Gaze - ARH 200 Interpretive Essay - Karimi - Library Guides at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Theme: Advertisements, Gaze and Gender

Please examine the following image/clip before beginning this assignment (located: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bc0WjTT0Ps.) How does this Dos Equis commercial (“The Most Interesting Man in the World”) reflect the positioning of man and women in the mass media according to Berger, who claims that “men act, women appear” (see reading for October 31)? How is power distributed here? Choose and discuss another image or clip you find in mainstream popular culture (TV, film, advertising, Internet) that also supports Berger’s statement. (However, this need not necessarily be an advertisement or commercial for liquor, beer, or wine.) Please keep in mind our discussions of mass media.

(Be sure to add another similar image [still from a clip or an actual ad] to the paper)

First Steps

Kitten, animated gif, GIPHY, http://gph.is/VwCyJe.

Look at the theme. Consider what you need to find in order to complete the assignment.
Jot some of those words and ideas down.
Try to summarize Berger's argument in a few key words.
Try to summarize your discussions of mass media from class.

Building Blocks

Yto Barrada, Lyautey Unit Blocks (Play), 2010, wood and paint, variable dimensions, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/716497.

Searching library resources may help support the argument you make for this assignment. Here are some suggestions for resources I would use and the approach I would take. Try it and make it your own!

Remember, researching is exploration, so be patient with the process.

Primo
Primo is a database that can search for books and films the library owns, many (but not all) of the articles the library has access to, and also searches LUNA (image database). Be sure to change the drop down menu at the top by the search bar to "Library Catalog" and use the right column to limit to the type of resource you want to find. I think it's best for books.

Try searching for some of the words/ideas you came up with in the previous column. Not successful? Just try one or the other. If you want to find a book, searching just for an artist or a big broad concept might be more useful.
ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM)
This is a database filled with journal articles, exhibition reviews, book reviews, and more all related to modern and contemporary art. Try searching for some of the words/ideas you came up with in the previous column. You might need to use the left column of the database to narrow your results.

If you're doing this ahead of time and we don't have a book or access to the full article on the topic you want, you could always request it from Interlibrary Loan. See the tab above for more info!

Also, you can always just Google it. Use the smart web searching tips we talked about in class (remember, site:.edu or site:.gov? also think critically about why you might trust that source and who authored it).