Monday, February 25, 2008
not my size Barbie...
Early on, the wedding industry makes it very clear who white weddings are for and their importance. These fairy tails and wedding imagery that consist of blonde haired and blue eyed princesses, being given to their prince charming, is romanticized by young girls everywhere. This white princess bride idea is further developed by the toy industry. Little girls everywhere are exposed to Barbie, and yet it is understood that the default Barbie is white, blonde, and has blue eyes. This default Barbie that is instilled in the minds of young girls conveys the message that in order to have that “happily ever after,” one needs to emulate Barbie. This idea is reinforced by the creation of “My Size Wedding Barbie”. What message is being sent to young girls when they are given a doll their size, and told that they can put on the dolls clothes, and become Wedding Barbie? Further more, what if you do not fit into the role of the Wedding Barbie, because you are not the right color, or size? A value judgment is cast upon the young girl. This conundrum can not be rectified by merely giving Barbie a black friend as a bride’s maid, or creating a black “My Size Wedding Barbie”.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Hudson River School
The other day, I went to Norton Art Gallery with my boyfriend. He had never been there before so I thought this would be a good activity for us to do together, and to do some school work. I thought that it would be so fun to show him around the exhibits and sound all smart using vocabulary from my diligent studying for my comm midterm.
The featured art exhibit was Hudson River School. The exhibit was composed of oil paintings depicting landscapes of the Hudson River area. I have never been a huge fan of landscapes. I can appreciate the skill and patience it takes to complete the painting, but rarely has a landscape painting resonated with my soul. My favorite painting was this one of a mother deer with two fawns; animals I can relate too. I started to become worried that, like myself, my boyfriend was going to get board and wonder off. To my surprise however, he was liked the painting. You see, my boyfriend moved here like two years ago for New York City and could recognize some of the landscapes. He had more fun telling me what location each painting was of. I have never been good at using landmarks to identify national parks in photos and therefore I was impressed with his ability to just look at the landscape and give there location.
The over all experience was good. The paintings were very good landscape paintings, and I had fun walking in the azalea garden. However, I did not get to show off my impressive art analyses skills and flaunt my intellect. My boyfriend however, got a chance to remember his old life in NYC and show me up in geography.
The featured art exhibit was Hudson River School. The exhibit was composed of oil paintings depicting landscapes of the Hudson River area. I have never been a huge fan of landscapes. I can appreciate the skill and patience it takes to complete the painting, but rarely has a landscape painting resonated with my soul. My favorite painting was this one of a mother deer with two fawns; animals I can relate too. I started to become worried that, like myself, my boyfriend was going to get board and wonder off. To my surprise however, he was liked the painting. You see, my boyfriend moved here like two years ago for New York City and could recognize some of the landscapes. He had more fun telling me what location each painting was of. I have never been good at using landmarks to identify national parks in photos and therefore I was impressed with his ability to just look at the landscape and give there location.
The over all experience was good. The paintings were very good landscape paintings, and I had fun walking in the azalea garden. However, I did not get to show off my impressive art analyses skills and flaunt my intellect. My boyfriend however, got a chance to remember his old life in NYC and show me up in geography.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
DADA, a way of life.
DADA art is a wonderful period in art history. I feel that this revolutionary period has made it possible for me not to clean my kitchen for a week and consider my living space a venue of cutting edge instillations. If my house was in a Better Home and Garden catiloge it would have to be labeled as in the style of DADA.
I have always liked my home to look lived in. I leave dishes out for days and half the bed is on the floor along side the better part of my closet. I think that when everything is all neatly tucked away and so fresh and so clean, that my home loses my true essence. When I walk into my home I want to smell warm flesh and day old chine’s food, not a chemically manufactured aroma made to trick our brains in to thinking that our home is in a lavender forest or lemon. One can not live inside of a lemon.
Some may think that I have clutter, but I think it is a different texture of living than most people are use too. I think that this texture of living that I inhabit is personal and can represent my inner most being. My walls, floors, dishes, and sheets reflect what I have done and who I am. Is this not the same idea that all of the home journals try to persuade us of, that our home is a place of self expression. If our home is a place of self expression, than there is no wrong way to express oneself.
I have always liked my home to look lived in. I leave dishes out for days and half the bed is on the floor along side the better part of my closet. I think that when everything is all neatly tucked away and so fresh and so clean, that my home loses my true essence. When I walk into my home I want to smell warm flesh and day old chine’s food, not a chemically manufactured aroma made to trick our brains in to thinking that our home is in a lavender forest or lemon. One can not live inside of a lemon.
Some may think that I have clutter, but I think it is a different texture of living than most people are use too. I think that this texture of living that I inhabit is personal and can represent my inner most being. My walls, floors, dishes, and sheets reflect what I have done and who I am. Is this not the same idea that all of the home journals try to persuade us of, that our home is a place of self expression. If our home is a place of self expression, than there is no wrong way to express oneself.
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