1

The Dominant Lebanese Aesthetic and

Elusive Agency.
An exploration of the cycle of Production and consumption
of the Mediated dominant images of Lebanese Women.

Lilian Abou Zeki

Research Document, BFA Graphic Design
Department of Architecture and Design
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Advisor: Zeina Maasri
Fall 2009-2010

Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
II. The Making of the cycle:

Constructionist theory and the construction

of the Dominant Model:

The Aesthetic of the Dominant image:

This diffusion and propagation of the

seductive model:

Linking the dominant image to a national

high culture:

Appropriation of mediated images:

The subjects of the Dominant Image and
their Investment in Symbolic Capital:
Symbolic Capital as a source of Power:
Dominant image Gives way to Meaningful
Praxis:

III.The cycle is alive and well:

IV. The parlor and the manifestation of the cycle

Analysis of Portrayals of the Dominant

Image:
The Dominant Image as Currency within
Praxis:
Portals of Propagating the Appropriated
Self image into a Sight:
Analysis of the sight in Correlation with the
Dominant Model:

V. Conclusion

Society and media are in a constant cyclical relationship, in

which both sustain each other. Media in all forms echoes
the society it communicates to and vice versa. This is more
evident with what Hall called Circulation of culture,
culture being a set of shared meanings that are produced
and exchanged by modes of representational systems. The
latter is a system of signs and symbols, which can manifest
in the forms of visual images hence the role of media,
which can transmit ideas, thoughts and concepts within a
culture (Hall Stuart. c1997: 1). Our Lebanese society is
saturated with images which we encounter daily through
different mediums such as T.V, magazines, billboards, ads
and more.
The image I am interested in, is the one of the most
recurrent and the most interesting to me, since it stopped
being a mere image of the media but rather became the
default stereotype image of all Lebanese women in general
and has been adopted by many Lebanese. The image I am
talking about is that of a dominant aesthetic that has
become popular and well rooted in the Lebanese
community, which cannot pass unnoticed. A dominant
aesthetic that has driven a number of young women I
encounter on streets, in clubs, university, parlors etc. to
transform into attempts of Haifa Wahbi, Nancy Ajram,
Sirine Abd el Nour and their equivalents.

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My interest sprung from sheer curiosity in this phenomenon
that I am living and experiencing. I am a young Lebanese
single woman witnessing these practices and
representations in similar women. Hence, I would like to
clarify that my research and observations are based on the
fact that I am not on the outside looking in, studying the
other, rather trying to comprehend my own environment
(Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty and Sharpe, Jenny. 2003: 71).
I am trying to see the relationships between image
circulation and consumption and how these specific women
reproduce themselves as a reaction to this dominant model
through signification praxis of production and projection of
the self-image (Abhik, Roy,205:.9).

The Making of the cycle:

Constructionist theory and the construction of the Dominant Model:
In our society the image of the Lebanese woman is a major
component in the relationship between media and society.
The Lebanese woman is both object and agent of the
media. It is almost each womans goal to transform into a
sex symbol with wide beautifully drawn eyes a small
perfect nose, plump lips, a huge bust, a tiny waist, curvy
hips and long luscious dark hair. This particular
representation is possible through what Appadurai &
Breckenridge call public culture in which the public is
highly influenced by cultural producers who use media and
forms of popular culture such as videos, magazines, songs
and others to resonate a dominant image or model (Mahon,
Maureen. 2000: 477). Within each public culture there is
a system of representation that is based on a set of codes

5
and signifying practices that gain meaning within that
cultures certain social context.
Within the constructionist approach, images are set to be
within a certain context and are placed within a set of
social constructs, which is then translated in content and
style, which the reader can recognize and relate to (Fiske).
Within this same pattern, images produce or create an
audience (Sturken and Cartwright 2005: 45). The
Institutionalized dominant image of the Lebanese woman is
held within a recurrent set of codes ranging from dress
code, look, pose and more. These codes create a particular
meaningful semiotic implying the existence multiple
signification processes. Hence as readers we are not only
viewers but also authors and subjects of these codes
(Sturken and Cartwright 2005: p.53). The dominant power
structures (in this case) of our own patriarchal society, are
the bases to this dominant image being as they urge
women to be sex objects used for visual and erotic
pleasures and as child bearers and no more (El Saadawi,
Nawal. 2007). Thus, the result is the ever-present male
surveyor or the internalized Male Gaze that resides in
every woman, in which she herself anticipates the
judgmental male gaze and changes her looks and actions
accordingly. That being said, it can be stated that this
Male Gaze is at the base of reasons driving some young
Lebanese women to transform into the dominant model
(Berger, Jhon. 1973.). Which also feeds into what Harms
claims (in his towards a critical theory of advertising) that
mass media has a key role in constructing a dominant
model (Harms, John and Kellner, Douglas.)
The Aesthetic of the Dominant image:

6
I hinted previously on the aesthetic of this dominant model,
which is primarily a derivative of Lebanese pop-stars and
singers. An aesthetic of codes which members of the
Lebanese or Arab culture can recognize upon flipping to
any of our numerous Rotana or Melody channels or by
simply picking up the latest issue of Nadine or Al-Jaras etc.
Further demonstration of the pervasiveness of this image,
is the guidebook that has been published recently which
talks to young single Lebanese women have a complete
-how to- step into the Lebanese glam lane under the title
of MissGuided (turning point 2009) proving just how
dominant and omnipresent this image truly is. I have
combined four pictures of the most popular female
Lebanese artists at this moment so that this dominant
image can be articulated with more clarity. (a1. Haifa Wahbi
a2. Nancy Ajram a3.Elissa and a4. Amar)

a.1

a.2

a.3

a.4

The purpose of the pictures above is to show the features

of this dominant look. The above mentioned Lebanese
artists are all singers and are currently the most featured
through magazines and T.V. Upon looking at their
photographs and taking each facial feature separately one
cannot help but notice the extreme similarities. Starting
with the perfectly arched eyebrow extended all the way up
to the temple with the accordant gesture of thick dark eye
make up which highlights and further accentuates the eyes
that are most often covered with green or blue lenses
except for a few exceptions.
The lips are all full and plump; the cheekbones are very
well emphasized by make up application or surgical
alterations. All share similar expressions or lack there of,
they all have this bland and glazed look. Further features,
such as the nose act as a mind-blowing implication of the
institutionalized look, upon deep and detailed observation
one can notice that there is no particularity in any nose of
the above-mentioned artists, it is a clear if one looks at the
nose separately one can easily assume that it is perhaps
the same nose at different angles. I went ahead and
performed a little experiment (below), where I have
cropped each of the above artists noses and placed them

8
in a jumbled series to further justify my claim of how
dominant and recurrent this image truly is.

b.1

b.3

b.4

b.5.

This is the image all Lebanese women have been

associated with by default, almost a myth as Barthes
defines it, a hidden set of codes and conventions which
meaning belongs to specific groups, yet it is linked whole
society . These specific groups are those who have actually
adopted as their own self images. Acts of modification,
alteration, beautification and plastic surgery are all praxis
that subjects of this dominant model undergo, as a result to
what Berger calls the Male gaze.
Men act and women appear. Men look at women.
Woman watch themselves being looked at. This
determines not only most relations between men and
women but also the relation of women to themselves.
The surveyor of women in herself is male: the
surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an
object and most particularly, an object of vision: a
sight. (Berger, Jhon. 1973:24)
This dominant image of these Lebanese women is the
epitome of the Male gaze. The gaze being a site of power
subjected and applied on the object of sight (Abhik, Roy,
2005:5). Once the woman becomes a sight she is a
subject of the patriarchal power, she no longer has agency
or control she is subjected to the males desires and
fantasies. Which falls under the notions of scopophilia and
voyeurism, to provide a seductive aesthetic well rooted in

9
cultural codes and scripts of sexuality (Simon, William, and
Gagnon, 2007).
The concept of aesthetic envelops a form of criteria based
on a particular cultural taste that is informed by class,
education and social background, and is often associated
with a high status. Thus taste is acquired or absorbed
through manifestations of aesthetic such as images and
representations of high-class life. Which is an ever present
trope in Lebanese Pop-video clips where the female star is
always portrayed in an image of affluence and luxury,
whether in context of wealth or not. One example of this
image is one particular item present substantially in video
clips, the chandelier. The chandelier acts not as a reflective
image of the actual object (an expensive and decorative
lighting utensil) but rather a sign signifying wealth, in turn
is a signification of a high class to which this dominant
aesthetic belongs to. Through such manner this dominant
image acts as symbol of belonging to a high culture, one of
affluence and taste.
Bourdieu mentions that taste is part of a social web called
the Habitus in which all social activities are in meshed in a
way where each acts as a manifestation of the other, giving
clues to lifestyle and class. From this knowledge of image
production and consumption I highlight a quote from Susan
Bordos Never just Pictures
When we admire an image, a kind of recognition
beyond a mere passive imprinting takes place. We
recognize, consciously or unconsciously, that the
image carries values and qualities that hit a nerve
and are not easy to resist. Their power, however,
derives from the culture that has generated them

10
and resides not merely in the images but in the
psyche of the viewer too. (Bordo, Susan. 1997.)
Keeping that in mind along with the flagrant spread of
Arabic satellite stations (today more than 40) and all kind
of display forums spreading and diffusing such images of
eroticized and sexed up Lebanese women to TV units all
over the Middle East (Abugharbieh, Yousef. 2008). This
technological spread is a vital to the circulation of such
dominant portrayals through several media, simultaneously
markets uniform messages of an institutionalized image
(Gamson, Croteau, Hoynes, Sasson 1992: 373-393.).
Labels and advertisers such as Rotana provoke active
Image consumption, within an aesthetic and taste to create
a buying mood which advertising industries encourage
and sponsor to maintain desire and imaginative force
towards the homogenization of imagery. The viewer is
Invited to partake in these images and imagine themselves
in such context of wealth and display, manifesting in
images that carry social scripts, codes and cultural text,
both reflecting and governing at the same time sexuality
within the Lebanese society (Dornfeld,1998:19).
Among the many scripts embedded in these images sexual
scripts are most evident. This is a complex system in which
cultural, traditional and social factors direct certain rules
and guidelines that dictate the way we recognize our
sexuality (Sadder). Sexuality being the bases of what
Patriarchal society is built on is a major component in its
power structure and application. Where such seductive and
erotic images of women are revealed within a legitimate
context such as marriage or motherly pictorials, but
still is involved in a schizophrenuc existence where ones

11
look does not comply with their supposed social conduct
(Sensing, Dima Dabouss 2002)
I believe that a series of detailed observations through
such processes of consumption and production of image
and aesthetic can be of more insight to what power
interplay goes on in our society through this cycle. For this
purpose of my research I conducted a series of case studies
in an attempt to strip down the consumption/production
cycle with all that it entails of power shifts, relations and
mechanics. These images draw the spectator in and trigger
fantasy and desire. Desire that viewers formulate by
looking and being looked at are key elements in power
relationships. This is due to the power the spectator
supposedly has on his object. The objectifying gaze and its
power lies in inflicting imaginative desires onto the subject.
Foucault stresses power as the restrictions of belief and
class that emphasize ones values and knowledge, molding
the experience of being subject.

The diffusion and propagation of the seductive model:

This diffusion and propagation of this dominant model
through media is one step in the cycle, what follows a state
of constant appropriation and projection of this image as
the subjects self image. I started out my observations at a
beauty parlor since it makes the most sense as the direct
contact area to study the actual process of production of
the dominant look. The parlors I picked were ones I have
(prior to my research) visited on occasion as an irregular
customer. I chose those since I found it would bring more
authenticity to my fieldwork since I would not be inserted
into the place as an observer looking in but to try and

12
follow a transparent definition of fieldwork (Spivak, Gayatri
Chakravorty and Sharpe, Jenny. 2003: 609-612). I would
share a wide range of background with these women and it
would also place my research within context. What makes
the beauty parlor important is what it reveals of the
mechanics of the image cycle and its practices, which
create meaning. I will be using my parlor observations as a
back drop for my analysis as a an adhesive that holds the
different pieces of my research together, by linking them to
a lived reality.

Linking the dominant image to a national high culture:

Video clips of Haifa and her sisters along with shelves and
shelves exploding with this seductive dominant image
speak of production companies and advertising agencies
that aim to sell this look that feeds into a multi million
dollar set of industries ranging from video clips, magazines,
production houses, sound studios, hair dressers, fashion,
make up and so much more. Mediated images and their
production with the escalating intensity of ownership and
control of the industry by Gulf based production companies
such as ROTANA, are a major component in understanding
the actual images that fuel this product/consumer cycle.
ROTANA, is a label based in Dubai, and owned by billionaire
Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, with its obvious and
powerful presence owning six TV channels, a magazine, a
record company and substantial status as concert sponsor,
not to mention also collecting more than one hundred of
the Arab worlds biggest stars (Usher, Sebastian. 2008).
This concentrated ownership of media narrows the range of
imagery disseminated eliminating diversity (Bagdikian

13
1990). In the latest Eid el Adha issue of Nadine (woman
oriented social tabloid) in which I found a commentary from
the editor in chief, titled Thank you Rotana. After the
editor listed the number of concerts held in Lebanon,
details and location of each one and indicating how almost
no other Arab country had any Eid concerts she delivered
her deep and numerous thank yous to ROTANA for
choosing Lebanon as the destination to host all of these
events and concerts.
Thank you for preferring Lebanon to hold this sum of
concerts and preferring it over any other Arab
country, which helped promote our tourism and
economy and reflecting a bright, illuminated and
classy image about the atmospheres of Lebanese
night life in its hotels, restaurants and clubs.
(Fadwa El Refai)
This also is part of this dominant image, one of high culture
one of Lebanese night life its hotels, restaurants and
clubs. This classy image as El Refai calls it, serves as a
vital component celebrating the dominant image in forms
of social symbolic practices that give meaning to the idea
of belonging to a national culture or recognition with ones
local community acting as a component of the language of
national identity (Hall Stuart. c1997). The Lebanese women
who take on the dominant image as a self-image are also
conforming to an identity that upholds this culture. As one
renounced Lebanese plastic surgeon (Tony Nassar)
mentions For Lebanons women, being beautiful is a
national duty, not a luxury and plastic surgery has
ceased to b a taboo subject and become something to brag
about.(AFP. Wanted in Lebanon: Angelina Jolies lips and
Haifas breasts). There was even a bank loan issued by the

14
FNB (first national Bank) a few years back that is specific to
Lebanese women who would like to undergo plastic surgery
operations for all Lebanese woman over 17. The fact that a
bank would actually specialize a loan towards women
seeking plastic surgery is telling and essential this image
has become for national belonging and the many number
of Lebanese women from all different economic
backgrounds (those who can afford it and obviously those
who cannot) that are seeking to adopt this model as their
own self-image. Linking the image of a culture to this
dominant model that represents a Lebanese woman, who
in fact wants to belong to this culture of taste, class and
affluence.
Such understanding is precisely what insight the beauty
parlor provides. The parlors were in different locations but
all offered the same services catering to (referring to
hairdresser interviews) upper middle class meaning
prices are not cheap and could fall under overly priced but
not ridiculously expensive. Common to all was the plasma
T.V sets hung on the center wall also huge stereos and
almost never ending piles of local Lebanese magazines that
consisted of Al-Jaras, Nadine, Qamar, La mondanite and
. The channels on the T.V rotated between 1).Fashion
TV Arabia, 2).Rotana and 3).Melody [1. Arabic version of
Euro Fashion TV 2). and 3). are both 24 hour Arabic and
English video clip broadcasting].
This excessive presence of almost all kinds of mediated
images in the salon only pushes further the cycle of
consumption and production of self-image. The idea of the
parlor being a site were the physical self gets altered
modified and adjusted to adhere to a certain beauty
standard. A standard or model that is simultaneously being

15
propagated and disseminated to the parlor attendants
through the excessive flow of dominant images form a
constant stream of exchange with both projected images
(that of the self and that of the dominant model). The
services that parlors offer, at least the ones I have
managed to visit are no longer restricted to hair and its
maintenance but have exploded into an array of rituals
from manicures and pedicures to hair removal (though
laser and traditional techniques), eyebrow reshaping
through tattoo and other methods and even botox and
collagen filling in certain parlors.
These images and media are so deeply integrated into the
beauty parlor culture, Magazines are constantly in
customers hands along with English and Arabic video clips
constantly streaming. Resulting in the adoption of this
image through modes of stylizing and appropriation, where
looking transforms into an act of style shopping in an
almost catalogue manner. Also where these
representations then pervade to become standardized and
valued as the ideal. They become the benchmark that
defines the appearance code women aspire to mimic i.e
the dominant model .The combination of all the above from
the constant streaming of models of the dominant image
within the parlor and what the parlor offers in terms of
physical alteration services, the parlor becomes in-itself the
ideal site where the cycle is vivid and present. Thus it
offers a wide perspective to understand the mechanics of
the dominant image and methods of its appropriation and
utilization.
Appropriation of mediated images:
Appropriation takes place through engagement and
negotiation with images, it is a by definition the act of
taking without consent, while in the case of Lebanese

16
women it is a form of cultural appropriation a method they
use to borrow and negotiate meaning through cultural
artifacts i.e: images of their seductive and sexy artists
(Sturken, Marita and Cartwright, 2005).
The parlor then is redefined as a space of appropriation. A
space were women are subjected to these media by choice,
if it were not the case then the women would not keep
coming from twice to four times per week. The constant
streaming of images and videos initiates the appropriation
cycle, where trends and messages are absorbed,
interplayed and re-projected through the subjects
themselves.
The subjects of the Dominant Image and their Investment in
Symbolic Capital:
The subjects in the Faucauldian sense are the subjects of
the dominant image, meaning that these women who
adopt this look be it through the parlor or other wise (Hall
Stuart. c1997). Subjects fostering the look that holds the
hegemonic sexual seductive codes in its visual are figures
of a social constructed meaning, an asset that can only be
of value or have meaning within the discourse of the
artifact and its circulation.
Hence through the cycle of the mediated image the
consumer partakes and serves as investing in her symbolic
capital (Bourdieu, Pierre.1989). According to Bourdieu
symbolic capital is the power given to those who have
obtained sufficient recognition to be in a position to impose
recognition. Settling that this capital is a form of power,
which is the reason behind strenuous and exhaustive
appropriation of body and image for the Lebanese woman.

17
Where she fails to have power in any other aspect she
invests in her own symbolic capital which gives her power
of recognition. Hence by this sexy, seductive and altered
physical disposition of these particular women they obtain
an embodied symbolic capital of cultural value, which
might give power within cultural context but has a
predefined social trajectory (McCall, Leslie. 1992: 843/846).
Bourdieu also states that symbolic capital requires
economic capital to be fulfilled, hence the FNB plastic
surgery loan falls right in place but this goes in two ways,
since attaining this dominant image requires economic
capital but upholding the dominant image as your own is
also a symbol of possessing economic capital a link to a
higher class of affluence and luxury.
Symbolic Capital as a source of Power:
Through this method as Lebanese women adopt the
dominant model, they acquire what Bourdieu calls power
of constitution moving up from their subaltern status in a
patriarchal society through this form of investment in their
self image forming almost an institutionalize group
representation (the stereotype image). In this process
these woman realize that they are objects of the media but
they also realize the potential of their symbolic capital and
utilize it and become agents of their own acquired symbolic
capital.
This symbolic capital that these women painstakingly
nurture, develop and utilize is what Swidler refers to as a
tool kit of symbols which people may draw on in different
situations to solve all sort of problems (Bourdieu,
Pierre.1989:380). Given the situation of women in Lebanon

18
and the constrictions inflicted on women and their sexuality
(Sexuality in the Arab world). This dominant model
mirrored in mediated images and music videos is not just a
symptom of sexual scripts set by society (being chaste and
pure yet looking sexy and seductive) but can be seen as
tools that trick society, and men, into thinking they are
getting what they want from a woman: sexual appeal,
virginity, and loyalty, among other things (Sadder, 2009 :
41). Leen Sadders exploration of sexual scripts and
schizophrenic messages embedded in Arab music videos
and media, reveal methods which she says allow women to
cheat the social system and become empowered in ways
that were impossible before.
Building up on this thought and that of Dima Dabouss in
her contribution to El-Raida we have realized that there is a
schizophrenic state of being in young peoples minds within
their struggle of creating a harmonious self (Foucault)
where their self image should match what they feel inside
in an attempt to establish identity. Congruently they
struggle within these attempts and find themselves in what
Foucault calls dissonance of the self where these attempts
are torn in between what Khalaf calls social capital which in
our society is represented by chastity verses symbolic
capital which is represented by a seductive physical
appearance (Sexuality in the Arab world p.9).
Dominant image Gives way to Meaningful Praxis:
This capitalizing of ones symbolic capital springs from
what psychoanalysts call the subconscious desire, here
desire to emulate a certain aesthetic and taste which
Certeau states to be automatically related to high culture
and education, wealth and status which explains the desire

19
(Sturken and Cartwright p.25). This desire is induced by the
dynamics of power those of men and women alike, through
concepts of the gaze, voyeurism (a position of
empowerment or sadism through looking at others) and
exhibitionism (enjoyment of being looked at).
The symbolic capital, the look and body image is being
invested through sets of meaningful praxis, which are
conducted within the realm of the mediated image. The
mediated image acting as currency in certain places
inducing certain praxis which require time and energy in
hope of a rewarding return as in any investment.
Questioning this dynamic of investment and return or
revenue is insightful to the power structures or rather
dynamics that manifest through modes of consuming and
producing image within the cycle of circulation and
consumption of the image.
The presence of a dominant image and subjects who
embody it within a particular social context; along with
practices involved in producing and propagating this image
produces what Foucault calls discourse, which gives social
constructed meaning to the image and the practices and
conduct that come along with it. This image of eroticized,
sexy, surgically altered and modified young Lebanese
woman can only have meaning within the discourse of
circulation, consumption and appropriation of the
hegemonic dominant image (Sturken and Cartwright,
2005:54).
This is the discursive discourse that gives us insight to the
power relations that underlie this cycle. The male gaze that
objectifies the Lebanese woman turns her into a
commodity, an object on which power is applied no more
than a sight (Berger, Jhon. 1973).However, Foucault

20
argues that power is never a linear application but rather it
circulates and radiates in a dynamic between dominator
and dominated, hence there actually is no dominator but
rather a spectrum of power (White and Epston 1989:
25). Which offers a framework to conceive the self on
multiple levels which allows individuals to employ
individual agency.
Power relations permeate all levels of social
existence and are therefore to be found operating at
every site of social life-in the private spheres of the
family and sexuality...Whats more, power is not only
negative, repressing what it seeks to control. It is
also productive. It induces pleasure, forms of
knowledge, produces discourse (Foucault, 1980:
119). (Hall on Foucault p.50)
The power that producer labels and media corporations
have, is the power of controlling the image being
transmitted and making it excessively available, some such
as Althessur through his theory of interpellation might
regard this as a method to eliminate any sense of agency
in these women viewers where they are constructed as
subjects of this dominant model and are hailed and as a
result apply it blindly without choice or command (Sturken
& Cartwright, 2005:52/53). However, through my analysis
and observations I will argue with this conception and try
too show-case the moments and modes of agency these
women may exhibit within the cycle of consumption and
production with accordance to the Foucaulidian spectrum
of power. I will go back and forth in between analysis of
the artifact (image) itself and in between my observations,
interviews and quotes that I have collected over a long
period of observation at beauty parlors. In order to deliver

21
my message more clearly and for this to be a
comprehendible read I will be going back and forth in
between my analysis and my observations and for that
purpose all beauty parlor quotes referred to will be
highlighted in Italic Cambria font in light grey.

The cycle is alive and well:

The parlor and the manifestation of the cycle:
As I conducted my research and as I tried to grasp the
functionality of the cycle and how it works, the parlor
proved itself a site where all this information unfolded
giving links and clues that made everything clearer to me.
As I have stated almost all parlors I have visited had a TV
station a stereo and piles and piles of magazines. This was
the base of my observations. If I were to analyze samples
of the dominant model, I would want to analyze one that
falls straight into the cycle. Within consumption and
appropriation the samples of the dominant model present
in the parlor are ones that hold currency, they hold value
since they are the artifacts that are experienced first hand
initiate and play part in the cycle.
From this knowledge I have taken the liberty of choosing
one of the recent issues of a magazine present at all
parlors. My choice fell the latest issue of Nadine, I started
out with a number of magazines but decided to settle on
Nadine, since it is found in abundance in most if not all
beauty parlors. Also I chose this specific issue [issue 1508,
13 December 2009] since it features a particular case of a
singer/video clip director Pamela which combined two
interests and another dimension within the relationship of
consumer/producer. Dada Agh (link available in reference

22
list) is the name of Pamelas first self-directed clip. One
would think that once a woman is in charge she would want
to transmit an authentic self-image, the question is does
she?
Analysis of Portrayals of the Dominant Image:
The story board is simple; the director, being Pamela
herself, lets the camera take on the role of the male gaze,
where all we see at times are slow motioned shots of
Pamelas behind, legs and cleavage. The video starts off
with her walking a dog, which is a symbol of modern day
affluence; however, the outfit she chooses to do this
mundane activity, only further stresses this message. She
is dressed in a very short purple vinyl dress sporting long
groomed black hair and her make up is ridiculously strong
for such time of day, along with a pair of ostentatious highheeled shoes. While she walks provocatively she is followed
by an older man in a convertible checking her out bluntly
from head to toe. This sets example, as a dominant image
of a meaningful text that simply says is that this kind of
look would attract rich men that own convertibles and
ultimately linking this dominant image yet again to
affluence.
Within the clip there are some scenes were Pamela dances
erotically on a chandelier caressing herself, the chandelier
as I mentioned before has been exhaustively used in many
previous video clips and it is text of a rich and luxurious
life. Also she dazzles her romantic interest while dancing
seductively in a white out-fit similar to that of a wedding
dress but less classic and of a more modern feel, while he
struts around her in awe as she seemingly occupies his
very existence. This specific scene speaks of all the
contradictory sexual scripts that Sadder has previously

23
explored. It talks of him contemplating her as a future wife
a very sexy and seductive virgin wife (referring to the white
outfit as a sign of purity).
The following scene Pamela borrows from a Pussy Cat Dolls
[PCD] video clip (an American pop band comprised of six
sexy women), which is relatively incoherent to the
storyboard, but also signifies many of the institutionalized
practices of this dominant model. This borrowing is a
common phenomenon in Arabic and Lebanese video clips,
through these attempts these producers are not trying to
exhibit lack of innovation and creativity but they are caught
up in trying to convey a modern image within a patriarchal
sexually scripted frame.
The PCD inspired scene consists of Pamela dancing in a
highly eroticized manner in a pair of tight revealing leather
pants with her name lit up in huge type in the background.
While her choreography tacitly portrays her controlling an
army of men behind her and at a point shuns them all away
with her arm gestures. Symbolically what this is trying to
say is that through this luxurious and seductive image this
Lebanese female has managed to control and manipulate
all men around her including her romantic interest yet she
chooses to not venture and remain a pure virgin. This all
culminates in the last scene of the clip, when after this
prolonged flirtatious and seductive back and forth in
between Pamela and this older guy, she pushes him away
when he tries to get near her and lets him roll away in his
convertible as she re-enters. It is more implied than stated
that adopting this lux and seductive image will give you
power and agency to control all men around you especially
rich ones.

24

Pamela (1)

Pamela (2)

25

The cover [refer to Pamela (1).]of Nadine that features

Pamela consists of a large image of Pamela (this issues
feature artist), taking over almost all the front page with
the exception of a red strip to the left which features other
magazine matter with much smaller pictures ad headlines.
Pamelas cover image features her in a purple low cut
strapless dress were her face is looking at the viewer with a
slight head slant, with a peculiar body position. Inside
within the four-page spread dedicated to Pamela there are
full body pictures in different outfits and different positions
but the same face and expressions or lack there of. Her
head is constantly in all three pictures slanted in an almost
studied 45 degree angle looking straight into the camera
but not smiling or making any type of facial expression.
This gesture or pose of looking directly at the viewer invites
one in and is almost with its straight forwardness a
reflective of ones own gaze engaging the female viewer in
an act of association were one associates with the image
and sees themselves not as the consumer but rather as the
image that is being fed to them to recreate themselves
(Williamson, Judith. 2000:68/69)
sheyif keef 3amli lon sha3ra (holding up a
magazine to the hairdresser behind her) w keef
wassil la noss dahra, please badi yek twassili
3ala tnen extension shar2i w mnirja3
mnosboghon asswad, zhi2it sha3ri ma byitwal
khalas 2ad ma bada tkalif please tnen
extension.

26
Her pose in the cover spread, she is cross-armed and
hunched forward as if shying away or in an action of trying
to cover up; However, this same body contortion is
simultaneously accentuating her cleavage in a striking
manner that draws much more attention to it adding that
her hair is pushed back because if it were placed on her
shoulder or to the front it would have covered her skin and
cleavage. This image carries two contradicting signals
within it, a reflection of the contradictory scripts present, to
be the sexy and beautiful flirtatious woman and at the
same time a shy, coy and innocent girl (Sensenig, Dabbous
Dima. 2002)Inside, Pamelas feature entails two full length
page occupying images (refer to image Pamela 2.), the first
is in a pair of revealing shorts and one leg placed in-front of
the other slightly bent (in both pictures) the same look into
the camera (towards the viewer) and again a slight tilt in
the head side ways which reminds me of Bergers reference
of such positions in renaissance art, where he describes
this tilt as an invitation for the viewer along with a
submissive attitude inviting them to be viewed as a sight.
girl 1: Shu ? how is the blond frenchie
from history are we past eye contact did
he ask you for your number?
girl2: ahhhhh I wish yallah mish mtawal
ma3i . I notice how hes constatntly
looking at me, enough eye contact!!! Khalas!
I want actionso the other day after a while
of eye contact in class he waved hahaha and
it was a big lecture room so I smiled and
looked away, and then some more Im
telling you mish mtawal ma3i

27
Pamelas eyes are highlighted and outlined accompanied
by lengthy fake lashes along with the shaped eyebrows
that have become the latest trend (spotted on many other
artists Sireen Abd EL Noor- Dina Hayek-Dominique HouraniSara El-Hani ) where the last third of the eyebrow is
removed completely and the eyebrow is reshaped using
tattoo to extend upwards towards the temples in
accordance to the direction of the eye shadow. Removing
eyebrows removes a degree of expression, which makes
one look less human making one look more mechanical
which adds to the objectifying gaze. This trend started as
an experimental European fashion statement in campaigns
such of those of Max Mara, Dolce & Gabbana and many
others in mid 2000s and just like the small and uplifted
nose, which can also be interpreted also an attempt at
looking more European with softer features. This can be
explained in the same manner, since all these features
more or less imply a European look and within our
atmosphere we constantly make a link between Europe and
modernity thus all these transformation and attempts are
attempts to exercise in modernity. (Gunter, 1997: 18081816).
The biological function of eyebrows is that it stops sweat
from drizzling down straight to your eyes after any exercise
or hard labor. However, this is being sacrificed in return for
style and belonging within this one dominate image.
dont take out much but make sure to
pluck the ends and fill the rest , 3rifti keef
Sirine (abd el Nour) bta3milon. Kteer sexy
hal makhlou2a di3ana titzawaj

28
Further more, my observations of the beautifying rituals
within the parlor serve in allowing me to witness were and
how these image hold currency and how the women
involved in it are content and at moments empowered. Just
as economic capital gives its owner economic power in the
same pattern obtaining and grooming ones symbolic
capital, through emulating the dominant model, gives
these women agency. Through existing within the sphere of
the dominant image and by upholding it as subjects these
women hold power as an epistemic function of a specific
social genre (Mageo, Marie, 2002:4). Thus the value of this
currency does not lie in becoming the image only but
rather in being involved in practices pertaining to this
epistemic sphere.
The Dominant Image as Currency within Praxis:
This sphere is the world of practices, were this investment
gives its female sponsors their revenue. Practices as ElRifai mentions in her thank you letter to Rotana that are
associated with the classy image of Lebanon, practices
such as clubbing for example. Clubbing culture is
seemingly an unrelated topic, however it feeds in to this
web of image production and capital interplay immensely,
especially within the younger audience those of late teens
and almost late 20s (specific to Beirut) whom Roseanne
Khalaf specifically talks about in her contribution to
Sexuality in the Arab World. In short she talks about AUB
students who are exposed to European culture and
mentalities and are struggling with sexual identity since
they still live within the religious and patriarchal constructs,
and as a result have mastered the episteme (Khalaf,
Roseanne, 2006:186/187).

29
Girls of AUB specifically starting from myself, my friends
and other AUB students are main participants and live in
concurrence with the praxis of the dominant model. The
prepping process that goes on within the parlor every
weekend or occasional clubbing night is one of these
practices. The molding and sculpting takes place in a
holistic manner. The girls are in a state of appropriation.
Gossip takes a role in which through method of new
technology they are constantly connected and within the
circle of news.
Girl 1: So shu 2arrarto, where will we go ?
Girl2: I dont know Samer begged me, so we
go on his table in Gem but I would rather go
to Palait on Nasris table, he told me some
huge D.J might be there.
Girl 3: buuuut. Nasri always has those
sluts from class with him and I really dont
want it7amal 2arafon all night, if you want
Iyad invited us all, he booked the whole pub
and he told me bring as many girlfriends as
you can.
This knowledge possession gives them power. Given that
all tables at clubs or pubs, are reserved to male friends of
the subjects. Female reservations are almost negligible,
non-existent even (bar and club interviews and research).
There is even reference to this phenomena in the self-help
book that I mentioned earlier which has been published
recently Miss-Guided, a guide to step into the Lebanese
glam scene where the author refers to the weekend
clubbing outing and refers to a Ramzi

30
Ramzi is the most connected guy in town- theres not a
single bar owner that hes not friends with, making it a
cinch for him to get a table anytime, anywhere. Every
smart girl in Beirut makes sure there is at least one
Ramzi in her entourage.
Missguided; how to step into the Lebanese glam lane by
Anissa Rafeh.

The fact that this is published in a self help book set within
the Lebanese glam context is itself proof of the agency that
women retain in their relationship to men within this
episteme. Yes, as some will argue that this is nothing new
and women have always managed to manipulate men
through their looks, but here this is not the issue but this
originality of manifestation as an actual social occurrence is
of major importance. The fact that at the parlor phone calls
on Saturday night reach an all time high, in between
groups confirming, asking and petitioning the presence of
these women on a particular table, specifically a mans
table. Where once the decision is made, She will walk in
and mention his name to enter, however clubbing cannot
happen without the female presence on the table, first
since upon reservation and entrance there is a clear count
of female to male ratio, making sure that the seductive and
sexy females are present. One Lebanese feminist blogger
narrates on her blog, of an encounter on a club entrance
were the bouncer would not let her and he three male
companions in since, according to him we dont want a
cock-fest inside. The reality shows that women do posses
within this clubbing culture a form of control and power,
some type of mutated agency that allows them for that

31
period of time to claim some type of control and choice
that they lack on many other levels.
Going back to Pamelas interview in Nadine magazine she
was asked and answered the following:
Q: does is bother you being labeled artist of seduction ?
A: Yes because I am not shallow, I own a good voice (to be
decided once one sees the video above)
Q: Do you confess that your appearance was your passport into the
show-boz world?
A: YES, it has helped me a lot and I have utilized it in a good way,
and in my opinion my beauty is a blessing
So she is bothered being labeled seductive artist even
though her pictures that accompany this very specific
article and the video which this article talks about (Dada
Agh) portray and display strictly her physical image under
the frame of the dominant model. This defensive attitude
is similar to that of the girls in the parlor where they refer
to other girls a slut, by negating the claim of seductress
and by labeling the other as slut that allows the speaker
to identify oneself as the opposite, so if they are the sluts
then I (the person who made this claim is by default) am
the good girl. A practice also linked to this dominant model
which contributes some how to this schizophrenic state
giving these women control and power where they are able
to balance social capital (reputation and chastity) and their
eroticized image as their symbolic capital.
Well last weekend when you didnt go out
with us to boodah we were on Xs table
with Z (girl.3s boyfriend) and he told 3 to

32
leave early so he would not have to pay
eh EH!
Girl.3: OMG OMG OMG . (shocked
face) ..What? did you do !??!? OMG what !?
Shu I thought his dad had an export
company w akhla2o 3aliyi (simultaneously
making a hand gesture upwards while
rubbing her fingers against her thumb
symbolizing money) HAHA what did you
do ?!
Girl.2: Mashi, I looked at him and told him
I cant believe you Im not leaving with you
and if you leave we are over, he begged me
ino situation ma situation .. I ignored him ,
he left , I stayed and eventually X did not let
me Pay (with the hair whipping and wink)

Redirecting our attention to the artifact and the center of

these praxis, the mediated image; We find that at these clubs
and bars more often than not there are video cameras rolling,
magazine photographers shooting and if neither was present
the ever loyal digital camera is constantly flashing at one end
of the club.

Portals of Propagating the Appropriated Self image into a Sight:

FTV Arabia usually features clubbing nights in Lebanon almost
daily, displaying young Lebanese girls looking as Haifa-ish
as possible, on tables, on bars and in boys laps. Lebanon is
almost the only clubbing scene featured on FTV Arabia, which
again links this image to that of Lebanon and in turn Lebanese

33
women. Moreover we (and I am talking not only from
observation but also from experience) never go out clubbing
without our cameras, and one can be sure that what ever
pictures the night compiles would be published on Facebook
from one to three day maximum.
I will not go into the Facebook phenomena in detail, it is
enough to just mention that Facebook has become a portal for
some young women to exhibit themselves and showcase
pictures of their events, their own self commissioned photo
shoots. It has become a replacement almost to the social
pages of magazines and FTV features where images are
published and on bases of how sexy ones profile picture and
the more it falls under the dominant model the more popular
ones account gets through requests of friendship, almost like
a virtual fan base. Also there are usually magazine
photographers that take pictures and display them in
magazines such as Nadine, Mondanite, El-Jaras etc. which
are the same magazines these same people read and flip
through when getting ready to attend such events.
Did you see us on Beirut night life, heheh
go check it out, Sandra is all over the place
but no really el sowar kteer 7ilween, I
tagged us in them on facebook.
These practices that stem as extensions of the dominant
image do offer some kind of agency, within Foucaults
spectrum of power it seems that practices of appropriation
and adoption of the dominant model seems to give these
women a sense of empowerment through a form of capital
that holds currency within its Habitus. In the sense that
Lebanese women who do foster this look capitalize on their
physical assets to achieve power that allows them to take
choices and hold some control some aspects of their life.

34
What capital offers these women is the power of initiation,
since in our patriarchal culture women cannot approach guys
and they cannot be those who initiate in a relationship. They
almost require this symbolic capital to have any shot at a
prospective mate. This investment in body image is not only
seen as an intrinsic, natural desire to embellish their
femininity and enhance feelings of self worth, it is also readily
recognized for its extrinsic instrumental value: a means to
seduce and attract men. Hence capitalizing on their image to
utilize it within other practices such as those of Lebanese
nightlife that offer such agency.
Analysis of the sight in Correlation with the Dominant Model:
I have collected some published pictures from magazines such
as Nadine, from Facebook and from websites that publicize
Beirut nightlife, to form a correlation between the dominant
images that is exemplified through my analysis of Pamela. If
you go through this eclectic bunch of pictures, you will notice
the head tilt (and if you dont I have taken the liberty to
highlight it), you will also notice the abundance in dark
highlighted caty eyes, siliconed lips and busts and a
collection of seductive poses. Also all subjects look at the
camera with in a most powerful and assertive manner
stressing on presence.
c.1

35

Notice the seductive pose, the flirtatious attitude the

submissive tilt, the assertive in her look. The low cut top
accentuating her chest also forcing the hands backwards to
further enhance and accentuate the cleavage. Legs are
crossed in a contradictive semiotic to that of her upper torso.
She is displaying and parading her seductive appeal yet
crossing her legs firmly which could be a gesture, read as off
limits.

c.2

36

(a)

(b)

This particular picture was taken also by Beirut Night life in a

winter event in Faraya. I chose to display it as a great
exhibition of the dominant model where it took me some time
to decipher whether this was a regular attendant at the event
or a commissioned artist. The moves, the body gestures are
all similar in their excessiveness to those dominant images
propagated by the media.

c.3.

37

(a)

(b)

38
Both the examples above act as exhibitions of appropriation,
specifically that of the eyebrows, since in both the eyebrows
are abnormally elevated upwards similar to those of Pamela
and her comrades. Allowing both subjects to express similar
expressions, where both almost seem to have stamped
eyebrows rather than facial features.

c.4.

39

(a).

(b)
Ithese three pictures (c.4)
highlight all aspects of the
dominant image, they have
appropriated almost all the
codes. The hair, the tilt, the
pose, the cleavage, the lips

40

(d).

d.1

41

(a).

(b).

42
So in between the praxis and the image there is a link where
choices are being made by both subjects, the producer and
the consumer to be consumed, the head tilt for example
becomes one of the codes of the seductive model and seeps
into every day practices to create this specific meaningful
semiotic, I have even found that I actually practice this tilt in
most of my published pictures [ref image d. (b)]. This is also
evident in the social pages such as those of Nadine magazine
along with other social event documentaries such as Facebook
and some Beirut specific websites specialized in taking
pictures at clubs, bars and restaurants which are the sources
of a number of the images exhibited earlier.
The dominant image is present; it is utilized as a passport to
power and social status within the sphere of related practices,
a sphere where such an image holds currency. However, the
down side to this symbolic capital is exactly what the
spectrum of power entails, Power no longer in a linear
fashion but rather exists within a back and forth between
image, consumption, appropriation and production. Women
who possess this image as their symbolic capital lose agency
once they become the artifact itself. They become the image
consumed, they lose agency in the sense that they lose power
of presence and become a sight as Berger states, where the
power is held by whoever operates the gazing action. Hence
after these women get published through these many
different portals, many of them that promote Lebanon in
general with their images they become a commodity again
lacking choice, control or agency. All in all resulting in cycle of
image circulation that results in a web of shifting agency.
However these women are not unaware of all this process
they are the engines of this cycle. They do not want to leave
the cycle, they recognize that this maybe the only form of

43
currency they may posses, one which allows them to get
around patriarchal constructs. They some how came to an
understanding of the status quo and have managed to work
around it and be in comfort with it.
Through this research and my exploration, I have come to
question my position in all this especially since I am in the
midst this cycle. I started my paper disclaiming any act of
othering between me and the subjects of this paper. On the
other hand I do not feel that I belong to this cycle in its steps
and implications, yet I do confess that I do take part in it. My
question and what I seek to discover in my FYP, is an attempt
to maybe through the mechanics of the mediated image and
after understanding its functionality and cyclical patterns of
consumption and production, I would like to find a place for
myself as a Lebanese woman stamped with this dominant
image yet in a way not part of this cycle. I do not want to call
it resistance with what the word holds in potential; rather I
would like to stay within Bourdieus praxis theory and concept
on practice. He states that practice accounts for a person as
exercising self-interested agency but not for a person as a
resistant subject (Mageo, Marie, 2002.:12).

44

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Link to <DaDa Agh> Pamelas video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhYWaB4ydXM