Arctic Monkeys and Grace Jones

Figure 1: Arctic Monkeys album cover (Unknown, 2006)

Arctic Monkeys:

The Arctic Monkeys are a band from Sheffield in Britain. They are popular for their indie-rock music. The band is made up entirely of men, and so the group has quite a blokey and masculine reputation.

In the album cover, the subject looks quite rough and dirty, like he’s smoking on the corner of the street, late at night. His forehead is shiny like he has been sweating, and his clothing is really casual, making this look like a casual photo that was taken on a night out, and not one that has been staged for an album cover. The black and white filter enhances the feel that the photo was taken at night, the lighting adds to this as well by looking as if a lamp or street light is the only thing lighting the shot. The subject is smoking and the action does look masculine, although it doesn’t really enhance his appearance or make him look more attractive.

Figure 2: Female on Arctic Monkeys album cover (Lucy Nesdale, 2016)

Our Version of Arctic Monkeys:
She looks quite rough and dirty, like in the original cover, which is mainly due to her messy hair, lack of make-up and the shadowing of the lighting on the black and white image. She is smoking, which is not a typically attractive action for women these days. Smoking in general is less accepted in society now than it has been in the past, and it would still probably be more expected to see a man smoking than a woman. She also looks like she is sitting on the corner of a street, late at night. This image is often associated with prostitution or a party girl personality, which is quite a degrading image for a woman. Changing the gender of this album cover changes how the audience perceive the meanings in the cover. By giving a woman a typically masculine pose, the whole meaning behind the image shifts.

Figure 3: Grace Jones, Nightclub album cover (Andy Beta, 2014)

Grace Jones:

Grace Jones is a Jamaican/American actress, supermodel, singer and performer. She is quite well known for being theatrical in her performance, but is also seen as a strong, beautiful woman. She doesn’t resort to a stereotypical female appearance, instead enhancing her differences and uniqueness in her appearance and appearing androgynous because of this. She has transgressed gender boundaries by mixing feminine and masculine qualities to create an ‘other’ or ‘uncanny’ category.

Although Grace Jones is adopting the same gesture in this cover as in the Arctic Monkeys cover and in our version, she appears to be a strong, powerful woman. Her whole profile is shown with strong, harsh lines. Her cheekbones, shoulders, neck and hairline are all highly defined which makes her appear powerful. She is looking directly at the camera which asserts her influence onto the audience, and making her seem powerful again. Jones is smoking, and as discussed above, this can be seen as quite a degrading thing, however, because of the way she is standing and looking directly into the camera, the audience gets the feeling that she knows what she is doing and doesn’t care what others think. We don’t want to question her because of the power she is asserting.

Signs in these images:

The cigarette in the Arctic Monkeys cover and in our version is used as a signifier for nightlife or the party life, however Jones uses it as a sign of power, and as a means to transgressing gender boundaries.

Black and white are used as signs in these images. White is a signifier for innocence and purity and in the Arctic Monkeys cover and our version of the cover, the white shirt looks dirty and tainted because of the black and white filter, suggesting that the subjects are perhaps the opposite of innocent. In the Grace Jones cover, she is wearing a black suit. Black is usually associated with darkness and power. Men in power often wear black suits. Jones looks edgy and powerful because of this.

References:
Beta, Andy. (2014). Grace Jones, Nightclub album cover. Retrieved from http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19222-grace-jones-nightclubbing-deluxe-edition/

Nesdale, Lucy. (2016). Female on Arctic Monkeys album cover.

Unknown Author. (2006). Arctic Monkeys album cover. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_People_Say_I_Am,_That%27s_What_I%27m_Not