“You’ve Come a Long Way Baby”
87
One of the billboards for the show Zumanity features a nude man and
woman intertwined in each other’s arms. The scene is misty and the shot would
be romantic except that the woman appears to be trying in vain to free herself
from the man’s embrace, straining away from him. Another Zumanity ad is a
fogged photo of a man and woman in theatrical makeup giggling over female
genital “lack” or castration. Just east a few blocks on Tropicana there is a
billboard promoting MGM Studio 54 of a tall blond with long legs dancing
wildly, her hair whipping around and obscuring her face. The ad for Gilley’s Bar
at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino depicts a female country dancer in a
cowboy hat; she is pulling the hat down over her eyes with her chin down so that
little of her face is apparent except for her pursed lips. Even the ad on the
sidewall of The Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino, which uses famous artwork,
is decapitation marketing. There is a painting of a Renaissance minstrel, very
realistically portrayed in vivid colors and full face to the viewer, which contrasts
with a painting of a French can-can dancer out of focus, facing profile with
indistinct features and clothing.
A marquee on the sidewall of the New York-New York Hotel and
Casino facing Las Vegas Boulevard displays a woman lying on her stomach,
naked except for a white towel draped over her derriere. The woman’s head is
not in the picture. It is an advertisement for the MGM/Mirage spa with the
slogan, “Don’t move a muscle.” The slogan is a double-entendre, but it is so
subtle that passersby would miss the underlying meaning if they were not
thinking critically. On the surface, it appears that the marketing gimmick simply
entreats those who want to relax to come spend an enjoyable day at their spa.
However, underneath that message is the concept that women are supposed to
lie still and take it, in rape or in any other sexual situation. On the surface, this
advertisement appears harmless enough. Yet it carries with it baggage from
thousands of years of female abuse. This is inappropriate on so many levels,
especially as a role model for young women.
The lobby card displayed near the entrance to Club Paradise, a
gentleman’s strip club featuring exotic dancers in Las Vegas, displays a
woman’s body all in shadow. This is another form of decapitation marketing
gimmick where the woman’s head disappears into the body and she is nothing
but silhouette, shrouded in mystery. A similar technique is used with live
dancers at Caesar’s Palace Shadow Bar where female nude dancers perform
only in shadow behind screens. The woman is anonymous, without individual
identity or agency because her face is never disclosed. The manipulation of
female body image is a form of veiling. Veiling is erotic. Exotic dancers show it
all in only very staged, closeted venues, in dark, smoky lighting, using feathers
and gimmicks.
Greg Thompson, producer of Harrah’s Las Vegas production Skintight,
asserts that the male dancers are judged in the same manner as female dancers in
Las Vegas: whether the male dancers exhibit the stereotypical, physical
manifestations of masculinity just as the women are judged on femininity. The