Image selling: how depictions of power relations, plasticity, and abjection in high-fashion advertisements construct terrifying social narratives

Author

Jennifer Lee Litton, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Committee Chair

Jones, Rebecca

Committee Member

Sligh, Charles; Palmer, Heather M.; Gailey, Elizabeth

Department

Dept. of English

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This paper examines how high-fashion advertisements use visual rhetoric in order to construct social narratives related to power struggles, plasticity, and abjection. In creating these types of images, high-fashion advertisers send explicit messages to their viewers regarding the ways they should engage with the depicted social narratives, ranging from objectification to violence to death. Through a close rhetorical analysis and observational study of high-fashion advertisements, this paper discusses the problematic nature of the marketing techniques and how they skew interpretations of social issues.

Degree

M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

Date

12-2011

Subject

Visual communication; Visual perception; Design -- Social aspects

Discipline

English Language and Literature

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xiii, 109 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Recommended Citation

Litton, Jennifer Lee, "Image selling: how depictions of power relations, plasticity, and abjection in high-fashion advertisements construct terrifying social narratives" (2011). Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations.
https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/325