




Christina Aguilera`s album cover bionic, is something that I haven’t really thought about before. The image portrayed is a picture of her, but half her face is robotic. Bionic is defined as “utilizing electronic devices and mechanical parts to assist humans in performing difficult, dangerous, or intricate tasks, as by supplementing or duplicating parts of the body” (dictionary.com).  This is a very interesting image to breakdown and to find the meaning of because its relatable to the point of view of most men.  Most women are labeled as having a “bitch face” or some even say women go into “bitch mode”, but really that mode women go into is mistaken from them being fierce and confident.  Her album cover expresses this stereotype through the detailed imagery. 

There is no defined background in this image, but the majority of the detail all comes from the foreground. The foreground conveys this ironic image of a realistic woman who is really nothing more than a machine in disguise. Christina’s cover is setting a futuristic vibe with the color of her hair, the plain white background, the slick black outfit and the metallic collar. She’s conveying that sometime in the future, the image of a women is going to have no emotion, no feelings, and comes across somewhat robotic. Her facial expression holds that confident look, but to some she would be coming across as having a bitch face. The second half of her face reveals what’s really under her pretty confident face, which is nothing but mechanical parts; she’s a wired machine. Why would she choose this image for her cover? Machines are very smart and need very little assistance when they get going, just like women. Women are very sneaky creatures; they usually know what’s going to happen before it even occurs, along with finding out the truth if they have been lied to. Women have like a sixth sense for what is called bullshit. Everyone always says, it’s better to tell the situation straight up than to lie, because we`re (women) going to find out what really happened in the long run. A lot of people underestimate woman on multiple things. 

The whole concept of a women being like a machine relates back to the work of David Foster Wallace and his piece, “This is Water”. The main point of his piece mainly focuses on the theme of a default setting and people having an automatic response. He brings up these terms based on his idea of people acting like a machine and being wired. When reading his work, one can get the message of people being oblivious to the most obvious situations, they don’t pay attention to what’s happening around them. All they notice is the first layer, which is what is only noticeable to the naked eye, what’s visible from one appearance are the bluntest, straight in your face points. David says “It is our default setting, hard -wired into our boards at birth” (XII, Wallace). Why are people self-centered and only see what they want to see and only hear what they want to hear? It’s not right to go around judging a book by its cover because one never knows what the other is truly going through. Christina, along with many other girls in the world get judged on looks, body type, apparel, and facial expressions. The so called bitch face look is being mistaken for a young confident expression which is exactly what David means by people being oblivious to their surroundings. “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe; the realist, most vivid and important person in existence” (XII, Wallace). He even admits that he believes he’s the greatest and most people on this earth think so as well.  That is everyone’s natural default setting; like a wired machine. 

Yeah sure everyone can look at this cover and see the most basic point, but when one really analyzes and takes a closer look, the robotic part of her face isn’t just nuts and bolts, but who she is as a person. Christina Aguilera is an artist, a performer and her robotics reveals what she’s truly made of. Musical instruments are hidden throughout the machinery: a trombone, trumpet, saxophone, an album, a CD and even an old record. Her flesh covers up her inner-self by proving to the world her confidence and that nothing will bring her down. People will always criticize and judge what they see on the outside until they break through to realize what kind of person they really are. Christina knows deep down who she is as a person, her robotic side has that hidden to the naked eye, but she won’t have rude comments tear her apart because she is so strongly connected to who she is, and who she is, is going to remain within her. One can also notice that the other side of her face is done up real nice with makeup. Makeup is one thing that girls use to cover their natural beauty and hide who they really are. Others use makeup to embrace their courage and mettle personality. 

Not only are women very smart and can figure out anything if they set their mind to it, but women are very underestimated nowadays in their ability and judged harshly on their actions that may or may not have even happened. Women are not machinery, they are not wired a certain way, they don’t have a bitch face for no reason. Her cover points out the fact that the world views women in this particular way but hidden beneath the flesh is what every person is truly made of and if people care then they will break through and discover that side; the real side. Christina has to deal with media, which is constantly trying to find dirt on her, just like any famous person. Media tries to depict and they exaggerate something that wasn’t even a big deal just to make her look bad. She has to have a hard shell on the outside and a tougher shell on the inside; the nuts and bolts.  



