If I asked you to name the cause represented by these colors, could you do that?
RedPink
Yellow
Extra Credit: Puzzle Pattern
It is quite likely that you are able to do so. Here are the answers: Red is for HIV/AIDS or heart disease, pink is for breast cancer, and yellow is for (among other things) solidarity with the armed forces. (If you know the fourth one, leave a comment!) In our society, we have come to equate certain colors with certain causes, that is, certain colors signify certain causes.
In a recent NPR interview on Breast Cancer Awareness Month, author Barbara Ehrenreich (author of Nickel and Dimed), stated that, as a person who has been treated for breast cancer, she really can’t get behind all the pink and all the awareness. “There was an ad for a pink breast cancer teddy bear…That was kind of an existential turning point for me because I realized I'm not afraid of dying, but I am terrified of dying with a pink teddy bear tucked under my arm,” Ehrenreich said in the interview. Ehrenreich said that she feels that all the pink oversimplifies things: people become “aware” of breast cancer without really being “aware” of what it means to live with and be treated for breast cancer.
McCloud’s concept of “icon” can be helpful in explaining this situation. A pink ribbon, pink tshirt, pink socks, and a pink teddy bear can all be icons representing breast cancer awareness, and by extension, to represent breast cancer. Consider the common icon of the pink ribbon. McCloud states that it is the universality of cartoon icons – the focusing on specific details to amplify meaning, or to amplify a concept. Icons represent concepts (26-28, 41). “The more cartoony a face is, the more people it could be said to describe” (31). If this is applied to the pink ribbon, it might be said that the symbol is simple and somewhat generic so that it might be universal, or it might represent the experiences of many. However, the icon doesn’t hold for Ehrenreich. That is, it doesn’t represent her experience with breast cancer. It is too simple, too nice, too uncomplicated. The icon hasn’t been successful in representing people who have breast cancer. It represents “awareness,” perhaps, but it fails in that it doesn’t represent a particularly complex understanding.
McCloud and Ehrenreich have caused me to question, what do those ‘awareness’ ribbons really mean? Why is it that to be “aware” of something has become such a strong statement? “Awareness” itself only means to realize that something exists. It doesn’t call to mind strong action. Why bother proclaiming that I am “aware” of something? It may be that the cultural trend of assigning difficult topics colors, months, and special times to be “aware” is a way to help people talk about and deal with tough situations and topics. I do not contest the importance of doing this. However, I think that as a result of all this ‘awareness’ the concept or the signification of being ‘aware’ has changed, and more broadly a discourse of awareness has been created.
Being aware has changed from a rather passive cognitive recognition that something exists to an active statement that a particular cause matters. In general, if I say that I am aware that something has happened, that is a fairly neutral statement. However, to participate in an “awareness” month or to intentionally wear an “awareness” color is not at all neutral: it to state that a particular cause is important. Icons are a particularly important part of the discourse of awareness. To use an icon that represents awareness is to express much more than awareness – it is to state support or solidarity.
However, to use the icons of the issue is one thing; to have a complex understanding of the issue is much more difficult. To be aware is not necessarily to understand, and sometimes this discourse of awareness inhibits discourse that might cause understanding. Sometimes we get so into being aware and making others aware, and promoting awareness through events and such that we forget to actually understand. While awareness may be a good place to start, the discourse of awareness is a poor substitute for the discourse of understanding. Like Ehrenriech, I question whether selling lots of pink stuff and putting the pink ribbon icon on things like yogurt is actually effective at combating breast cancer. It also seems like an oversimplification, a substitution an icon for actual human experiences. Perhaps the discourse surrounding difficult issues might be better off for a little less awareness and a little more understanding.
Here is the link to the interview: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/16/141402115/breast-cancer-when-awareness-simply-isnt-enough
Rebekah,
ReplyDeleteThe question you have brought up between Ehrenreich and McCloud's icon is great because it explores what the icon is for. Throughout his comic McCloud goes on describing the psychological process of understanding simplification versus reality, but he only barely touches on the exact helpful functions of these cartoons besides the fact that they help to amplify through simplifying.
McCloud does bring up the question of, "What Are You Really Seeing?" when you look at a simplistic smiley face. He says, "the fact that your mind is capable of taking a circle, two dots and a line and turning them into a face is nothing short of INCREDIBLE!" Is it not in a similar gaze we view these Pink Ribbons, that we are associating the object with something entirely different, filling it with our own beliefs and perceptions?
It seems to me that these ribbons, and bracelets, and other marketing accessories each brand uses, are able to promote so well because of what they represent.
Breast Cancer has no serious opposition in politics or issues or morality; it is not something up for debate.
You stated that people are losing the meaning of truly being "aware" of something as serious as breast cancer. But the power of the foundation of the Pink Ribbon relies on the severity of the disease. If breast cancer has not affected someone's life, they still know what the Pink Ribbon means to someone. That's why people have Livestrong bracelets or Support Our Troops bumper stickers, to symbolize their connection and promote awareness on their own.
Although a marketing technique, I believe the symbolism around these objects is extremely valuable, and that people will rarely don the Pink Ribbon as a mere accessory for their backpack.