Neo-Feminism- Neo feminist is when a female assumes or believes that females should lead and be more dominant in work, life, etc. than men. It glorifies a womanly essence over claims to equality with men.
Post-Feminism- Postfeminism strives towards the next stage in gender-related societal progress, and as such is often conceived as in favor of a society that is no longer defined by gender binary and gender roles.
Patriarchy- a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line
.
“media do not just offer us a transparent
‘window on the world’ but a mediated version of the world. They
don’t just present reality, they re-present it – David Buckingham…”
A
hegemonic view of society ʹ fundamental inequalities in power between social
groups. Groups in power exercise their influence culturally rather than by
force.
The man is not seen in the video so it can be assumed he is out working whilst the woman stays at home and does the house work
For the essay you could comment
•in
1966 the use of maternal,
domestic women-
in an
advert
complies with patriarchal representations of a females as either the sex object
or the domesticated woman. The 1966 advert presents a maternal,
domesticated woman who wanted to keep her
house clean and at the same time look beautiful.
•You
may choose to show whether media advertising has changed within the current era
with a second example. Are you just
as likely today to see a female in the advert today as in the past.
An interesting point to consider here is
whether the media by associating women with washing machines and cleaning
products is reflecting society OR whether it is shaping society through this
over representation - creating the idea that it is the norm
for women to
assume the top role in domestic situations?
This suggests that after 125 years a woman's role within the house remains the same. However, she is wearing smart work clothes so it suggests she does work outside the home too which can challenge patriarchy outside the home but inside the house there is still male dominance.
There is now a bigger emphasis on men being able to do domestic jobs which challenges patriarchal duties. However, it is still suggesting they are only washing their clothes to continue their manly activities. Because these individuals are not married we cannot say that they are going to continue these duties after they find a partner.
Ariel Advert : Footballer
(2011)
If
you identify a shift in representation you can argue the theory of
structuration (Giddens)
•i.e.
changes in social structure (increase in women at work, no longer able to
maintain the archetypal role of “domesticity” has resulted in a
“restructuration” of society (Giddens).
•The
established way of doing things has changed and therefore media representations
of gender roles in advertisement have changed since 1966.
This links to the sexualisation of women as evening doing something simple can swoon a woman.
The woman is represented as secondary to the man as she will just follow the man around which links to patriarchy. The image of the woman is bent over revealing herself. The way the woman is positioned links to Mulvey's male gaze theory as her cleavage is the focus of the image. This is stereotypical as women are illustrated as relationship orientated. This also links to the stereotype that the man is the dominant figure in a relationship.
This advert represents women as sexual objects, it shows off her shape but it doesn't show her face as if it doesn't matter who she is. The advert fulfils the primal needs of a man, there is intertexuality as wash me is often seen on cars so she's being objectified and compared to a car.
Mulvey The Male gaze ( )
Mulvey’s
theory
•cinematic
texts conform to Scopophilia- the
pleasure of looking a voyeuristic gaze directed at other people
•pleasure
in looking is split between active/male and passive/female. The determining
male gaze projects its fantasy onto the
female figure which is styled accordingly.
In
your essay you can comment on Mulvey’s theory as follows:
•The
advertisement conforms to Mulvey’s male gaze theory (Scopophilia)-
the pleasure of looking in
a voyeuristic, eroticised
manner…
•You
may choose to comment on the objectification and sexualisation of
the female form
•Hypodermic
needle theory (passive acceptance)
•Gauntlet (negotiated acceptance of th media,
influenced by the media but not overwhelmed)
If
you use Gauntlet you should use the
following quote or an abbreviated version of it….
“identity
is now consciously constructed, and the media provides some of the tools to
help us construct our identities. The media contains a huge number of messages
about identity and acceptable lifestyles.
At
the same time the public have their own diverse set of feelings. The media and
media consumers are engaged in a dialogue in which neither overpowers the
other.”
Example 6 The Post feminist age?
As part of your essay you can choose to
comment on the social and political factors that have influenced media
representation. One of these factors is
Feminism
From
the 1960’s onwards the women's movement which
campaigned for equal rights in employment, marital relationships and sexual
orientation- During this period, women wanted
i.e. women were 'usually shown as being subordinate,
passive, submissive and marginal, performing a limited number of secondary and
uninteresting tasks confined to their sexuality,
their emotions and their
domesticity' (Strinati,1995:184).
Subsequent to pressure placed by liberal feminists
on the media and advertising industries, the more 'positive' image of the
independent 'New Woman' emerged.
In
what way has Mulvey’s dark and suffocating analysis of
patriarchal cinema has lost ground to a more confident and empowering approach
which foregrounds the possibilities of “subversive” that is, non patriarchal modes of female
spectatorship
“The bottom line appears to be that the United Nations was unable to find a real-life woman that would be able to champion the rights of ALL women on the issue of gender equality and
the fight for their empowerment.
Wonder Woman’s American flag costume, she said, was akin to “pop culture imperialism”.
the choice of character sent a toxic message about strong women and that the UN should be countering such representations of body image, not reinforcing it.
With
a 78% representation of men in the media patriarchy/hegemony prevails with the
dominant male ideology influencing advertisements and cinema. This is evidenced in the examples presented
within the essay. There
are however some shifts in the way female and male gender roles are
mediated. This is due in part to (Giddens)
structuration theory where changes in society have influenced media
representations of the women as the “domesticated Goddess”, increasingly we can
see more male involvement in domesticated roles. Similarly the representation of women in a
sexually objectified manner is also changed albeit to a lesser extent….
•Gender
reresentation/collective
identity
The female gaze Hanson (1984)
•Miriam
Hanson,
put forth the idea that women are also able to view male characters as erotic
objects of desire.
Gender Fuck
Genderfuck refers to the self-conscious effort to
"fuck with" or play with traditional
notions of gender identity, gender roles, and
gender presentation. It falls under the umbrella of the transgender
spectrum
Slow motion shot of him taking off his shirt. The lusting looks from the women towards the man. Although you can say the male still has dominance as he provoking the reaction is what he wants.
The male Is shown as below her and has his shirt open for her which challenges the norm of male dominance. however the female is still sexualised and her face again is not seen as if her body shape is all that matters.
Examples:
"Sex"
refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and
women.
"Gender"
refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and
attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
Examples:
- Pitbull don't stop the party music video (2012) Mulvey (1975) Schröder (year unknown).
These children's magazines conform to the stereotypes of the male and female genders. In the Ben10 magazine has verbs such as fight written in bold which emphasises the way in which men assert their dominance through violence. Also within Ben10 there is a 'Hero Test' section as men are supposed to be the provider and protector. Within the Girl Talk magazine the themes are more mature. The way that the magazines are designed links to Mulvey' theory that women should be in a secondary role. The 'Girl Talk' magazine heads its magazines with 'Fashion', 'Celeb Style' etc. and the Ben10 one heads its magazine with 'Hero Test'
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