Santa Baby
Vanessa, I appreciate your article “When Angel’s Fall” which focuses on the sexualization of religious beliefs and values of Angels in western culture and how Victoria Secret uses the theme of Angels to promote their lingerie despite the religious undertones.
Prior to reading your article, I did not make a religious connection to the theme of Angels launched by Victoria Secret to Abrahamic religions. Santana and Erickson describe how advertisements “like any cultural text call for interpretation; as pieces of advertising they require a series of internal and external cues that will allow most members of the culture to recognize, but overlook, the available sexual tension and focus instead on the product” (santana & erickson, 51). I agree with Santana and Erickson, as I exemplified the misunderstandings of the religious undertones related to Victoria Secret. I did not see a correlation between the theme of Angels and religion however others may have noticed this severely.
With that being said, I understand your argument and agree you as to with how the religious concept and understanding of Angels can be viewed in a sexualized form.
After reading your article I began to wonder if sexualized advertisements are able to relate to other religious beliefs and values. I want to look more closely a very popular upcoming holiday; Christmas. The Catholic holiday Christmas has turned into an entire season where many people celebrate the holiday through popular culture, such as movies, songs and gifts, instead of its original religious belief in the birth of Jesus.
A figure which was created through religious belief in relation to Christmas is Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus as he is displayed in popular culture. The story behind Santa Claus is based around Saint Nicholas, a catholic saint in the 4th century. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, therefore becoming the model of our modern day Santa Claus.
I wonder if a correlation can be made between the understanding of the Catholic Saint Nicholas and the sexuality of Christmas. For example, as demonstrated below a woman is wearing a “Sexy Santa” outfit. This image of the sexy Santa illustrates how “consumerist culture uses religion as a backdrop against which to set its cultural productions” (erickson & santana pg. 52). I believe this image directly relates to your view of Angels being sexualized through the consumerist culture while overlooking religious undertones. High volume of consumer consumption is prevalent during the Christmas holiday season, and advertisers use the Christian holiday to endorse goods themed around Christmas and Santa.
Santana and Erickson state that, “Girls are trained by the society in all its permutation (including the media) to fulfill these roles, including being sexualized objects” (pg. 58). When I googled “Woman Santa Outfit” all of the outfits which appeared were sexualized. I thought I shared a similar view with Santana and Erickson of woman fulfilling their hypothesis of being trained by society to be sexualized objects. However, when I googled “Male Santa Outfit” majority of the apparel was not sexualized, but with that being, said a significant section of the images were.
In the case of the female Santa outfit and Victoria Secret, woman were being presented through a sexualized, pornographic gaze through western religious beliefs. But this pornographic gaze was also applied to men in the case of the sexy Santa outfits. I believe in this case both male and female desire and between commercial and sexual seduction is met on both levels. Where in the case of females, woman’s commercial needs are met while men’s sexual needs are and vis-a-vis in with the male sexy Santa outfit.
In Consuming Faith: Advertising the Pornographic Gaze and Religious Desire by Erickson and Santana, they often refer to woman in the pornographic gaze and not as much men. However with the image of the male sexy Santa, I cannot help but wonder if the sexualization of consumerism is not only sexualized females but also sexualized males, and if advertising, consumption and religion play a different role in the male pornographic gaze, as opposed to Erickson and Santana’s woman-centered view.
Below is a clip from South Park about their interpretation ofJesus and Christmas. Viewer discretion is advised for use of inappropiate language.
