TOPIC: How sex was the driving force
in this year's Super Bowl
SOURCE: I have been watching football
for many years. Something that has been increasingly interesting to me is the
amount of sexuality in the advertisements of the games. There are many “texts”
in American football that not only exploit sexuality, but shape gender roles as
well. From cheerleaders to
commercials, you can tell a lot about American culture through football.
RELATION: Robbins describes a cultural
text as "a way of thinking about a culture as a text of significant
symbols-words, gestures, drawings, natural objects-that carries meaning” (pg
20). American football has a number of symbols that tell you about the culture.
The one I am mainly going to focus on is the use of sexual ideas to sell
products and gender roles portrayed through the sport.
DESCRIPTION: In recent years, the
commercials that air during the Super Bowl have become just as popular as the
game itself. Beer commercials have seemed to become the most popular. One
reoccurring theme seen through the years is that the right beer can get you the
right girl. This says a number of things about our society. One idea that is
projected is that men are primarily concerned with the opposite sex when they
are drunk. It is important to notice that these commercials are trying project
their own image of beauty on the country. The text can be interpreted that men
in America like to get inebriated and chase attractive women. Another text that
can be seen in American football is the masculinity in the makes and extreme
femininity in women. Football is somewhat a gathering of giant men, and if this
is not enough, the men are all padded. This shows that our culture is concerned
with proving its ability to overpower others. Just as moose fight with antlers
to prove who is the strongest, American males have their football games. The
game also pushes gender ideal on females. The cheerleaders say a lot about how
females are “supposed” to act in this society according to football.
Cheerleaders are dressed in very little clothing, are in very good physical
shape, and support the team whole-heartedly.
COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: Football has
been a popular sport in America for many years, and in recent years has began
influencing the culture more and more. From an outside culture looking in,
football can be seen as men who are artificially making themselves larger while
having women in small clothing screaming for them. All of these things give
many messages about our culture; some being that we are caught up in sex and
our men enjoy violently proving their masculinity.
I agree with you on the men being see as big, tough, and are ‘on top’ and the women being seen with little clothing and the ‘ideal’ girl. The commercials that were trying to get across that the beer is the key to get a girl, it kind of relates to the saying ‘drink till she pretty’. Maybe the commercials thought that most guys on this day would be drunk by the end so what harm would it do. This has to do with how our society views the women now a day. I seem that most women in the room when these types of commercials come on are just laughing and not digging into what the underlying meaning is. I know that I laugh at them, it is hard not to.
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