anti:freeze

Yesterday, I sent my class out into the city with digital cameras to snap pictures of symbols & icons. When they came back to class, we downloaded the pictures onto a laptop and projected them on a screen for discussion. The students surpassed all my expectations. Not only did they find complex, interesting symbols, but they were eager & willing to discuss them in many different contexts. Overall, it was a great first day of class. (Though I admit, I was nervous and perhaps moved a tad too fast because of that.)

Their assignment for the weekend is to select a magazine cover and analyze it in terms of personal reaction, cultural symbols, signs, context, etc. So I figured I should complete something similar. I chose the most recent issue of Bitch, which is not something I normally read. This cover, however, caught my attention:

First of all, my personal response: I love this cover. I actually giggled when I first saw it. Almost any American woman can tell you that jeans are the "new bra." They are tight, restrictive, overly expensive, and with their ever-intense focus on body shape, cut, wash, and style, they have transformed into a symbol of our body-obsessed culture. Burning a pair of jeans has the same liberatory vibe as torching a bra. Although, I should admit, I never torched a bra. Never saw the need. Heck, if I wanna go braless, I just do it. Jeans, on the other hand, I cannot imagine dressing without. I love my jeans. But ever since the whole "7 for all Mankind" phenonemon forced denim designers to switch to premium fabric, tailored cuts, and fancy pockets, throwing on a pair of jeans feels a bit too much like a beauty pageant. Points for cut. Points for pocket. Points for flare or boot-cut or stretch. It is enough to make you want to ... burn them.

Which is not to say that I don't like all those designer jeans. I love them. But as the song goes: I hate myself for loving ...

Composition: It's interesting to me how centered the jeans are in this image. They hang from the clothesline in what appears to be the horizontal dead-center. The waist is a little lower than center on the vertical axis, but the flames fan upward enough to make up for it.

Placing the jeans dead-center makes it impossible not to focus on them. It also hints at something beyond what is visible. Bitch magazine seems to be telling us: Torching your jeans is a centered (or centering) thing to do.

I notice the text at the top shares the same orange shade as the flames: 96 pages of gossip, tell-alls, and sex. Because of this, I cannot help but relate the text to the flames, and I wonder if the gossip & hoaxes are made (metaphorically) from the ashes of burnt denim. Like maybe this gossip is not the same as, say, Cosmo gossip.

The flames shoot up into the same space as the chimney, which is a nice touch - literally and metaphorically. You could see that chimney as a chimney, or you could see it as a phallus. In which case, the burning jeans are outdoing the chimney. Ahem. But I only said that because Freud figures into the readings for my students this week. Not because I normally see phalluses all over the place.

Intended Audience: Well, feminists. The magazine tagline says "feminist response to pop culture," making it quite clear who this is for. But who is a feminist? That cuts across a lot of lines. I know men who consider themselves feminists. I know women who don't. So I do not want to assume who the "ideal" reader is for this publication. I can guess, however, that the magazine does not cater to the squeamish. I mean, it's called Bitch. And then there are the flaming jeans.

But the cursive, almost sweet font for "feminist response to pop culture" suggests that many kinds of feminists are welcome. And the lower case letter in "bitch" hints that the name is tongue-in-cheek. It is a name, but not a proper name. It is, of course, also a verb. This all suggests that the magazine is not meant for "bitches," but rather, for those who are unafraid of the label - those who can approach it with all those meanings and understandings intact.

Oh - and should I also point out how the flames seem strongest at the crotch area of the jeans? As in a burning bush? As in crotch on fire? As in attitude.

Since I count myself as a feminist, I have to wonder: Does this cover represent me well? The burning jeans most definitely do, as does the overall attitude. I am not a big fan of the title, however. Not because I shrink from the word bitch, but because I take a much different approach to political discussion. Although, I suspect this has something to do with the large font, too. Maybe if it were smaller? I am not sure. I need to think more about this one.