Women’s Objectification through Media and Fashion Apparatuses: An Althusserian Reading of Interpellation in Barbara Bourland’s I'll Eat When I'm Dead (2017)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol21.Iss4.1262Keywords:
Women's objectification, Althusserian interpellation, capitalist ideology, media and fashion (ISA), Barbara Bourland’s I'll Eat When I’m Dead.Abstract
The objectification of women remains a global issue in media and advertisements, where the female body is reduced to a tool for visual pleasure and consumer manipulation. When people judge women by how they look, many accept that and try to follow by changing themselves physically. This research examines Barbara Bourland’s I’ll Eat When I’m Dead (2017) to identify the ideological mechanisms by which media and fashion contribute to women’s objectification, using Althusser’s interpellation as a framework. The study investigates how female characters are positioned and constructed as ideological subjects, particularly concerning beauty standards, consumer culture, and the male gaze. The analysis reveals how dominant ideological structures, disseminated through visual imagery and narrative discourse, hail women into objectified positions that serve patriarchal and capitalist interests. Furthermore, the analysis highlights how media and fashion operate as Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) that reinforce gender expectations, limit female autonomy, and sustain systemic inequality.
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