Authors
Lana Gajger, Viktorija Car
Publication date
2020
Journal
Medijske studije
Volume
11
Issue
22
Pages
102-120
Publisher
Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Fakultet političkih znanosti
Description
In the 21st century, the feminist movement is experiencing a new upswing. This process is particularly affected by the activity of female celebrities who promote and embody the idea of woman emancipation. The main goal of this paper is to identify the ways in which female perfume commercials present emancipation as desirable. By means of narrative analysis and the qualitative research method, we analysed five perfume commercials featuring female celebrities as their main protagonists. The common characteristics shared by all the protagonists in the analysed commercials is their determination and a pronounced sense of self-awareness and insurgence. They are extroverted, assertive, and prone to seeking excitement, competent and success-oriented. Their desirability is simultaneously determined by masculine behaviour, feminine aesthetics, the rejection of gender norms (with the exception of the slimness ideal), dominant behaviour when interacting with men, and the focus towards the future. The behaviour of female protagonists almost completely matches the characteristics of the postfeminist understanding of femininity and supports the fundamental determinant of feminism–the idea of emancipation.
Scholar articles
L Gajger, V Car - Medijske studije, 2020