Jason Croft
Professor Magdalena Bogacka
English 101.0800
November 28, 2010
The Modeling of Masculinity
If you had to place a bet on a fight between the male models of Calvin Klein versus the male models of Hugo Boss, I’m guessing you’d be going with the models of Hugo Boss. Today, ads create particular images of masculinity to sell products and these images give birth to new trends/types of masculinities. Susan Bordo’s chapter “beauty (re) discovers the male body”, David Coad’s book The Metrosexual: Gender, Sexuality, and Sport, and a piece by Rosalind Gill called “Body Talk: Men in the Spotlight” all help to provide support and evidence about ads and there connection to new trends/types of masculinity. To introduced you to the concept I will first discuss 3 types of representation of men’s masculinity provided by Bordo’s reading, so you have a understanding of the different type of modeling that takes place in advertisements. After, I will then connect the different types of modeling discussed by Bordo to the new type of masculinity these ads have helped to give birth to, as evidence that this concept is a reality and does take place. Lastly, I will connect the different types of modeling and the masculinities that are being created and illustrated to the brands that these ads are created for, drawing that point back to its creators. If you still thinking about the odds of that bet I mentioned earlier, maybe reading what Bordo had to say will help you understand why Hugo Boss models would be the crap out the Calvin Klein models.
As you look at different advertisements from different brands you can definitely notice that there are some very noticeable difference between the models and how they model the brands product. Bordo discuss that there are three specific types of male modeling that advertisers use to display products to create a certain kind of image, thus recreating masculinities. The three types of male modeling Bordo discusses are “I am a rock”(186), “Face-off”(188), and “the lean”(188). “I am a rock”(186) focuses more on traditional views of masculinity, displaying this very physically fit strong man that comes off as intimidating, very self-confident, and is normally standing upright towards you. “Face-off”(188) describes a type of modeling where the man is staring at you creating a stare contest that he cannot loose, letting you know he’s watching you watch him and you will give in first. “The lean”(188) focuses on more non-traditional forms of masculinity where the male looks younger, sometimes feminine, is usually slouching or looking away allowing you to look at him without a fight and provides a more alluring look allowing you the thought of dominating him. These different types of modeling help create concepts for different types of masculinities that some men are replicating in their everyday lives, but all these masculinities were seen in society already. Today, advertisers are combining these different forms of modeling, creating new images and concepts, thus giving birth to new kinds of masculinity.
Metrosexuality seems to be the new leading type of masculinity dominating the world today. The combination of those three different kinds of modeling and other factors have helped to create this new masculinity which describes straight men, who take pride in there appearance, and use money to buy a variety of products to better there appearance and recreate the images and masculinities of the advertisements. In Gill’s piece she discusses how men now, are looking for ways to individualize themselves as men(Session1). The masculinities created by ads are giving men room to find ways to be individually different in appearance and masculinity by providing different variations and fewer rules on how a man can appear and represent himself. A man can now choose to be “I am a rock”(186), “face-off”(188), and “the lean”(188) at the same time and vary which ones he represents the most or least, making him an individual but still a representation of masculinity and in most cases today that masculinity is metrosexuality. Advertisers for various brands have put together these images and help the creation of these ads but it was the brand they advertise for that provided the fundamental foundations and vision.
As described in Coad’s book in part titled “Ralph Lauren and His Models”(43) he talks about how Ralph Lauren used major sports athletes to model his clothing to give American men a mental permission to wear his clothing because their favorite athletes were not only wearing it, but were taking an interest in fashion and their overall appearance. The designers of brands like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Hugo Boss at one time would of had to rely on women to purchase clothing for men as Gill describes in “Session 2” of her piece, but because of marketing strategies like the one used by Ralph Lauren men now shop for themselves in hopes of establishing there identity and thus there masculinity. The brands are marketed differently and using the specific types of modeling mentioned by Bordo or combinations of them in an effort to create an identity a man can identify with and recreate in his own life. So in essence the brands create the foundation and the dream, and then the models and advertisements bring them to life for us to see.
Now, back to that bet do you now agree that Hugo Boss male models would totally beat the crap out of the Calvin Klein male models? Bordo, Coad, and Gill have help to further the concept that ads do indeed help to give birth to new trends/types of masculinity thru the use of particular masculinities put an a image. The 3 types of modeling described by Bordo along with insight from Coad and Gill provides support that those models we see in ads help to shape the masculinities men act out through trying to recreate what they see. By buying the product advertised and overall replicating the persona of the model they see they therefore become the masculinity the brand wants associated with they brand. Metrosexuality has become the leading new form of masculinity given birth from the combination of different kinds of modeling and masculinities to create a new trend/type of masculinity allowing men to be the representation of masculinity they prefer to be.
Works Cited Page
Bordo, Susan. “beauty (re)discovers the male body” The Male Body: A New Look At Men
……….In Public And In PrivateFarrar, Straus, and Giroux. New York, 1999. 168-225. ……...Print
Coad, David. “New York” The Metrosexual: Gender, Sexuality and Sport. NewYork: SUNY, 2008. 39-41. Print
Gill, Rosalind.
I e-mailed you my comments and points for this part of the assignment.
ReplyDelete