Assailant Drowns Teen Girls; Makes YouTube Movie About ItPosted by Amanda Chapel
This just in... there's a movie clip that's sweeping the Web about the drowning of teenage girls. First, it is all reminiscent of the drowning "Ophelia" from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The story briefly: She's in love with him; but as the young prince becomes more emotionally distraught, he becomes abusive and cold. Sadly, the emotionally frail Ophelia cannot cope. On top of an insecure adolescent identity and low-self esteem, Ophelia lives to please men who only in turn ignore and/or abuse her. The last straw: Hamlet both rejects and cruelly humiliates her after they've been sexually intimate. Unable to cope, Ophelia ultimately falls into a dissociative state and wanders to a river where ultimately she drowns. That drowning is actually a powerful metaphor for marketing today. As the 1995 bestseller Reviving Ophelia made clear: "Today's teenage girls are coming of age in 'a girl-poisoning culture.' Young women continue to be victims of abuse, self-mutilation (e.g., anorexia), consumerism and media pressure to conform to others' ideals." What follows is exactly those themes made into a chilling one minute Web movie. Titled "Onslaught," it's a video PR piece that illustrates what young girls see in the deluge of advertising that surrounds them. Get the Flash Player to see this video. IRONY OF IRONIES COMMENTARY Excuse me but it's Dove who've drown Ophelia! And then the topper... in the last few frames they tell viewers to "Talk to your daughter before the Beauty Industry does." All brought to you by, "The Dove Self-Esteem Fund". CHRIST!! Have they no shame! It's beyond cynical. It's like the drug dealer opening a "rehab center." It's like a cigarette company with an anti-smoking campaign. It's like a priest begging to babysit your kids. How gullible do they think we are? Well, how gullible are you? Bookmark This
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Guns don't kill people, people kill people.
Anyone who tells you that they didn't know cigarettes were bad for them either never lit up, or is a fucking liar. If people can't learn to think for themselves, then they're relegated to being fucking tools, and will be used by those of us who build monuments to our own glorious egos, legacies, pocket books, and penises. People should take responsibility for their own choices. No one owes them shit. We used to blame religion, now we blame marketing. It's bullshit.
Jean Kilbourne would be so proud of you, Amanda. Viral videos underscore the point you often make about the dangers of unmediated messages. Clever marketing, to be sure, but at what cost? As I've heard you say, the American public isn't accustomed to dealing directly with the "trickster." And with social media, tricksters abound.
As for CT Moore there, he needs to calm down. The NRA had the same effect on me for years, but I never once built a monument to a penis.
I built a monument to a penis once but I had to take it down due to zoning regulations. Whatever happened to property rights?
Your blog still seems to up and running as far as I can tell...
Touche, CT! In retrospect, I did help to build a monument to 4+ million penises when I paid my NRA dues. I still love my guns, but what was I thinking?
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