As I write this blog post, I sit in my kitchen chomping down on french fries fresh from the Golden Arches. My room mate had a bad day and asked if I would like to accompany him on his tryst to the golden arches, and I figured it would be a good idea for research if nothing else. After we got back, I began browsing youtube for commercials of the food we eat so much of. One that struck my interest is the Burger King ad "I am man" a mockery of the 1973 single 'I am woman'.
In this 'manthem' the man in the beginning proclaims with a flourish that he is done eating 'chick food' and is going to go get himself a whopper. Men follow him in droves as they too realize their desire for meat. And in a flurry of punching one another, and throwing a minivan over an overpass, their hunger is finally quenched with a flame broiled whopper. An amusing take on fast food, except for the fact that I can eat burgers like they're going out of style. And unlike the man proclaiming his freedom, I have never eaten quiche, what proclaims the lettuce and fruity foods he is eating 'girly' exactly? It categorizes men and women in two very different categories, based on the types of foods both genders supposedly eat.
It ensues that the type of women able to eat a whopper would categorized as 'butch' thus undesirable, far too close to the men that we are attempting to feminize with salad. It is a preposterous idea, I have gone through vegetarian periods in my life, but at the same time, there sometimes is nothing better then sitting down with a well cooked steak and a glass of wine. The idea that fast food is gendered is silly until ads like this one come out, and it becomes more apparent the 'gendered' nature of food. And yet, as I sit here, chomping down on my big mac, and slurping it down so ladylike with a coke, I feel oddly masculine. Will it stop me from ordering a whopper next time at Burger King? Probably not, but it makes you wonder how their messages have hit home.
As a sidenote, the song this commercial is based on, was known as the song to symbolize the year of the woman.
Because according to BK the mans struggle for meat is so similar to the womens movement, that men forced to eat salads need to stand up in the hordes, and fight for their right to hydrogenated oils and processed meat? Most definitely.
Sushi Warrior
A good analysis of how food is gendered, and thanks for including the Reddy original! How do these ads connect to romantic tropes?
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
Let me say, that I loved your analysis. What I take away from it in terms of romantic tropes, is that it is pushing the trait passiveness onto women. It is representing fast food as dominant and powerful, and by having it labelled as a "man food," it is therefore reinforcing the fact that men are supposed to be the powerful ones in relationships. "Chick food" is this commercial seems to be foods with small portions. Things that are typically light. Reinforcing that trope that women are beneath men.
ReplyDeleteAlso, that guy burned his underwear. Perhaps a nod at the supposed feminist bra burners?
-Eternal Drive