Author
Professor of Critical Theory
Abstract
The rise of cultural studies in recent years has exerted far-reaching influence on the humanities researches, so much so that it can be claimed that this new methodology has revolutionised our conception of the object of the humanities scholarship.Cultural studies practitioners have reached beyond the conventional boundaries between high and popular art, thus covering new domains which in the past were considered to be outside the confines of the humanities scholar’s work. Prominent amongst these new domains, are advertisements. It can be argued that beyond the “neutral” and “innocent” appearance of commercial advertisements, implicit discursive practices are exhibited that offer definitions of social reality and ultimately determine our subjectivity. Adopting an interdisciplinary cultural studies approach, this article analyses a typical advertisement from the national Iranian television network (about Haier washing machines) with the purpose of illuminating the mechanisms of the construction of feminine identity in contemporary Iranian culture. As such, the images of women in this TV advertisement are investigated from a feminist perspective, while also drawing on some psychoanalytical, sociological and semiotic concepts. The final part of this article offers a conclusion about the potentialities of cultural studies in the humanities.
Keywords
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