Ethnicity in the Party Scene

[Image isn't Loading... Thanks Blogger. If you wish to find the image I am describing, please google image: Mindori Advertisement ]

I found this ad while waiting for my bus transfer in downtown Minneapolis last Thursday night. When I first saw it, the first impression I had was "oh great, another alcoholic party scene" however, when looking at it a little more closely (what else was I going to do while waiting for the bus) I realized there was a lot more detail in this particular party scene then most party scene advertisements usually have. And I am a detail oreinted person, so of course i was interested.

There are seven people in this advertisement. Just enough to make it look like a crowed party room, but not enough to make everyone blend into the background. Each person has it's own place within the photo and it's own focus. Each person is also very different from the others, they all have a "role" in the party that reflects their "role" in society. Notice how everyone is wearing white, and holding clear alcoholic drinks, except for the main focus of this advertisement, who is wearing green and holding a green alcholic drink. This image WAS photoshopped. (duh) this can be seen through the difference in shadowing on each person and the overal perfection that this image protrays. These people where stratigically placed on a computer to convey messages. They never stood together in a group and the camera flashed and thats just how everything turned out. So it can be assumed that anything is readable in this photo. Besides, that city line in the background isn't quite real to begin with.

DISCLAIMER: While reading this advertisment, I found a lot of racisim involved. I do not take the readings of this advertisement to be any of my own beliefs, but rather the sterotypical beliefs that culture has raised me on and I can notice within that perspective. I mean no disrespect to any race mentioned or otherwise noted.

The first person I would like to "read" is of course the front-and-center main woman of the advertisement. When I first looked at her, I took her for being a Latino lady. However my dad pointed out to me later (yes, I'm one of those lame college students who still talk to their parents regularly) that she was a famous celebrity idol in pop-culture right now. (something I don't pay much attention to) and apparently she is from the middle east. (oops) But since I did not know that piece of information beforehand, my reading of her was Latino, and for my argument's sake, I'm going to keep it that way. After all, her image does reflect that of the Latino lady's stereotype. She is confident, sexy, and gorgeous. She isn't afraid to be different in order to stand out, and thus she is wearing a green dress and compliments her curves (be sure to thank photoshop for the perfect details) in a crowd of white-clad individuals. She is holding a glass of the green alcoholic beverage that the image is advertising (the glass is strategically placed... I will expand on that later) and has her other arm swung up in the air, like she just doesn't care and she wants to have a good time.


The next person I want to read is the jealous looking white woman on her right. Not only is this woman at the main focus' right hand, but she is also the only other person in the crowd that doesn't have thing in front of them, blocking their image. Compared to everybody else who is clad in white, she by far, looks the best. And its easy to tell that she was the number one, until our Latino woman, clad in green came in and stole the spot light. Out white clad woman is in a defensive position, becuase she is being attacked by our Green lady. And her facial expression is that of the sterotypical jealous teenage girl. (Please do take a moment and notice how simularly the white, and green women's dresses are... other then the color factor)

The next in line for the main focus is on the Latino woman's left side. And He is a smartly dressed African American man who is clearly checking out our Latino Woman. He is wearing a fine white suit, with a satin white tie. The Latino woman's green drink is placed over his fine white attire, to accent the drink its self, and to give more focus to him. That could be read to saying that she is very interested in him once that drink is gone. (yes, the indueno is stretched).

On our Jeolous White Woman's left side, (and behind our Green Latin Woman) there is a white man. Now his role in this party scene is the least important, and that can be noted due to the fact that he has the least amount of focus, and can barely be seen behind the Latino woman. He is most likely the boyfriend of the jealous white woman, and I say this because he isn't looking at the latino woman, but rather at the jealous white woman. But he does have an expression that seems to be saying "why can't you be like her" which brings the focus back to the Latino woman's superiority over the white woman. The Latino woman doesn't care about the white man. This is symolized by the strategic placing of her I-just-don't-care hand over him. The white man isn't nearly dressed as well as the black man is. He is wearing a dress shirt, suspenders, and a bow tie, and his hair is all slicked back like some sort of badass.

Also less focused on in the party group is the two other white girls that are hiding behind our smartly-dress African American man. These two girls both are bruenettes (rather then our blonde Jeoulous White woman). Notice how their line's of vision are not looking at the Latio Woman, but rather, the Jealous White Woman. They are the sterotypical "side-kicks" of the white woman most likely. Their gaze is looking at the Jealous white woman, most likely to see what her reaction is, before having their own. By looking to the Jealous White woman first, they symobolize that they do not have what it takes to even compare to the Latino woman, and must look up to the second best.

Next, I will read the African American woman who is on the far right of the advertisement. She is the funky one in the group. She has already tried to stand out by being different in the way that she did her funky hair and put on funky shorts while all the other women wear skirts. She is also wearing the most glittery clothes out of all of them, but sadly, she didn't change the color of her clothes and her drink in order to stand out. She just personalized the white on white. She looks at the Lation woman with respect, however. Her expression is more along the lines of "you rock your stuff" rather then the jealousy of the white woman. She most likely is thinking to freind her sometime during the party.

The last, but not least, (well maybe actually according to this advertisement, she is the least) is the Asian woman on the far left of the page. She is wearing a frock compared to everybody else in the room. She has no "bling" other then a flower ring and a flower in her hair. (Natural beauty has no importance in this party scene) and she is wearing very awkwardly may I add, knee high socks and tennis shoes. (she seems to be the one in this party scene with no fashion sense) Her faishial expression is kind of day dreaming like. Not really there in the moment. And it may just be bad photoshopping, but she isn't looking anywhere in particular.

Overall, this photo protrays different ethnicitys in a party and the class system that they fit into. It also protrays that if you want to stand out in a party, you need to be drinking this green melon alchol liquid stuff (that we don't know anything about... I only know its melon flavored because I looked at the fine print on the bottle at the bottom of the page), but I think this image has a lot more to say on culture, rather than alcohol... (which of course, most advertisements do.)

Anyway, I think I made this post long enough that just about nobody will want to comment on it, never the less read it. ;D