The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 14, 1980, Page Page 8, Image 8
'The Nal<
in recent1
By Nancy Young
Gamecock Staff Writar
"You've come a long way baby,"
the cigarette advertisement states.
But have women really shed the
image of being incompetent and
dominated? Unfortunately, attitudes
such as these still exist and
afe fed by media ads to the public
over 6,000 times a year. That is the
sad message Jean Kilborne
brought in her lecture Thursday,
The Naked Truth: The Image of
Women in Advertising.
MS. KILBORNE, who is a
doctoral candidate at Boston
University, has been studying this
subject for over ten years. Her
findings were both frightening and
enraging.
Ms. Kilborne introduced her
slide show presentation/lecture in
the RH Ballroom by saying that
the way in which these ads portray
women harms both men and
women. These magazine ads and
television commercials influence
the American public's view of who
they are and who they should be.
WOMEN, SHE points out, are
generally shown as being either
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young, ucouiiiui cuiu suay ui utriug
old, unattractive and sexless. The
former is vulnerable, alluring and
sinful; the latter is incompetent
and worries about trivial things ?
like which detergent to use. Men,
on the other hand, must be strong
macho types: they must maintain
the self assured, violent, and tough
i image.
Kilborne explored the many
different aspects of how the media
treats men and women. First she
noted the plastic image the ads
present, such as flawless skin.
Albei
By Karen Wooten
Gamecock Staff Writer
"Einstein the Man" is, in effect,
a string of Einstein-isms assembled
to reflect the life and
philosophy of its subject. Author-:
actor William Landry conveyed
the scientist's incredible insight,
wit and concern for humanity
Thursday at Gambrell Hall, but it
T7?: i- *1
wcis Eiiiisticiu 5 wurus, more man
Landry's interpretation, that made
the play interesting.
Landry's stream-of-consciousness
presentation of Einstein's
mougnts was incongruous with
their meaning. It seems unlikely
that Einstein's thought process
was haphazard as portrayed. The
clarity of his words was ill-served
by their random presentation.
PRODUCED BY the American
Educational Theater, which
Landry founded and directs,
"Einstein the Man" served two
purposes for the large audience it
attracted. Primarily an easy class
credit for astronomy students, it
was also food for the all-American
appetite for revelations about
celebrities.
Landry has whetted that appetite
since the play's premier in
1977. F'irst as part of the centennial
anniversary of Einstein's birth and
then as part of the American
Educational Theater's series "On
the Shoulders of Giants," Landry
has norformprl this 4c*-minnt#? nlau
' l"lV
before almost 200,0(10 persons in 33
states.
THE STAGE was set ? an
overstuffed chair, a violin, a
framed picture of Isaac Newton
and a blackboard covered with
equations. Landry, dressed in a
tacky gray sweater, billowing
trousers and bedroom slippers
without socks ("What good arc
socks? They only produce holes.")
ECS1B
:ed Truth'
women's a
t iml 1_1 J U 1 . _ -
" i ne moaei aoesn i even uuve any
pores," she quipped. The eye
make-up, the lighting, and the
camera angle create an image that
is so unreal, so unattainable, yet
women are expected to conform to
|||f|
it. une member in tne audience
commented afterward, "Even
Cheryl Tiegs doesn't look like the
Cheryl Tiegs in the photographs."
The tall, thin, leggy image is
another conformity women must
face. So there are the diet pills and
books (which sell by the millions)
to capitalize on this market.
KILBORNE ALSO pointed out
the ads which play on the feminist
message like the Virginia Slims
cigarette ads. Thus, feminism is
linked to smoking. It should come
to no surprise that smoking among
female teens has riser
- ._ .' .
William Landry as Alb
shuffled in and mumbled in ar
incomprehensible German accent
which gradually improved during
the performance.
ftinsiein was born in 1879 ir
Germany. It was not a very gooc
time or place to be Jewish, but he
said that he didn't even know he
was a Jew until he started going tc
Catholic school. Later, of course
he became proud of his heritage
and was a dedicated Zionist.
EVEN HIS intuitive knowledge
of theoretical mathematics anc
i physics could not help the misfil
adjust to school, which Landry-as
i Einstein said was a "comedj
i (that) became a bore." Not onlj
was he unable toj^emember words;
and dates, neither could he un
i derstand why he should have to.
! Eventually the young mar
, dropped out of high school. Landrj
exposed
idvertising
astronomically. On seeing th
Secret deodorant ad, Kilborne saic
she didn't realize that beinj
liberated meant having nic<
^ smelling armpits.
Advertisements also set a doubW
standard. Women are told to b<
innocent, experienced, mature am
childish. Kilborne was referring t<
ads such as Loves Baby soft lotioi
("Innocence is sexier than yoi
think"). This linkage o
childlikeness with sex looke<
outragiously perverted in an ad fo
Macy's Department store. Thi
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topless holding bottles and doc
tored up to look like a cleavage
The audience was enraged.
WOMEN ARE often shown a
dominated beings. Liquor ads sucl
as the Black Label ad shows .
woman in gold bands around he
neck and her arms. Another a'
tells men to "Chain your woman i
14 carat gold." This image hurt
men as well. Men tire told to b
tough, macho and violent.
Montf orlc frnm nidaaHc t
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men's shoes, show the man lookin
toward the camera and the woma
is placed below him, looking ac
mirably at him. As Kilborn
pointed out, this mal
dominating/female submittin
image sometimes takes on
violent tone.
KILBORNE OFFERED som
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pointed out the positive ads. Sh
used the Maxwell House Coffee a
depicting two women having
i friendly cup of coffee. This ad, sh
j notes, shows women on friendi
; terms ? not the bitchiness that
i so often portrayed in other ads. A
a is alive <
: -:.jr 13
B//-:%::ft-x :'a^H' - v^vir^rKulBSi^D r-.
ert Einstein in Gambrell Hall A ut
\ quoted, "I could see that tl
t deliberate intention of the sta
; was to mislead youth." But 1
believed in logic and rationalis
t and later resumed his educatio
I When he submitted a now-famoi
; paper as his doctoral thesis, it w<
h Knr>n?icn i u?ao
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) "So l added another line," Landi
, quipped and shrugged broadly.
EINSTEIN WROTE that pap
and three others while working ;
; a clerk in a Swiss patent office, ai
I in them he explained the theory
t relativity for which he won the 19
Nobel Prize. "I'm not gifted, ju
r passionately curious," I>and
r said. "I just asked the simf
? questions: what is light?; what
- time?; what is space?"
Because of his shy and simj
1 nature, Einstein was troubled
r his tremendous fame after t
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a
Jean Kilborne explains the ma
? affects men and women in the
c
e example ? the Hanes pantyhose
le commercial, showing a man with a
d date looking at another woman's
a legs ? denoting that women must
le be competitive to vie for men's
ly affections and that men are
is basically unfaithful.
kn Ms. Kilborne's lecture was
nrrtd
John PnmnM GAMECOCK
iitorium last Thursday.
le theories finally were understood
te and accepted. He was baffled by
le public interest in him and
m preferred to be left alone. "I do not
n. find it easy to talk with reporters,"
js Landry's Einstein said. "There is
as an old German proverb that says
t. nobody can get used to being
ry hanged."
WHEN HITLER gained power in
er Germany, Einstein's thoughts,
as turned from physics to
id metaphysics. "Reality and truth,"
of he said, "depend on one's per22
ceptions," and he perceived that
st the Nazis "acted as if six months
ry ago they had their brains am>le
putated."
is He renounced his German
citizenship and came to the United
)le States. It was not long before he
by was being called the Father of the
he Atomic Bomb, an appellation he
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Barry Newman ? GAMECOCK
ny different ways that media
fl re II m r\ rn T<in?pr/o?
vu<? vi/iri l If *- # ???" f
sponsored by the Ideas and Issues
Committee of the Russell House
University Union. Her message
carried the tone of, "Let the buyer
beware." As she noted in her
lecture, "consumers should not
turn things into lovers, nor lovers
into things."
tusc
resented. "The discovery of the
nuclear chain reaction need not
bring about the destruction of man
any more than the discovery of ...
matches," Landry said as he lit his
pipe.
EINSTEIN DESPISED war and
weapons, and like many
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world wars, he eschewed
nationalism as "madness." Extreme
nationalists, he said, had
their "brains given by mistake;
backbone is what (they) need."
Truth and responsibility were
the scientist's most basic beliefs,
and his most fervent hope was that
his work would somehow benefit
mankind.
After his less-than-capable
portrayal of Einstein, Landry
peeled off his wig and mustache, lit
a cigarette and invited questions
from the audience. He admitted
that he knew nothing about
science, but knowledgeable
astronomy professors in the
audience helped when the actor got
in over his head.
...U.. 1 41 .U* IL.
??nt?i aoivcu wiiy lit* iiiuu^iH lilt?
public has always been fascinated
with Einstein, Landry was not at a
loss for words. Einstein was a
science superstar, he said. Nobody
understood his theories, so he was
mysterious. He was a loner and so,
enigmatic. He was witty, articulate,
and he "looked neat" to
boot.
Landry was right, and his play
has exploited the public's
fascination for more than two and
a half years. Although structurally
imperfect and badly performed,
"Einstein the Man" was nevertheless
an interesting glimpse into
the personality of a man who,
though dead for 25 years, remains
in the American consciousness as
the exemplar of genius.