Women

Historic:

Vertigo, 1958, Alfred Hitchcock
- Accused of misogyny (women hating)
- Laura Mulvey's male gaze- Ice Women, Hitchcock has a tendency to portray all his women as perfect, beautiful, unattainable  in all his films.

Fairy Liquid Adverts- 1950s-
- Present women as idealised housewives, looking perfect, dressed beautifully and using received pronunciation. Presented as the women that every woman should aspire to be.
- The adverts haven't changed too much today, they still present traditional values.

Wasp, 2003, Andrea Arnold
- British social realism, Oscar winning for best short film. 
- Takes stereotype of chav (hegemony)- representation that is just a stereotype. Present the chav in  a sympathetic way so that we can see the world from her perspective, transgressing (criticising) hegemonies.

Contemporary:

Cosmo/Womens health.
- See spider diagrams

Made In Dagenham, Set in 1968,2010, Nigel Cole
- Represents women who were influential historically but not really recognised at the time, now on in west end as musical. Raving reviews.
- Nicknamed Revlon Revolution by the media as they were quite glamorous women which detracted from the serious issue of equality of pay between men and women, media mis-represented them.
- Supports theory that individuals can make a difference to society- Giddens theory of structuration. Foucault- Techniques of the self.
-Marxist reading presents the struggle between the working class women and the ruling class, Ford managers, and how Ford attempted to exercise absolute control over the women but eventually the women rebelled.

Hunger Games, 2012-2015, Francis Lawrence
- Marxist reading- represents a society that is controlled by the media.
-But like in Made In Dagenham there is a strong female lead, breadwinner for her family (non-sterotypical role)
- Judith Butler- she has to learn how to form her identity, make a public persona which is traditionally feminine then a separate identity which enables her to survive in the ferocious world.

Representation
-Emma Watson's launch of the He For She campaign at the UN went viral and helped to promote fourth wave feminism. This campaign like 'Miss Representation' and 'The representation project' all help to promote fourth wave feminism.
-The Bechdel test as to whether a film is feminist

Gossip Girl
- Strong female leads
- A male character hides behind the 'female' gossip girl in order to conform to the feminine society.
- Structuration as Dan creates uprising.
-Opposes the idea of a patriarchal society.

Future
- Fourth wave feminism has taken hold.
- Way in which people use magazines is changing (U+G)- more aware of the reason we read magazines (diversion) and that we don't have to aspire to some unattainable idea presented in them.
-More feminist films in coming years due to its current rise of importance and awareness.

Michael Foucault

An identity is communicated to others in your interactions with them. Identity is not a fixed thing within a person. It is "a shifting, temporary construction". People construct themselves according to a set of rules. A Foucauldian analysis of Mockingjay presents that individuals like Katniss can obtain power through 'techniques of the self'. Also in Gossip Girl, Blair and Serena change their identity according to who they are dating.

Anthony Giddens

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

Giddens developed the theory of structuration, wherebuy individuals are shown to have the power to make changes and influence society as well as large powerful organisations e.g. the government or mass media. You can apply Giddens' theory to the film 'Made In Dagenham' where the protagonist, Rita, leads the women of Forn in Dagenham to win equal pay as the men for 'semi-skilled' work. Also Hunger Games: MockingJay as Katniss leads the districts into rebellion against the Capitol. 

“Media representations are just reflections of reality, not constructions or distortions.”

One of the reasons that media representations are fascinating areas of study is that there are a myriad of contrasting and complex ideas out there, with equally contrasting theories. When we are considering the representations of certain groups of people, we have to consider how their collective identities are constructed. This is particularly interesting in the representation of women, which I have studied in connection with film, TV advertising and magazines. The question of whether those representations are reflections of the way women ‘really’ are, or whether they manipulate the way we see women, is constantly up for debate.

As theorist David Buckingham states, “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term”. The collective identity of women has been a particularly newsworthy in recent months. In 2014, celebrity actress and UN Global Women’s Ambassador Emma Watson’s impassioned speech on gender equality to the United Nations to kick of the ‘HeForShe’ campaign which became a trending topic on media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics is highly important when observing the representation of women in the media. This can again be observed in film when looking at examples such as the clothing worn in ‘Wasp’ (Andrea Arnold- 2003) and ‘Les Miserables’ (Tom Hooper- 2012). The prostitutes in ‘Les Mis’ along with the mother from ‘Wasp’ are seem wearing revealing clothing with heavy makeup. This reinforces the concept of women having to appear in an overly sexualised manner to be seen as attractive by men, something which the media use to this day  with airbrushing and photoshopping; women are being pushed further and further to achieve a higher standard of unattainable ‘perfection’.

An example of where this ‘perfection’ is being pushed is in the magazine ‘Women’s Health’, this magazine emphasises a ‘perfect’ and idealistic lifestyle for women. It provides them with diet plans and fitness regimes in order to gain and maintain a slim figure, which the magazine implies is more attractive to men.  The front cover generally shows a toned female wearing limited clothing, such as the November 2014 issue with Saturday’s member Frankie Bridge and titles such as ’50 best beauty buys’ and ‘Burn fat 24/7’ which pushes women to beautify themselves in order to fit in with society and be attractive to men. Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory, which applies to all media,is relevant here because women are being invited to see themselves through the eyes of men and make themselves into something that they think men will enjoy.

‘Cosmopolitan’ is another magazine which pushes women to question their identity. The magazine calls itself ‘The Bible for young women', which suggests that it is essential reading for their target audience, which the media kit identifies as 18-34. In the November 2014 issue there is an article called ‘Taylor Swift on Feminism, Famous Friends and single girl freedom’ which presents how 'Cosmopolitan' is tackling today issues such as feminism and women rights. Celebrity, Taylor Swift epitomises the 'Cosmo Woman' as a strong, successful business woman (who is also beautiful and slim!). This fits in well with Blumler and Katz's 'uses and gratifications' theory as women can read the magazine for social interaction, information and entertainment from the relatable features on 'real women' as well as aspiring to the images in the fashion and diet pages.

One area where representation of women has been problematic over time is in TV advertising. Advertisements tend to uphold the status quo, while encouraging consumers to buy products to improve their lifestyle. In a series of Fairy Liquid advertisements from the 1960s to the present day, women are represented in a traditionally idealistic way, which may not be considered as a reflection of reality. For example in the 1960s adverts, an idealistic home mother is presented, who is looking after her little girl (who will also grow up using Fairy Liquid) and doing the washing up. The whole range of adverts are set in the kitchen at the sink, with the emphasis on how the product makes your hands soft, as if that is a priority for women. The mother is shown doing educational activities with the little girl at the end of the advertisements such as playing with blocks or reading nursery rhymes. The actors in the adverts are extremely ‘well spoken’ and use received pronunciation, this emphaisises that the people who use the product have high standards and therefore the product must be good quality too. This, I believe is not a true reflection of reality as Fairy have used a very stereotypical view of women at home. The advertisements are presented as if, if you use Fairy Liquid, your lifestyle will change and you will have a much cleaner and less problematic life.  This applies to Judith Butler’s theory of ‘Gender as a performance’ as the woman in the advert is performing to the stereotypical manners and standards of women in the 1960s, playing up on her gender. This pushes the women watching to play up on their gender too, being a perfect housewife, looking after children and of course washing up using Fairy Liquid.

The Fairly Liquid adverts reinforce a stereotype, which does suggest that they are constructing or at least distorting reality for the purpose of selling a product. Over time, films have been much criticised for doing the same. In films such as ‘Vertigo’ (Alfred Hitchcock- 1958), Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze is clear, which presents his ‘ice women’ in such a sexualised manner due to the male camera shots of the female body which he believes appeals to the male viewers. His ‘icey blondes’ as the main women in his films,  are presented as the ‘damsel in distress’ with a male figure who has to come to the rescue. This style has lead some to criticise Hitchcock as a misogynist (women hater) who misrepresented women by not allowing them to be strong independent characters. 

There have been a lot of films about strong, independent women in the past few years, however in ‘Divergent’ (Neil Burger- 2014) this is taken to a new level where gender is not an issue and men and women are totally equal. The female protagonist, Tris, is presented as a strong independent woman and presents a much stronger interpretation of women as just as powerful if not more so than men. Throughout the film the female characters are presented as being on the top spots of the ranking board. Which we can link to the fact that the writer Veronica Roth, wants to present the strong female side which despite being fantasy film is present in today's society.  Therefore as a fantasy it does distort reality, presenting a dystopia which clearly in not even attempting to reflect reality.

In conclusion, I believe that to an extent media representations are just reflections of reality. However much the media may attempt to reflect reality it is impossible as the media is being created for a purpose and a certain audience so there has to be some reconstruction in order for the audience to buy into the idea. In the future the media is still likely to distort reality as even now, the most popular films are not total reflections,and even in the future people are going to watch films and read magazines in order to escape reality and adverts will still reflects the status quo trying in influence consumers to buy their product with their idealistic yet distorted representations.

Representation of Women in Advertising

Advertising is an interesting area to look at when studying the representation of a group of people, because it does two thing:

• Advertisements tend to represent the status quo of society at the time and any hegemonies that may exist (e.g. that football is our countries sport).
• Advertisements represent an ideal that  people must aspire to 

In a series of Fairy Liquid advertisements from the 1960s to the present day, we discovered that women are represented in a traditionally idealistic way, for example in the 1960s adverts  they all present the idealistic at home mother, looking after her little girl (who will also grow up using Fairy Liquid) and doing the washing up. They are all set in the kitchen at the sink, with the emphasis on how the product makes your hands soft, as if this is a priority for women. The mother is shown doing educational activities at then end of the advert with the little girl, such as playing with building blocks and reading nursery rhymes/fairy tales. The actors in the adverts are extremely 'well spoken' and and use received pronunciation, this emphasises that the people who use the product are have high standards and therefore the product must good quality too. 

In the more modern Fairy Liquid advertisements, a little boy is introduced, rather than having a girl, this shows that the demographics have widened out as more types of people are shown. This continues in the 2012 advert where a mum, dad and son are shown, however it is still the mother who is presented to be doing the washing up as in the 1960s advertisements. The adverts also become much more interesting in modern times. In the advert from 2009, where the little boy was introduced, it becomes more humorous as a dishwasher is shown, with the boy trying to fit his bike into it, as he sees how clean the dishes are when they come out after using the new fairy dishwasher tablets. In the 2012 advert there is no longer any actors talking, there is a clear male voiceover, however the focus is still on the mother as the voiceover says 'for mum to build an athlete', therefore there is still a clear focus on women in the home, rather than men doing the washing up, Fairy still, even today stick to their stereotypical advertising, of traditional roles in the home. 

Nowadays, this has become such an established product that in 2013 the company produced an advertisement showing a montage of classic advertisements from the 1960s to the present day. All of them reflecting the very traditional, perhaps now old fashioned values of women in the home. This could be effective as it promotes that the product is long standing, long lasting and reliable. 

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

British Cinema

We are looking at the way that women are represented in cinema over time. We have watched 'Vertigo' (Alfred Hitchcock- 1958), with a view to apply Laura Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze (see this post. 

We are now looking at contemporary British cinema, and the ways British films construct, reinforce or challenge notions of identity. We are looking at 'the burden of representation' and the conflict between successful commercial films and cultural UK films. 

We watched the trailers for 'Notting Hill' (1999) and 'Bend it Like Beckham' (2002) which were commercially successful films but also challenged the representation of women through a humorous representation of stereotypes. 

We are considering the dilemma that film makers have between making films that are commercially successful and might attract an American audience and social realist films by directors such as Ken Loach which are critically acclaimed but give a much bleaker representation of society in general.

We are also looking at the representation of women in contemporary films such as 'Fast Girls'(2012), 'The Kings Speech' (2010), 'The Angels Share'(2012) and 'Its a Wonderful Afterlife' (2010).

Representation of Gender in Films, TV and Youtube

Judith Butler states in her book 'Gender Trouble', that 'gender should be seen as a fluid variable which shifts and changes in different contexts at different times'. This is relevant to the recent film 'Divergent' (2014), as male and female characters are seen as equal, and their lives depend on their personalities and character traits rather than the importance of gender. Women are in top leadership positions in the film, which presents the key theme of gender empowerment. Boys and girls sleep in the same room and use the same bathroom facilities without that devolving into sexual tension. Self-control and sexual equality are simply a fact of life in the post-modern era in which the film is set.

Divergent also defies the parameters of traditional gender roles. The actor Theo James, who plays the supporting role of Four in the film said that “We’re in a world where masculinity, especially with these big spectacle movies, is often pushed by rippling six packs and forcing an image down someone’s throat trying to prove masculinity. Whereas I think true masculinity comes from having a strong sense of self,”. This agrees with Butler's idea of 'gender as a performance' and that you don't have to conform to society, despite having the seem conformist in the film, you can choose how to identify yourself, as a masculine or feminine character. Butler emphasises how gender is staged. This is true for the protagonist Tris who acts in a much more masculine way in order to fit into the conforming society of the Dauntless (courageous) faction. However, throughout the film there are sections where she is presented as a true girl as loving beautifying herself, such as getting dressed up and her hair done. However a following scene contrasts this where she gets a tattoo, which is seen as something more masculine. Tris must conform to the male lead society in order to be accepted into her new life. 

Queer Theory- Judith Butler and David Gauntlett

Following our study of the Hunger Games, I looked into Judith Butler's theory of Gender Performance, which she addresses in her book Gender Trouble (1990)through David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity, An introduction'(2002). This is described by Sandra Lee Bartky as 'The most authoritative attack to date on the "naturalness" of gender'. The Hunger Games applies to Butler's theory of Gender as a Performance as Katniss must act very differently when in the public eye as to when she isn't being shown on TV. Suzanne Collins creates a world which is completely governed by the media by using the Hunger Games as a way to distract the members of the public from creating an uprising and war. 

 Other satirical looks at gender performance: - Ja'mie, Life of a private school girl - Conchita Wurst- Eurovision winner

Representation of Women in Magazines

I undertook a sustained analysis of the December 2014 issue of 'Cosmopolitan' magazine, looking at how the magazine creates a sense of belonging for its readers. I bore in mind that post-modern readers play with gender identity and so can pick and mix the meanings of the representations in the magazine.

We first conducted a semiotic analysis of the cover page of 'Cosmopolitan' and discovered that Taylor Swift appears on the cover, a strong independent woman who is admired by many people of our society, and readers of the magazine. The image displayed on the cover shows Taylor with her hand on her hip wearing a long dark, sparkly purple dress, with a long slit up the side, presents her as a confident, glamorous, assertive woman- something that the readers of Cosmo can aspire to. This image is taken from a slightly low camera angle which helps to present the power of women today, as well as helping to portray Taylor Swift as an aspirational figure.

We then looked at the colours and fonts on the cover and throughout the magazine. It is clear by the feminine pinks, purples and pale blues that 'Cosmopolitan' is directly aimed at a female audience. Its media pack supports this idea as it states that more than 14 million readers each month are female. The fonts used range from clear bold sans-serif font to fancy, decorative, feminine fonts.

Then we examined the cover lines, we found out that they all entice the reader. Examples such as 'Taylor Swift on Feminism' further shows that 'Cosmopolitan' aims towards the female audience as well as mentioning relevant issues in the media today, such as Emma Watson's UN speech about Feminism. The media pack supports this as it calls the magazine 'the bible for young women', and wanting to empower these female readers helping them to live 'fun and fearless lives'. The way in which other cover stories present ideas about sex, such as 'The great sex act even Christian Grey only dared to do once', helps to show that the magazine is trying to act as a friend to the reader, encouraging them to talk about private, intimate things. Additionally Cosmo prides itself in addressing previously taboo issues which are important to women. 

When we continued our analysis inside the magazine we found even more articles about fashion, lifestyle, diets, sex and celebrity gossip- all of which are important to the regular readers of Cosmo. The articles include one (mentioned on the cover) about Taylor Swift's feminist feelings. She explains how previously she was never sure about being a feminist, but now, after hearing Emma Watson's UN speech on gender equality, she is proud to call herself a feminist, and sees her as a role model, much like Taylor Swift is a role model for the readers. The magazine also includes another article titled, 'Women Hating = Not Cool' and explains more about another persons feminist views, and treats Cosmo as a club where women with those views can join and feel appreciated by society, as Winship says "A magazine is like a club. Its first function is to produce readers with a comfortable sense of community and pride in their identity". A feminist/Marxist reading of women magazines in general suggests that women are told what to think by magazines, which distracts them from really important issues yet 'Cosmopolitan' contradicts this view in articles like 'Women Hating=Not Cool' by bringing those issues into the spotlight.

A comparison with 'Women's Health' magazine is significant as this conforms more consistently to the Marxist theory. The cover lines on the December 2014 issue are didactic (give you instructions), using imperatives such as 'Shed One Size','Join the New Clean Club Scene' and 'Burn Fat'. 

Singer, Frankie Bridge, is featured on the cover. She is seen as a role model due to the way in which her abs are on show and she is perfectly toned, something aspirational for the 'Women's Health' readers. This also conforms to the marxist idea of interpellation (mis-recognising yourself). Women who read this magazine wish to see themselves as 'being' Frankie Bridge, although totally impossible, they aspire to obtain an image similar to hers. The magazine is presented rather like an instructions manual, telling you what to do, what to eat, what to wear etc. and by playing on peoples insecurities.In this way,
Judith Butler's theory applies, which says that "Gender is a performance & gender lifestyle magazines provide the script for the performance". 

Furthermore, Gramsci's 'uses and gratifications' theory can be applied here, in that the readers are using the magazine media to  conform to a hegemony (a given set of beliefs and ideas that we all accept and live by- i.e. you should be slim & fit). An example of this is the cover story about Strictly's Frankie Bridge, which is followed up by an article called 'Get Fit Like Frankie' and provides the reader with work-outs in order to become toned, as the photo on the front displays.

In comparison, our analysis of 'Men's Health' magazine revealed slightly different dominant discourses. The cover lines confirmed four key discourses, such as '5 minute energy boosts' for quick fit problem solving; '1 instant age eraser' for male narcissism and anxiety; '21 women you need in your life'(the women featured include Angela Merkel and Dame Sarah Storey, it emphasises the with the strap line 'let them teach you how to be a real man') for new male sensitivity; and 'how to hit on a supermodel' for male superiority. 

Despite gestures towards 'new men', the cover photos are always in black and white, because the editors assume that the heterosexual readership will feel more secure with this as the black and white male torso has connotations of being less sexual and more mechanical, this is because is emphasises the muscles on the model. This supports the idea that magazines reassure readers that they have made the right lifestyle choices.

Me and The Online Age

Here is my video about Me and The Online Age:

Representation of Women in Magazines

In todays lesson we looked at how women are represented in the magazines, 'Cosmopolitan', 'Mens Health' and 'Womens Health' and we compared the 3 magazines to see their similarities and differences.

We discovered that men's magazines use bold colours and black and white photos to look more 'butch' and 'male', however women's magazines use softer colours and fancy fonts to create a more 'feminine' effect. The 'Womens Health' magazine made us feel rather depressed becasue of the unrealistic image it portrayed by the endless diet plans and 'what not to eat at Christmas' articles! However 'Cosmopolitan' directly addresses the powerful representation of women with articles about the feminist feelings of celebrities such as Taylor Swift (See below). It still presents an idealistic female figure and some diet information, however this is not presented in such a blunt manner, but in  a much more motivational way.

A Collage Representing Me

Feminism Powerpoint

Recently, I did an assembly on the role of women in society and feminism. Here it is:

What Am I?

As part of our introduction to the Collective Identity topic we  had to think about what groups we could belong to to make up who we are. We put it into a pie chart using Microsoft Excel in order to compare our different roles in society.