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Amanda Chandler
Dr. Kopp
First Analysis Draft 2
23 June 2014
I Dare You to Eat Another Snickers
Knowledge is power. It is said that with education you can change the world. For me, this
education, this power is perspective. Contrast moves me. There are these two trees that stand out
on a flat farm; one deciduous tree stands next to a snag. Seeking out difference in normality has
become my own controlling value. Instead of understanding things for face value using
difference interpretations of their meaning create an entire new idea. The power is in my hands,
rather than the original creator. This power allows for my analysis to take over and to flourish.
Standing on the principle that things are created with purpose by dissecting artifacts, personal
meaning is produced.
At first glance the Snickers Companys commercial-trailer duo featuring Godzilla seemed
harmless. It was comical. The commercial portrays a fun, thrill seeking character who is
seemingly good with the ladies. As theme of Snickers, this adventurous character changes with
hungry, in this case into the terrifying monster the audience is most familiar with. I thought
about how the Snickers campaign turns people into their opposites; strong teenagers into old men
and Betty Whites, harsh football players into carefree comedians. Playing with the audiences
stereotypical personas for each situation. This was a bit strange, Godzilla who most viewers
known as the terrifying monster was now the smooth talking, adventure junkie. What was his
normal, non-hungry calm state, instead of destructive? For the other Snickers commercials the
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hungry character was out of character but for Godzilla hungry state was stereotypical vicious
state.
Having no motivation or inspiration when examining the commercial I happened upon a
Sex Ed, feminist video by Laci Green from a website Upworthy.com. Shes an articulate feminist
looking to shatter preconceived expectations about sex, gender, and an overall decent human
being. In the, You Can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101) Laci Green humored the false
thought that the hymen breaks because of penetration, when in fact it simply expands. Strange
right? Why would most of us think that it breaks, that bleeding and pain is supposed to occur.
While it might just be miscommunicated information I choose to think of it in a feministic light.
In our culture, often sex is seen as soiling women; the more powerful male dominates women
ultimately breaks them. Could the miscommunication be miscommunicated as misogyny? While
I dont mean to go on a tangent the video along with a recent event aided my discovery.
On May 23 in 2014 22 year old college dropout, Elliot Rodgers, killed six, injured 13,
and committed suicide in Isla Vista, California in proximity to the campus of University of
California. compiling a 141 page manifesto as to his planning and motives for his kill spree. Both
the manifesto and several original postings from YouTube express social isolation, female
rejection, and sexual jealousy. The murders provoked mass media attention igniting a twitter
rampage. The creation of he #NotAllMen and #YesAllWomen. Reading tweets arguing
misogyny I indulged in tweets, wanting to hear everyones sides.
Clearly it is hard, even impossible, to see a link between a Sex-Ed video on hymens, a
mass murder, and a Snickers commercial but having watched and read. The misunderstanding
that hymen breaks caused me to feel insignificant, unworthy of true, science fact, misguided by a
culture that knowingly forces these emotions. The mass murderer whose motive was to rightfully
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engage in sexual incourse with women. The commercial that displays Godzilla enjoying
adventurous activities with his friends. These three very different ideas somehow made sense
together. The artifacts connected to each other, ultimately allowing me to come with a
conclusion. Snickers promotes rape.
How were they connected you ask? Intertextuality, of course! It is explained to be the
moving force that branches connections from different pieces to each other. Having seen Greens
video, read twitter comments on the mass murder enabled a different perception of the Snickers
commercials. Snickers used Godzilla to represent rape in a manner as clear as day. James
Porters Intertextuality and the Discourse Community explains how our past readings or
experiences affect how we derive meaning and understand new texts, situations. By having past
experiences or artifacts to draw upon in order to comprehend texts, readers, like myself assemble
responses or conclusions that have been comprised of those past texts. The Snickers rape
connection was made due to all texts [being] interdependent (Porter, 34). Without the videos or
inspiration, this conclusion would have never been fabricated. It is through intertextuality in
which we create our own meanings.
Scroll up a few paragraphs. Were you close reading? Jane Gallop explains close reading
as exploring the details in a text. I put the word discovery in quotation marks. Take a second,
why do you think I did that did after all make a discovery did I not. You might have never
looked at the Godzilla commercial as rape culture with my observations right? In my own
exploration of the Snickers commercials I explored the details, coming up with my own content.
I challenged what the author wanted me, wanted us to see and interpret. This challenge engages
us to look at our projections, or our prejudices. See, when we close read, we can encounter
surprises that change the original projections of the text, the context.

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Works Cited
You Can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101) Laci Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qFojO8WkpA&list=PLTXiNEUzXWKTOhoUZWMcXY2
vVQs7NwCxq
Jane Gallop "The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters"
James Porters Intertextuality and the Discourse Community
Snickers Commercial
Isla Vista Killings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Isla_Vista_killings