Our group project focuses on the subject “Home” as our
main theme, in the context of American culture. Below are the 10 examples of
“Home” as portrayed in cultural “artifacts”:
1) Commercial
advertisements about kitchen accessories or amenities which presents women as
the main targets/users
Image retrieved from Yu Hsuan blog (Nov,
2017)
2) Poster
displays men as executives and women as sexualized objects.
Image retrieved from Alex Mayyasi
article “The Selfie: A Window into our Sexist Souls”
3) Music
videos which portray women as sex symbols and home makers.
4) A
popular movie features this woman as a sex slave.
5) Wall
hangings or paintings which are indicative of what a home looks like in terms
of gendered responsibilities.
Image retrieved
from Khanacademy (November, 2017)
6) Greeting
cards with the inscription “Welcome Home” that portray a sense of belonging within
the confines of the home.
Image retrieved from Google search
7) Harmonious family poster – Stereotypical
family and home life expectations.
Image retrieved from the Calgary
Herald
8.) Family
tree portraits. Recognizing who belongs and who doesn’t.
Image retrieved from Aliexpress
(November, 2017)
9.)
Fireplace
in homes advertisement, example of warmth and invitation to prospective home
Image retrieved from Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynr4o0eOjdg)
10.) Commercial
about furniture
(chairs, dining table, sofas and beds) that provide comfort to home-owners.
Image retrieved from Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdKJMkaMB98
Discussion of the
meanings, identities, and geographies that are presented in the 10 examples
based on the class readings:
Home is believed to be a
place that offers countless memories bounded by family relations. It’s a place
that provides a sense of belonging, security and ownership that “idealizes
meaning and social security”. Like elsewhere, home in the context of America also
plays a significant role in dividing gender responsibilities, meaning, and
identities (Whitson, p.54) In other words, it creates gender responsibility
into formal and domestic work.
More
often than ever, home is thought to be a place for women to do domestic work
while men are to be at the workplace. This can be seen through the mass media including magazines, newspapers or
films that serve as an agent to fuel this concept and stir up prejudice against
women and continued treatment of women as inferior. Due to limited
representation in the media; however, women were often featured as housewife, or
a target of advertisement about kitchen accessories or even sexual commodities
or objects of entertainment.
On the
contrary, men are mostly portrayed nicely as smart, handsome, and successful
office workers. The strong breadwinner that can protect their women and
children…etc. The role of media has
provoked the mass culture and the ideology of dominance, privilege and power
based on a superior race and gender in a society in which disabled people
became the target of this notion. The disabled people were often viewed as
“heroic” in the media.
In Disability,
Embodiment and the Meaning of Home (Imrie, 2004) the author looks at the
tension between the concept of the ideal home, the material, and struggle of
disabled people living at home. The physical setting is scarcely designed to
fit and support the well-being of the disabled. This significantly contributes
to the poor quality of life for those living with a physical disability,
permanent or temporary.
Family tree portraits
exhibited within the confines of the home is indicative of a family’s
hierarchy, from the oldest to the present generation. This form of
representation has demonstrated through images like photographs, paintings or
drawings that can be connected to Cresswell’s article titled “Place and
memory”. In the article, the author brought to light how a place can have the
ability to make the past come to life in the present by the producing and
reproducing of memories. In a similar vein, the idea of a family tree can also
be connected to the article “Memorial landscapes: Analytic Questions and Metaphors
by Owen & Derek”, where the placement of these memorials reinforces the
importance of family, tradition and unity.
References:
Cresswell, Tim. 2004. Place: A Short Introduction.
Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Pp. 85-93.
Dwyer, Owen J. and Derek H. Alderman. 2008. "Memorial
landscapes: analytic questions and metaphors." Geojournal 73:165-178.
Imrie, Rob. 2004. “Disability, Embodiment, and the
Meaning of the Home.” Housing Studies 19(5): 745-763.
Whitson, 2017. “Spaces of Culture and Identity
Production: Home, Consumption, and the Media.” Pp. 48-75 in Feminist
Spaces: Gender and Geography in a Global Context by Ann M. Oberhauser,
Jennifer L. Fluri, Risa Whitson and Sharlene Mollett. New York: Routledge
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