In this essay I intend to prove that David LaChapelle’s work is more than just mere pornographic smut that at face value some would suggest, that his work is in fact an exposé on the deviant nature of human sexuality and addresses the subject of class and politics in England today. David LaChapelle’s 2002 ‘Aristocrats’ is the subject of this study, due to its provocative nature.
LaChapelle displays have many different connotations within, making his work a great source of analysis for the purpose of this study, having never before considered the deliberate societal commentary hidden within the photograph’s underlying narrative. This photo was originally created for Vogue- it is thought to have also been the inspiration for Rihanna’s music video for her 2011 song ‘S&M’.
“In advertising, sex sells. But only if you're selling sex.” (Richards)
‘Aristocrats’ depicts a woman in a black PVC or leather coat, in one hand she is holding a riding crop and in the other she has a scantily clad gentleman on a leash. He is wearing a leather-studded harness some Dr Martens and a leather military hat. She doesn’t appear to be taking much notice of the male due to the fact her eyes aren’t aimed at the him on the ground. They are outside on the lawn of a very beautiful building somewhere in the UK. The building’s design appears to be influenced by Asian design with an English twist.
“Sex is the mysticism of materialism and the only possible religion in a materialistic society.” (Muggeridge, 1963)
When first viewing this image it appears it’s intended to be used for sexual gratification, the use of BDSM, leather, latex, domination and submission categorises this image of something that lies within hard-core fetish photography and pornog...
... middle of paper ...
...02). The two sources of Morality and Religion (1932). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. p317.
Dant,T. (1996). Fetishism and The Social Value of Objects. Sociological Review. 44 (3), p2-3.
Freud, S (1990). The Ego and the Id (The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) New York, USA, W.W Norton and c
Company
Muggeridge, M. (1967). The American Way of Sex (1967). TV, BBC, BBC1, 21 October 1967. Unknown.
Richards,J BrainyQuote.com, Xplore Inc, 2014. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jefiricha103326.html, accessed April 24, 2014.
Warhol, A. (2007). The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again. 2nd Edition. St.Ives, England, Penguin modern classics. Chapter 3
Wing,N. (1986). The Limits of Narrative: Essays on Baudelaire, Flaubert, Rimbaudand Mallarme . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press . p57.
Judith R. Walkowitz is a Professor Emeritus at John Hopkins University, specializing in modern British history and women’s history. In her book City of Dreadful Delight, she explores nineteenth century England’s development of sexual politics and danger by examining the hype of Jack the Ripper and other tales of sensational nature. By investigating social and cultural history she reveals the complexity of sexuality, and its influence on the public sphere and vice versa. Victorian London had upheld traditional notions of class and gender, that is until they were challenged by forces of different institutions.
Southerland, Harold P. ""'Love for Sale'- sex and the Second American Revolution"." Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, 2008: 49-77.
... Through “A&P”, John Updike has told of a coming revolution, where the establishments of authority will have to defend each and every rule and regulation that they have put in place. He tells of a revolution where this young generation will break sex from its palace of sanctity. Every single idea that was present in American society that led to the sex driven, often naïve, free spiritedness of the sixties to present day are present in John Updike’s “A&P”.
Freud, S., Strachey, J., Freud, A., Rothgeb, C., & Richards, A. (1953). The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (1st ed.). London: Hogarth Press.
Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (19621960). The Ego and the Super-ego. The ego and the id (pp. 19-20). New York: Norton.
At the turn of the 19th century Americans faced a multitude of cultural changes, involving contraceptive acceptance, sexuality changes, and modernism acceptance. Contraceptives were illegal in the early 1900s and posed many relationship problems between married couples since they wanted to be intimate. New ideas about sexuality and affection changed the views on appropriate erotic practices to indulge in within single people typically around college age. Women and men didn’t wait until marriage before having some type of sexual relation, which caused family problems and government intervention because of the negative views of being promiscuous. Modernism ideals developed with the introduction of new sciences and the argument of evolution
Foucault, Miachael. "We 'Other Victorians'" and "The Repressive Hypothesis."The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction.Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 1980.
In the late 1890’s women’s roles were changing. In fact, Oscar Wilde was editor of Women’s World, a magazine that promoted the “new woman”, who was educated, involved in women’s issues and supportive of her husband’s career. The asceticism movement provided another role for the Victorian male, that of the dandy; a wealth male who lived a hedonistic lifestyle and was generally unmarried, pursuing no useful endeavours.
Pappas, Stephanie. (2010). The History of Pornography No More Prudish Than the Present. Web 13 Nov 2013.
This essay will analyze and critique Michel Foucault’s (1984) essay The Use of Pleasure in order to reveal certain internal weaknesses it contains and propose modifications that would strengthen his reading of sexuality as a domain of moral self-formation. In order to do so, it will present a threefold critique of his work. Firstly, it will argue that that his focus on solely the metric of pleasure divorced from its political manifestations underemphasizes state power as a structuring principle of sexuality. Secondly, it will posit that his attention to classical morality privileges written works by male elites and fails to account for the subtexts that would demonstrate other forms of morality. Finally, it will argue that the nature of actors’ resistance to moral codes, explicated through Butler’s concept of iterability and signification, is an important factor that should also be considered. As a result of this critique, this essay
Freud, Sigmund. The Major Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. Robert Maynard Hutchins. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1955. Print.
This literature review examines the different opinions of 20th and 21st century writers and their ideas on the naked body. It will look into what the nude is in comparison to the naked, and also at power as well as physical perfection. The literature chosen are: Kenneth Clark: 'The Nude: a Study in Ideal Form', John Berger: 'Ways of Seeing', Rosemary Betterton: 'Looking On', Michael Gill: 'Image of the Body and a modern comparison Frances Borzello's ‘The Naked Nude’. All these writers have something to say about the way in which nudity is portrayed and how the subject is viewed accordingly. All authors look into why artists have chosen to depict the nude and explore what this means for feminism, pornography and religion.
Foucault, Michel. "We 'Other Victorians'" and "The Repressive Hypothesis."The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction.Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 1980. 3-13, 17-49.
Zabarenko, Deborah. "U.S. Obsession With Adultery Harks Back To Puritans.," Reuters, (1997) : pp. PG.
Wohl, Anthony S. "The Supposed Excessive Sexuality of Lower Classes and Tribal Cultures." The Victorian Web. URL: http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/vn/victorov.html.