Important points and Quotes
In essay
must cover three elements:
1. Historical
2. Contemporary
3. Future
Media
representation of gender
·
Almy et al 1984- argue
media representations of gender are important because they enter the collective
social conscience and reinforce culturally dominant ideas about gender which
represent males as dominant and females as subordinate. Sociologists argue
media representations not only stereotype masculinity and femininity into
fairly limited forms of behaviour, but also provide gender role models that
males and females are encouraged to spire to.
Traditional media representations
·
Tunstall (2000)
argues media representations emphasise women’s domestic, sexual, consumer and
marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media ignore the fact that
the majority of British women goo out to work.
·
Working women- unfulfilled, unattractive and unable to sustain
relationships.
·
Tushman- used term
symbolic annihilation to describe way women’s achievements not reported or even
condemned by mass media- achievements presented less important than looks and
sex appeal.
·
Women’s magazines- women strongly conform to ideological
patriarchal ideals that conform to their subordinate position in comparison to
men.
·
Wolf- media presents women as ‘sex objects’ to be consumed by what
Mulvey calls the male gaze.
·
Analysis on British teenagers indicates 70% of the content in
magazines focus on beauty and fashion.
Media
empowering women
·
Sociologists noted the increasing number of positive female roles
emerging. Argued these reflect the social and cultural changes that females
have experienced.
·
Gill (2008)- argues the
depiction of women in advertising has changed from women as passive objects of
the male gaze to active, independent and sexually powerful agents.
Key
theorists
1. David Gauntlett- “Identity is complicated- everybody thinks they’ve
got one”
2. David Gauntlett- “Femininity is not typically a core value
for women today. Instead being ‘feminine’ is just one of the performances that
women choose to employ in everyday life”
3. David Buckingham- “Identity is an ambiguous and slippery
term”
Representation
Theory
·
This theory challenged the authenticity of images we receive
through the media. It particularly focuses on presentations of individuals and
social groups.
·
The ways the media represents nationality can be indicative of the
way we see ourselves, as well as others.
·
A dominant culture sees people who are different as the idea of
the ‘other’.
·
The ways women are represented in films have changed. Although
they may not be regarded as accurate representations, they exist as a product
of there time.
·
The male
gaze-
this concept stems from 1970s when Laura Mulvey concluded that the camera
focuses on women voyeuristically, in order to please the male audience. Alfred
Hitchock in particular has been criticised for objectifying women in his films.
·
Barthes-
semiotics-
A French theorist 1950s to 10970s developed the theory of semiotics. He stated
any text has a complex meaning that can be unravelled to create a whole range
of different meaning. He even suggest ‘steak and chips’ show the national
identity of the French.
Audience
theory
·
Blumer and
Katz uses and gratifications theory- put forward the idea that audiences put
media texts to their own use:
1. Reinforce
personal identity
2. Finding companionship
and meaning by being part of a group
3. Current
affairs
4. Communicate
with others
Narrative
theory
·
This is the main way in which characters and their characteristics
are relayed to the viewer.
·
Levi-Strauss
and Binary opposition- he identified a narrative system of ‘binary opposites’ where
symbols and ideas exists in relation to their opposite- conflict. Examples:
good & evil, men & women.
Genre
theory
·
Genre focuses on where certain codes and conventions have been
identified
·
Ideology- this is
the basis behind a media text. In sociological terms, ideology is a set of
beliefs that underpins a process and leads to social relations. These beliefs
are held by groups in society and the prevalent ones are held by the dominant
groups
·
Hegemony
(leadership/dominion)- in any society the accepted and agreed beliefs are those of the
ruling class.
