Richard  Hpa  300226122  CCDN  231  

Assignment  2  Tutor:  Philippa  Shipley  

   Glamour:  full  of  glamour;  charmingly  or  fascinatingly  attractive,  especially  in  a  mysterious  or  magical  way.    The  Everyday  Experience  of  eating  an  apple  is  something  that  a  lot  of  people  do.  There  is  not  much  that  can  be  changed  to  make  this  experience  feel  a  different  way.  But  I  managed  to  find  a  few  ways  to  get  the  user  to  feel  ‘glamorous’  (see  above  definition).  Changing  the  look  of  the  apple  was  something  that  helped  change  the  experience.  In  the  experiment  that  I  chose  to  write  about  I  decided  to  do  some  apple  art.    There  are  a  lot  of  artists  that  make  some  very  beautiful  works  of  art  from  apples.  For  this  assignment  I  carved  a  swan  out  of  an  apple.  A  swan  is  regarded  by  most  people  to  be  a  glamorous  bird,  so  I  think  it  would  help  the  participant  in  my  experiment  to  feel  glamorous  while  eating  it.      According  to  the  website,  ‘thefreedictionary.com’  the  meaning  of  glamour  is  ‘fascinating  or  voluptuous  beauty’.  So  I  wanted  to  show  something  beautiful  with  my  apple  art.  When  I  researched  beautiful  things,  I  came  across  the  idea  of  doing  a  swan.  While  looking  a  bit  deeper  into  swans,  I  found  a  journal  entry  called  ‘Freeing  the  swan’  by  Herbert  J.  Levine  (1981).    One  line  he  states  in  his  work  is  ‘the  swans’  legendary  beauty’  (pg415).  So  having  a  swan,  which  is  described  as  a  bird  with  ‘legendary  beauty’,  seemed  to  be  a  good  reason  to  be  used  in  my  work.    There  are  many  different  definitions  of  glamour,  but  something  stood  out  among  the  many  that  I  looked  up.  That  something  glamorous  should  be  mesmerizing.  So  when  I  made  my  swan  apple,  I  wanted  it  to  be  something  that  catches  the  eye  of  the  participant  in  my  experiment.  In  the  book  ‘Glamour:  Making  it  Modern’  by  Michael  Lassell  (2009),  he  states  that  ‘One  could,  at  one  time,  speak  of  being  ‘under  a  glamour’,  as  being  under  a  spell  or  enraptured’  (pg8).  This  is  also  stated  in  a  journal  article  written  by  Carol  S.  Gould  (2005)  called  ‘Glamour  as  an  Aesthetic  Property  of  Person’.  

She  states  ‘Glamour,  I  argue  here,  is  this  sort  of  personal  quality’  (pg237).  From  what  Gould  said  for  something  to  have  ‘glamour’  it  all  depends  on  the  user.  So  if  I  wanted  to  show  this  activity  to  have  a  feeling  of  glamour  to  it,  I  needed  to  have  a  participant  who  finds  swans  glamorous.    When  I  tested  my  experiment  on  my  friend  Jessica  White,  I  already  knew  that  she  likes  swans,  so  I  was  hoping  that  what  Gould  stated  would  apply  

to  her.  She  stated  that  she  thought  it  was  amazing,  and  that  she  was  very  curious  about  how  it  was  made,  which  is  the  reason  why  she  couldn’t  keep  her  eyes  off  it.  She  stated  that  in  some  way  she  was  ‘under  a  spell’.  So  according  to  Lassell,  glamour  has  to  be  something  that  makes  the  viewer  feel  entranced,  which  is  what  I  think  I  have  done  with  my  experiment.    

So  I  think  that  this  experiment  has  been  a  success.  In  doing  this,  I  found  that  there  are  many  forms  of  glamour.  So  in  conclusion,  for  something  to  produce  the  mood  of  glamour,  it  has  to  be  something  that  the  participant  is  already  interested  in.      References:    Levine H, J (1981). Freeing the Swans. ELH. 48(2), 411-426. Lassell, M (2009). Glamour: Making it Modern. New York: Filipacchi Publishing. Gould C S (2005). Glamour as an Aesthetic Property of Person’. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 63(3), 237-247.  All  photos  taken  by  Richard  Hpa  A  special  thank  you  to  Jessica  White  for  participating  in  this  experiment                      Word  count  (excluding  reference  list):  545