Reilly Robertson: Final Web Project

A Closer Look at the Sexualized Images

All three posters display the main characters of these three shows. In 2 out of 3 of the posters, eye contact is created in some form between the viewer and the audience. Eye contact is one aspect that makes the characters relatable to the audience. Jewitt and Oyama discuss another aspect of point of view in their article "Visual Meaning: a Social Semiotic Approach" stating that in an image "the frontal angle [is] used to increase audience identification and involvement" (Jewitt & Oyama 138).

All three of these examples create contact with the viewer in some way. This can serve as a way of drawing people in, because the contact has the ability to create a relationship between the audience and the poster. In the True Blood poster, both Sookie and Bill make direct eye contact with the audience. In the Twilight poster, although Bella is not making direct eye contact with the viewer, her frontal position makes her the character deemed "relatable" in this poster. Edward's side-angle defines his role as the "other" who cannot be seen straight on due to his mysteriousness. In the Vampire Diaries poster, eye contact is direct with all three characters in this poster. The fact that none of these three characters are portrayed from a frontal view, yet all three characters are making eye contact with the audience, has the ability to show all three characters on equal grounds with each other and the viewer. Since eye contact is not completely straight-on, the relationship is more casual. This holds true for all three posters, because there is never a frontal portrait of the individuals. Instead, their heads are twisted towards the camera, which shows their ability to open up to the audience; however, there is still a reserved part of their characters because of the fact that most their bodies are not correspond to the positions of their heads. Another aspect to consider is the concerned and gazing expressions on the faces of all these characters. This shows that there is more to their stories than what is presented on this page, as if trying to lead the viewer to tune in to find out what these stories are.

As stated previously, fear of death and fear of the "other" have become themes common to post-9/11 society. In two of these posters, obvious symbols of death are present. The first symbol that can be interpreted as a representation of death is the black raven perched on Elena's knees in the Vampire Diaries poster. Boria Sax discusses the symbolism behind black birds in reference to death stating that "according to widespread folk traditions, the croaking of a raven presages death" (Sax). Although this particular black raven is still alive, the foreshadowing of death is evident by the bird. Gillian Rose states that "symbolic signs have a conventionalized but clearly arbitrary relationship between signifier and signified" (Rose 83). Arbitrarily speaking, cultural beliefs tend to associate ravens with death. A less subtle symbol of death exists through the use of blood in the True Blood poster. It is clear that Sookie is bleeding on her neck, and because Bill has blood dripping from his mouth, the connection between the two displayers of blood show Bill to have bitten Sookie. Blood symbolizes death in a culturally obvious way, because of the understood need of blood for survival among all humans. Both of these symbols represent death itself. On the other hand the "other" is more obviously shown through the mere representation of Edward in the Twilight poster. Edward can be considered an icon of the "other" because "the signifier represents the signified by apparently having a likeness to it" (Rose 83). Edward is an icon for the "other" because of the way he presents himself in the poster. A majority of his body is darkly tented as if to represent shadows. Also, his face is seen from a side angle, and his eyes seem to be glowing and are looking completely down from the audience. Edward is clearly different from Bella, yet the fear of the "other" is somewhat eliminated because of the fact that Bella remains so close in contact with Edward despite his apparent differences.

The physical contact between the couples is another important feature of these promotional posters, because it is the part that emphasizes the sexualized content of these posters. In all three posters, the two characters that are dating are touching in one way or another. In the Twilight poster Edward appears bearing over Bella. She clutches her hand to his chest as if to make the contact between the two of them even more emphasized. In the True Blood poster, again, Bill seems to be bearing over Sookie. Although we cannot see a majority of their bodies, the upper half of their body positions make it easy to assume that Bill is almost completely on top of her. The Vampire Diaries poster is more subtle in the physical contact between Elena and Stefan. Stefan is on the left of Elena when looking at the poster close up, yet he is positioned exactly the way his brother is on the opposite side. Even their hands on their chests are positioned exactly the same. This body position and contact is not as intense, yet it is clear that both men's heads graze the middle of Elena's body. In a study of sexual representations of advertising Tom Reichert says that "sexual content can be used to draw attention to the product. Consider an automobile ad emphasizing fuel economy. An attractive woman posing next to the automobile is an example of a low association linkage between sex and the message" (Reichert). The images of the couples represent the sex aspect, while the slogans and textual content represent the message.

 

 

 

 

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