Maxim 12

Brian Bass

Expository Writing

Essay 1.2

Maxim is a magazine that simply exits to exhibit a couple things.  Rock n’ roll, sports, video games, advertisements for products the subscribers cannot afford and a lot of girls.  Let’s be real, you don’t buy Maxim for their thought provoking articles or their posh stance on fashion.  You buy Maxim to look at hot chicks.  The picture I chose displays a very attractive model with small shorts and a bikini top.  She is sitting on top of a very expensive, yellow Porsche with a hose that’s spraying water everywhere.  There is a caption that reads “she tried squeezing it tighter, but it kept on spurting.”  Above her head there is a title that says “How to do everything better.” 

Just like in any medium, the photographer is using a filter on this picture. He is using a short filter because the photograph centers on the model and not any of the surroundings.  If the photographer were to use a long filter the photograph would have to entail a different camera angle so that the picture’s emphasis was not on the model.  The photographer uses this filter to emphasize the attractive nature of this model.  Even more than just the emphasis on the model as a whole, the photographer is focusing the most on her breasts because they are literally in the center of the picture.  The Picture only shows half of the car so it is unknown what else is behind the model.  The photographer filtered it this way so that all he ready cares about is the model.  Being a photographer myself, I can see the photographer used the “rule of thirds” so everything else in the picture is meaningless except the woman’s breasts.  The “rule of thirds” is a photographic technique that allows the photographer to divide the picture in to different sections allowing one area to stand out.

Many things in Maxim are simply there to sell products, jobs, ideas and lifestyles and this photograph goes along with that mindset.  In the background the model is sitting on top of a very expensive Porsche.  Having an expensive car in the background furthers the exploitation of sex and luxury.  The photographer is trying to make the reader feel that if they bought this car than possibly they could get an attractive woman as well.  Also, the irony that the model is focused on more heavily than the car shows the true intentions of the magazine. 

If the same photo shoot was taken for Road and Track or Car and Driver the focus would be on the car and not the model.  The picture does not say anything about the model, size, speed or performance of the car but only the hot yellow color and the Porsche tag on the front.  From a social standpoint, the picture is only concerned with issues of beauty and image and this superficiality can be harmful to the masses.

When you analyze in detail this photograph it can disgust you, but unfortunately these images are commonplace in American pop culture today.  The emphasis on the model’s breasts proves to the reader that this is what mainstream culture wants you to believe in and honor.  In an actuality, the real emphasis should be on the model’s character or her opinion on social issues but of course, it’s America and we rely on what sells.  So for now, boobs will work.