FEMINIST NEW MEDIA INTERTEXTS
In order to end up with a feminist intertextual reading of visual
culture, we got the task to find a cultural artefact that is significant
in many people’s lives in contemporary times. Moreover, it should have
some powerful influence to ourselves. Since music in general works as a
transformative power to me, I was looking for an object that symbolises
the topic music and furthermore provides meanings and understanding also to other people. Thus, I decided to write about the iPod.
STEP 1: MEANINGS ABOUT THE ARTEFACT
First of all, I wondered about the contemporary meanings encoded in
this cultural artefact. Simply said, having an iPod means to have all
your personalised sounds available all the time. Hence, you virtually
“achieve a level of autonomy over time and place through the creation of
a privatised auditory bubble” (Bull 2005:344). In his article The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening, Michael Bull continues with the advantages and benefit of using an iPod:
“With the introduction of MP3 technology the user is given unparalleled access to their music collections whilst on the move. Previous generations of personal stereos, whilst providing for portability, limited the consumer to a few choices of music due to their format, whereas machines like the Apple iPod enables users to store up to 10 000 songs. […] Technologies like the Apple iPod produce for their users an intoxicating mixture of music, proximity and privacy whilst on the move.” (Bull 2005:343-344)
And well, there’s also this difference between ordinary MP3 players
and Apple iPods. An iPod (as well as all the other Apple stuff like
iPads and iPhones) is supposed to be simply cool, trendy and
fashionable. Nowadays, it’s not just about listening music but about
prestige and the “iconic expression of the digital age” (Hickey
2008:115). The iPod is part of our culture. In fact, the iPod has even
created a particular culture on its own.
STEP 2: PALIMPSEST TRACES
The next question is: Where do these meanings associated with this
artefact come from? Well, the idea that Apple products are particularly
trendy and fashionable is for example demonstrated by the advertisement
that Apple uses for their new iPhone (URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onLYKU-CNhM):
“If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone.”
This can certainly be translated to the iPod as well: The creative
advertising and marketing tells us that we just have to own an iPod if
we want to be a regular person. That is to say that the entire mass
media provides all these common beliefs and stereotypes. When we look at
cultural artefacts like the iPod, we mostly decide on them from what we
have heard about in our society and media. Perhaps we have learned also
from our own knowledge and observations of life that the iPod may be
really better than other MP3 players regarding its technology or
handling. However, it was definitely the media’s and society’s ideas
that first and foremost gave us this idea of actually buying this stuff.
The society and powerful media tells us that only an iPod is a real MP3
player – it simply is a must-have product and a symbol for a whole way
of life.
STEP 3: INTERACTIVITY & COLLABORATION
To include some other’s participation in my work, I asked several
people about their associations with the iPod. In doing so, I especially
looked for people with diverse circumstances concerning gender, social
class, age and ethnic background.
First of all, I couldn’t find any person that didn’t understand the
image of the iPod, which suggests that in our current society almost
everyone knows this cultural artefact. My 28-year-old brother-in-law
said that at first he obviously associates music with the image of the
iPod and the fact that there’s “no more need to carry around or change
CDs”. He also mentioned the rather negative association that people
walking around with their earphones are neither noticing nor caring for
their surroundings. As an owner of an iPod himself, he mostly collected
these meanings from his own observations and experiences. Another person
that I asked is about 50 years old, certainly part of the upper social
class and associates “simple amusement” with the iPod. For him, it’s not
just the music that counts but rather the entire freedom of mobile
multimedia access. He’s an owner of an iPod as well and bought it,
because he simply likes technical stuff and because he thought it’s kind
of fashionable to use it as an object for prestige. On the other hand,
the third person, a 22-year-old girl from Ireland, told me that the
importance of the iPod is being overestimated. In her opinion, the iPod
is not cool anymore, just because everyone already has it. She used to
have an iPod herself, but sold it due to “the increasing invasion”.
Anyway: If you have some different opinions concerning the iPod,
just feel free to write a blog comment at the end of this page in order
to share your perspectives!
STEP 4: THE ARTEFACT IN THE VISUAL MEDIA
Another important step in the process of analysing a cultural
artefact is finding out how it is presented in the visual media. Thus, I
did some research on the Internet to discover different ways of using
and presenting the iPod there. In addition, it was an aim to find out to
what extent the visual media relates to socioeconomic class structures,
gender-role expectations and visual codes.
One example is a collage of iPods forming a heart. In my opinion,
this image underlines the huge prominence of the object nowadays and
confirms the fact that the iPod can be made to a major purpose and
symbol in life by many people. Although the image doesn’t tell us with
words that it is about iPods, we instantly recognise this visual code just because of the distinct design of the iPod.
The iPod also fits the traditional gender-role expectations:
Apple doesn’t privilege women or men but made sure to address both
genders by showing different kinds of ads including males and females.
However, it mostly uses the conventional gender-specific colours. Even
the iPods themselves can be purchased in numerous different colours.
Looking at this image it becomes also clear that the iPod is
obviously connected with a young, active and high-energy pop culture.
The flashy colours and the silhouettes absolutely advert to mostly young
people – and people who want to continue feeling young. Andrew Hickey
highlights the power of the iPod that becomes visible in this image:
“Who would these people be without the discernible iPod included in this image – Platonic shadows alone, perhaps, devoid of any connection to the real?” (Hickey 2008:121)
Concerning the socioeconomic class structures, it has to be
said that iPods are certainly not cheap at all and hence not available
for everyone. Although Apple wants to address more than the upper social
class by showing and offering different iPod types with also cheaper
prices, the visual aspect on its own makes it clear that all the
products are something high-class – even if they may cost only €50.
STEP 5: MULTIFACETED CRITICAL PASTICHE
While doing research, I found a thought-provoking article which is titled How to Convince Your Parents to Let You Have an iPod Touch (URL: http://www.wikihow.com/Convince-Your-Parents-to-Let-You-Have-an-iPod-Touch). It offers some guidelines for children that make it easier to convince their parents to buy them a new iPod, for example:
“Come up with a good reason why you want an iPod Touch. If you say to your parents: ‘Oh, I want one because everyone else has one.’ It won’t work. It never does. Bring up the subject in a conversation by saying something like, ‘Hannah has an iPod Touch and it’s really great if you’re bored,’ or ‘My current iPod doesn’t have any more storage’. Then, show your parents the iPod in a flier from an electronics store.”
This list undeniably shows how normal and common it is to own an iPod
already as a child or teenager. However, since the iPod is quite
expensive, not everyone can afford it. Thus, the iPod can actually be
regarded as a status symbol, prestige object and privilege of people who can afford it. At this point, however, it provides a status symbol for all genders, I guess.
On another website (http://www.cafepress.co.uk/+feminism+ipod-touch-cases), I found special Feminist iPod Cases
with inscriptions such as “Twilight is why we still need Feminism”,
“This is what a strong woman looks like” or simply “Warrior Woman”. With
putting on these cases, the iPod receives the power of not just showing that someone uses an iPod but to show even the particular attitudes of the owner.
STEP 6: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION
To find alternative representations and feminist meanings, I tried to re-gender the cultural artefact by revising the website http://www.apple.com/ipod with the website http://regender.com.
However, it didn’t show any specific results, as the Apple website
doesn’t really mention gender specific terms or stereotypes in its
texts.
Although technology in general is usually linked to patriarchy,
not that much of it can be found when it comes to the iPod. Apple
consciously addresses every gender and ethnic background and at least
tries to activate every social class.
Additionally, there can be seen a link to the idea of cyborgism,
which brings us close to a feminist point of view. In his article about
iPods as iCons, Andrew Hickey points out that using an iPod actually turns us into a symbolic cyborg since
it changes the look and feeling of being human: “The cyborg throws open
the opportunities for reconsidering identity outside of our biological
limitations; something new, undefined and relational in its connection
between the biological and technological.” (Hickey 2008:121)
References:
- Bull, Michael: „No Dead Air! The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening”, Leisure Studies 24, 2005, 343-355.
- Hickey, Andrew: “iCon of a Generation”, D. E. Wittkower (Ed.), iPod and Philosophy. iCon of an ePoch, 2008, 115-128.
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