June 2010: With reference to any one group of people you have studied, discuss how their identity has been 'mediated'.

With reference to any one group of people you have studied, discuss how their identity has been 'mediated'. 

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• Judith Butler – ‘gender is performance’ _ Giddens
• Laura Mulvey – ‘male gaze’ (connect that to Vertigo and Hitchcock briefly)
• David Gauntlett – ‘Identity is complicated – everybody thinks they’ve got one’ Marx
• David Buckingham – “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term”, "identity is fluid and changeable" Giddens
• 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

• What the question means
• Emma 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
• Facts: 12% camerawomen, 10% film makers

Whilst studying media, it has only become more apparent how television and film have reflected the mediation of women over time. Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' plays a key part in pre-modern days television and film. In the 1958 film 'Vertigo', directed by Hitchcock, the key plot line is the infatuation of one beautiful woman, which contrasts heavily with modern days media. His filming style deliberately portrayed a very desirable woman of the time, applying then, modern day hegemonies such as the behaviour of the woman, and a superiority of the male character, acting as if he was entitled to 'own' her. 

An 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.

The 2011 film 'Made in Dagenham', set in 1968, expresses the needs for equal pay for women, completely going against he hegemonies of the time. the film explaining how backward and contradictory their movement was, against the control of a men run society. The whole movement concentrates on the rebelling of the mediation of women of the time. Women were trying to create for themselves, an identity amongst men. This follows the belief of  Buckingham, stating that the individual can change their identity because it is 'fluid and changeable'. In the film, Ford decides to control both genders, creating the ideas of Giddens who says that the powers at be shape society but so do the people, so individuals can create and change themselves. 

The ideas of Karl Marx also link to actions of Ford, a large power force controlling multiple people, much like the 2013 film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" in which the capitol and President Snow, using media to control the people, through the fear of the hunger games, but also its false sense of glamour, creating celebrities out it's victims. Katniss Everdeen, the main female character is especially controlled through this form of false media as being in favour with the population, makes your time in the pit easier. Snow is able to use this form of control through his communist actions of murdering any opposing threats and blackmailing Katniss into false personas whilst in front of the media. However, Katniss also uses her positive presence in the media to win over favour of the people, creating uprising and riots, portraying the ideas of women creating a fair and equal society.

Jumping forward to 2015, the term identity is put well by David Buckingham: ".. is an ambiguous and slippery term".  With a huge rise in the idea of feminism being portrayed positively heavily in the media with examples of Emma Watson's speech to the UN in 2014 and multiple celebrities such as Beyonce writing songs and performing with strong ideas of feminism, the term has gained a new meaning. Previously, the word had negative connotations, leaving anyone who labeled themselves a feminist, a sexist, whereas, today, with media leading the forefront of educating the world on the terms simple belief of equality between men and women, it has become a popular and now widely believed idea.

Today, 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. However, astonishing facts such as 12% of camera operators and 10% of film makers are female, proves that society still has some change to do.

In conclusion, slowly over the past 60 years, women have taken great strides in movements of equality, breaking and creating new hegemonies of the same rights and opportunities of our male counterparts, both professionally and socially strongly through the use of media, no longer being mediated. Looking to the future, I think we can see a world where there is a completely fair world, where gender is no longer, an identity. 

Made In Dagenham - Marxist View

Set in 1968, made it 2011

(p110, OCR Media Studies Julian McDougall)

Karl Marx

 -people that rule society do so through means of production and production of ideas. 

-eg. Monarchy. We don't throw them out because the hierarchy believe in tradition 

Gramsei 

-developed the idea of hegemony

-Ford is this controlling organisation, outraged when the women stand up (the men of the world, ie. Husband, don't support her at first)

-The reason why these women were s dangerous to society and large businesses was because they were upturning the ideas of how women were rewarded and treated in the times

Anthony Giddens

-(hegemonies)

-believes that the powers at be shape society BUT so do the people, so individuals can create and change themselves. 

-the media does help to construct our identities (and isn't a true reflection of real life) 

-"create an identity then change it or keep it"

-"What to do? How to act? Who to be?"

-(ideas link closely to Judith Butler)

-www.theory.org.uk/giddens5.htm 

2013: "Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions."

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 means
• Emma 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:

Conventions, stereotypes, hegemony (an accepted set of beliefs for a particular society ie. football is the main sport in England), status quo,

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. 

Women in the British Cinema

Today in class, we looked at the ways in which women are represented in British cinema over time. In Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 films 'Vertigo', he places his female characters with a very desirable aspect. (See Male Gaze Theory)

In contemporary british cinema, films construct, reinforce or challange notions of identity. We were looking at the 'burden of representation' (p59-66, fire book) and the conflict between successful commercial films and cultural UK films. We watched the railers for 'Notting Hill' (1999), 'Bend it like Beckham' (2002) which were commercially successful films but also challenged the representation of women through a humorous look on stereotypes.

We also considered the representation of women in comtemporary british films such as 'Fast Girls' (2012),'The Kings Speech' (2010), 'The Angels Share' (2012), 'Its A Wonderful Afterlife' (2010) and 'Made in Dagenham' (2010).

We were also considering the dilemmas that film makers have between making films that are comercially sucessful and might attract an american audience (which the brings in a very large amount of wonga), and then social realist films by directors such as Ken Loack and Mike Leigh which are critically acclaimed but give a much bleaker representation of society in general which are not as attractive to a wide spread, international audience and therefore might not make as much revenue.

Representation of Women in Adverts - Fairy Liquid

Advertising is an interesting area to look at when studying the representation of a group of people.

• Firstly; advertisements tend to represent the status quo of society at the time and any hegemonies that may exist. For example, that football is our countries national sport however the country plays a wide variety of sports. 
• Secondly; advertisements represent an ideal that people must aspire too.

In a series of Fairy Liquid advertisements from the 1960s up until the present day, we discovered that women are represented in a traditionally idealistic way. For example, in the 1960s adverts were almost exactly the same having a mother and a little girl who she is helping to learn (ie, books or building blocks) while washing up the dishes at the kitchen sink. The mother is teaching the little girl about the fairy liquid and how it is still strong enough to clean but soft enough to keep hand 'pretty', as if this is a priority for women of the time. The actors in the advert are 'well spoken', using received pronunciation. This emphasises the idea in the consumer that the people who use Fairy Liquid are of a high class, and therefore the product is of good quality. 

The modern advertisements are a bit more complex. Firstly, the little, innocent girls who is a reoccurring theme has been replaced with a slightly older (8-10) boy, and in the first (2012), we saw both a mother and father featuring, appearing to a wider demographic. There also featured a male voiceover however the emphasis is still on the mother bringing up an olympic athlete 'For mum to build an athlete', creating an equal tone. 

In the second (2009), the advert has a humorous tone with the little boy trying to fit his bike into the washing machine, and compared with the ones from the 60s, shows more informality and also an example of how adverts have changed behaviour with washing up (existence of washing machine).

Nowadays, this has become such an established product that in 2013, the company produced an advertisement showing a montage of the classic advertisements from the 1960s to the present day, over emphasising how little product you use every time to wash your dishes, it takes a decade to finish a bottle. 

All these Fairy Liquid advertisements are seen to be romanticising the past ideals of a woman in the kitchen and presenting a 'golden age' of which we can all aspire to. *sigh*

Representation of Gender in TV, YouTube and Film

In the 2014 film 'Divergent' from birth, you are stripped of gender prejudices in a way because you were born into a world where once you turn 16, you categorize yourself into a sector of society based on your personality: Abnegation (selfless), Dauntless (bravery), Erudite (intelligent), Amity (pacifists) and Candor (honest). The protagonist (Tris) does not conform to one of these factions and has to perform an identity to 'fit in' as she has certain aspects of all factions. This links to Judith Butler's idea that anyone can be essentially, whatever they want to be. These people living in these mini societies, cannot conform to any 'faction' because it is all an 'act' we had chosen for us at birth. When this protagonist is put in danger, she switches gender roles and 'acts' in a masculine way in order to protect herself and the secondary character. Very contradictory for modern society, but in Judith Butler's eyes, appropriate.

Research: Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) - Women

Release Date: November 11th, 2013 (London)

Worldwide Box Office Success: $864,912,963

UK Box Office Success: £12.19m

Director: Francis Laurence; has directed all Hunger Games films, as well as many music videos from 1993 to 2014, winning a Grammy for Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, 'Best Music Video'. 

Film Summary:

After winning the 74th Hunger Games in the previous novel, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return home to District 12, the poorest sector in the country of Panem. But on the day that Katniss and Peeta are to start a "Victory Tour" of the country, President Snow visits unexpectedly and tells Katniss that he is angry with her for breaking the rules at the end of the last Hunger Games, which permitted both Peeta and Katniss to win. Snow tells Katniss that when she defied the Capitol, she inspired rebellion in the districts.

The first stop on the Victory Tour is District 11, the home of Katniss' deceased friend and ally in the Hunger Games, Rue. During the ceremony, Katniss delivers a speech thanking the people of District 11 for their participants in the Games. When she finishes, an old man whistles the tune that Katniss used in the arena to tell Rue that she was safe. The song acts as a signal and everyone salutes Katniss, using the same gesture that she used to say farewell to Rue. To the horror of Katniss, the old man and two others are killed.

Katniss and Peeta travel to the rest of the twelve districts and the Capitol. Hoping to placate the growing rebellion and settle the dispute between Katniss and President Snow, Peeta proposes to Katniss during an interview. Despite this, Katniss learns that their attempt to avert revolt in the districts has failed.

Shortly after returning to District 12, Katniss discovers on the mayor's television that District 8 has had an uprising, and she fears that what she has done to placate the crowds is not enough as there may be uprisings in other districts as well. She then meets two runaways from District 8, Bonnie and Twill. They explain their theory which contradicts what the other districts have been led to believe: District 13 was not completely wiped out by the Capitol, and that its residents survive in underground shelters.

Later, it is announced that, for the 75th Hunger Games, twenty-four victors from previous years will be forced to compete once again. This is the third occurrence of the "Quarter Quell": an event that occurs every 25th year of the Games and allows the Capitol to introduce a twist. Knowing that she and Peeta will both be competing in the Games a second time, Katniss decides that she will devote herself to ensuring that Peeta becomes the Quarter Quell's victor and convinces her mentor to try and help her. Likewise, Peeta is devoted to protecting her, but both Katniss and her mentor are determined that only Peeta reaches back home safely.

During the Games, set in a jungle with a saltwater lake, Katniss and Peeta join up with two other previous victors: Finnick Odair, a 24-year-old man who survived the Games at the age of 14, and Mags, Finnick's 80-year-old mentor, both from District 4. The party encounters poisonous fog in which Peeta comes into contact with the gas and cannot walk. Mags sacrifices herself in order to save Peeta and dies in the poisonous fog. After Mags's death, Katniss, Peeta and Finnick join forces with Johanna Mason, a sarcastic and often cruel victor from District 7, and Beetee and Wiress, an older couple from District 3 who are said to be "exceptionally smart". Wiress soon proves her genius by revealing to Katniss that the arena is arranged like a clock, with all of the arena's disasters occurring on a timed chart. After Wiress is killed in a battle with the Careers, Katniss learns of Beetee's plan to harness lightning in order to electrocute Brutus and Enobaria, the two remaining Careers Tributes from District 2. In the final chapters, Katniss instead directs the lightning at the force field that contains the arena, thereby destroying the arena and resulting in her temporary paralysis.

When Katniss wakes up, she is being transported to District 13, joined by Finnick, Beetee, and her mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. She learns that Peeta, Enobaria, and Johanna have been captured by the Capitol, and is informed that there had been a plan among half of the contestants to break out of the arena— Beetee had been attempting to destroy the force field in the same way that she did. The book ends when Katniss's best friend, Gale, comes to visit her and informs her that, though he got her family out in time, District 12 has been destroyed.

Female Cast: each female character represented a different stereotype we have in modern society.

Jennifer Laurence 

          as Katniss Everdeen represents a strong women who took charge of her household, is very athletic and portrays avery 'male' personality. 

Elizabeth Banks 

           as Effie Trinket is a motherly figure and guides Katniss and Peta through the Hunger Games although she works for the President, but at the end of the film, we see how she has been looking out for them all along.

Jena Malone 

           as Johanna Mason is an angry character, very violent and confident but in the end, it counteracted with her willingness to sacrifice herself for Katniss. 

Lynn Cohen

           as Mags volunteered herself as tribute for a young girl in her first Hunger Games and sacrifices herself for her team when in the arena again, acting as a caring and all loving woman.

The importance of the Mockingjay in Catching Fire: 

The pin becomes a symbol of the rebellion in Catching Fire after Katniss wins the Games by defying the Capitol. However, when she arrives in the Capitol on Victory Tour and later to participate in the 75th Hunger Games, she discovers that the pin has ironically spawned a new fad, being replicated as a fashion accessory and even used as the basis for tattoos, because "everyone wants to wear the winner's token". Yet this backfires on President Snow, as the mockingjay is the symbol for the rebels as well.[4] Cinna (Katniss' stylist) puts the mockingjay pin exactly where Johanna needs to cut it to take off to escape the arena.

     Define DYSTOPIA:

-an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

The whole Hunger Games world is set in a dystopian state: Panem. And although not all 12 districts live hard working lives. they all have one thing in common: two from each district will battle to the death every year to, ironically, remember all those died in the rebellion 75 years ago. 

Define COLONIALISM:

-the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

Define POST-COLONIALISM:

-the effects left behind by a colonialism ruler which the colonised community have to adapt with and learn

The Capitol uses this annual event, 'The Hunger Games' to suppress and keep the 12 districts in line as this event commemorates the crushing of District 13: a district that tried to rebel against the Capitol 75 years ago. Because of this order, the Capitol can use the 12 Districts to supply them with materials (coal, food etc). 

Define MODERNISM

-modern character or quality of thought, expression, or technique

The Hunger Games is said to be a take on modern America and teaches that 'if we do not change, we may have to face the reality that this may be our future'. Collins took what she knows about society now and created a new take on our future and how that future can and will affect us if we do nothing about it. The Hunger Games introduces the future of our society where titles mean everything and those in power feed of the week.

A Feminist Analysis of Cosmopolitan (created on PicMonkey)

Gender Inequality in the Film Industry

On Pinterest, we found an image describing the men vs. women equality in the film industry. 

How Women and Men are Represented in modern Magazines

In class, we looked over two magazines Cosmopolitan and Men's Health. These two magazines contrasted heavily. 

On the cover of Men's Health, would could instantly assume it targeted a very 'butch' and 'manly' audience which its use of bold fonts and colours such as black, red and blue. The front cover of Men's Health also tends to have the picture of their cover model in black and white- the issue we studied was not an exception.  The cover lines cover the two biggest things in their ideal readers life - women and health. The magazine featured work out tips, nutrition ideas and pick up lines to use on a supermodel *rolls eyes*.

Cosmopolitans december issue's front cover model was Taylor Swift. Laying these two magazines next to each other showed their immediate aesthetic differences. Compared to the example of Men's Health, Cosmo 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. Taylor Swift has been in the news for her recent views on Feminism and an article inside described her views. With this feminist theme, a separate journalist wrote an article entitled 'WOMAN HATING=NOT COOL' talking about the real ideas of feminism, not what modern society has exaggerated it to be which I thought made the magazine more grounded, talking about real work problems instead of what salad dressing to use. The articles are below. 

Collective Identity Pie Chart

A pie chart showing how I identify myself in 10 categories.