I had no idea on what to do for this final project because this class isn’t like my previous classes in terms of content. I struggled at the beginning with the theory, but I’ve been able to handle my own.
The one thing that I was able to grasp and analyze deeply was the unit of Colonial and Racial Desires. I wrote in my reflection of the unit that I felt like a majority of us grew up wanting to look and feel like the men and women we see represented every day in magazines and television shows – mostly white, skinny, white women and men. This is obviously seen in the pieces we analyzed in class. It was the topic of desire that really sparked my interest in my project.
I decided to visually show the narratives we read through a more modern lens using the type of media that has all affected us through our childhood and now: magazine covers.
Desire can be about the desire to fit in. I see that all
throughout “White Girl” by Myriam Gurba. There’s this desire that the
protagonist has for Gabriella that can be seen as sexual since they share
intimate moments. However, that sexual desire for Gabriella can also be
interpreted as a desire of wanting to be like her. The protagonist writes about
Gabriella being exotic with pale skin, having casseroles for dinner, and
fearing the macabre and all of these things aren’t sexualized – it’s more about
wanting to be like her than being intimate with her. It’s this desire to be
Gabriella and not the brown girl raised with a mom with an accent, un-bland
food, and Catholic icons of La Virgin. It’s literally taking her desire of
fitting in and using that to fuel her mimicry of Gabrielle’s aesthetic. What
better modern twist than Billie Eilish?
With “Halfie” written by Ana-Maurine Lara, the desire is
definitely two-fold. She desires to fit in by wearing mini-skirts which is what the other girls wear
but also the desire to please Angel. Mimicry comes in because she went so far
as to disrespect her own mother to mimic the other girls she sees in the name
of fashion.
For Junot Diaz’s piece in “How To Date…”, I tried to make
it a more masculine magazine like GQ that caters to a more masculine aesthetic.
It’s about flipping through the magazine on how to get the girl. Page 2 is
about hiding the government cheese, the pictures of his afro, learning how to
comb your fingers through your hair like those white boys. Page 3 is the girl
he wants the most, the white girl. Page 4 is the halfie and you can’t be
surprised to know that her mom is white. Page 5 is about the black girl from
around the block and gets it when that dude wants to pick a fight. Page 6 is
about telling her what she wants to hear so that you can get what you want
which is sex. Page 7 is how to tell your boys about it and then forget about it
ever happening.
I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of what desire
can look like. First (above) is the desire to find your own identity and self-confidence
through representation. Meanwhile the second one (below) is the lust, carnal, sexual
desire. I drew my inspiration from beauty brands that are Latina-owned versus
non-Latina-owned and how they try to appeal to the Latinx community. When
chubby women are in adult films, it’s from the male gaze where the chubby
Latina isn’t proactive in her sexuality and pleasure, but just as a fetish toy
for male viewers. But when it’s from a female gaze, it’s about an active effort
to learn how to build and appreciate one’s own body/confidence.
Thank you for teaching this class, Dr. Hernandez!
The one thing that I was able to grasp and analyze deeply was the unit of Colonial and Racial Desires. I wrote in my reflection of the unit that I felt like a majority of us grew up wanting to look and feel like the men and women we see represented every day in magazines and television shows – mostly white, skinny, white women and men. This is obviously seen in the pieces we analyzed in class. It was the topic of desire that really sparked my interest in my project.
I decided to visually show the narratives we read through a more modern lens using the type of media that has all affected us through our childhood and now: magazine covers.
