Lastname 1
Firstname Lastname
EN/IS240
Dr. Howe
Date
Masculine Vulnerability as the “Essence of Freedom” in “Dune pour Homme”
In this advertisement for Dune pour Homme, Dior creates a second-order signification, or what Barthes calls a myth, associating their cologne with a specific image of freedom. Like all systems of representation, this Dior ad does not physically represent the product, but rather a representation of the object and the larger ideas and myths the product is meant to stand for. Found in SKY Magazine, which is a British entertainment magazine much like the American US or People, this ad caters to a popular, unisex, middle-class audience, one which could perhaps visit a beach much like this one on an annual vacation. Despite this apparent accessibility, however, the semiotics of the ad also work together to create a competing, compelling inaccessibility—everything seems far away, just exotic enough to be unattainable. The play of signs suggesting accessibility and distance come together to picture a dreamy, sunwashed image of freedom as isolation that which nonetheless desires contact, working within a secondary code of masculine vulnerability.
Using the iconic, highly motivated signs of photography, this advertisement foregrounds a youthful, glamorous male model in his early twenties kneeling, knees splayed and hands relaxed, in the pale sand. The wind seems to be blowing, sweeping his hair and the fronds of beach grass behind him into the bright sky-blue background. He gazes into the wind, and his shirt, unbuttoned to the navel, captures the breeze. The model's clothing is as pale, delicate, and remote as the sand on which he kneels; he wears his clothes the way the sand wears the breeze—it seems effortless, not designed for either style or modesty, because he is fully of this remote, deserted, freeing place, outside of time. The notion of freedom is primarily conveyed by the image of this lone man; who, in his lonesome location seems extremely at ease and unrestricted by normal life, thus providing a sense of liberation which is also conveyed by his loose, unorthodox, clothing. The pale blue of the sky in the background could as easily signify water as air, and the more arbitrary nature of the signification perpetuates the myth of freedom for men as isolated independence. The softly focused quality of the photograph, in addition to its palette of gentle blues and pale browns, are further signifiers that contribute to this dreamy, utopian image of liberation.
This is a liberated man not only because he is isolated and able to live apart, but also because he is free to express his authentic vulnerability. The signs of liberation, delicacy, and ease in the ad combine with the model's youthful, delicate features, even the thin fronds of beach grass bending in the wind, to suggest this vulnerability. Here is a man capable of revealing his vulnerable interior. No one else is pictured in this ad—the effortlessness of the composition, the fluidity of the model's costume and setting, even the sun-bleached quality of the palette all suggest that he is a man who performs for no one; however, the nature of the model's posture and his gaze suggests that someone—perhaps you—could be waiting just beyond the boundaries of the camera's eye. He seems not to be performing for a desiring gaze, but that apparent authenticity is revealed to be, itself, a performance—in fact, it is a major part of the ideology of masculinity from which the myth of freedom described by this advertisement emerges.
Almost imitating the model himself, the impossibly large bottle of cologne sits in the sand to his right. The advertisement forges a visual metaphor between the bottle of cologne, with its similarly pale, sun-drenched liquid and luminous blue stopper, and this icon of remote yet vulnerable masculinity. This ad suggests that freedom, for the kind of man who would wear this cologne, is the freedom to be himself, without the pressure to conform, without the pressure of the possessive, desiring female gaze. And yet, this myth can only be created through the techniques of advertising that depend upon the desiring, envying look. Beneath the bottle are the words, “Essence Of Freedom”; though the advertisement seems to spell its interests out, and though each sign within the text works to illustrate this tagline, semiotic analysis allows us to demystify this apparently straightforward statement.
Works Cited
Dior. Advertisement. SKY Magazine. August 1994. Print.
Note: This sample essay is not as long as yours needs to be, and the digital image of the ad included has not been anatomized. However, I am asking you to insert an image of your fully anatomized ad into this document (see me if you're using video!). Note the inclusion of the works cited page, as well. This sample essay has drawn two passages from Alexander Clare,”A Semiotic Analysis of Magazine Ads
for Men's Fragrances,” <> 16 September 2010. 20 April 1998.