Media Influence: Gender-Bending, Fashion-Spoofing, on Essay

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But Johnson's overall ensemble embraces an ethos of 'geek chic,' not a narrow media image. He wears a pair of thick glasses, suspenders, expensive-looking leather shoes, and carries a heavy leather bag. Some of his clothes, particularly his shoes, sweater, and bag, look expensive and ruggedly masculine, while his vest, suspenders, and of course his Forever 21 Necklace do not. Johnson is an African-American, but his style is not necessarily identifiable as African-American -- his image tells the viewer to embrace one's own, unique identity, whatever that may be, rather than conform to a media stereotype, even though he embraces brand names.

Johnson's identity is clearly masculine, as emphasized in his shoes and bag. He dresses the part of a young, urban professional yet injects this persona with youthful irony through his necklace and over-the-top suspenders. There was a popular African-American young man named 'Urkel' who sported a similar style but the seriousness (and expense) of some of Johnson's attire shows that he is in control of this image, although Urkel was much-criticized by African-American media commentators at the time. He appropriates aspects of advertising, but creates a pastiche rather than a cohesive identity.

Johnson's look shows how today young people are attempting to control their image through the use of self-parody, without completely rejecting fashion norms.

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As an African-American, Johnson cannot perfectly embody ideals of whiteness, but he can assume some of the cultural tropes of whiteness, such as shoes and a professional bag. He shows his acknowledgement of fashion advertising, as exemplified in his name brand jeans, but also his disdain for such ideals.

Advertisements that urge people to buy Diesel jeans and even Forever 21 are thus filtered through Johnson's media-savvy mind. While not ignored, they are reconfigured on the body of the consumer, who demands to be in control of such images without using them as they are 'supposed' to be used. Johnson describes his look as "urban, yet sophisticated," a rather vague term that suggests he is aware of both his African-American identity and nonconformity, yet also embraces such concepts of style as the need for some professionalism, clean lines, certain brand names, and certain types of fabrics and shoes. "There have been ebbs and flows, however, in the degree to which "blackness" has been aggressively celebrated by African-Americans," and Johnson's style suggests a merging of old style and the creation of a new one, a work of post-Obama fusion (Luo 2006). His outfit is created by the media, yet co-opts the media.

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