Media texts
What your main focus will be,
E.g.:
Fast and furious 7
Other media texts
The Avengers
Comic book characters
TV documentaries
Miss Representation (2011)
Academic texts/books
- Gunter Barrie: Television and Gender
Representation (1995)
- Tonn y Krijnen, Sofie Van Bauwel: Gender and
Media (2014)
- Abolaji S. Mustapha, Sara Mills: Gender
Representation in learning Materials (2015)
- Frances Bonner: Imaginig women: Cultural:
Cultural Representations and Gender
- Mary Talbot: Language and Gender (2010)
Internet Links
- 'Female leaders gather to underline importance
of educating girls'
- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/fashion/rose-mcgowan-pushes-own-agenda-at-bipartisan-conference.html?ref=topics&_r=0
- http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/dec/06/women-representation-media
- http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/oct/23/women-media-representation-online-news
- http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/sep/07/gender-media-best-data-available
- http://gas.sagepub.com/site/misc/Index/Classroom/Media_Representations.xhtml
- http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/06/why-it-is-a-bad-thing-that-orange-is-the-new-black-leaves-men-out/373682/
Media texts
Fast and the furious 7
The movie is about where Dominic and
his crew had thought they'd left the criminal mercenary’s life behind. They'd
defeated the international terrorist Owen Shaw and went their separate ways.
However, Shaw's brother, Deckard Shaw, is out killing the crew one by one for
revenge on his brother. Worse, a Somalian terrorist called Jakarde and a shady
government official called "Mr. Nobody" both competed to steal a
computer terrorism program called "God's Eye," that turns any
technological device into a weapon. Torretto had to reconvene with his team to
stop Shaw and retrieve the God's Eye program while caught in a power struggle
between the terrorist and the United States government.
Catwomen representation
The movie is the story of a shy, sensitive artist
Patience Phillips, a women who can’t seem to stop appolgising for her own
existence. She works as a graphic designer for Hedare beauty, a mammoth
cosmetics company on the verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product.
When Patience inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer Is hiding,
she finds herself in the middle of corporate conspiracy. What happens next
changes Patience forever. She is transformed into a woman with strength, speed,
agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat. With her newfound prowess and
feline intuition, Patience becomes Catwoman, a sleek and stealthy creature
balancing on the thin line between good and bad. Like any wildcat, she’s
dangerous, exclusive and untamed. Her adventures are complicated by a
burgeoning relationship with Tom Lone, a cop who has fallen for Patience but
cannot shake his fascination with the mysterious Catwoman, who appear to be
responsible for a string of crime sprees plaguing the city.
Taken
A divorced man gives up his career as a
"preventor of problems" and lifestyle to attempt to be close to his
16 year old daughter since in the past his career cost his marriage etc.
His daughter decides to go to Paris and since she is underage she needs written
consent from him. The father feels uneasy with the situation and after having
her agree to call each night etc he lets her go with her
friend. Shortly after arriving the father calls his daughter, during
the phone call she and her friend are abducted by sex trade trafficers (who
harbour women, get them addicted to drugs, then sell them as
prostitutes). He eventually tracks down an illegal brothel and finds her
friend dead, then tortures and kills the man who abducted her to begin with. He
gives him the info to where she is being held and sold as she is a virgin and
worth more...eventually after destroying some buildings, killing atleast 100
people and revealing the French police's corruption he finds his daughter and
brings her back safely to America.
Transporter
Ex-Special Forces operator Frank Martin
lives in a quiet life along the French Mediterranean, hiring
himself out as a mercenary transporter who moves goods--human or
otherwise--from one place to another. No questions asked. Carrying out
mysterious and sometimes dangerous tasks in his tricked-out BMW, Frank adheres
to a strict set of rules, which he never breaks. Rule One: Never change the
deal. Rule Two: No names--Frank doesn't want to know whom he's working for, or
what he's transporting. Rule Three: never look in the package. Frank's newest
transport seems no different from the countless ones he's done in the past.
He's been hired by an American known only as "Wall Street" to make a
delivery; but when Frank stops along the route, he notices his package is
moving. Violating Rule Three, Frank looks inside the bag, finding its contents
to be a beautiful, gagged woman. Frank's steadfast adherence to his other two
rules--which make up his basic code of survival.7
The Avengers
The Avengers is about a man names Nick
Fury who is director of S.H.I.E.L.D, an international peace keeping agency. The
agency is a who's who of Marvel Super Heroes, with Iron Man, The Incredible
Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Global security had been
threatened by Loki and his cohorts, Nick Fury and his team has needed all their
powers to save the world from disaster. A huge war occurred between the
Avengers and Thor’s army which lead to destruction and chaos and many citizens
and heroes had died. However, in the end they managed to save the world and
keep peace.
Internet links
Rose McGowan pushes own agenda at Bipartism
conference
·
‘Ms. McGowan stirred a
minor tempest when she called out Hollywood for its sexism, posting on Twitter
casting notes she had been sent for an audition, which called for her character
to wear a form-fitting, cleavage-baring tank top’ – women are apparently supposed
to being wearing clothing that will catch the publics, mainly males, attention
seen as weak.
·
‘Ms. McGowan, who has
raised her visibility by rallying support for women’s rights’ – she is against
the fact that women should be portrayed negatively in the media and argues
women should be equal to men – there is hope for women.
Women’s representation in the media: Who’s running
the show?
·
‘Guardian research shows that many are
over-whelming male dominated
·
‘The average
percentage of female reporters was 22.6% - compared to 77.4% of males’
·
‘average of 92% male dominance’
Women's representation in media: Reader’s
preferences for online news revealed
·
‘UK online news we
showed clearly that women play
a small role in speaking to
the nation’ – This suggests that women have less power and control over things.
Women’s representation in the media: the best data
on the subject to date
Female leaders gather to underline importance of
educating girls
·
I am worthy, and if
I’m worthy, so are you – Obama’s wife
·
Educating girls is the
key to ending world problems, including poverty
·
“The empowerment of
women is so important. World poverty, world hunger, health issues – all of this
stuff lies within the empowerment of young girls and women.”
·
What she said is a
common line of thought among schoolgirls – that doing well in school will make a
girl less attractive to boys
·
“I want you to grow up and live in a peaceful and prosperous world and
the evidence is incredibly clear that the more time people spend in school the
more likely they are to support peaceful ways of resolving conflict, the more
likely they are to support democracy, the more likely they are to show
tolerance of other religions,” Gillard said
Gender
& Society in the Classroom: Media Representations
·
Women are expected to
look and act a certain way in order to uphold a feminine beauty ideal.
·
Women face a great
deal of societal pressure to look a certain way. Societal expectations
for females include adhering to a thin body ideal
·
The action genre of
films is predominately male-centric
·
Male and female bodies
are portrayed differently, with women’s body’s often commented on and male
bodies, when commented on at all. Female characters also engage in
showcasing their sexiness and men are seen gazing at these women, two
stereotypical behaviours of femininity and masculinity.
YouTube videos/Documentaries
Miss representation – documentary clip
·
Women own 5.8% of all television
stations and 6% of radio stations
·
Women hold 3% of clout positions in
telecommunications, entertainment, publishing and advertising
·
The glass ceiling preventing women from
obtaining top job
·
Women only comprise 16% of all
directors, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors and only 7% of
directors and 10% of writers are in film
·
The average number of news stories
targeted at women and girls is less that 20%
·
Women directors can’t sometimes direct
movies than a man can direct – according to others
·
List of 25 male directors name and not
was a women
Cameron Russel: looks aren’t everything believe me
I’m a model
·
Image is power, image is superefficient
·
Being fearless means being honest
·
We have defined beauty not just as
health and youth and symmetry that we are biologically programmed to admire,
but also as tall, slender figures and feminity and white skin
·
Pictures are constructions (not the
real you (model))
·
53 % of 13 year old, don’t like their
body and increases to 78% when they’re 17
·
“I am insecure because of what I have
to look like everyday
·
“We all feel more comfortable
acknowledging the power of image in our perceived successes and perceived
failures
Women portrayed in mass media/gender stereotypes of
women
·
TV commercials, ads and billboards
stereotype women as sexual objects
·
69% of women have said that magazine
models influence their idea of the perfect body shape
·
‘She’ll tell you size doesn’t matter,
she’s lying’
·
Ideal model is skinny and beautiful,
causing girls to feel insecure and look just like them
·
Girls who were already dissatisfied
with their bodies showed more dieting, anxiety, and bulimic symptoms after
prolonged to fashion and advertising images in a teen girl magazine
Gender
stereotypes for women
·
Women being a caregiver, staying at
home cooking and cleaning, whilst the husband – a breadwinner go to work and
earns
·
Males are more reckless drivers than
women
·
Pink is for girls, blue is for boys
·
Women are considered as dumb – when
there is no proof of who is more intelligent
·
68% of women spend the income on
make-up to look beautiful
How are men portrayed in the media
·
Rich
·
Masculine
·
Sexy
·
Hot
·
Mac Mach
·
Perfect
·
In the media, they have become
increasingly lean and muscular
Gender representation in fast and the furious 7
·
Males are seen as dominant and superior
compared to females
·
Males muscles have been emphasised to
highlight their strength and power
·
Females are seen a sexual objects,
although there is a contradiction where 2 females are fighting each other
·
Females are seen half dressed to
show their weakness and vulnerability
Everything
that’s wrong with women in the media | Holly Baxter | TEDxYouth
·
“You need to change your looks to get
that confidence”
·
“Advertisers think of women being
really insecure, then you can go for it and shove your products down your
throat”
·
“Distress in a dress – constantly
portraying women in emotional distress”
·
“Women do not have control”
·
“Act like a stripper to your boyfriend”
·
Women’s faces and bodies have been
advertised all over the media and is portrayed in a dirty way. For example, a
woman is seen on the front page of a burger advertisement, her mouth is wide
open and the long burger is opposite to her mouth, symbolising a male’s private
part.
Books
Framed by gender: How gender inequality exits in
the modern world – Ceicilla L. Ridgeway
·
More recently, women have moved not simply into the labor market, butinto formerly male jobs and professions, like physician, manager, or lawyer, but again, a patternof gender hierarchy has remained in which men continue to be advantaged not only inemployment but also throughout much of society. Page
3
·
A gender hierarchy that advantages men over women survived the profoundsocial and economic reorganization that accompanied the transition of the United States from anagrarian to an industrialized society. Page
3
·
Gender inequality persists as well in who does the work at home. Whether or not women work inthe paid labor force, they continue to do more work in the household than men (Bianchi et al.2006). Furthermore, women’s share of the housework compared with men’s is not dramaticallychanged by increases in the hours they put in on the job page
8
Representation of masculinities and men’s body in
the popular media – student resorces
·
Sociologists
have constructed men as inherently social and women as essentially
corporeal/natural, thus granting the men the status of what Shilling (1993) terms
the “absent-presence”
·
Being
marginalized by academics, hegemonic men’s bodies have been positioned by the
discourse of “compulsory heterosexuality” that governs the media. Whereas the
passive, semi-nude and naked bodies of heterosexual; women have been
constructed as objects for the pleasurable gaze of heterosexual; male viewers.
Portrayal of age and gender in films – student
resources
·
“Being physically attractive counts
much more in a woman’s life than in a man’s, but beauty, identified, as it is for
women” with
youthfulness, does not stand up well to age”
·
59% of male characters, but only 24%
of female characters, were portrayed as working.
·
In addition, male characters are more
likely than female characters to be employed and hold high-status positions
·
In
addition, female characters were more likely to be found in relatively
powerless household occupations and as students
·
44% of
male characters and 43% of female characters were successful.
Media
magazine notes
Bill Thompson: What does the internet do for me?
- Open to innovation
- Network is becoming seemless and very fast - accessible
Internet is valuable for free speech but is not yet
safe
The internet is replacing many things such as
newspapers
Ways to use the internet:
- Connection
- Information
- Voices in your head
- Political action
- Cartias and campaighning
- Financial reward
- Games
- Learning
- friendship
Downsides:
- Bullying
- Unwanted porn
- Images of child sexual abuse
- Abuse
- Scams and rip offs
- Fraud
- conspiracy theories
- The dark web
Over 50% of newspapers are controlled by
billionaires e.g. Rupert Murdoch
Media representations:
Stuart Hall - role of society - 'common-sense’
Rob Watson and Pete Fraser - film production
"Never simply about journalists behaving badly
- it is about power
Media power:
Power over:
- Media content
- journalists
- audiences
- government
Power to:
- censor
- mislead
- set the agenda
Media and democracy?
Diversity and plurality
Last few decades -
- Rolling news
- Free newspapers
- mobile apps
- online news
Cut and paste journalists - 'cut and paste from the
daily mail'
Hackgate -
corruption of power
Chris Jeffres – documentary
Media
magazine articles
MM34
– page 36
·
Berger summarised the way in which
gender was represented in the media through visual images: Men act and women
appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.
·
Occasionally, the media does represent
women as powerful and independent characters, and yet they still almost
invariably require a man to tell them what to do.
·
We, both female and male, are socialised
into a world where the relationships of power between the sexes appear
‘natural’
MM51
– page 43
·
In Saudi Arabia, women cannot ride
bikes; nor, for that matter, can they drive cars. Strict social and religious
rules do not allow women such freedom of movement.
·
women are often segregated in public,
and sometimes at home, fuelling accusations of a gender-apartheid. Women cannot
divorce without legal representation from a male guardian, and polygamy
·
The full-length, black robe (abaya),
head covering (hijab) and face veil (niqab) are relatively standard issue for
the majority of Saudi women
MM50
– page 56
·
Women in advertising are too white and
nearly exclusively under size 6.
·
The film accuses the ‘media machine’ of
creating destructive illusions and impossible body images that have massive
negative impact on the self-confidence of women.
·
Theorist Laura Mulvey and her
pioneering 1970s work on ‘The Male Gaze’.
·
‘Perfect’, creates an attack on
dominant ideology, where size 14 is unseen.
MM44 – page 60
‘What’s the difference between men and women?’ and
goes on to rant about women’s carelessness.
Gender roles are constructs rather than essential
truths
MM51
– PAGE 36
Her mass appear means she has the power
to reach out to massive audiences regardless of race, age, gender or class.
