but, in the idealized world of the advertisement, a woman can as well be a warrior for a cause, as man a soldier for that in which he believes. As well, gender is used to contrast the softness and over-refinement of a highly technological and industrial world with the rigors of everyday life in the African environment. Here also, the message is that traditional gender roles must be abandoned if we are to become one; if we are to recognize our genuine and universal heritage. This heritage is symbolized by the naked purity of the African tope.
An Ideological Description:
Beyond its gendered and Eurocentric vs. Afrocentric text, the advertisement carries a very powerful subtext about the need for all of us to recognize our "Africanness." Gwyneth Paltrow is a Western woman who declares that she too is African. Furthermore, she is a celebrity, a figure of note, in contemporary Western popular culture. By willingly shedding her "normal" identity she demonstrates a need for change that should be shared by us all. And though famous, she stands alone in the frame. No other individual intrude, it is just Paltrow making her decision without interference and without the help of the ever present "other." Again, it is the voice of unity that speaks out above the arguments in favor of division. The choice to become African is one of conscience and individual choice. It is a deeply personal matter that does not require adherence to fashion or trends. Stripped of her clothing, jewelry, and other Western finery, the naked white woman is at heart a Black African of indeterminate gender. There is no difference between the races, no real barriers, between human beings of different ethnicities and genders.
The significance of artificially constructed barriers between individuals is one of the most important messages conveyed by the advertisement. Paltrow's nakedness underscores the need to put aside structures of power so that human beings can come together. A naked human being is a defenseless human being. Human beings possess none of the intrinsic "weapons" of the animal kingdom. They have no clues nor sharp teeth, nor other means of readily defending...
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