The Cosmopolitan as an intertext to Marian Kayes’ Rachel’s Holiday 2001 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor)Student thesis

Abstract [en]

The message from society has always told people, women in particular, how to act and what to wear. Consuming thins are no longer an issue of buying the item itself, but the associations, that is, the lifestyle that it brings. This is a way to create a personal identity. Advertising and popular culture contribute to this search for who we are with their heavy load of images concerning masculinity and femininity. Not because the culture industries are committed to force particular gender depictions on their spectators, but because the audience is captivated by gender images and seek out those models, performers, and performances that best exemplify the cultural concepts of maleness and femaleness. This is the case apparent with Rachel when discussing The Cosmopolitan as an intertext to Rachel's Holiday written by Marian Keyes. Especially when considering the impact media has on her and how intense she is in her persistence to search for, and to live by, those norms and values. She sees the stereotypes, concerning women as well as men, in the Cosmopolitan as untouchable truths of what it means to be successful, even though these images tend to be both reinforced and reshaped. Femininity is, among other things, commonly associated with the improvement of body and appearance. Masculinity, on the other hand, is frequently associated with being independent, brave strong and muscular. Such culturally defines ideals have become very problematic for Rachel to relate to. They make her feel guilty for not being able to live up to the ideals of how a successful woman ought to be.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages

2001.

Keywords [en]

Marian Kayes, The Cosmopolitan, intertext, popular culture, advertisement, stereotypes, masculinity, femininity

Identifiers

URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-10214Local ID: U5079OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-10214DiVA, id: diva2:365328

Uppsok

Humanities, Theology

Note

Denna uppsats kan beställas från arkivet / This paper can be ordered from the archive. Kontakta / Contact: arkivet@hh.seAvailable from: 2010-11-09 Created: 2010-11-09Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

By organisation

School of Humanities (HUM)

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle ScholarTotal: 103 hits