June 2013
"Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions." discuss with reference to one or more group(s) of people.
What could you write about?
What the question meansEmma Watson on feminism – photoshopping in magazines, etc- TV advertising –
fairy liquid examples, creating idealistic image of housewife - Magazines –
‘Cosmopolitan’, ‘Men’s Health’ – mention sterotypes,‘Women’s Health’ - Film – ‘The Hunger Games’2012,2013,2014, ‘Frozen’ 2013 D:Jennifer Lee, ‘Wasp’2003, Vertigo 1958 (hitchcock), Les Miserabled Tom Hooper 2012, Skyfall 2012
- Conchita Wurst
- Facts: 12% camerawomen, 10% film makers
- (Blumer.?)Uses and gratification theory, you consume a film for certain reasons for education, to laugh, infomation, sexual
Theorists you could mention:
Judith Butler – ‘gender is performance’- Laura Mulvey – ‘male gaze’ (connect that to Vertigo and Hitchcock briefly)
- David Gauntlett – ‘Identity is complicated – everybody thinks they’ve got one’
David Buckingham – “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term”, "identity is fluid and changeable"- Marxism – Many films have elements of class struggle and issues surrounding capitalist society. Films like ‘
The Hunger Games’can be seen from a Marxist perspective because they depict characters struggling with monetary or class constraints. - Barthes – theory of semiotics – the use of signs and symbols in texts – denotation and connotation. white=innocent, red=danger
- "What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity - and ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behavior." (Anthony Giddens, 1991)
Key words to include:
Start:
While studying the media, it has become clear that the subjects media consists of are much more complex than on first appearance; this has led to much controversy. Because of this, it is complicated to answer yes or no to the above question, "Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions" because media representations are both reflected and distorted, mostly depending on different area of the media, especially film.
As theorist David Buckingham states, "Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term". The collective identity of women has been a particularly newsworthy topic in recent months. In mid 2014, Emma Watson's (the United Nation's global women's ambassador) gave an impassioned speech on Gender Equality to the United Nations to kick off the 'HeFOrShe' campaign became a trending topic on media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, and since has continued talk amongst the topic throughout the upcoming months with famous celebrities 'coming out' as feminists publicly, such as Beyonce, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gorden-Levitt. One of Emma Watson's main points was how the word 'Feminist' has bad, man-hating connotations and that women who labeled themselves a feminist were heavily sexist towards men but it's quite the opposite. The media had twisted the definition of feminism, quoting statements that women should be better than men which is completely untrue.
Judith Butler's ideas of gender being a performance would contradict the questions stated. The media deliberately plays on stereotypes in order to stick to the status-quo. For example, the two magazines 'Cosmopolitan' and 'Mens Health' are both aimed at the different sexes. Compared to the example of Men's Health, Cosmopolitan (November 2014) was bright and girly with it's purple and blue theme and articles on the subjects of what presents to get friends for Christmas, how to gain body confidence over the yule tide period, fashion advice and an article about sex which comes with every issue of the mag. Whereas, the Men's Health front cover had a very physically fit male model, always in black and white, targeting the very 'butch' and 'manly' audience, accompanied by black, red and blue bold fonts. The issue covered the two stereotypical things that would be most important in this typical mans life: women and health, including work out tips, nutrition ideas and pick up lines to use on a supermodel. Cosmopolitan claims to challenge stereotypes but there is a certain limit to the amount of challenging it does because it is still 'girly': Expand on Judith- uses and gratifications theory, people read mags in order to learn how to behave and their identity, cosmo- also covers feminist issues (Taylor) so if gender is a performance, cosmo wants its readers to perform feminist, gratification- readers may be reading the mag in order to do that, 'bible' for young women wanting to live fun and fearless lives, reinforcing that its a text that helps women learn/decide on their identity. compared to Mens Health, a semiotic analysis (bart) of cosmo,with blue and prple theme has connotes a bright and girly, party spirit.
Another example of stereotyping would be Fairy Liquid adverts dating back to the 1960s. Especially in these adverts, they tend to represent the status quo of the time and any hegemonies that may exist. A running theme in all the adverts, even the modern day ones, would be romanticising the past ideals of a woman in the kitchen and presenting a 'golden age' of which we can all aspire to: with every episode including the theme of a woman washing the dishes, being the perfect housewife and how she could still look pretty whilst using the product because it had moisturising qualities, also empowering the stereotype on a national scale that all women think about is how they can look good.
a link: the nature of television means in empahises the status quo in order to make people buy the product but films have a different role and can be more challenging texts. However, the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' (2013) switches between gender equality. Whilst outside the arena, Katniss the main character is seen as weak and maybe foolish when she starts the revolution by accident by getting an innocent man killed whilst on her way to the capital, and weak when she is emotional after not being able to say goodbye to her family after the reaping. Yet, when inside the arena, everyone seems to be on an equal playing field as they all have the same level physical abilities (either strength or skill), eradicating the idea of men being stronger than women. On thought, this is quite a controversial topic as women today are still seen as the weaker sex. Peta is also emotional etc.
The Hunger Games is all about the media, the HG is all about the performance, marxist is distracting the audience from the real war, a power tool from Snow and the audience. Naked woman- the inside man, constantly complaining about the media. Katniss is forced to dress in a very formal way for the media but it isn't natural but she learns to do it in order to gain favour of the audience, pregnancy, wedding
The role of the female character is becoming more powerful and independent in recent years, following this recent increase in women power. For example, in Frozen (2013), both protagonists are female and strong. In Skyfall (2012), the female character M is the strong, head of MI6, who although was murdered and succeeded by a man, she stays strong and dies with dignity. This key idea of a 'female win' in the end is slowing creeping into modern cinema and breaking pre-modern conventions. Contrast with Vertigo (hitchcock) (1958), come a long way since then where women were objectified. Laura Mulvey, most directors being male 10% film makers, 12% camera operators.
In conclusion, I would like to believe that eventually, these distortions of women in the media will slowing become non-existant. In an ideal world, the media would reflect the reality but realistically, especially magazines, they have to sell a certain theme to their niche audience. Film..., more films like Divergent (2014, Neil Burger), made more where gender is not an issue, other problems with prejudice (age), but gender isn't one of them.
Judith Butler's ideas of gender being a performance would contradict the questions stated. The media deliberately plays on stereotypes in order to stick to the status-quo. For example, the two magazines 'Cosmopolitan' and 'Mens Health' are both aimed at the different sexes. Compared to the example of Men's Health, Cosmopolitan (November 2014) was bright and girly with it's purple and blue theme and articles on the subjects of what presents to get friends for Christmas, how to gain body confidence over the yule tide period, fashion advice and an article about sex which comes with every issue of the mag. Whereas, the Men's Health front cover had a very physically fit male model, always in black and white, targeting the very 'butch' and 'manly' audience, accompanied by black, red and blue bold fonts. The issue covered the two stereotypical things that would be most important in this typical mans life: women and health, including work out tips, nutrition ideas and pick up lines to use on a supermodel. Cosmopolitan claims to challenge stereotypes but there is a certain limit to the amount of challenging it does because it is still 'girly': Expand on Judith- uses and gratifications theory, people read mags in order to learn how to behave and their identity, cosmo- also covers feminist issues (Taylor) so if gender is a performance, cosmo wants its readers to perform feminist, gratification- readers may be reading the mag in order to do that, 'bible' for young women wanting to live fun and fearless lives, reinforcing that its a text that helps women learn/decide on their identity. compared to Mens Health, a semiotic analysis (bart) of cosmo,with blue and prple theme has connotes a bright and girly, party spirit.
Another example of stereotyping would be Fairy Liquid adverts dating back to the 1960s. Especially in these adverts, they tend to represent the status quo of the time and any hegemonies that may exist. A running theme in all the adverts, even the modern day ones, would be romanticising the past ideals of a woman in the kitchen and presenting a 'golden age' of which we can all aspire to: with every episode including the theme of a woman washing the dishes, being the perfect housewife and how she could still look pretty whilst using the product because it had moisturising qualities, also empowering the stereotype on a national scale that all women think about is how they can look good.
a link: the nature of television means in empahises the status quo in order to make people buy the product but films have a different role and can be more challenging texts. However, the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' (2013) switches between gender equality. Whilst outside the arena, Katniss the main character is seen as weak and maybe foolish when she starts the revolution by accident by getting an innocent man killed whilst on her way to the capital, and weak when she is emotional after not being able to say goodbye to her family after the reaping. Yet, when inside the arena, everyone seems to be on an equal playing field as they all have the same level physical abilities (either strength or skill), eradicating the idea of men being stronger than women. On thought, this is quite a controversial topic as women today are still seen as the weaker sex. Peta is also emotional etc.
The Hunger Games is all about the media, the HG is all about the performance, marxist is distracting the audience from the real war, a power tool from Snow and the audience. Naked woman- the inside man, constantly complaining about the media. Katniss is forced to dress in a very formal way for the media but it isn't natural but she learns to do it in order to gain favour of the audience, pregnancy, wedding
The role of the female character is becoming more powerful and independent in recent years, following this recent increase in women power. For example, in Frozen (2013), both protagonists are female and strong. In Skyfall (2012), the female character M is the strong, head of MI6, who although was murdered and succeeded by a man, she stays strong and dies with dignity. This key idea of a 'female win' in the end is slowing creeping into modern cinema and breaking pre-modern conventions. Contrast with Vertigo (hitchcock) (1958), come a long way since then where women were objectified. Laura Mulvey, most directors being male 10% film makers, 12% camera operators.
In conclusion, I would like to believe that eventually, these distortions of women in the media will slowing become non-existant. In an ideal world, the media would reflect the reality but realistically, especially magazines, they have to sell a certain theme to their niche audience. Film..., more films like Divergent (2014, Neil Burger), made more where gender is not an issue, other problems with prejudice (age), but gender isn't one of them.
