Dove: An "Evolution" in Beauty

 

Starting in 2006, Dove began releasing ad campaigns geared toward supporting and building girls' self-esteem.  Initially Dove's attempt to tackle issues of beauty and self-esteem among young girls and women was a refreshing look at beauty products for women.  Dove not only launched self-esteem campaigns for girls, but also released a line of "pro-age" products, instead of the usual "anti-aging" beauty products already lining the shelves of every grocery store and pharmacy.  While Dove's ad campaign seemed new and inspiring, it did not proceed without its flaws.  Gunther Kress's chapter eight and nine of his book Multimodalities, offer theories of ensembles, orchestration, aesthetics and concepts of "learning" that help to uncover the negative aspects of Dove's Real Beauty campaign.  Kress's theories paired with Gillian Rose's chapters nine and ten from Visual Methodologies, focusing on Stuart Hall's concept of encoding and ‘dominant code’, Gramsci's hegemony and counter-hegemony, and the use of visual images as objects, allow for a thorough analysis of Dove's ulterior motivations and slip-ups in their Real Beauty campaign.

            Dove’s “A Dove Film” titled Evolution demonstrates the process of hair and make-up coupled with the powers of photoshop to create the glamorous girls displayed on billboards and magazine covers.   

This time lapsed video lasts one minute and fifteen seconds, ending with the sentence “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted”.  As Kress states,

Orchestration describes the processes of selecting/assembling/designing the semiotic ‘materials’ which seem essential to meet the rhetor’s interests and which will be given shape as the semiotic entity … Orchestrations and the resultant ensembles can be organized in space and they can be organized in time, in sequence, in process, in motion (Kress 4374-82).

Dove’s interests, apparently, are helping expose the truth behind the “beauty” of women featured on billboards and magazines by selecting to film a young woman preparing for a photo shoot, assembling a time lapsed video detailing the strenuous process of hair and make-up and of the photoshop editing that contribute to creating “beautiful” women. It would seem that Dove’s interests are innocent and completely focused on restoring girls’ self-esteem and confidence in real beauty, yet their campaign for real beauty is still highly branded.  The ensembles created during the Evolution video of excessive use of make-up, hair products and photoshop tools, are expertly organized in a space focused on the portrait of the young woman, careful to only show her face and not her full figure.  Emphasizing the woman’s face, and not her body, allows Dove to explicitly comment on facial beauty, instead of body type or size.  In this sense, Dove is able to maintain a campaign for “real” beauty, while cleverly excluding any opinion or suggestion on body type or size, suggesting that the distorted images of beauty are exclusively that of the face and nothing below the neck line.  Having the woman sit in the centre of the shot, wearing apparently no make up, while proceeding to elaborate on the process involved in becoming “beautiful” through time lapsed, sequenced shots of the progression of her hair and make-up, emphasize that beauty distortion and self-esteem are only problems of the face and hair, and of no other part of our bodies.  Despite the fact that Dove appears to be advocating for a real beauty campaign, it is an incredibly selective beauty campaign, avoiding the messy topic of body type, size or eating disorders.

           

            Kress describes aesthetics as “… the category which seems essential to make analytic inroads here, about characteristics of the imagined … viewer/reader” (Kress 4638-47).  Using Kress’s theory of “Aesthetics as the politics of style – with style as the politics of choice and ethics as the politics of (e)valuation …” (Kress 4638-47) it is possible to understand “… what kind of viewer … is imagined, with what tastes and habits, what lifestyle, what age/generation, what gender” (Kress 4647-55).  Dove imagined an audience of women, most likely ranging from young girls to young women, who constantly compare and attempt to emulate the images of “perfect” women on billboards and magazines.  Dove assumes that their viewers will focus on their message of searching for “real” beauty, noticing the aesthetics and promoted message of Evolution, and ignore Dove’s inability and reluctance to address issues of full body beauty, size, weight, body type or eating disorders.  By concentrating on targeting young girls and young women, and using the aesthetics of their message to fight issues of self-esteem and beauty distortion, Dove hopes to create a shroud of hope in which the areas of body beauty they choose not to address can go unnoticed.

            At the end of Evolution, Dove encourages the viewer to “Take part in the Dove Real Beauty Workshop for Girls” by visiting www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca, followed by their three-tiered Dove icon.  By implementing their brand within their campaign for real beauty, Dove strongly associates itself with “natural” and “real” beauty, encouraging the viewer to believe that Dove is trying to support women’s search for natural beauty, so they should support Dove’s efforts too.

            Kress defines “learning” as taking place within an “… institutional settin[g] [which] is a political matter and as such highly subject to power and ideology” (Kress 4780-90 – 4790-98).  Therefore, according to Kress, Dove’s Evolution would fall under the category of “not learning”: “… not learning refers to the same process and phenomena as learning does, though outside of institutional framing and their metrics.  Outside those framings, these are called experience, development, meaning-making, and so on” (Kress 4805-13).  Dove offers a type of virtual learning experience that Kress would categorize as not learning, by offering the experience of how models actually come to look so perfect on billboards and magazines.  Although there are many texts and articles reinforcing the fact that the beauty portrayed in magazines is not natural, the video medium allows for the concept of created beauty to grow through the virtual experience of witnessing the process of sculpted beauty.  While Dove does offer valuable insight and a meaning-making experience to young girls and women through Evolution, they also convey the message that body image, other than that of the face, is not as important.  The sculpted beauty Dove portrays in Evolution ignores not only issues of full body image, but the fact that thin models are often photoshopped to skinny perfection, making them appear “natural” and what is a very unnatural size and shape. 

            Despite Dove discreetly omitting concerns and truths about full body image, Dove as a brand offered hope for at least one product that would promote natural beauty, and feature natural women and realistic product/situation expectations for many female consumers.  However, five years later, Dove released New Dove VisibleCare, a “… new revolutionary line of body washes that actually improves the look of your skin” while also promising “… visibly more beautiful skin in just one week” (VisibleCare).  The idea of natural beauty seems to have diminished from their 2006 Evolution.  Dove’s 2011 campaign promises improved forms of beauty and skin, indicating that the natural state of a woman’s skin is not the best it can be, and should be improved using Dove’s VisibleCare products.

            As the advertisement begins, Dove shows the women who will be trying VisibleCare body wash to improve their skin, and achieve “more beautiful skin in just one week”.  The screen shot below displays Dove’s concept of diversity, as three for the five women are Caucasian, featuring one Latina woman, and one Black woman.  However, there isn’t a great deal of difference in skin tone from the Caucasian women to the Latina woman to the Black woman as all participants have very light skin.  Gramsci’s idea of hegemony, “… dominant meanings and values of a society” (Rose 199-200), is reflected in Dove’s VisibleCare advertisement.  In many ways, television and movie audiences have become accustomed to the token Black/Latino/Asian/non-Caucasian character, accepting this as the reality of pop culture.  However, for a company that claims to value “real” beauty, despite race/colour or ethnicity, Dove seems to implying a weighty white hegemony.  In a culture in which Caucasians make up the majority, minorities are often downplayed, absent, or in Dove’s case, made to appear whiter.  Dove reinforces an ideology that lighter skin is the ideal form of beauty, and can be achieved using their VisibleCare products.  

            By creating an advertisement that essentially promises lighter skin, Dove is encoding idealized beauty as Caucasian, or as light and fair as possible.  The before and after pictures of the test subjects skin reflects this code as it demonstrates a significantly lighter patch of skin after using the VisibleCare body wash for one week.  Instead of demonstrating an improved smooth textured skin, Dove emphasizes the ability of their body wash to lighten skin, so that women can achieve hegemonic values of the superior lightened skin.  Dove’s encoding of an idealized ‘light’ beauty fulfils Hall’s idea of ‘dominant code’ that “… supports the existing political, economic, social and cultural order” (Rose 199).  Instead of creating a positive association with Dove products by exposing sculpted beauty in Evolution in 2006 as a form of counter-hegemony, Dove is perpetuating hegemonic and dominant code of ‘lightness’ and ‘whiteness’ as superior skin colours. 

            As Rose discusses in Chapter 10 of Visual Methodologies, anthropological approaches to visual images differ in that “What interests them most is what happens when something is done with visual materials” (Rose 217).  As previously discussed, Dove made the decision to follow hegemonic and dominant codes pertaining to ‘lightness’ and ‘whiteness’, however, what will be done with Dove’s VisibleCare ad?  According to comments in the Youtube comment feed, Dove received negative feedback for this advertisement, “The blog Copyranter said the ad infers that the body was “turns black women into Latino women into white women” (VisibleCare MulataLinda8).  While the negative feedback Dove received for the VisibleCare ad gives hope that viewers are not accepting hegemonic and dominant codes that Dove is choosing to emulate, the fact that this ad received 1 098 views with only three comments and one dislike and one like, is discouraging.  While others may be blogging about VisibleCare, Youtube is a platform known for heated discussions and opinions on their comment feeds.  The lack of verbal/written communication on the VisibleCare video suggests that nothing is being “done” with the ad – at least on Youtube.  In other ways, VisibleCare acts as an object of hegemonic and dominant code values, which can and is used (merely in its existence) to reinforce white laden values, and to encourage women to desire lighter, whiter skin.

            Dove’s Evolution video gave hope that counter-hegemonic ideologies were being produced by mainstream companies, showing alternatives to the hegemonic dominant codes of white culture.  Kress’s theories of ensembles, orchestration, aesthetics and learning allow a thorough understanding and exploration of Dove’s Evolution.  The understanding and exploration of Evolution acts as a useful comparison when exploring Dove’s VisibleCare ad using Rose’s explanation of Hall’s encoding and dominant codes, Gramsci’s ideas of hegemony and counter-hegemony and the exploration of images as objects.  Dove’s Evolution and VisibleCare ads allow insight into Dove’s changing attitude of counter-hegemonic ideals in 2006, to their use of hegemony and dominant codes in VisibleCare.  The theories provided by Kress and Rose provides the opportunity to notice the stark contrast in Dove’s vision of beauty in 2006 to their very different and skewed vision of beauty in 2011. 

Works Cited

Dove Logo. August 1, 2011. Source: http://www.dove.us/. PNG file. 

“Evolution.” Youtube. Web. 30 July, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U.

Kress, Gunther. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication.  Kindle edition, December 5, 2009.

Rose, Gillian.  Visual Methodologies. London, Sage Publications Inc., 2007.

“VisibleCare.” Youtube. Web. 30 July, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5youXx2eDc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL.

VisibleCare Screen Shot Participant Group. July 31, 2011. Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.

VisibleCare Screen Shot Skin Before and After. July 31, 2011. Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.

The Women (Or is it?)

Gillian Rose's chapters on psychoanalysis and discourse analysis, paired with Gunther Kress's chapters on semiology and framing, provide the necessary tools with which to explore and deconstruct the film, The Women, directed and written by Diane English.  In case you are unfamiliar with the 2008 film The Women (adapted from the play, and later the 1939 film The Women (It's all about men!)) is a film about women, purporting to only have female actors the duration of the film.  The Women focuses on a group of four close women, Mary, Sylvie, Edie and Alex, and their nemesis, Crystal.  Principles and theories of psychoanalysis, discourse analysis, semiology and framing allow a further investigation and exploration of the male gaze and the theory of masquerade within psychoanalysis, in a movie that claims to be purely centered around women.  As a young woman living within a patriarchal society, and having feminist roots, I found the concept of this movie being purely about women and a "female" experience hard to believe.  While Diane English admittedly attempts to expel a male presence, it still exists and has a glaring presence created through its apparent "absence".  Having said that, however, English does manage to create an environment in which the presumed female viewer can feel as though this experience is purely feminine, without having to view the film through the typical masculine lens.  Despite English's efforts, it is incredibly difficult to expel masculinity completely when living within a male dominated society.

The trailer for The Women purports a movie of epic proportions, claiming that "When the women get together there will be no lies. No secrets. No warnings. The ultimate battle between every women and the other woman begins." 

The text from the trailer is fulfilled, at least within the trailer itself.  While it attempts to convey The Women  will be a story about a battle between the wife and the other woman, this is in fact, very misleading.  The movie itself centers around Mary, whose husband Stephen, has been cheating on her with Crystal, the Saks Fifth Avenue perfume spritzer, and Mary's ability to overcome betrayal on the quest of self-discovery.

While the trailer doesn't hint that there are no men in the movie, it is very explicit that this content is about women, for women.  After watching this movie carefully, there was not a single male actor or character visually present in the film.  This could purport to the audience that this movie will not have anything to do with men, but that alas, that is not the case.  The narrative centers around Mary's husband, Stephen, and their marital relationship.  Largely, The Women could be classified as a masquerade.  The concept of a masquerade within psychoanalysis suggests "... that since femininity is not natural but constructed ... there are ways of thinking about femininity as just that, a construction.  Femininity can be seen as a mask, a masquerade, performed by mimicking what being a woman is meant to be about" (Rose 123).  In this way, the characters and plot of The Women fall perfectly under the category of masquerade.  If we follow Mary's progression throughout the film, it is evident that an ideology of what a woman ought to be (from fashion/dress to personality and priorities) is being constructed and presented to the audience.

In the still image above, we see Mary, attempting to hail a cab.  Her curly hair is supposed to give the impression of "out of control", while her beige and brown patterned dress, black coat, and chocolate brown purse suggest her highly conservative, boring nature, stating that Mary is just floating through her life, not really caring about herself, her appearance, or what happens along the way.  In the background we can see another woman; young, with sleek, smooth hair, trim, stylish business attire, and high heeled shoes, also trying to hail a cab.

Unlike Mary, this young woman succeeds.  It is suggested that Mary is not reaching her true potential as a woman, or in her life, and that she is too preoccupied to notice these apparent failings.  Despite the fact that Mary's curly hair happens to be perfectly curled, her Burberry coat flawless over her designer dress, the audience is led to believe that this woman's life is in serious need of repair.  Mary's inability to even attract the attention of a cabby is carried throughout the film in Mary's inability to maintain her job, her husband's interest, or have a grasp on her own identity.  So, is The Women still about women?  Maybe, but there is more going on here than women gossiping and plotting revenge against their husband's mistresses.  The "problems" that Mary has (her hair, wardrobe, husband, self identity) have been developed and characterized as problems through a patriarch lens that has been adopted into every facet of our culture. It is clear that there is nothing wrong with Mary's hair or style, and that it is not her fault Stephen decided to be unfaithful - yet The Women construct a context in which it is Mary's fault.  As Rose explains, "femininity is not natural but constructed" (Rose 123), which is clearly the case in The Women.  Despite this, English's attempt to write and direct a film that perhaps, she thought, could escape patriarchy and the male gaze, elements of male oppression and feminine ideology are overwhelmingly present.  The absence of men only creates the illusion that The Women was made about women, from the views and ideology of women.  The illusion lies in the fact that concepts such as "womanhood" and "femininity" are constructed and developed by men, largely for men. 

In terms of discourse analysis, Foucault says "Discourse ... is powerful ... because it is productive.  Discourse disciplines subjects into certain ways of thinking and acting, but this is not simply repressive; it does not impose rules for thought and behaviour on a pre-existing human agent.  Instead, human subjects are produced through discourses" (Rose 143).  The Women, despite its elements of masquerade and inherent presence of patriarchy, creates a powerful discourse, which is not, as Foucault hopes, repressive.  While The Women does suggest an (man's) idealized style and female presence, it also advocates for strong, female characters choosing their own destiny, no matter what that destiny may be.

When initially confronted with her husband's infidelity, Mary is unsure what to do.  Her mother and friends all have different pieces of advice to share, but the end result is Mary choosing to separate from her husband, and seek independence.  Mary reaches this conclusion when she meets her husband's mistress, Crystal, for the first time.

Discourse analysis "... explores the rhetorical organization of their discourse to establish this way of seeing, ... how a particular discourse describes things, ... in how it constructs blame and responsibility, in how it constructs accountability ..." (Rose 156).  In the image above, Mary confronts Crystal in a lingerie boutique.  Within this discourse Crystal is portrayed as the uncouth, unfeeling mistress.  Her dark brown hair, olive skin, and outfit of black lingerie, ascribes her accountability in the demise of Mary's marriage, thus, simultaneously giving the blame and responsibility to Crystal.  While previously Mary was responsible and to blame for her apparent absenteeism in her life through her hair, wardrobe, personal and professional decisions, it is clear that her glowing blonde hair, light skin, and white lingerie garment absolve her of any blame or accountability in her husband's infidelity.  The fact that Mary has more clothing on, and therefore less skin showing, also suggests her innocence, where as Crystal reveals her body, displaying no shame or modesty for her actions.

This particular discourse also suggests a reliance and element of patriarchal ideals and constructions of women and femininity.  The stark contrasts of colour and clothing between Mary and Crystal, and their names - the name Mary acts as a symbol for the innocence of Mary Magdalen, where as Crystal, a modern name, does not purport the same qualities as "Mary".  It also demonstrates that Stephen, who committed the act of infidelity, is actually not to blame here.  Instead, the focus is reverted to Crystal, the other woman, implying that Stephen was lured in by Crystal's prowess.  These contrasts reveal how the discourse of The Women hopes to persuade the audience that becoming involved with another woman's husband is wrong, but also the importance of female relationships, primarily the relationship of "best friend".

Although the end of Mary's marriage is devastating, the most devastating loss Mary faces in The Women is the rift and apparent loss of her best friend, Sylvie.  Once they are reunited, order is restored to the world, and they can both (finally) continue their lives happily.  The Women places a heavy reliance upon female connection, and the necessity of having close girl friends.  In many cases, The Women gives the impression that all female experience is shared and relatable for other women.  While this may be true within the scope and confines of this film, it is impossible to apply The Women's theory of shared female experience in any other setting.

The films largely white (with the exception of Alex), upper-class female characters limits female experience and suffering to a minority of the female population.  The identity of the suffering female is locked into the image of white, upper-class women through the use of icons and indexes within The Women.

Early on in the film the audience understands that these female characters are more than just the average woman - they're not only beautiful and graceful, but are also wealthy and leading next to idyllic lives.  When we are first introduced to Sylvie, she is shown entering Saks Fifth Avenue, a well known high-end department store, holding her dog, with its Burberry leash wrapped loosely in her hand.  Icons such as Burberry and Saks are automatically associated with the brand, which then becomes a symbol of wealth and luxury.

Even their homes, located in rural Connecticut, are extravagant and fully equipped with servants.  The red brick of Mary's home, along with the while columns of her front verandah, symbolize stability and luxury. The red brick, white columns and window treatments and black shutters are icons of the idyllic American family life, associated with the patriarchal assumption of the much sought after nuclear family.

Kress discusses ideas of framing within his text Multimodalities, and their ability to define the world the audience is about to engage in (Kress 4022-31).  The Women's use of icons and symbols help to create and establish a frame of wealth, luxury and female co-dependence.  By creating a fictional world in which men do not make a visual/physical appearance, The Women frames a situation in which women are seemingly free from the oppressions of patriarchy, which is short lived.  The dialogue of The Women centers around men and heterosexual relationships, creating a frame upon which women are viewed as constructed identities of patriarchy, but also a frame in which the homosexual is limited and mostly ignored.  The exception to this would be Alex, the only lesbian character within The Women, but through which conversation is framed within a scope that it is inappropriate for Alex to hit on other women, or it is implied that she is missing something without a heterosexual (or male) relationship.

The use of the icons and symbols previously discussed, also creates a frame of relations, processes and connections, establishing conventionalized forms in modes used in society (Kress 4190-98).  The patriarchal presence not only creates conventionalized modes and ideals of what a woman should be, but also what women should aspire to obtain and achieve.  Alex's homosexuality is downplayed in comparison to the heterosexual relationship of Mary and Stephen, and is even portrayed as negative, establishing heterosexuality as a positive convention.

The above image is the audience's first and only introduction to Alex's girlfriend, Natasha, a super model, who is portrayed as highly dysfunctional.  The Women never clearly establishes if Natasha's negative portrayal is because of her sexuality, or because of her profession, but the last shot the audience sees of Natasha until the end of the film, is her trying to discreetly eat a napkin in the corner.  Since this is the only representation of a homosexual relationship within The Women, the movie is framing an idealized and conventional, heterosexual way of life, as the better, healthier and more natural choice.



Rose and Kress's theories of psychoanalysis, discourse analysis, semiology and framing allow the opportunity to deconstruct the modes and codes established within The Women.  Despite the initial facade of a film containing only women, for women, and purely about women, it is clear that outside of the male-centric narrative elements of masquerade, discourse, icons, symbols and frames are clearly articulated and contained within constructed ideas and ideals of patriarchy.  The constructed reality of femininity is appallingly clear in The Women, a film that attempts to demonstrate femininity as decided by women, not men.  The fact that that goal was unachievable, further demonstrates how engrained patriarchal and male ideology is, and to what enormous extent it constructs and structures a woman's place within society through idealized forms of behaviour, dress, sexuality, and relationships.

Works Cited

Kress, Gunther. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication.  Kindle edition, December 5, 2009.

The Women: Screen shot of Mary hailing cab. July 8, 2011. Personal screenshot by author.  JPEG file.

The Women: Screen shot of Mary losing cab. July 8, 2011.Personal screenshot by author. JPEG file.

 

The Women: Screen shot of Mary and Crystal in dressing room.  July 8, 2011. Personal screenshot by author. JPEG file.

The Women: Screen shot of Mary hugging Sylvie. July 8, 2011. Personal screenshot by author. JPEG file.

 

The Women: Screen shot of Sylvie holding dog in Saks. July 8, 2011. Personal screenshot by author. JPEG file.



The Women: Screen shot of Mary's home. July 8, 2011. Personal screenshot by author. JPEG file.


The Women: Screen shot of Natasha eating napkin. July 8, 2011. Personal screenshot by author. JPEG file.



The Women movie cover. July 10, 2011. Source: http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/images_6/Women_Poster325.jpg&imgrefurl.  JPEG file.

Rose, Gillian.  Visual Methodologies. London, Sage Publications Inc., 2007.

Super Princess Peach: Nintendo's Rebranding of the Classic Princess Peach Femininty

Princess Peach is notorious for filling the role of the victim, often to the usual kidnapping antics of Bowser, enemy to Mario, Luigi, and of course, Peach herself.  Throughout the years, Nintendo’s character, Princess Peach, has played the role of the victim well, continually being kidnapped, waiting patiently for Mario and Luigi to struggle through world after world of Super Mario Bros., to finally reach Bowser's henchmen, only to lose her again, and repeat the process.  It seems to be the never-ending Nintendo cycle, with Peach hardly seeing the light of day, trapped in Bowser's dungeons.  Prior to Nintendo’s introduction of Super Princess Peach, it was always difficult to find a true female heroine, who took control of her life, and for once engaged in the rescue process, instead of constantly being the rescued (at least in the realm of Nintendo). Shortly after Nintendo launched their DS consoles, Super Princess Peach became available, finally offering a Nintendo narrative in which Peach was in control of her fate, and the fate of others, too.  This first installment of the ENGL 392B essay will focus primarily on Nintendo’s efforts to rebrand and symbolize Princess Peach and femininity within the gaming genre through image, text, colour, audiencing, and the difficulties faced by epistemological and ontological framing, and of Nintendo, and games in general, being non-canonized sources of semiotic cultural change and symbolism.

            The cover of the Super Princess Peach game can leave any potential gamer in doubt, as the roles have been reversed, and Peach appears as she has in many Nintendo games before – pretty in pink.  As figure 1.1 shows below, Peach has not changed in appearance, still wearing her ultra feminine pink, puffy “princess” dress, white gloves, and of course, her jeweled crown.  Nothing about Peach’s appearance allows for the audience to imagine that Peach is ready for any sort of adventure, least of all her expression.  Her eyes are slanted toward the right, apparently focused on Mario, tied up, captive of a warrior Koopa Troopa, with her mouth forming a perfect “O”, her hand raised as if gesturing to cover her surprise at the situation she has found herself in, demonstrating a lack of confidence in her ability to rescue Mario from Bowser’s clutches.  The bead of sweat rolling down Mario’s brow, his raised eyebrows, and the look of distress in his eyes mirrors Peach’s lack of confidence, which raises the question of whether or not Peach can handle her newly found role of heroine and “bad-girl”.  Nintendo is testing the waters while they renegotiate Princess Peach’s image under a process of audiencing (Rose 22) in order to determine whether the gaming community (those who played the traditional Nintendo Super Mario Bros. and those who have not) will accept the newly constructed symbol of Peach being presented.  Despite the fact that her appearance has not changed, Nintendo has begun to change Peach’s role drastically, modifying Peach as a previous symbol of complacent, kidnapped princess, to brave, heroine, ready to fight the evils of Bowser.

            The blue, yellow and pink hues used in the cover art of Super Princess Peach reveals that despite the switch in Peach’s role, her character will still maintain her innocent, fun-loving, princess demeanour (Rose 41).  While the saturation of the blue, yellow and pink is not high, it is not low, remaining in limbo, much like Peach’s role.  The hues and saturation of blue, yellow and pink reiterate that Peach’s character will not give up her role as innocent victim, a “girly-girl” princess, but will maintain it, while she navigates her role as heroine. 

While Nintendo uses colouration and image site to convey their stance on maintaining an image of absolute femininity for Peach’s character, it is equally important to “… understan[d] not only its representation of femininity, but its construction of masculinity too” (Rose 9).   Nintendo is creating an image and situation in which it is acceptable to be a delicate, feminine, emotional woman, while still engaging in the role of heroine, fighting the bad guys as they come, and rescuing the man.  Nintendo is creating a world in which it is possible to wear pink, gloves, and jewellery while still embracing a strong, female role.

Although Nintendo is making it clear that Peach’s character will not jeopardize femininity in light of becoming a heroine, the hues and saturation used for the Super Princess Peach cover are harmonious, assuring the audience that Princess Peach will remain her delicate, princess self, while fighting Bowser and saving Mario.  Nintendo is trying to convey that there will be no disconnect between the qualities of femininity Peach’s character previously embraced, and her new found heroism and bravery, but that these seemingly contrasting qualities can exist harmoniously within Peach, and perhaps, within any female.  Femininity and heroism are no longer mutually exclusive.

            After turning the case over, a new, and unexpected Peach is revealed, which can be seen in image below.  The small image of four hearts; one gold, blue, pink and green, demonstrate Peach’s emotional super powers, though not to the extent which the gamer will discover upon entering the first world, Ladida Plains, of Vibe Island.  As the cover adequately explains, it’s time for “Princess Power!” since now “… it’s up to Peach and her magical umbrella to save them”.  The small, corner image of Peach’s magical umbrella also leaves the audience wondering how Peach will manage to rescue Mario and Luigi, while simultaneously freeing the many Toads that have been kidnapped with her emotional “vibes”, and her magical umbrella.  Though the case itself appears to sell Peach and her potential short, she is capable of more than just “… channel[ing] … emotional vibes into special abilities. Float[ing] when she’s happy, burn[ing] through walls when she’s mad, or mak[ing] vegetation grow with her tears”. 

            Once you start moving through Ladida Plains on Vibe Island, Peach’s “true” colours start to reveal themselves, as the gamer is forced to explore the possibilities of her gendered emotions of anger, happiness, tears, and the yellow heart, which allows her to morph into a cyclone of destruction. In the image below, the pink heart clearly expresses anger, the green heart happiness, the blue heart sadness, it’s unclear what Nintendo intended when designing the open mouthed, exasperated face of the yellow heart to signify.  When Peach turns into a cyclone/whirlwind, Peach appears to be determined to succeed, despite the fluster of her appearance.  When encountering a toxic, yellow cloud blocking her path to save a Toad, all Peach needs to do is morph into her yellow heart whirlwind, and blunder (albeit, a graceful blunder) through the obstacle to her goal.  If something is too high for her to leap or float to, Peach only needs to summon her yellow fluster of emotion to achieve any height (provided her vibe meter does not run out).  

            Peach’s emotional vibe powers replicate the traditional and typically female gendered reactions to not only daily situations, but also during menstruation.  The surge of hormones that women experience during their cycle each month are in many ways mirrored in Peach’s vibe powers.  At any given moment, women are characterized as being capable of extreme anger, then happiness, followed by overwhelming sadness, to a fluster of an often-indescribable frenzy of emotions.  Despite the fact that Peach has been cast in the role of heroine, Nintendo is careful to maintain her highly “feminine” image, as dictated not only by her past roles and representations in Nintendo games, but also the idealized feminine image and reactions of Western culture.  The way in which the gamer has the control to activate Peach’s vibe emotions with a simple tap of the DS stylus, and then, with a similar tap, turn them off, also reflects a stereotyped image of women as rash, unpredictable beings.  

            However, Nintendo’s assertion over female emotion, femininity, and heroism can be troubling, as well.  When keeping in mind issues of truth and reliability, especially when cultural assertions are being made by a non-canonical source, such as Nintendo, the blurring of epistemological and ontological frames that Kress discusses in his text, Multimodality (Kress 908 – 918-26, Kindle edition), come to light in Nintendo’s attempt to rebrand, symbolize and contextualize Peach’s identity.  The ability for the audience to accept Nintendo’s concept of a shared sense of classic femininity and emotion with feminine bravery and heroism may be difficult, as it does not come from a recognized academic or canonized source, blurring boundaries of genre between what was previously accepted as a form of leisure/entertainment, to an artefact that can now be studied semiotically (Kress 918 – 926, Kindle edition). However, depending on the audience, this newly designed image of Peach and femininity within video games could become widely accepted.  A female audience engaging in the world of Vibe Island as Princess Peach, would trust Nintendo’s characterization of a   strong, brave, feminine role – a woman who is able to maintain her femininity (if it is desired) while still embracing, what is otherwise typically male in the realm of games, the role of a warrior and hero.  The male gamer may receive Super Princess Peach as an innovation, and invitation to introduce females to the world of gaming, allowing a broader audience within not only the realm of Nintendo, but other consoles as well. Or, he could scoff at Nintendo’s attempt to characterize Peach in a heroic light.  However, the same could not be said of a purely academic audience, one with very little gaming experience, in what was prior to the creation and personalization of Super Princess Peach, a largely masculine domain, may not understand or value Nintendo’s attempt to restructure and qualify the female role not only within a gaming society, but within Western culture, as well.

            Although video game culture is becoming more and more recognized within academic circles, the overall multimodal and semiotic affects of video games have remained largely untouched.  The issue of video games being non-canonized sources, and largely existing for the purpose of entertainment, isolate them from the realm of semiotic analysis and interpretation.  In the following installments of this essay, issues of text, image, colour, layout and narrative will be explored, to better understand not only the changing character of Princess Peach, but also the changes that are taking place to accommodate the feminine within the realm of Nintendo gaming.

Works Cited

Kress, Gunther. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication.  Kindle edition, December 5, 2009.

Nintendo DS Game Cover of Super Princess Peach. June 17, 2011. Personal photograph by author.  JPEG file.

Nintendo DS Game Back Cover of Super Princess Peach. June 17, 2011.Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.

Nintendo DS Screen Shot of Ladida Plains Level.  June 17, 2011. Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.

Nintendo DS Screen Shot Peach Anger Vibe. June 17, 2011. Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.

Nintendo DS Screen Shot Peach Crying Vibe. June 17, 2011. Personal photograph by author. JPEG file.

Princess Peach Head Shot. June 20, 2011. Source: http://mario-peach-guides.blogspot.com/2011/04/princess-peach.html. JPEG file.

Rose, Gillian.  Visual Methodologies. London, Sage Publications Inc., 2007.