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Amanda Chandler
Dr. Kopp
First Analysis Draft 3
24 June 2014
I Dare You to Eat Another Snickers
Knowledge is power. It is said that with education you can change the world. For me, this
education, this power, is perspective. Contrast moves me. There are these two trees that stand out
on a flat farm; one deciduous tree stands next to a snag. Seeking out difference in normality has
become my own controlling value. Instead of understanding things for face value, using different
interpretations of their meaning create an entirely new idea. The power is in my hands, rather
than the original creator. This power allows for my analysis to take over and to flourish it was
my driving forcing for analysing analyzing. Standing on the principle that things are created with
purpose by dissecting artifacts, personal meaning is produced. effectiveness by things unseen.
At first glance, the Snickers Companys commercial-trailer duo featuring Godzilla
seemed harmless. It was comical. The commercial portrays a fun, thrill seeking character who is
seemingly good with the ladies. As a theme of Snickers, this adventurous character changes with
hunger, in this case, into the terrifying monster the audience is most familiar with. I thought
about how the Snickers campaign turns people into their opposites; strong teenagers into old men
and Betty Whites, harsh football players into carefree comedians. These various Snickers
commercials play into the Playing with the audiences stereotypical personas for each situation.
This was a bit strange, Godzilla who most viewers know as the terrifying monster was now the
smooth talking, adventure junkie. What was his normal, non-hungry calm state, instead of
Comment [1]: do you mean to say which is
the driving for for analyzing?
Comment [2]: KH - my comments are in pink
Comment [3]: What "things"
Comment [4]: A possible intro for what you
were trying to say?
Comment [5]: Not a complete sentence.
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destructive? For the other Snickers commercials the hungry character was out of character but
for Godzilla the hungry state was stereotypical vicious state.
Having no motivation or inspiration when examining the commercial I happened upon a
Sex Ed, feminist video by Laci Green from a website called Upworthy.com. Shes an articulate
feminist looking to shatter preconceived expectations about sex, gender, and an overall decent
human being. In theYou Can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101) , Laci Green humored the
false thought that the hymen breaks because of penetration, when in fact it simply expands.
Strange right? Why would most of us think that it breaks, that bleeding and pain is supposed to
occur? While it might just be miscommunicated information, I chose to think of it in a feministic
light. In our culture, often sex is sex is often seen as soiling women; the more powerful male
dominates women woman and ultimately breaks them. Could the miscommunication be
miscommunicated as misogyny? While I dont mean to go on a tangent, the video along with a
recent event aided in my discovery.
My discovery began with a recent event that brings light to my views on the commercial.
On May 23, 2014, 22 year old college dropout, Elliot Rodgers, killed six, injured 13, and
committed suicide in Isla Vista, California in proximity to the campus of University of
California. compiling a 141 page manifesto as to his planning and motives for his kill spree. Both
the manifesto and several original postings from YouTube express social isolation, female
rejection, and sexual jealousy. The murders provoked mass media attention igniting a twitter
rampage. The creation of the #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen. Reading the tweets arguing
misogyny I indulged in tweets, wanting to hear everyones sides.
Clearly it is hard, even impossible, to see a link between a Sex-Ed video on hymens, a
mass murder, and a Snickers commercial but having watched and read. The misunderstanding
Comment [6]: is this a word? (Just wondering
because it's underlined and when I changed it, it
became "feminist")
Comment [7]: MS-This is just an idea of a
way to begin the paragraph with a point of why
you are going to explain what you say further.
Comment [8]: either write out all of the
numbers or use actual numbers for all 3 here.
Comment [9]: and here
Comment [10]: how did you feel when
reading these? tell us why this is important to
your argument or even why you are telling us
this.
Comment [11]: need to finish this sentence
out.
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that the hymen breaks caused me to feel insignificant, unworthy of true, science fact, misguided
by a culture that knowingly forces these emotions. The mass murderer whose motive was to
rightfully engage in sexual intercourse with women. The commercial that displays Godzilla
enjoying adventurous activities with his friends. These three very different ideas somehow made
sense together. The artifacts connected to each other, ultimately allowing me to come with a
conclusion. Snickers promotes rape.
How were they connected you ask? Intertextuality, of course! It is explained to be the
moving force that branches connections from different pieces to each other. Having seen Greens
video, reading the twitter comments on the mass murder enabled a different perception of the
Snickers commercials for me. Snickers used Godzilla to represent rape in a manner as clear as
day. James Porters Intertextuality and the Discourse Community explains how our past
readings or experiences affect how we derive meaning and understand new texts and situations.
By having past experiences or artifacts to draw upon in order to comprehend texts, readers like
myself, assemble responses or conclusions that have been comprised of those past texts. The
Snickers rape connection was made due to all texts [being] interdependent (Porter, 34).
Without the videos or inspiration, this conclusion would have never been fabricated. It is through
intertextuality in which we create our own meanings. To intertextuality I owe most of the credit
for the conclusion I made.
While dissecting the commercial, I looked towards juxtaposition mainly for to justify the
development of my argument. For instance, the largest character in the commercial is in fact
Godzilla- you can see he towers over his male companions. His size aids in suggesting that he is
portrayed as an alpha male. Being the biggest, and therefore strongest, he seems the most
desirable to both male and female companions. Additionally, Godzilla is pictured amongst his
Comment [12]: After you say this sentence
you don't mention how Snickers promotes rape
unless you are still getting there? but as the
audience I want to know how they promote
rape.
Comment [13]: Is this your sufficient
rationale?
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friend engaging in activities that are not only fun and adventurous, but dangerous as well. While
four wheeling in the desert and jetskiing in a lagoon are not particularly harmful, they are much
more risky than what we see any women in the commercial partake partaking in. The few female
characters that we view are walking on a beach and dancing in the living room. (If you watched
the commercial though you should have noticed that I did not mention the women that appears
on the dock at the end of the commercial- there is a specific reason for that I will show later on.)
The clips of men involved with these risky and aggressive behaviors give off the stereotypical
idea of men being the dominant sex.

{MAMET

Mamet references juxtaposition of images to form meaning in Countercultural Architecture and
Dramatic Structure the juxtaposition of the images with Almonds tone convey that ironic
message. Juxtaposition of images creates meaning for readers to determine importance and to
think deeper about the story. For Almond pairing the line, you walk around the city where you
live coveting other men's socks, with With their socks, your life might come together more
convincingly. These two lines next to another show the audience that this narrator, while living
in the city is solely focusing on how socks could convince himself of a better life. }

In the scene following Godzillas first flirtation with a women woman he is shown
offroading in the desert. The four male friends are all wearing head to toe protective uniforms
and helmets. Godzilla, on the other hand, is only in his natural, unclothed form. Porter might
assume that the viewers watching are aware of protective gear in sports to be safe as shown on
multiple telecasts of events, tournaments, and even the olympics. Safety is a necessity and
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having this understanding proves that not wearing such gear is risky. Godzilla portrays is
portrayed as the biggest character in order to portray illustrate that men are the biggest, strongest
sex. The lack of women in the commercial aid in this suggestion. When these clips and images
are put next to each other their contrast is more evident and revealing.
Scroll up a few paragraphs. Did you noticed when I used the word discovery? Were you
close reading? Take a second, why do you think I put the word discovery in quotation marks if I
did make a discovery? You might have never looked at the Godzilla commercial as rape culture
without my observations, right? In my own exploration of the Snickers commercials, I explored
the details, coming up with my own content- Snickers accepts rape. Jane Gallop explains close
reading as exploring the details in a text in her article "The Ethics of Reading: Close
Encounters". I challenged what the author wanted me, wanted us, to see and interpret. This
challenge engages us to look at our projections or our prejudices. See, when we close read, we
can encounter surprises that change the original projections of the text and its context. Gallop
suggests that projections occur when we force our ideas on a text when in fact those concepts are
not written in them. Here, Jane Gallop would intend for me to discover more than what is
actually in the text or the purpose. This requires me to explore the details rather than the main
idea or what the author of a text wants us to see, so that we can encounter surprises that change
the original projections of the text and its context. By doing so, I examine the text for what is
actually there without my projections and prejudices. For the commerical my original projections
did not view anything unusual in the commercial except that it was a candy commercial For the
commercial, my original projections did not view anything unusual occurring except that is was
aiming to get my attention to buy the nutty chocolate bar. However, when forced to reexamine
the artifact with Gallop in mind I needed to find something that might not really be there. It is
Comment [14]: How did your close reading
help you to come to this conclusion that
snickers accepts rape?
Comment [15]: think about making this
thought into 2 sentences
Comment [16]: commercial is said 3 times
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sort of like a magic trick, pulling a rabbit out of a hat even when there is no rabbit. Having read
"The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters" I needed to find the invisible in order to close read.
Having never used this theory it felt unnatural and false. I was creating my own meaning by
interpreting the artifact in abstraction. Snickers could possibly be projecting rape, unless I saw it,
and I did.
As I mentioned before juxtaposition clearly identified my conclusion.
ELABORATE DISSECTION OF COMMERCIAL

{AUDIENCE
narrative audeince is the one that see it at face vlauce hinding steroptyical
critical audience sees it as rape
but what if they did- ethia=cla problem, without ethical considercation of impact of the power of
their values
what if they didnt know the combination that would trigger the projection
or the audeince would praticpate it in without the critical view of rape culture.}

CONCLUSION

surface intertextual on our projection to godzilla to overlook what is hidding in the commerical-
traces that are ignored.
justifing/ reinforcing gener teroptie.does it still do it if the aueince doesnot recognize.
godzilla is product of human testing nuclear radation who is detructive that somehow provides
assistance to humanity.
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Works Cited
You Can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101) Laci Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qFojO8WkpA&list=PLTXiNEUzXWKTOhoUZWMcXY2
vVQs7NwCxq

Jane Gallop "The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters"

James Porters Intertextuality and the Discourse Community

Snickers Commercial

Isla Vista Killings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Isla_Vista_killings
seitz- audience
Mamet juxtaposition
allure
complexity that only methodical lense show.