#1: September 13th, 2015
Wing Young Huie: Still Life 2014
At first glance, my stomach growled. The view of three shelves containing different types of syrups was enough to create a craving for pancakes! The foreground features bottles of Aunt Jemima Lite, their labels claiming that the content inside is "a reduced calorie syrup product." The top shelf is the home of the Karo brand of corn syrup and includes both dark and light versions of the product. Various types and brands of molasses are seen on the bottom shelf, including House & Herbs' "Blackstrap Molasses," Grandma's Molasses, and Brer Rabbit's options of "Dark Full Flavor" and "Light Mild Flavor." All of these delicious syrups are sold at amounts close to the same, if not equal, in price.
After a few minutes, my craving was interrupted by a harsh moment of realization. This photo is not about the difficulties associated with choosing which syrup to purchase for your breakfast; rather, it speaks to racial disparities. Let's start with the bottles of Aunt Jemima Lite that your eyes are drawn to upon first view of the photo. Based on its positioning, this particular syrup product is clearly being promoted by the store selling it. The domination of the Lite version means that it is the better option to choose since the original version is located at the top of the shelves, out of quick reach.
Translation: whites are superior to blacks and other dark races. This is also visually represented by the light and dark Karo corn syrups; the light color looks more appealing, while the dark color is much less enticing as well as seems less healthy. Through this aspect, Huie makes an argument about racial profiling, i.e. just because a person is black doesn't mean that he or she is the perpetrator.
Huie shares this photograph to argue that products' light versions, classified as healthier and superior compared to their original state, contain underlying race issues. Moreover, he is insinuating that the simplest of items such as syrup exist as racial implications today and that we continue to "other" blacks in society.
Huie's depiction of "othering" deals with race. In this picture of syrups, the photographer physically represents "othering" by the layout and color. He took this particular photo to draw attention to the way that the shelves were arranged, with the light versions of syrups in the foreground. Another method that Huie utilizes to develop his argument is a little less noticeable: the color scheme. He edited the picture so that it would be black and white instead of color, again hinting at racial disparities and the sharp contrast between white and black.
Another aspect to consider with this piece of Huie's work is how he addresses viewers with the photograph. He shows them that "othering" is everywhere, even on syrup labels, without our immediate realization.
Atwood's representation of "othering," on the other hand (no pun intended), relates more to gender than it does race. In The Handmaid's Tale, the author uses language and an anecdotal format to display how women are subjected to "othering." Gilead is a patriarchal society, and most women's titles relate to their relationships with their Commanders, therefore making the women inferior and "othered."
For instance, Serena Joy's official title is a "Commander's Wife" and Offred is the Commander's handmaid. They are strictly subjected to his rules, which are really the government's. Atwood chooses to represent women as the subordinates of men to appeal to her feminist audience; she wants them to take action to quell society's "othering" of females.
Both Atwood and Huie created forms of art to show how "othering" is a fact of society. Huie does it in the form of a photograph, displaying the numerous brands and versions of syrups available at a grocery store and how their format insinuates that white is superior to black. Atwood does it in the form of a novel, narrated by oppressed handmaid Offred, and she warns her audience that a society like Gilead is possible unless they amend their unequal society.
If they don't, they will simply be perpetuating "othering."
I had to study this picture for a few minutes in order to understand the concept that it was portraying. I agree that Aunt Jemima bottles are centered on the shelf and the Lite version is specifically illustrated as the best product to buy. I agree with the fact that this is a commentary on races and that often, light skin is shown as more desirable than dark skin. I think it is interesting how "othering" is even shown with multiple versions of maple syrup bottles. I agree that women in The Handmaid's Tale are subjected to othering, however, I believe that Handmaid's are the most subjected to this problem, The fact that Handmaids have to wear all red attracts attention to them and also separates them from the rest of Gilead.
ReplyDeleteI think that this picture does a great job of subtly portraying racial "othering." It is important that the lite Aunt Jemima bottles are in the middle. I think the fact that the woman on the bottle is a black older woman is the most important representation of racial preferences. Although the syrups are different colors, I don't believe that they are trying to convey racial profiling, they are just the colors of syrup and I personally find the darker syrup way more appealing than the clear syrup. I think that the aspect of racial profiling comes from the woman on the bottle and how she is portrayed.
ReplyDeleteAnna Claire-
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you picked this photograph and am impressed by the level of analysis you achieved from something that seemed (at first) to have nothing to do with othering. I caution you about making assumptions or forcing assertions, but overall you were able to support whatever you brought up in your post. I also appreciated that you looked at structure of a text as a way for an author to convey his or her purpose or intention.
This post was very well thought out and the analysis was impressive for a photo that seems unrelated to othering. I could totally "hear" your voice through this post. I definitely can see where you're coming from with the light and dark maple syrups. It's a very interesting take on an otherwise overlooked aspect of a grocery store.
ReplyDeleteGoing away from the idea that "syrup color represents racism", I just want to contrast the Gilead society's ideas of choice to those of the photo. Gilead wants to remove the freedom of making choices and individuality from the society but the syrup photo represents the limitless choices we make each day. I think that the eight different types of syrups would definitely overwhelm Offred who gets excited by the store having oranges.