coolbeans, 4/22

In class this Tuesday we talked about the concept of white bread and how it’s connotation has come to mean plain, simple, and dull. Hooks says that the Other acts as a spice that livens up the dullness of the hegemonic norm. We looked at some advertisements, such as the Hermes ad with the painted elephants. It is interesting to me how the advertisements are used to target the different groups. Hermes is a fairly exotic, expensive, luxury brand from France so it makes sense why they would feature exotic animals like brightly painted elephants in their advertisement. Ralph Lauren is a typical, all American, casual sportswear brand which is why many of their ads feature scenes not quite as decadent as the Hermes ad. Instead of seeing elephants in a Ralph Lauren advertisement, one might see two golden retrievers, or a saddled horse. Americans commonly buy foreign cars such as BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc…. The act of buying these exotic cars can be seen as an attempt for someone with plain, simple style to add some spice to their lifestyle as hooks would put it. It’s so interesting for me to see it this way because most of the time, exotic is associated with “flashy”. Many times in this country people who dress in exotic fashions (Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Dior, etc…) are referred to as tacky or flashy, or when a house is just too large, too grand, too decorated it is deemed over-the-top or gaudy. There seems to be a fine line between simple, elegant, luxury and over-the-top, tacky luxury. That one extra fountain could cause your house to cross the line from being considered elegant to being ostentatious. But on the contrary, it seems as if hooks is saying that people who choose the exotic are not being tacky but are just livening up their otherwise dull lives.