoot by them that I am viewing as progressive is actually somewhat shallow. There are all sorts of people who like to think that they have really "deep" takes on life and just end up rehashing tired old themes in shallow ways. In other words, does the attitude or thoughts of the photographers detract from the meaning of the piece of work if I get something more than they intended out of it?

[eversearching]

Ahhh! I see your point! I hadn't even considered these photographs in the context of how shallow the fashion industry is!

[feralseraph]

I agree with you completely that these images are meant to portray power relationships, and really have rape and rape fantasy connotations. And I certainly find them to engender discomfort. But I wonder whether they ARE meant to ellicit concern. After all, I certainly can't imagine that WE are the target audience for Vogue Italia. Perhaps the target readers are likely to associate strongly with the models in these images, thus making them more immediately relevant and distressing?
And whether it'll appear in the American issue? My guess is no. I think the different issues of Vogue are completely separate from each other.