MEST 4 Xmas Task #3

HISTORICAL TEXT ANALYSIS & RESEARCH

Chanel No.5 Perfume (1984) – Historical text

A 40 second advert – for female perfume for Chanel 5
whilst viewing this text there are many difference compared to my contemporary Beyonce heat advert.

Differences + Similarities

Old Chanel 5 advert

Contemporary Beyonce advert

Society influence:  Questions the loyalty of a female to a man as in the advert we continuously see the woman being seduced by the orchestra literally behind her partners back. Therefore this shows how sexuality and loyalty was more of an issue of debate at that time. Similarities: there is a female protagonist being portrayed as being very seductive. Body is a big factor which is highlighted in the 2 texts through use of close up and medium shots of the female body. Another similarity between the two texts is that both females within the texts wear the same colour (red) which connotes fiery, heat, love, romance and seductive. This is in relation to persona and roles of the females within the adverts they are shown to be sexualised as they try to seduce viewers. Differences: In the old text, all the actors are white setting: beach side showing vibrant colours  such as red, blue as well as white which could denote purity whereas red being colour of female protaginists dress which it tries to seduce the audience with. Blue is shown as the colour of the skys which shows calm and blissfulness.  Female shows more facial emotions and laughter in contrast to the contemporary beyonce advert where the protaginist is  more serious as she is trying to seduce the audience by  attempting to show dominance and power, this is shown when we see a close up pan shot of Beyonces legs. males are shown to be more passive in the advert than females as they easily seduced by female charm which is shown in the advert when the male protaginst is seen kissing the females neck after admiring her body.

Society influence: Tries to show that women are powerful in this day and age as they can seduce men when they want and whenever they want as the fetishization of beyonces legs engage the male gaze as it tries to tell the male viewers "catch the fever" in other words, come and get me which is successful in seducing males. Similarities: there is a female protaginist being portrayed as being very seductive. Body is a big factor which is highlighted in the 2 texts through use of close up and medium shots of the female body. Another similarity between the two texts is that both females within the texts wear the same colour (red) which connotes fiery, heat, love, romance and seductive. This is in relation to persona and roles of the females within the adverts they are shown to be sexualised as they try to seduce viewers. Body is a big factor in this text which highlighted through use of high key and top lighting also from the long shots of figures and close ups of beyonces tower torso and legs. This is in relation to the shape of the bottle reflecting beyonces tiny waist and big bottom. Differences:different ethnicities shown - black female, more skin and nudity shown in modern contemporary text rather that old text as we she beyonce topless yet covering her breasts while laying in a bathtub in the first few seconds of the text. -Much more sexual gratifications (orgasmic facial expressions) -females are more passive as they are both trying to seduce the male – whereas he seduces them on his own