January 2, 2010

Maid to Clean

Maid to Clean. Very clever. I guess you can read it two ways. Made, as in forced, to clean. Involuntary servitude? Slavery? Diminishing opportunities? Discrimination? Or, is it made, as in formed, created, bred, to clean. As in, we are made to clean and you, customer, and you, bosses, are not – you are made for better things. Repulsive beyond comprehension either way. As is the appropriation of Rosie the Riveter – proud symbol of women’s mass entrance into (largely union) manufacturing jobs during World War II and subsequently adopted by the Chicana movement.
Rosie the Riveter (left) ¡Ya Basta! (2004) by Tina Hernández (right)







3 comments:

John said...

I don't know, man. Can't blame you for being in a bad mood, but give them some credit for taste in their thievery and the addition of the rubber gloves to the up-yours gesture.

Besides, on a bad day I can almost see a little bit of Betty Crocker -- even Aunt Jemima -- in the image of Rosie, which is deployed by capital to sell women on the idea of making instruments of death that the workers, of course, neither profit from nor own.

Rex Weil said...

"Remember clean? We do." Now, we clean your house, like we used to clean our house?

Unknown said...

LMFAO oh wow. The style of the placement on the car is interesting too because it seems to mimic police car paint jobs. Which gives it a kind of creepy authoritarian vibe...