Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Post Feminism and popular culture

http://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/women/students/biblio/historiog/McRobbie%20-%20postfeminism.pdf

Post Feminism and popular culture - Sex and The City


"The new young women are confident enough to declare their anxieties about possible failure in regard to finding a husband, they avoid any aggressive or overtly traditional men, and they brazenly enjoy their sexuality, without fear of the sexual double standard".

"the degree of suffering or shame they anticipate in the absence of finding a husband is countered by sexual self-confidence. Being without a husband does not mean they will go without men".

Post Feminism and popular culture - Lads Mags


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1274095/JAN-MOIR-Lads-mags-toxic-culture-treats-women-like-meat.html

"We are witness to a hyper-culture of commercial sexuality, one aspect of which is the repudiation of a feminism invoked only to be summarily dismissed".

"As a mark of a post-feminist identity young women journalists refuse to condemn the enormous growth of lap dancing clubs despite the opportunities available for them to do so across the media".

Post Feminism and popular culture - Citroen Car Advert

"This advert appears to suggest that yes, this is a self-consciously “sexist ad,” feminist critiques of it are deliberately evoked".

"the shadow of disapproval is introduced (the striptease as site of female exploitation),only instantly to be dismissed as belonging to the past, to a time when feminists used to object to such imagery. To make such an objection nowadays would run the risk of ridicule".


Post Feminism and popular culture - Wonderbra




"The Wonderbra advert showing the model Eva Herzigova looking down admiringly at her substantial cleavage enhanced by the lacy pyrotechnics of the Wonderbra, was through the mid-1990s positioned in major high street locations in the UK on full size billboards."


"It was, in a sense, taking feminism into account by showing it to be a thing of the past, by provocatively “enacting sexism” while at the same time playing with those debates in film theory about women as the object of the gaze"

Post Feminism and popular culture - Bridget Jones's Diary


"My argument is that post-feminism positively draws on and invokes
feminism as that which can be taken into account, to suggest that equality is achieved,
in order to install a whole repertoire of new meanings which emphasise that it is no
longer needed, it is a spent force. This was most vivid in The Independent (UK) newspaper
column Bridget Jones’s Diary"

"Gentle denunciations of feminism (as in the film Bridget Jones’s Diary) co-exists however with the shrill championing of young women as a “metaphor for social change” on the pages of the right wing press in the UK, in particular the Daily Mail."

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Understanding post feminism: The four concepts:

1) Post feminism as a backlash to feminism: This concept points out that women are past the gender wars and have almost reached equality with men.

2) Positive look at feminism: Post feminism is now widely accepted in society and looked at in a more positive light.

3) Post feminism as a colloquialism: Though being looked down upon, it is still present in society and moe modernised.

4) The ambiguity of the prefix post: This concept explores the question of if feminism has been achieved or has died with equality between the genders unstable.

Fuad's essay: Peer Asses

In this advertisement, the representation of women is signified through the two binary oppositions of the ‘Librarian’ and the ‘Blonde Woman’. The ‘Librarian’ is represented as androgynous and somewhat of a feminist, due to her manlike clothing and bulky appearance which is heavily contrasted with the ‘Blonde Woman’. She is also working in a library, with a book, which represents her as an intellectual and self-driven woman, and the fact that she isn’t self objectifying her, shows that she doesn’t seems to desire any male attention, creating a positive representation of a woman since she is not self-objectifying herself for the male audience and not fulfilling their needs for sexual allurement.

On the other hand the ‘Blonde Woman’, is a stereotypical representation of a ‘Blonde Woman’. She is pretty, dim-witted and slow. Compared to the Librarian, the ‘Blonde Woman’ seems to be self objectifying herself, since she has her hair done, dressed nicely in a fitted dress and is wearing make-up. She seems to be addressing the male audience with her appearance and to attract the male audience into buying the ‘Mercedes- Benz E- Klasse.

Advertisements mostly use humour, and the humour in this advert is placed on the Blonde Woman, following the ideology that blonde women are ‘dumb’ (Blonde Jokes- began in the 1900’s, which is obviously a negative representation of women, especially blonde women.
Furthermore the advertisement is also objectifying her to the car; the ‘Mercedes- Benz E-Klasse’ applying the slogan/Tagline, ‘Beauty is nothing without brains’ on both the ‘Blonde Woman’ and the car, which is degrading and subordinating the woman in the advertisement, since she is compared to the car. Woman being compared to products and objects in advertising is something that is very popular in advertising, which highlights the fact that we live in a patriarchal society.

However the Slogan/Tagline puts across a positive representation on women, highlighting the Blonde Woman’s stupidity and that it is not appealing, showcasing the Librarian as a smart and intellectual woman. The binary opposition of the librarian and the blonde woman, allows the audience to judge which one of the women is better represented as women, and to ridicule the blonde woman for be so dim-witted.


This representation of women is very different, the fact the woman is singing opera connotes that she is sophisticated, talented and elite, which are very idyllic and desirable describtions for a woman and are also very positive representations of women. The fact that she is not shows that she is respected and is being celebrated for her talent. The woman in the advertisement is being presented in a self-objectifying male gaze high-angle shot facail expression of emotional stress allow the audience to feel sypathetic towards her. The intertexaulity of this advertisement (Je ne regette rien) puts forwards its idealogies and values herself or is being self-objectifyied shows that she is not adhering to the which protrays her as innocent and her into the product (Specsavers), such as its sophistication and eliteness.


WWW: Effective use of media terminology
Good analysis on the representation of women

EBI: Spelling could improve.

Bianca's Essay:

The representation of women can be positive: challenging the roles and expectations of women or negative: reinforcing a patriarchal society. This essay questions how and why these representations are constructed in an advert for Gucci Guilty Perfume and Stella Artois beer.

Firstly the Gucci advert is in widescreen which connotes a dramatic cinematic experience to engage its audience. More attention is gained by the female character first seen in the text and her protagonist is signified through this. The protagonist has female dominance which is signified through the use of colour- everything is in black and white while her hair is gold/blonde. This colour connotes gold, power and divinity signifying her importance in the text.

The use of intertextuality in this text will appeal to a particular audience. The film references a great deal to the neo film noir Sin City, with the use of colour and the female dominant femme fatale character. Sin City appeals to a male audience due to the action genre, this trailer could also appeal to the same audience due to the intertextuality. In terms of the Uses and Gratifications theory, a female audience might realise and accept the protagonist in the text is a form of escapism and also a male gaze, by theorist Mulvey, and therefore might aspire, from Young and Rubicam's 4Cs, to be the object of male gaze too.

Though the protagonist is an object of male gaze, it could be suggested that she sexually objectifies herself to tease the audience. The protagonist puts her leg into the frame of the shot. As she puts into the frame, it signifies self objectification, allowing the audience to fetishise her body. Another shot, a high angle, of their sexual activities signifies CCTV and spying which is voyeuristic. The fact she is on top signifies her control of the situation for both the male character and the audience.

Not only does the protagonist exert her feminity through self objectification she also presents herself as an anarchic character signified by adopting male stereotypes. The advert begins with a long shot of an unknown character speeding down the motorway, which stereotypically would be expected to be a male character. However, the audience's expectations are challenged when a medium shot of the driver shows to be a female.

In contrast, women are negatively represented in the Stella Artois text. The most obvious editing technique used in the advert is the split screen: one side shows the female getting dressed and the other side is of the beer getting "prepared". This use of split screen signifies that neither the beer nor the woman know they have been placed side by side. This puts the audience in position of control as they can voyeur the woman, in a socially acceptable way. Audiences may identify this control as patriarchy, and also identify with the unknown male character whose presence is felt within the text. This text then reinforces the idea of a patriarchal society and that women are subordinated by men.

Not only does the female share the screen with the beer, but the screen is split equally between the two "objects" which connotes the woman is equally objectified to the status of beer. It is suggested the audience is male due to the female and beer subject. Though the advert is targeted at men, it also negatively stereotypes men as people who have little respect for women which however is a dominant representation.

A range of close up shots of the female are used to fetishise her body. There is a close up shot of the female's leg slowly and elegantly rising from the bath tub. On one hand this could signify femininity and her control over it which is the oppositional reading. However, the more dominant reading is that her legs are an important part of the female body and connotes a male audience who can voyeur her body.

The text near the beginning of the trailer says "the preparation" which is an enigma code as the audience question "what event is the preparation for?". It is signified through the shots that the woman and beer preparation is for the male through the use of action codes. Action codes of both the preparation of the woman and the glass of beer are the same.

Women are represented as people who prioritise their looks and appearance, and this ad reinforces this ideology. Action codes including close ups of her: brushing her hair, doing her make up and putting on heels strongly represent women as image conscious. It could be said that the advert reinforces this representation, which is always seen in the media. Funnily enough, it could also be said that the media itself is the cause of this representation as this ideal, perfect woman is always represented in the media, and women feel they have to aspire to it.

In conclusion, both texts females are the protagonists and are sexually objectified for male audiences to fetishise and vouyer their bodies. However, while Gucci’s advert’s protagonist controls her sexuality through self objectification, the Stella Artois’ protagonist is objectified by an unknown but present male character.

In the Gucci’s ad, there are many examples in the text that signify the protagonist’s female dominance, but it is arguable whether this could be seen as a positive representation. The dominant reading is that the protagonist exerts her female dominance over the male challenging the historical patriarchal society and even subordinating males as easily manipulated and easily tempted by women and sex and this would favour feminism. However the oppositional reading which would favour the ideologies of the Stella Artois advert, might be that females can control their sexuality, but it is still for the male gaze and male dominant society.




Research: Gender and Advertising:

Positive representation:
In this advert women are represented as being uite independant, connoted by how she is driving alone, showing that she can take care of herself without a man, a concept which was still quite new back then. The narrative is fairly straightforward as we see a women on her way to meet a man and inbetween, getting ready by doing her hair. This advertisement's target audience can identify with this women as the demographic would mainly be young women aged 16- 30.

Monday, 18 October 2010

Gender and advertising:

1. What sort of images of women and men dominated advertising pre-1970s? Why was this the case?
Before the 1970's women were shown doing many women related jobs such as hairdressing, housewife. These images started to decline due to a number of factors such as a rise in feminism, WW2 etc. Men were advertised as being manly in the sense that they would provide for their fasmily and take on more important jobs in society that commanded a lot more respect than the jobs women had.

2. How did the advertising of the 1970’s continue to perpetuate the stereotype of women, despite depicting women in a greater range of roles?
Though women had a greater role in society, the media still demeaned women as they were still stereotyped into roles of being a housewife. This sort of advertising was aiming to maintain a patriarcle society.

3. Can Gaye Tuchman’s quote regarding under-representation and the ‘symbolic annihilation of women’ still be applied in 21st Century advertising? If so, how?
The "symbolic annihilation of women" can still be appilied in 21st century advertising as we see many advertisements still stereotyping women into roles such as the "dumb blonde" (who widely appeals to many male audiences), the housewife and a sexually objectified women who is only there to please the men. Self objectification could be argued but then that would mean that women who want to empower themselves would still need to please men in one way of another.

4. Do you agree that adverts, such as those for the 1990’s Boots No. 7, ‘It’s not make-up. It’s ammunition.’ campaign, are post-feminist (thereby representing women as better than men?). Explain your answer.
These adverts are post-feminist as they show both female and male audiences that women have just as much "ammunition" in society as men. the very connotation of the phrase " its not make up its aummunition" connotes a gender war, with women fighting for an equal ground with men. As Boots advertise make-up, it is usually seen as quite a harmless company but this campaign shows that make-up can be just as deadly as any other male product.

5. Is the representation of women by the media accountable for the results of a survey in which ‘women were up to ten times more likely than men to be unhappy with their body image’?

The representation of females in today
's media displays a "perfect women" with a near to perfect physique and being shown as the object of everyones affection. This would undoubtedly create insecurities for everyday women as they feel they are not "ideal" enough for men.

6. Is the contemporary representation of men in advertising perhaps also a negative one where they too are treated as sex objects?

The representation of men in today's media is equal to that of women as they also feel that they do not have the "perfect physique". Over the years men have become more subjected to being domminated by women in advertising through sexually connotated adverts.



Wednesday, 13 October 2010

TV ad analysis: Gender (Continued):

Positive Respresentation:
The narrative in this advertisement focuses around a women who has just woken up with a man in her bed (most likely a result of a drunken night.) Usually in a senario such as this, the women is usually branded as a sex object in a one night stand but in this advert it is the man who is sexually objectified as the women uses her cunning to rid the man from her room. Already the women is seen as more dominant as she controls the situation. Her actions also hint at a more post-feminist world where men are more subordinate and women take on a more manly role and this seems more anchored by the product advertised (Whiz Biz.)
The Whiz Biz can also be seen as a phallic symbol as it is advertised as a "substitute penis", causing a rift in the status quo. This represents women and empowered and not subjected to being stereotyped as a sex object.



Sunday, 10 October 2010

Tv Ad Analysis:(Gender):

Negative Representation
This Lynx Effect advert heavily relies on its representation of women in order to get its message across; all men crave the women in this advert becuase they are "ideal", immediatly putting women in a more subordinated position with the men more dominant.
The narrative follows a man and his day-to-day activities (male gaze) as he is talked to by many women. Many phrases are said by the women including, "Oh nice, you noticed my breasts" and "Of course you can have some money for a lap dance". Already the women in this advert are represented at stupid or "blonde" as they are offering themselves just to please this man. An alternative representation of females in this advert could be that they are being self objctive, empowering themeselves so that the male is being used and removing tthe view that the females in this advert are victims of male desire.
The diegetic sound within the advert is mainly the women speaking connoting that women bend to this man's whim just by looking at him, tapping into more sterotypical gender roles of the stone-cold, silent male. The non-diegetic sound is reminicient of a "ladiesman" soundtrack, further connoting the type of person this man is.
Opening and closing with a POV shot, the audience is immediatly forced to identify with the male character and the situations he is in i.e. seeing both women and surroundings from his perspective. This POV shot also gives the audience a chance to view the women's "essentials" and seeing as this advert mainly appeals to a male demographic, this shot is very effective, adding a sense of voyerism.
This advert could have both a negotiated and oppositional reading as the women portrayed could be seen as either sex objects or self-empowering females. These readings hint at the ideologies the insitution holds as they could be promoting post feminism or just displaying a patriarcle society.
In terms of the mise-en-scene, facial expressions of the women in the ad are mainly overly-cheery while willfully offering themeselves to this man, again touching upon the sterotype of the "blonde bimbo". The position of all the women in the POV are all in the middle of the frame connoting that women are the only thing this man is after which in turn also gives females more power.