Saint Hoax is an anonymous artist and sociopolitical activist from Middle East. According to Hoax’s website he ‘combines tangible and digital mediums to create beautiful visual lies that tell an ugly truth’. His controversial campaigns have reached media all over the world (American ABC Action News and bustle.com, South African News24 , and BuzzFeed). The artist’s recent domestic violence awareness campaign titled “Happy Never After” consists of four posters that depict Disney princesses: Jasmine, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Ariel, as abuse victims.
The denotations in Hoax’s works are clear. Let’s take Princess Jasmine as an example. This fictional character, who appears in Disney’s animated feature film Aladdin, is usually portrayed as a perfect in every way and very brave woman. Saint Hoax destroys this idealised image and covers Jasmine’s face with bruises and blood. Her black eye sends the strongest message. Also Jasmine’s perfect hair has been ruffled a little bit, but she is still wearing the usual jewellery and crown. After all, she is a princess, but her facial expression does not denote that. Sorrow, helplessness and fear are the feelings we can clearly sense in this picture.
Although the signified, meaning the mental concept of an image, can seem straightforward at first sight, the message is much more complex. Disney’s fairytale is turned into a domestic violence nightmare. Perfect Princess Jasmine became an abuse victim. She suffers like real people do. Her idealised image has been shattered into small pieces. “The aim of the poster series is to encourage female victims to report their cases in order for the authorities to prevent it from happening again”, Hoax explained on his website. The message is emphasised by the poster’s caption, “When did he stop treating you like a princess? It’s never too late to put an end to it”. Disney princesses are believed to be ideal females with their “happily ever after” lives. By portraying them as victims of abuse Hoax wants to stress that no woman is safe from domestic violence. What makes this campaign really controversial is people’s emotional attachment to Disney princesses as they are part of many people’s childhoods. This cultural relevance helps to get a message across by relying on shock value. His aim is to voice out the injustice and inequality that would provoke a debate in a ‘mediated’ public sphere, especially considering his region.
Hoax’s works caused controversy for many different reasons, but as he said in a phone interview with ABC Action News, “if we want to tackle it [domestic violence] in any way we have to shock the audience in order for us to pass the message across”. However, many believe relying on shock value is not the best way to raise awareness among people. Another issue is campaign’s one-sided view as it emphasises physical harm and women. It may appear that mental abuse and male domestic violence victims are less important. However, Saint Hoax is planning on launching a campaign which will recognize victims of any sex and background. This simple, but significant example shows how differently images can be read. It is all about interpretation. We need to remember that a sign consists of a signifier and a signified. In other words, it is not just about what we see, but also what is evoked in our minds.
Communications and Convergent Media 