This dissertation explores the blurring of labor and leisure through new technologies, specifically how women are transforming the home into a marketing site — both as sellers of lifestyles and as consumers of market produced goods and narratives. I take up three phenomena that emphasize the spontaneous allure and risk of participating in the aspirational leisure-labor that has resulted from the expansion of work. First, I examine the collective fascination with the hunt for the perfect bridal gown in Say Yes to the Dress — currently running its 17th season — and continued memorialization through the wedding photography featured on the blog Style Me Pretty. Second, I turn to several lifestyle blogs that offer designer-grade Do-It-Yourself projects on a budget and Instagram accounts that adhere to what I coin as a “minimalist, homestead aesthetic.” Third, I turn to Pinterest, the virtual “bookmarking tool” that has taken digital media by storm. Each of these sites offer unique representations of domestic spaces and tasks through public, image-based medias and depict another layer of a re-ritualization of domestic labor. I find that even as capital erodes the domestic sphere, there is a new preoccupation with recovering the home as sacred space through rituals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:siu.edu/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:dissertations-2679 |
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
| Creators | Sigler, Jennifer |
| Publisher | OpenSIUC |
| Source Sets | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations |
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