Singapore Culture

My encounters with ugly Singaporeans

(i)The Bus Commotion

Being a Singaporean myself, I would say I'm sometimes embarrassed by the actions of some Singaporeans. That day, I boarded bus "138" to go home. If you are not sure, bus 138 goes to the zoo. So expect many tourists. As the bus was about to drive off, a lady in her mid 50s flagged for the bus. Her grand daughter was next to her. They boarded the bus together. She told her grand daughter to go grab a seat while she paid for the bus fare. Her young grand daughter just did as she was told. She dropped a couple of coins into the coin fare box and moved to join her grand daughter. The bus driver told her to pay for the bus fare of her grand daughter. She was furious. She stomped down the aisle of the bus to quarrel with the bus driver. In her mouth, she kept mumbling and grumbling loudly, saying why her grand daughter needed to pay for the bus fare. I turned and looked at the grand daughter. She is probably in primary school. She definitely needs to pay for the bus fare. In the end, the lady paid for the bus fare unwillingly. She was still mad and continued to scold the bus driver while returning to her seat.

This commotion lasted for a couple of minutes. Many tourists on the bus stared at her. I was embarrassed.


(2) Unreasonable Customers

I was working at a famous famous ice cream shop in Singapore previously. This incident happened when there was a full house in the shop. I would never forget that incident up till now. This rich lady in her mid 30s was waiting for her bill. As it was full house that time, I had to admit she waited a while for the bill to arrive. I was responsible for handing the bill over to her. I kept my smile on while handling the bill to her but she just snapped right at my face. She raised her voice and threw the pen at my face after she signed the receipt of the credit card.


I wanted to raise my voice at her too. But I swallowed my breath and said "Thanks for coming. Have a nice day" instead.


Everyone looked at me. Some customers gave me a comforting look. My colleague told me,"Another crazy customer." Yes. I agree.


(3) The man who went mad at the bus stop

I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop which was situated behind the park at Orchard previously. The killing of a Filipino and dissecting of the body was at that park. It was a Sunday. There were many Filipinos at the bus stop that day. A man alighted from a bus and suddenly spat saliva at a group of Filipinos. He screamed at them saying, "Dirty Filipinos. Barbarians. Go and die!" He also blabbered some vulgarities at them. The group of Filipinos tried to walk away. He continued to scream at them.


Everyone was afraid. I had the urge to stop the man but was afraid he would whack me up. Surprisingly, many preferred to stare than to lend a helping hand. No one wanted to create extra trouble for themselves.



There are also kind-hearted Singaporeans. =)


(1)The lady who gave her seat up for me
I was wearing a baby doll top that day which was loose and made me look slightly fatter. When I boarded the bus, a lady in her mid 40s immediately gave up her seat for me. She spoke to me in Chinese. saying "Come. Take a seat over here. Be careful." She even helped me to my seat when the bus started moving. This is really strange. Why is she doing all these? It was after a while that I realised that she had mistaken me for a pregnant lady!

It seems that people always remember the ugly side of Singaporeans more than their pretty side. I believe I'll meet more of such nicer Singaporeans some day.



Singapore is....

(1) Kiasi (Scared to die)

Singaporeans are generally very comfortable with their lives. They have always been spoon fed, living in the arrangements the government had prepared for them. We are always living in our comfort zone. Not many dare to take that extra step to step out of their comfort zone and venture overseas. Many are kiasi(scared to die), lacking the entrepreneurship spirit.

(2)Kiasu (Don't want to lose)

I want to be the best in everything! Singaporean parents display such characteristic. In order to get their children to enter the school of their choice, some sign up as volunteers of the school even before their children started schooling.

(3) Singaporeans don't dress for the correct function.

Take a walk downtown. Everyone is in slippers! Our style is slippers, pants and tshirt.

(4)Dependent on academic achievement

Huge emphasis is placed on academic excellence. Since young, our parents tell us to study hard and we always try to conform to their high expectations. If we score 99 marks for our test, they will ask why not 100.

Without a good academic qualification, be prepared to be the first to be sieved out of the company when the company cuts cost. There is huge attention placed on a good academic qualification rather than your experience or personality. Without a good academic qualification, it will be difficult to climb up the corporate ladder.

(5) A democratic society- Is freedom of speech allowed?

Look at the speaker's corner now. It's empty! If you want to give a speech, please give your particulars to the officials first.

(6) Boring?

The night life in Singapore could be more exciting. We do have late night shopping, but they don't operate past 2am. Sad.

(7) Singaporeans are not keen on the high brow art culture.

You could have visited the Lourve Museum in Paris, but how many times have you walked into the local museum to appreciate the sculptures and art works? Appreciation of such high brow art is not really incorporated into the local lifestyle and culture yet.

(8) Chopping of seats in eating places with the use of tissue papers

Hmm...when did this trend start?

Assignment 6: Photo Analysis

Advertising Agency: Zoo Advertising, Shanghai, China
Creative Director: Alex Sean
Art Director: Stephen Zou
Copywriter: Sandy Sang
Photographer: Taurus
Published: June 2007

The study of semiotics by Morris:

1. Syntactic Approach

• the study of ways signs are combined with each other to form complex messages.
  
  
• eg. the relations between subject, verb and object or the relations between forms, objects, or colours in an artwork.
  
  
• Relation between the subjects (2 girls), verb (sniffing) and object (white dress)
  

2.Semantics Approach (Signifier & Signified)

• the study of meaning of signs (the relationships of signs to what they stand for)
  
• Signifier: White dress




• Signified: White dress represents heroin
  
• In this ad, the signifier is accompanied by the sniffing action to illustrate heroin. Without the sniffing action, the white dress alone might not be interpreted as heroin

3. Pragmatics Approach

• study of origins, common uses and communicative effects of signs




• study of operation of signs in language




• how the language is used in wider social contexts of communication




• The girls are presented as sniffing heroin. (Junkies) However, the message the ad conveys is that they are fashion junkies. To illustrate their insatiable craving for the brand.

Other signs:

1. Girl is partially exposed. Uncovered which depicts helpless and vulnerability. (Notice the dressing of the girl on the left.)

2. Credit card placed next to the dress - Drug addicts usually consume drugs without much thought of the consequences, a form of escapism. Similarly, credit card consumers splurge first before thinking of the credit card debts. Sisley tries to convey the message that we buy their clothes first - and all the consequences come after that. Credit card also symbolises high end fashion addicts of Sisley.

3. Fashion is spelled as ‘Fashioin’ - Made to sound like ‘Heroin

Background:

Dark, enclosed room with metal grills. A confined space which shows compression- constrained and addicted by the drugs, a form of addiction to the fashion brand(Sisley).

Colour tones:

Colour tones have great symbolism, it creates different moods and describes different emotional states. Each colour expresses the wavelength of light that in turn produces sensations on our mind .

In this ad, mainly dark tones used.

1. Black - Sorrow, hopelessness and depression felt with the consumption of drugs. It can also depict sophistication and style (fashion brand)

2. White- peace and unity
Shows craving for the fashion brand, helping the fashion addicts to achieve inner peace, beauty and unity.

3. Violet (majesty and richness)
Violet dress to represent rich taste of wearing the Sisley clothes brand.


In comparison to another fake(?) ad...

Colour tones:

Similar to the previous picture

1. Black- sorrow and darkness OR sophistication and style.

2. Red symbolizes love, passion, excitement. (For the brand). It can also symbolize aggressiveness and wildness, with the clever addition of alcohol with the red cloth. Sisley consumers can be wild, bold, sexy and aggressive too.

The recumbent positions:

Notice the body positions of the models-All have their heads lowered and are lying on the floor.

Signifies acceptance of subordination / submissive. Level of our head is also lowered.

Principles of Laura Mulvey's Gaze Theory -The gaze (woman on the right for both pictures). Are they demonstrating control, wanting the full attention of the audience?



Are the ads really fake?

There have been doubts and speculations on the Internet. It is still unclear who was behind the circulation of these offensive and misleading images and what reasons he or she had for doing it.
Sisley had also denied their involvement in the production of such ads.

However, some believed that it was a tactic used to attract the attention of consumers. A code from fashion critic "Why would anyone go through the time and effort to produce the fake ads? Is this a double bluff? Grab the attention, then deny involvement?"

A look at past Sisley ads

Past Sisley ads use similar approach- images of sexy women. All have a recumbent position, with their heads lowered. Most are lying down. All ads make use of the women's gaze to grab full attention of the audience.

Comments:

When Jillyn and I threw the question of whether the ads are fake to the class, most believe that the ads are somehow real.

Self assessment:

I would rate Jillyn and myself a 90/100. I think we did a good job in our analysis of the advertisements. It makes me think further about the purposes of advertisements and also the different approaches advertisers and their clients used to sell their products. Our slides were clear and pleasant looking too.

I particularly like the ads of Qiyi's and Eileen's. The ads are sweet and lovely, makes me want to cuddle my parents more. They also did a good job with their analysis of the images. I would give them a 90/100.

I also like Paul's and Meimei's presentation. I like how they explain the hidden meanings of the gambling cards. I never knew we could decipher the meanings of gambling cards in such a manner. I would give them a 95/100. Interesting presentation.