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*Sigmund Freud theories of psychology
*Key point one is based on the unconscious, the desires, and the defences of Human nature

*When something is repressed (something difficult like trauma) multiple forms of defences are developed such as selective memory, denial, displacement, fear of intimacy and regression.

Common questions to pounder on while using this theory;
*What are the persons in question projecting?
*Are they aware of their defences present?
*What are their subconscious motives that may be present to the viewer?

*In the Dove ad, defensive human natures are seen as the women are describing how they think they look/how they view themselves. Though, they are subconscious and the women are not aware of how negatively they speak of themselves until they are faced with the second drawing.

*Selective perception is also seen throughout the ad in regards to the women as they lack to note their positive features to the artist

*Freud’s theories also focuses on how the fears are developed subconsciously through childhood, resulting in these defences arising while they age.

*Freud’s Theory suggests the women experienced self conscious feelings growing up and a lack of parent compassion, losing a positive outlook

*During the Dove ad, the drawings of the women are seen hung in the air to present them to the viewer. This can be seen, as how their opinions of themselves (versus how the other views them) are up in the air and currently for ‘debate’. This is an example of fear of intimacy (fear to be venerable) The stance of the women change, they become more closed off, with their hands in front of themselves and presenting as shy. This is another example of fear and a defence as there lack of confidence and positive perception of themselves is being spoken about and proven wrong

*We can ask, are the other women (those who described the other) projecting fear as well? Through this lens, the other women project what they feel they are missing as a compliment to the women when they are describing the other to the artist.

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Pictured above: The book "Things fall apart", written by Chinua Achebe. He is a Nigerian author who has written a number of texts detailing how colonized people have suffered, from a post-colonial view, and analyses the negative effects caused by the imposition of Western culture.

Main Theory:

Post-colonial criticism (originating in the 1990s) discusses literature written by those with colonial powers, as well as the people who have been colonized.

OWL states that the post-colonial theory "looks at issues of power, economics, politics, religion and culture and how these elements work in relation to cultural hegemony".

This theory analyses different perspectives in writing in regards to colonialism, and how different writers write about their perspectives on the matter (ex. the novel Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, reinforces hegemonic ideology, which may go unnoticed by Western Critics).

This theory also concerns how various people are represented in media, as to how accurate the representation of various people are. Using Heart of Darkness again, the novel portrays Africans as "a pre-historic mass of frenzied, howling, incomprehensible barbarians…".

Main Question: How does the literary text, explicitly or allegorically, represent various aspects of colonial oppression?

Dove is a very westernized company, being founded in the United States. The advertisement is only available in English, as well as French subtitles. This creates a barrier to other people who want to view this ad, but might also reinforce Western culture, with the assumption that everyone knows at least English or French, both European languages.

The advertisement was created with several women, most of which are white. The women of color barely get screen time, and have minimal lines in the ad. Most of the white women have many close up shots, and even interviews (on the website, Florence, one of the women in the video has an interview on her sketch). If this advertisement was recreated today, some of these circumstances might have changed, however Dove still has control over this advertisement, and in turn, controlled what came out to the public, as well as the exposure of the different women.

Even though the women of color are featured, it is only for a short while, and Dove still profits off this advertisement indirectly, as more consumers may buy their products after watching the ad. This ad, being created with mostly Western influence, will likely benefit those people more as well.

This advertisement will likely cater more to Western audiences, as they have people to sympathize with, as well as no language barrier. Other people may not have the same experience, since the women of color in the video only appear for a limited amount of time, and they may not be able to watch the video due to the ad being in English.

In conclusion, even though there is not direct oppression in the advertisement, the lack of diversity and influence on this advertisement may not make this video available to everyone, and even so, it may only cater to certain audiences.

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Elaine Showalter is an American writer and feminist

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Feminist Criticism (1960s-present) by Renelle, Rianne, Michael, and Nour

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Feminist Criticism (1960s-present) by Renelle, Rianne, Michael, and Nour

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Introduction: A common space in feminist theories

➳ Feminism is both a movement and an ideology that advocates for the political, economic, and personal equality of men and women in society. This ideology stems from the belief that humanity lives in a patriarchy which operates under the power of men. Women’s roles in society are dictated according to this hierarchy, where men are placed above women and women must therefore be marginalized, which may include less freedom and rights.

➳ Feminist criticism is a literary theory based on feminism. Purdue OWL defines it as “the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.” Through this lens, we can expose potential misogynistic viewpoints in literature, and ultimately uplift the female voice in literature and media so that the values of one “sex” are not favoured over another.

➳ Elaine Showalter is an American writer and feminist; one of her most famous works is featured in the compilation Twentieth-Century Literary Theory, called Towards a Feminist Poetics (1970); it highlights how female stereotypes and sexism in literature by male authors are discussed more than the experiences women share with the public, thus continuing the cycle of underrepresentation.

Question of Focus:

What are the power relationships between men and women (or characters assuming male/female roles)?

➳ Showalter states that “one of the problems of the feminist critique is that it is male–orientated.” If we study stereotypes of women, the sexism of male critics, and the limited roles women play in literary history, we are not learning what women have felt and experienced, but only what men thought women should be. This is extremely poignant in the Dove advertisement, in which the male forensics artist is held at a higher level of authority over the women despite Dove frequently suggesting that their campaign is targeted towards women.

➳ For example, from 0:00 to 0:06, Gil Zamora is shown to be an integral aspect of this advertisement, and is positioned centrally, while all other individuals within this ad are positioned on either side of the camera shot. The advertisement also concludes with him presenting the resulting sketches, dictating the experience and reactions the women should have felt, rather than women defining their own experiences of the perception of beauty.

➳ Men occupy dominant roles within this ad, either as the forensic artist, or describing the features of the assumed fragile women at 1:19 and 1:23. The lack of submissive male representation may imply that the concept of beauty does not apply to men, and that men do not rely on the concepts of appearance to succeed in life, thus not ever feeling insecure or self-conscious. With less societal pressure, men can assume a higher level of power and even become the source of the pressure.

➳ This power dynamic is also revealed in the dialogue from 2:15 to 2:20, as Florence states that her natural beauty impacts her choices, relationships, attitude, and success in the workforce. Dove suggests that only women are subject to this revelation based on the large proportion of women included in the campaign. This implies that the ideology of natural beauty applies more to women rather than  women and men, which is what should be represented in a feminist campaign. The power dynamic is thus reinforced by the idea of which sex should be more worried about their physical appearance, simply based on the assumption that women are more self-critical. How can we prove men are not as equally self-critical, and thus equally submissive?

Conclusion: Dove on feminism

➳ Dove may not be inherently undermining the feminism movement, however, the many historical male and female power imbalances present in this campaign represent an issue still yet to be resolved. Feminism only exists because of this power dynamic. Instead of taking a more traditional approach where feminism is promoted through empowering only females, a more modern approach may be to represent males and females equally. This would ensure that the power dynamic is balanced.

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Reader-Response Criticism

By Emmanuel

Reader-Response Criticism started in the 1960’s in Germany and in the USA. The goal of Reader-Response Criticism is to emphasize the importance of the reader’s relationship to the text.

To quote from Purdue: ”Reader-Response theory shares common ground with some of the deconstructionists discussed in the Post-Structural area”.

The famous person I choose is Wolfgang Iser who studied literature in Leipzig, Germany, and received a PHD in English. He and Hans-Robert Jauss developed in Constance, Germany, a school of reception theory which is a specific part of Reader-Response theory.

The question I choose is how does the interaction of text and reader create meaning?

Reader-Response theory highlights the importance of the readers opinion when reacting to a text. This theory also investigates the readers meaning and interpretation of the text.

Let us consider the Dove add. When the participants are confronted with describing their feature, which is a rather neutral question in contrast with asking what they like or dislike in their face, it is interesting to see how the participants are apologetic about minor items of their face.

It is an excellent example of how the response of someone who reads a text or hears a question is very influenced by their own opinion. In this case, their own perception of their beauty influences them while the question does not deal with beauty.

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Lawrence Buell (1939 - pres.) - Professor and scholar. Widely recognized as a major pioneer of ecocriticism. 

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Ecocriticism (1960's - present) by Fiona, Nikita, Rachel, Sophia

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Ecocriticism (1960's - present) by Fiona, Nikita, Rachel, Sophia

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🌲Ecocriticism studies the relationship between literature and the physical environment, specifically how we interact, construct, and represent the natural and manmade world around us. Not only does ecocriticism study nature as an object, it also studies the constructed boundary between nature and non-nature, which brings about an awareness of race, class, and gender though ecocritical lenses.

🍂Three tropes: Pastoral focuses on the dichotomy between urban and rural life and is deeply entrenched in Western culture. Wilderness focuses on how the wilderness is constructed, valued, and engaged, such as how it’s treated as a threat, a place of exile, or a place of sanctuary. Ecofeminism analyzes the interconnection of the oppression of women and nature, such as how femininity is equated with land—a fertile resource and is the property of man.

🌱With an Ecocritical lens, one could ask the following question: “How is nature empowered or oppressed in this work?”

🍃The beginning of the ad depicts a somber room. As the women describe their physical feature, there is little warm light in the frame. Once strangers are asked to describe the same women, the frame started to acquire a warmer glow from the wide windows. More natural light was progressively let in as the descriptions went on. The ad, attempting to emulate a stark difference between the women's perspective of themselves and how other perceive them, showed a side-by-side comparison of the art created from each description. The woman began to feel happiness, while the frame began to lighten even more, and the camera panned over to the same room, but only the art hanging up and sunlight spilling through the vast windows. The settings suddenly shift to the outdoors, and one woman expresses that “they spend a lot of time analyzing and trying to fix things that aren’t quite right and should spend more time appreciating the things they do like”. Finally, a bright glow expanded across the screen and the words “you’re more beautiful than you think” were shown.

🌳The usage of natural light from the physical world was significant when expressing and accentuating different tones within this text. The advertisement opens with a silhouette of Gil Zamora, the forensic artist, sitting in front of a glass paned window (0:01).  We then recognize the environment for the “Dove Real Beauty Sketches” social experiment, a large space illuminated entirely by natural light.

🍀Natural light exposure is oppressed for the opening minute of the piece in order to generate darker and more dramatic visuals. Following that, filming techniques empower the environment’s natural light, with flashes of sunlight incorporated into the video (1:15, 1:20, 1:22) contrasting to the previous somber imagery. The advertisement’s tone transforms with shots of sunshine hitting the wooden floor (1:25), and movement of shadows created by the windowpanes serve to symbolize the passage of time.

🌿Light and dark are found in nature, using them independently in the text can help enhance and support the emotions being expressed while also communicating with the audience through visual means. Even minor adjustments in lighting in an environment might have an unconscious effect on the audience’s emotions, forming connections between them and the advertisement.

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Gender Studies and Queer Theory (1970s-Present) by Arielle, Franklin and Miriam

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Gender Studies and Queer Theory (1970s-Present) by Arielle, Franklin and Miriam

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The Main Idea of Gender Studies and Queer Theory

Gender studies and queer theory explores the issues in gender, sexuality and power. Since this inderdisplinary is so broad and touches on so many other prevalent theories (such as the feminist theory) it can be challenging to give it a definition that encapsulates it fairly. This theory examines the ways that historical, cultural, and social factors shape the role of gender and sexuality in different societies and analyses the expression of identity and gender/queer representation.

As mentioned in OWL,  the influence of Gender Studies and Queer Theory is everywhere; even the ways we discuss and teach Gender Studies and Queer Theory are influenced by the sociatal heteronormative constructs.

Laura Mulvey, British feminist film theorist

In her best known essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Mulvey discusses how in film, women are always made to be looked and subsequently objectified

Similarly, these female characters were created to be perceived and looked at by men

Mulvey introduced the term “male gaze” to the world and studied is heavily, particularly in the scope of film criticism

What elements of the text can be perceived as being masculine (active, powerful) and feminine (passive, marginalized) and how do the characters support these traditional roles?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mvlLFSjyyJ9ipCQ-CI77I2vrWFOgoJEAI6rQGyuINlk/edit?usp=sharing

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Marxism Criticism (1930’s - present) Elsie, Neha, Claire and Erin 

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Marxism Criticism (1930’s - present) Elsie, Neha, Claire and Erin 

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🇩🇪 What is Marxism?

Marxism is a point of view in which focuses mainly on defining the embodiment of material in a work of literature. Through this lens, the audience is pulled into the instinct of considering the contexts of socioeconomic class and how we as a society assume traits of varying classes. Not only can classes be formed through the pool of wealth one attains, but also through values of beauty, gender, race, and religion can there be categorized classes.

OWL defines this criticism as “material dialect” that drives historical changes and which creates the marterialistic realities of the philosophical base of society that revolves around politics, the economy and the society. It is at the top of hierarchy, laying below is the superstructure of religion, education and art - which is built from that base.

Jürgen Habermas is a German Philosopher which entered the world of Marxism after his studies at Goethe Frankfurt University. His philosophical approach was the mainstream of society and how it influences all parts of our humane base. His 1990 written lectures in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity discussed that “it is evident that mind will be misconceived if it is opposed to body, as will theory if it is opposed to practise: subjects of knowledge are embodied and practically engaged with their work, and the products of their thoughts bear ineradicable traces of their purposes and products, passions and interests” (Habermas and McCarthy, 9 - Introduction).

🇩🇪 How does a Marxist lens alter our perspective on the Dove ad?

Marxism and socioeconomic class - The representation/presentation of all the subjects being drawn depicts them all as “ordinary middle-class” women. This creates the perspective of “normal” people who all have the “right”/ability to accurately describe each other.

Marxism and the philosophical lens of materialism - There is an idea of physical beauty being the highest human value, and the character of the women in the Dove Beauty Ad is neglected. This is exemplified by the placement of the quote at 2:27 “Do you think you are more beautiful than you say?”

2:22 “It impacts everything. It couldn’t be more critical to your happiness.” Happiness is portrayed as being dependant on beauty, further pressing materialism and physicalism (the idea that all that exists is physical)

Womens’ descriptions of themselves and the strangers’ descriptions of the women are both based off of the womens’ physical appearance, but two different sketches are produced

🇩🇪 Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is accepted/successful/believed etc.?

When considering who this ad is intending to benefit, there is almost an idea of service that Dove is trying to instil.

2:41 The woman begins to cry; placement at the end of the ad is completely intentional as it creates this idea that Dove is changing the lives of women.

The music also adds to this ambiance, which attempts to paint Dove as selfless and make the beneficiaries of this ad seem like all women- which to some extent is certainly true.

However, Dove benefits just as much from this video, it is after all an advertisement. This campaign is increasing Dove’s brand loyalty and ultimately allowing them to generating revenue.

Coming back to the marxist lense, Dove almost plays off “the revolution” portion of the Marxist criticisms. This idea that “the revolution will be led by the working class,  under the guidance of intellectuals” (from OWL) There is this idea of regular people combating societies’ gender roles under the guidance of the artist, who acts as the guiding “intellectual”. The end goal of this revolution is ultimately an “equal society” (from OWL) which Dove is working to form.

🇩🇪 Considering the big 7 concepts:

In answering: whom does this work benefit? We can connect this question and the literary theory of marxist criticism to the big 7 concept of perspective.

There are a multiplicity of views that are evident in the Dove ad. For example, the women in the ad, the forensic artist and us as the viewers. It can be said that the Dove ad benefits women in realizing their natural beauty. It may also benefit the forensic artist, Gil Zamora, in providing him with publicity and recognition. The Dove ad was released in 2013 which means that it has been over 8 years. Therefore, societal values may have changed and our personal values may have changed as well. In addition to this, our environment, space and time change how we view the ad compared to the viewers who watched this ad 8 years ago.

Finally, in the ad, the idea of physical beauty is conveyed as a materialistic object to be attained. However, we argue that the physical beauty of a person cannot be defined because everyone has a different perspective on physical beauty and the meaning of physical beauty.

When we looked at the Dove ad through a marxist lens, we realized that there were several perspectives to be considered. And the marxist criticism theory itself required different viewpoints to fully understand its ideas of materialism and class.

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Critical Race Theory by Luciel, Ian, and Maelle.

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Critical Race Theory by Luciel, Ian, and Maelle.

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Important Theorist

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is one of America's leading scholars of Critical Race Theory. Pictured above is one of her upcoming books about Critical Race Theory.

Main Concept/Ideas

Critical Race Theory, often shortened to CRT, is a framework of analysis which originated in the mid-1970s,

It investigates how race and racism exist across dominant cultural modes of expression. Many CRT scholars, like Crenshaw, share the common recognition that racism is a quotidian component of all life,

CRT is inherent in our law and legal institutions as they function to create political, social, and economic inequalities between white people and POC, specifically BIPOC

Question of Focus
A question from the lens of Critical Race Theory is: “How does racism continue to function as a persistent force in American society?”

From the very beginning this campaign claimed to be empowering to all due to its inclusivity. In an interview, the creative lead, Anselmo Ramos, explains that the cast of the video was diverse both in age and ethnicity. Furthermore, the campaign contained a promotional image which says, “It’s time for South Africans to join the debate” which references women’s ‘ongoing struggle [with] recognizing their own beauty.’

This line implies that the advertisement video will feature South African women as a means of diversity, but when you view the video, you will see this is not the case.

In the entire video, there is a total of 3 women of colour featured. The first 2 black women share a time slot, appearing from 0:38 – 0:42, a total of 4 seconds. Later, one of the women reappears near the end of the video, beginning at 2:15 and ending at 2:17, a mere 2 seconds to a total screen time of 6 seconds for all of the black women. Lastly, one Asian woman was featured for a total of 2 seconds between 1:41 and 1:43.

Additionally, one of the black women goes unnamed and her face is not fully shown due to the camera angle. The reactions of the women of colour to the sketches, which is the whole point to of the campaign (having women recognize their natural beauty) are also not shown

In comparison, Florence, 1 of the 5 white women who appears consistently throughout the video, has a total screen time of 50 seconds. The stark differences in screen time shows an imbalance of equality between the white women and the black women as if Dove is prioritizing the exposure of the white women over the black women.

This imbalance is also evident in the way some shots are framed, like how the appearance of one of the black women at 2:15 – 2:17 is just a shot of the back of her head whereas Florence received many shots showing her crying and smiling. This conveys a sense that there was more thought put into the portrayal of white women as sympathetic figures who are deeply affected by issues rooted in self image, seemingly dismissing the struggles that women of colour may face.

Florence is also the focus of an individual interview featured on the Dove Real Beauty Sketches homepage article. Moreover, the other white women are also heavily focused on during the sketch putting a spotlight on the things they say.

The named black woman, Shelly, only has a single line in the entire video, which is just about her freckles and the unnamed Asian woman who appears at 1:41 has no lines at all.

By contrast, there is a clear abundance of significant dialogue coming from the white women. At 0:33, Florence mentions her mother told her she has a big jaw. This insight into her personal life gives her a sense of backstory that the audience can sympathize with, as it implies a familial history of body shaming

In comparison, it is harder for the audience to identify with the women of colour as they are shown to only be making objective comments or no comments at all.

Overall, this highlights the different treatment given to women of colour. Throughout the campaign, the important dialogue and camera shots were solely given to white women. As a result, the 3 women of colour included were barely heard in the final video; they were primarily used to promote a very shallow understanding of diversity. This shows that racism is still persistent in society as these women were valued less due to the colour of their skin.

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Tom Shakespeare is an author with a disability who offers insight in his writing that an able-bodied individual could not 

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Critical Disability Studies (1990s-present) by Tavin, Ejiye, & Ayush

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Critical Disability Studies (1990s-present) by Tavin, Ejiye, & Ayush

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🌟What is a ‘disability? A disability can be considered to be an aspect of a person’s identity that makes them different from what society deems ‘normal’. It doesn’t just concern bodily or mental impairment. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson described the tendency of disability to be a “synecdoche for all forms that culture deems non-normative”

🌟The OWL writes that “Disability studies considers disability in political, aesthetic, ethical, and cultural contexts, among others.” This is done to understand how representations of disability and “normal” bodies change throughout history. It also considers how the representation of disability in a text impacts people with disabilities. Tom Shakespear a sociologist writes that critical disability studies is useful for creating a group identity as well as spreading knowledge about disability and promoting activism.

🌟Disabled characters are often included in texts for “their representational power, disruptive potentiality, and analytical insight”. They are very obviously depicted as “abnormal” in order to further the message or plot of the text.

🌠A question from the lens of critical disability studies is: How are “normal” people or bodies constructed? How is normalcy reinforced?

🌟As the forensic artist begins drawing, it is clear that the advertisement will be based of beauty and female aesthetic, Sociologist Tom Shakespeare writes, the way we understand the body is based on socially constructed terms, in the advertisement there is an implied “objective” beauty standard thus leading to the motto “You’re more beautiful than you think”. The advertisement portrays a women's beauty as something that could be defined by certain facial features deemed beautiful by society. We see this at 1:12 where the woman is described as having prominent cheekbones and a well-defined chin, all things which are considered to be conventionally attractive.

🌟The ad depicts the idea of a “normal” amount of beauty to be higher than how the women see themselves. The fact that “you’re more beautiful than you think” is ingrained into the advertisement, may develop into the thought that everyone, and thus the world, might be more beautiful than anyone thinks.

🌟The ad features exclusively able bodied people. Disabled people may feel that the main message of the ad about positive body image “you’re more beautiful than you think” does not apply to them. Had the ad been created in 2021 rather than 2013, this lack of diversity may not have been so prominent due to recent societal shifts.

👍In conclusion, although the ad uses real women as actors instead of ‘fake’ models with a lot of makeup, it still fails to properly represent disabled people. Using only able-bodied people, the perspective of disabled people is not present in the ad. It also reinforces normalcy by portraying a woman’s beauty as being defined by certain ‘normal’ facial characteristics that disabled people may not have. Therefore, it alienates disabled people from the main message of the ad.

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IA Richards was one of the most prolific American Formalists

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Formalism (or New Criticism) by Ms Baboudjian

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Formalism (or New Criticism) by Ms Baboudjian

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*Formalism began in the 1930s and a *Formalist looked only at the text to determine its value (whether it was "good" or "bad").
*To quote from the OWL: Formalism attempts "to treat each work as its own distinct piece, free from its environment, era, and even author".
*All that mattered was the text.  Period.
*A question that one could use with a Formalist lens is: "How does the work use imagery to develop its own symbols?"
*The hands of Gil Zamora, the forensic artist, could serve as symbols in this text. In application to the "Dove Real Beauty Sketches", the first 48 seconds implies that the forensic artist's hands are going to be significant.  After a close-up of his silhouette (00:00:01) to establish the setting, extreme close-up shots of Zamora's hands appear at 00:17, 00:23, 00:33, 00:38, and 00:48. They appear for the last time at 01:23.  Then a transition occurs at 01:24, with a shot of the wooden floor with shadows cast by the sunlight and window  panes.  The reveal of the sketches, or Zamora's handwork, begins at 1:34.
*While the advertisement focuses on the line at the end, "You are more beautiful than you think" (02:48), which is classic "Compliment the Consumer" claim, there is no product every explicitly advertised. A person who is not familiar with Dove personal grooming products (including soap, bodycare, haircare, skincare, babycare) would not even know what is being advertised.