Religious Imagery Cross

Religious Imagery: Cross : Jessica Cortes

            The cross is a religious symbol looked upon many. There are many different crosses located in several places. For example, cross could be tattooed, on a rosary, on top of a church building, car stickers of a cross, or we have the basic wooden cross that is located inside a Christian Churches. The cross that is located in the church, it in normally place upfront in the middle, because of this being it is meant to show how Christ should be the center of one’s life. The wooden cross that is located in the middle of a church building is about 6 feet in height, to create a more dominate focal point. The cross in the church has a huge impact in the church it is a symbol that represents what a church stands for. A reminder of why one does what they do when they are Christian. In addition it reminds one we are not perfect, and we fall and make mistakes. The cross is there to remind us what Christ has done for us.

            Chris Demetriou stated, “The cross is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction but to everyone who is ‘being saved’ it is the power and might of God.” In other words depending on ones own upbringing is how it one interprets it. But the location of where the cross is and because it is in a church. Therefore in this context the meaning of the cross is based on God and Christ. What the cross represents about our contemporary culture is that we contain the same views and continue to believe strongly in Christ and Him being the center of our life.  Our view of the cross is a religious expression of how individuals are faithful to Christianly.  

Church Building 

Joss Sticks (by Trung Duong)

     Joss stick is the name given to incense stick made from sandalwoods, and releases fragrant smoke when burned. Many of joss sticks are long and thin and are mostly colored yellow and red.
     There are many different purposes of using joss sticks, but most of them associated with ritual and religious devotion. In China, joss sticks burned in front of a family's house are believed to protect the family from evil spirits. It is also believed to be a way to send prayers to the gods and to one's ancestors especially when burned at a temple.
     Joss stick can be found in many Buddhist's sacred sites, and different festive days like: Buddhist's New Year, Vesak, Ploughing Festival. They are being used in Chinese influenced East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, traditionally burned before the threshold of a home or business, before an image of Chinese popular religion divinity or spirit of place, or in small and humple or large and elaborate shrine found at the main entrance to each and every village. Here the Earth God is propitiated in the hope of bringing wealth and health.

Jin Chan "Golden Toad" (Kathie Salazar)

            The Jin Chan or “golden toad” is a Chinese object of religious expression in an everyday material culture. The toad is a type of Feng Shui object of Chinese ancient art and science that creates balance and harmony in its surroundings. Moreover, the “golden toad” represents a Feng Shui charm for prosperity. There has been said that Jin Chan was the wife of one of the eight immortals and was turned into an amphibian because she had stolen the Peaches of Immortality where she then runs away with them to the moon.

            Therefore, because she was seen as greedy, she is a powerful wealth charm that can bring blessings and money luck. The Jin Chan is all gold as are the coins surrounding its body that signifies money accumulation. Occasionally, the toad would have a coin on its mouth like the one in the first figure. There is also distinctive detail on the coins that makes them look as if they were real. It is not seen in the photograph, but the toad actually has only three legs which symbolize the Holy Trinity of heaven, earth, and humankind.. There is much detail as well on its back that looks scaly. The toad has bright fiery red eyes that capture the human eye.

            This particular Jin Chan (second photograph) is next to a plate of mangos, onions, a standing Buddha holding a money bag, a smiling sitting Buddha, and more food or drinks. Comprehensibly, the people that place these objects believe in giving the Jin Chin and Buddha offerings to give them good health, wealth, and prosperity. The presence of the Jin Chin and the rest of the objects suggest that cultural religious artifacts can be placed anywhere and are respected. This specific Jin Chan is located inside of a nail salon where as soon as you enter through the door the artifact is displayed to give a strong sense of religious belief. Ironically, the way the Jin Chan is placed; it goes against the laws of Feng Shui. It is said that a Jin Chan should not be facing out toward the main door because that gives direction to where all wealth and good fortune would go- in this case out the door. But as you enter the nail shop it is evident that the business is thriving. The owners and workers are Chinese that mostly serve African Americans and few Hispanics. The shop is almost always filled with people.

Fashion Advertisement

The ad shows a completely naked women lying down, her body is bare with her legs wide open, the only thing hiding her genitalia form being exposed is a cologne bottle she holds up between her legs. The picture cuts off just low enough to not expose her breasts. "Tom Ford for Men" is stamped in big white letters at the bottom of the ad, "Tom Ford" was probably all that was needed, it is not hard to tell what gaze this photo was made for. The ad is apart of 15 banned fashion ads listed on a poplar social website, the others showing similar images crossing the thin line of expression and exploitation. 

By examining the many ads shown on the website it can be seen that this idea that "sex sells' in popular media may have been taken too far. The women in these ads are shown either nude, with very little clothing on or shown with obvious sexual innuendos . Many other fashion ads seen by the public everyday aren't but a half step above the banned ads shown. Majority of these ads showing women as sexual objects, men not so much; the saying that sex sells should be changed to women sexuality sells. Women want to have these sleek, perfect bodies and so do men (in other ways of course). 

Wonder Bra (By Cindy Pham)

The image that was released in August 1999 in France features an advertisement for Wonderbra that could be very demeaning towards women. The model is a young tan, blonde, blue eyes female that is only wearing a bra. She has a seductive facial expression with her mouth open and eyes looking lustfully into the camera. She is holding on to the straps of her bra and looks like she’s lifting them up to make her breast appear perkier. The majority of the advertisement is focus on the woman’s breast, which is the focal point. But in medium size font that is located in her chest, the phase, “I can’t cook. Who cares?”

            The image is presented out of pure pleasure for the man’s eyes. The advertisement is very demeaning because the ad is telling their audience that if one has large breast, people would look pass their flaws. That only looks matter because if she doesn’t know how to cook, at least she is still pretty to look at and have around. It’s telling their audience to look at their model only as a sex object and not as a human being. It makes women that don’t have large breast feel less of a woman because these are the images that men are looking for. Furthermore, the model is skinny and very sexually desirable. It leads women into altering their look to achieve something that society necessary thinks as "sexy".  It’s giving men the wrong impression of how a women should look like. The ad helps men look at women as sexual beings and not for personality. 

SKYY Vodka (By Cynthia Carrillo)

The image displayed is of a young, skinny woman seductively leaning onto a man who seems to be a server. The man is holding a tray which carries the SKYY Vodka bottle and some fruits on the side for the woman's martini. He is wearing a white dress shirt and a black skinny tie. The woman is holding a drink in her hand while gripping the man's tie with her other hand. She is wearing a back thin bikini and also a sunhat which covers her entire face. Her bikini is quite revealing and only covers the essential body parts that need to be censored.The man is gazing into the woman's face as she pulls him closer towards her.
The purpose of this image is to show seduction and pleasure from the woman to the male audience. The woman is shown as sexy and skinny by the type of clothing that she is wearing. This type of woman is what male viewers are most appealed to. The woman's face is covered by her sunhat completely in the image. This portrays that the audience has no interest in the actual woman but rather her body. Her controlling grip towards the server shows that she is willing to be with any man.
The meaning of this advertisement is demonstrating to women that in order for a man to look at you, you must be sexy, skinny, and drunk. Men don't have interest in who the woman is as a person but rather what their body looks like. Also, it shows that women who drink are more willing to be with any man. It shows that women have no standards in men when they are under the influence. The fruits in the woman's martini symbolize a "girl drink" meaning woman don't drink heavily and should still look classy.

Two Models

The image portrays a naked young adult woman holding a naked Barbie Doll with her two hands between her breasts. The young woman has vertical and horizontal line marks on her cheeks, nose, forehead, neck, breasts, arm, and stomach. Also, she has three arrows on her neck and stomach. She has a light brown hair tied with loose ponytail while the Barbie Doll has a perfect long blond hair. The Barbie Doll has shiny earrings while the woman do not have any. The Barbie Doll has a very light skin and the woman has a little bit of tan.

The purpose of the photograph is to inform to the female that society’s judgment of sexy is to be skinny. Barbie Dolls are the toys of the innocent toddlers; it can influence their minds negatively. They play with it every single day with other children. Toddlers dress their dolls with beautiful dresses, skirts, and jewelries. They may eventually think that being skinny is a good thing and other form of body is not acceptable. The image delivers the message that every woman can should “perfect body” with the help of technology.

The overall meaning of the photograph is that the perfect body should be the body of the Barbie Doll. The presence of the picture can extremely affect the mind of the young adult generations or even older women. It can motivate women to burn calories, so they can the same body as the Barbie Doll. Another scenario is that they can feel the pleasure of having a perfect body. Lastly, women that have different body size would feel ashamed and depressed. It can also symbolize that society values the physical appearance of women. The price of having an ideal body to please the society can be a good thing, but also not every physical feature is important to live happily.