Lip Service is groundbreaking – whatever its star saysBBC3's new drama, Lip Service, at last shows that lesbians can be just as cool, sexy, funny – and normal – as straight women
After watching the first episode of the hot new lesbian drama Lip Service last night, I think the star of the show, Ruta Gedmintas, has underestimated what a programme like this means for gay and bisexual women.
The actor, who plays bad girl Frankie, said in Saturday's Guardian that the programme is not groundbreaking.
Queer As Folk had a groundbreaking status because there hadn't been a show like that before. But we're not trying to do anything that hasn't been done before. We're just making a relationship drama," said Gedmintas.
But the fact that it's "just a relationship drama" is exactly the point – our lives being normalised and turned into one of these twenty/thirtysomething dramas is hugely significant.
Lesbians make up a significant proportion of the female population but it is still pretty rare to see ourselves as regular characters onscreen.
Tipping the Velvet was lovely as a historical fantasy, and the wonderful Sugar Rush or Corrie's coming-out storyline are important, too, but this is a whole series dedicated to the day-to-day lives of grownup lesbians in the UK. And, judging by the first episode, it's as good as the straight versions of itself, such as This Life, which is the series it's drawing comparisons with.
I know that a lot of gay women will say this is gay life with a gloss on it, that the women are too glam. But that's TV and you probably wouldn't see many Mileses or Annas down your local Wetherspoon either.
In truth, there are plenty of Lip Service-esque girls on the gay scene if you hang out in the right places. And I, for one, am pleased that this is the side of our scene that the British viewing public is now seeing.
For too long, lesbians have been perceived as unfashionable, miserable and ugly. Those types do exist, of course, just as they do in the straight world, but they should no more define us than they do straight girls.
If I were to make one criticism based on the first episode, it's that perhaps the most frequently seen type of woman on the gay scene, the sexy butch – think Rhona Cameron – is not represented at all. I know Lip Service's lady-loving writer Harriet Braun has said she wasn't trying to represent all lesbians, but modern butches like this are very popular in the lesbian world and if we don't see any in the first series it will show a lack of guts. It will also annoy lots of gay girls.
In the meantime, it's important to recognise Lip Service for the great service it's doing to British lesbians. As brilliant as Queer As Folk was, it was about gay men, who in recent history have had more representation in the media. The latest study of BBC programming showed that lesbians were given only two minutes of airtime in a random selection of 39 hours of programming.
So, well done to the BBC for giving us Lip Service, we've waited long enough. And here's to a new era of appreciating that lesbians are normal and, yes, can be very cool, sexy and funny, too.
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
BBC's Panorama claims Islamic schools teach antisemitism and homophobiaThousands of British schoolchildren are being taught Saudi national curriculum, according to programme
A textbook used in some weekend schools reportedly asks children to list the "reprehensible" qualities of Jews, according to the programme.
It claims to have found 5,000 Muslim schoolchildren being taught that some Jews are transformed into pigs and apes and that the penalty for gay sex is execution. Some textbooks are said to teach the correct way to chop off the hands and feet of thieves. A spokesman for the programme said the pupils, aged six to 18, attend a network of more than 40 weekend schools across the country which teach the Saudi national curriculum to Muslim children.
One book for children as young as six is said to ask them what happens to someone who dies who is not a believer in Islam – the correct answer is "hellfire".
Investigators claim to have also found a text for pupils aged 15 which reads: "For thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence, and their foot for a subsequent offence."
British Schools Muslim Rules, which will be aired tonight on BBC One at 8.30pm, says other texts for the pupils are said to claim that Zionists want to establish world domination for Jews, a spokesman said.
Michael Gove, the education secretary, told Panorama: "Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country. I have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But I'm clear that we cannot have antisemitic material of any kind being used in English schools."
At present, part-time weekend schools are not inspected by Ofsted but Gove said the educations standards watchdog would be reporting shortly on how to ensure part-time provision is better registered and inspected in the future.
In a written response to the findings, the Saudi ambassador to the UK said the teachings were not endorsed by the Saudi embassy.
A textbook used in some weekend schools reportedly asks children to list the "reprehensible" qualities of Jews, according to the programme.
It claims to have found 5,000 Muslim schoolchildren being taught that some Jews are transformed into pigs and apes and that the penalty for gay sex is execution. Some textbooks are said to teach the correct way to chop off the hands and feet of thieves. A spokesman for the programme said the pupils, aged six to 18, attend a network of more than 40 weekend schools across the country which teach the Saudi national curriculum to Muslim children.
One book for children as young as six is said to ask them what happens to someone who dies who is not a believer in Islam – the correct answer is "hellfire".
Investigators claim to have also found a text for pupils aged 15 which reads: "For thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence, and their foot for a subsequent offence."
British Schools Muslim Rules, which will be aired tonight on BBC One at 8.30pm, says other texts for the pupils are said to claim that Zionists want to establish world domination for Jews, a spokesman said.
Michael Gove, the education secretary, told Panorama: "Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country. I have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But I'm clear that we cannot have antisemitic material of any kind being used in English schools."
At present, part-time weekend schools are not inspected by Ofsted but Gove said the educations standards watchdog would be reporting shortly on how to ensure part-time provision is better registered and inspected in the future.
In a written response to the findings, the Saudi ambassador to the UK said the teachings were not endorsed by the Saudi embassy.
Guardian Article
BBC research into lesbian, gay and bisexual portrayal offers hopePeter Tatchell welcomes the BBC's belated initiative to examine coverage on TV radio and websites
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Comments (27) The BBC decision to commission research into its portrayal of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people is a welcome, if somewhat belated, initiative. It comes in response to two decades of sustained – and often ignored – criticism of the BBC by LGB licence payers, journalists, campaigners and media analysts.
The research will examine both the quantity and quality of LGB coverage in comedy, news, documentaries, entertainment and dramas on BBC TV, radio and websites. The decision that the study will cover 28 different audience sectors, including ethnic and religious groups, with some respondents expected to express homophobic views, has, however, raised a few eyebrows. If this research was looking at depictions of the Jewish community, I wonder whether the BBC would feel obliged to take into account the opinions of anti-semites and neo-Nazis?
Never mind. Hats off to the BBC for agreeing this research and indeed for its ground-breaking gay Muslim storyline in EastEnders, which has helped highlight some of the dilemmas faced by an often hidden section of the gay and Muslim communities.
Despite these positive moves, many LGB people still feel the BBC is guilty of an alarming degree of low-level homophobia and an often perplexing unwillingness to remedy it. In the 1990s, Radio 1 was allowed to broadcast music advocating the murder of gay people, which prompted the queer human rights group OutRage! to rename the Beeb as the "British Bigotry Corporation". Even now, although the BBC won't give air-time to "kill gays" hit tunes, it still occasionally interviews and promotes "murder music" singers like Buju Banton.
In 2006, the BBC was stung when the gay lobby group Stonewall published a damning report, Tuned Out, by Leeds University researchers. They examined 168 hours of prime-time BBC1 and BBC2 television programmes; finding that positive gay references totalled a mere six minutes, compared to 32 minutes of negative, disparaging coverage. In other words, gay people were five times more likely to be portrayed in negative terms than in positive ones. Over half of all gay references were jokes, which mostly played on stereotypes of sexually predatory or effeminate gay men. Lesbian and gay issues were rarely mentioned in BBC factual output.
At the time, Stonewall's chief executive, Ben Summerskill, noted that gay people contribute an estimated £190m a year to the BBC in TV licence fees. "Gay licence-payers receive astonishingly poor value from the BBC," he said. "It's difficult to argue that 1.5 million gay households should be expected to continue making such a substantial contribution to channels on which their real lives are hardly reflected, and which are often punctuated with derisive and demeaning depictions of them."
Sadly, there is little evidence that BBC coverage has improved since then. Last December, it reported on legislation before the Ugandan parliament that seeks to impose the death penalty for repeated same-sex acts. In response, the corporation's Have Your Say Africa site hosted an online debate: "Should homosexuals face execution?" The BBC later apologised for the headline. It would not, I suspect, hold online debates such as: Should black people be lynched? Moreover, the BBC's commentary announcing the debate put a very weak case against the execution of LGB Ugandans. It read like an open invitation for respondents to endorse the state-sponsored killing of LGBs.
This faux pas followed the furore over the Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles using the word "gay" as an insult and getting away with it. Indeed, the BBC governors ruled that the word "gay" was an acceptable on-air synonym for "rubbish".
At a time when the BBC national news was almost daily reporting murders of young men and racist attacks, in 2008 it failed to report the homophobic murder of 18-year-old Michael Causer in Liverpool, other than on the Merseyside section of the BBC website. In contrast, the racist murder of a black Liverpudlian, Anthony Walker, received national BBC news coverage for weeks. Why the double standards? Perhaps the BBC's LGB research project will shed some light and offer solutions.
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Comments (27) The BBC decision to commission research into its portrayal of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people is a welcome, if somewhat belated, initiative. It comes in response to two decades of sustained – and often ignored – criticism of the BBC by LGB licence payers, journalists, campaigners and media analysts.
The research will examine both the quantity and quality of LGB coverage in comedy, news, documentaries, entertainment and dramas on BBC TV, radio and websites. The decision that the study will cover 28 different audience sectors, including ethnic and religious groups, with some respondents expected to express homophobic views, has, however, raised a few eyebrows. If this research was looking at depictions of the Jewish community, I wonder whether the BBC would feel obliged to take into account the opinions of anti-semites and neo-Nazis?
Never mind. Hats off to the BBC for agreeing this research and indeed for its ground-breaking gay Muslim storyline in EastEnders, which has helped highlight some of the dilemmas faced by an often hidden section of the gay and Muslim communities.
Despite these positive moves, many LGB people still feel the BBC is guilty of an alarming degree of low-level homophobia and an often perplexing unwillingness to remedy it. In the 1990s, Radio 1 was allowed to broadcast music advocating the murder of gay people, which prompted the queer human rights group OutRage! to rename the Beeb as the "British Bigotry Corporation". Even now, although the BBC won't give air-time to "kill gays" hit tunes, it still occasionally interviews and promotes "murder music" singers like Buju Banton.
In 2006, the BBC was stung when the gay lobby group Stonewall published a damning report, Tuned Out, by Leeds University researchers. They examined 168 hours of prime-time BBC1 and BBC2 television programmes; finding that positive gay references totalled a mere six minutes, compared to 32 minutes of negative, disparaging coverage. In other words, gay people were five times more likely to be portrayed in negative terms than in positive ones. Over half of all gay references were jokes, which mostly played on stereotypes of sexually predatory or effeminate gay men. Lesbian and gay issues were rarely mentioned in BBC factual output.
At the time, Stonewall's chief executive, Ben Summerskill, noted that gay people contribute an estimated £190m a year to the BBC in TV licence fees. "Gay licence-payers receive astonishingly poor value from the BBC," he said. "It's difficult to argue that 1.5 million gay households should be expected to continue making such a substantial contribution to channels on which their real lives are hardly reflected, and which are often punctuated with derisive and demeaning depictions of them."
Sadly, there is little evidence that BBC coverage has improved since then. Last December, it reported on legislation before the Ugandan parliament that seeks to impose the death penalty for repeated same-sex acts. In response, the corporation's Have Your Say Africa site hosted an online debate: "Should homosexuals face execution?" The BBC later apologised for the headline. It would not, I suspect, hold online debates such as: Should black people be lynched? Moreover, the BBC's commentary announcing the debate put a very weak case against the execution of LGB Ugandans. It read like an open invitation for respondents to endorse the state-sponsored killing of LGBs.
This faux pas followed the furore over the Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles using the word "gay" as an insult and getting away with it. Indeed, the BBC governors ruled that the word "gay" was an acceptable on-air synonym for "rubbish".
At a time when the BBC national news was almost daily reporting murders of young men and racist attacks, in 2008 it failed to report the homophobic murder of 18-year-old Michael Causer in Liverpool, other than on the Merseyside section of the BBC website. In contrast, the racist murder of a black Liverpudlian, Anthony Walker, received national BBC news coverage for weeks. Why the double standards? Perhaps the BBC's LGB research project will shed some light and offer solutions.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Ugly Betty
One of the most liberating aspects of Media Studies, particularly at A Level, is the freedom it can afford you to study a whole range of texts – including those of your choosing that may strike a particular chord, whether positive or negative.
If you are following any A Level course, you certainly need to be able to demonstrate an ability to refer to your own viewings and interpretations of a range of broadcast media – as well as those you may have studied in the classroom. AQA’s MED 1: Reading the Media, for example, demands an ability to provide a textual analysis of an unseen media text – so using clips from TV programmes, as well as other moving image/print texts, is always sound exam practice. MED 2: Textual Topics in Contemporary Media, has the option of responding to questions specifically on Film and Broadcast Fiction and it is here that you can bring your own examples to the exam table – allowing you to stand out from the crowd and provide a response that differs from the others in your centre (don’t forget that your examiners mark your work in centre batches, so it can become very tedious if students are evidently relying solely on taught texts).
At A2, the need to be working towards a position of ‘critical autonomy’ becomes even more crucial if you are to be able to hit the higher grade boundaries. MED 4: Texts and Contexts in the Media, with its focus on a more in-depth study of the Key Concepts, provides further opportunities to ‘colour’ your exam responses with current, relevant texts of your choice. At MED 5, the Independent Study is the ideal platform for you to explore and develop further your own personal interest, whether it be in print, moving image or new media technologies. So, the ethos of this Awarding Body is clear – they want you to be able to translate and utilise your existing engagement with the media, in all its guises, in order to become an independent, dynamic and informed ‘reader’ of media texts. And this is, of course, equally true of the OCR and WJEC specifications.
The AQA specification is, as you aware, founded on the Key Media Concepts of Audience, Genre, Institutions, Language, Representations and Values and Ideology – and your understanding of these concepts will become more sophisticated throughout the duration of the course. In this piece I attempt to suggest just some of the ways in which the TV text, Ugly Betty, can be a useful example of contemporary moving-image media for your examination purposes.
Institutional issues
A significant hit for ABC in the States (and the recipient, at the time of writing, of several awards, including Best Comedy Series Award at the Golden Globes, Best Actress prize for its star, America Ferrera and a Directors Guild of America Award for Richard Shepard who directed the pilot), Ugly Betty first launched on C4 in the UK in January 2007, with 4.5 million viewers. The show was immediately acknowledged as a prime-time Friday night slot saviour for the channel which was still struggling to regain the halcyon audience shares provided by Friends. A year on and a second series later, the viewing figures are averaging around the 2 million mark, still good going for C4’s overall share of the market, particularly in the current climate of audience fragmentation and alternative modes of viewing instigated by advances in technology. (See viewing figures on www.barb.co.uk in order to analyse how the show’s ratings compare to other offerings on C4, as well as their terrestrial competitors.)
Ideological debates
The show’s initial broadcast received a mixed reception from the critics and continues to do so – always a good sign of a potentially useful text for your academic purposes! On the one hand, disappointed feminist interpreters, bemoaning the fact that the media (and American television, in particular?) continue to support the allegedly conservative, and perhaps sexist, values of the fashion industry which represent stereotypical ideas about female ‘beauty’ and ‘behaviour’. On the other hand, more positive critical responses to the series have applauded the inclusion of specific storylines as a refreshingly subversive attack (using humour as the seemingly innocuous vehicle) on right-wing American policies on, for example, immigration or gay rights.
Language and contrasts
The text offers rich opportunities for analysis in terms of mise-en-scène and uses of contrasting settings to highlight the thematic content. The scenes at Betty’s home in Queens evoke and sustain the established and recognisable values of a traditional Hispanic family unit – complete with warm oranges, browns and greens, we are immersed in an atmosphere of cosy, ambient lighting, comfortable clutter and a focus on the kitchen as the heart of the home, with the crucial representation of Betty’s father adorning an apron, cooking fajitas for his daughters and grandson, providing perhaps a more ‘feminised’ version of patriarchal dominance. The contrast to the Mode office setting is striking and, of course, intentional – here the furniture and décor is as starkly clinical as any minimalist showcase interior, with trendy (read – uncomfortable) ‘soft’ furnishings and mirrored surfaces reflecting the ‘beautiful’ chosen ones of the fashion industry. Any food that is eaten is usually a lettuce leaf or two, a timely re-presentation of current debates around size zero and the (usually) female recourse to dieting and/or bingeing (note Amanda, the bitchy receptionist, losing ‘control’ by stuffing sweets and gaining weight – horrors – when faced with a dilemma about the identity of her biological parents). Of course, the show is founded on contrast.
Betty, played by the not-at-all ‘ugly’ America Ferrera, is set up to provide comic ‘difference’ to those around her at Mode – including her clothing, make-up, body language and modes of speech. Her ethical behaviour, in contrast to, for example, the self-absorbed, power-seeking indulgences of Wilhemina, is a key component of the weekly narrative – and we are invited, naturally, to root for Betty every time.
All the exterior scenes are filmed in green screen, allowing the Production Design team to perfect the almost fairytale-like backdrops of New York and Queens – the CGI fakery lending a further layer of nuance to the overall theme of deceptive appearances. The camerawork and use of sound is also worthy of analysis and, again, it is in the symbolic contrast of the ‘sophisticated’ world of Mode versus the Ferrera homestead that the camera and soundtrack reiterates what we should know – that slick camera angles and stylish transitions cannot compete with the retro furnishings and reassuring Latino rhythms of ‘real’ people.
Genre
Although some critics have analysed Ugly Betty as a prime example of a new development within television genre – the ‘television novel’, 20+ part series that extend a single plot arc across half-a-year (think Lost, The Sopranos, 24, Desperate Housewives), the commonplace scheduling label is that of a mainstream workplace sitcom, inevitably relying on the specific generic conventions (sometimes constraints?) of this established format. The ‘situation’ itself acts as the conduit for the humour (i.e. Betty as the incongruous personal assistant of Daniel Meade); stock characters (and don’t we just love that ever so clear-cut depiction of heroes and villains?) and limited settings.
The economic context of the exportability of American and British sitcoms is crucial here – and worthy of your exploration. The idea for the series arose from a hugely successful 1999 Columbian ‘tele-novela’ (the television novel genre described above, popular with viewers in Latin and South America, versions of which are also viewed by Betty’s family in a neatly ‘postmodern’ nod to the original, with cameo appearances as a maid by the show’s creator, Salma Hayek) Yo Soy Betty, La Fea (‘I am Betty, the Ugly One’). Criticised by some as nowhere near as subversive as the original, which is said to be a much stronger parody of racial and social issues in Latin America, Ugly Betty has nevertheless managed to provoke critical debate in terms of some of contemporary America’s values and ideologies around ‘sensitive’ issues such as gay children (the depiction of Justin, as a younger and equally camp version of the character, Marc St James); the inept bureaucracy and perceived injustice of new immigration laws as represented by Ignacio and the farcical scenes in Series 1 with his ‘immigration officer’, who turns out to be an impersonator; not to mention transsexuality and attitudes towards ‘difference’ generally, as depicted in the storyline of Daniel’s brother/sister, Alex/Alexis (resulting in the show winning a real-life gong at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards!).
These political contexts firmly place the text within contemporary American culture – arguably, the generic formula of sitcom allowing a far more radical ‘take’ on these issues than drama or documentary, for example, would allow. Some may argue that a particularly regressive regime at any specific time (in this instance, the notably right-wing policies of Bush’s particular branch of Republicanism) leads to a more subversively creative climate within broadcast media (and the arts generally), as a means of representing disquiet and opposition amongst segments of the viewing population. The very ‘kitsch’ nature of the production of Ugly Betty affords, perhaps, ‘safe’ oppositional readings of the issues raised – it is surely no coincidence that the series has been so popular with marginalised groups, as well as the more ‘mainstream’ viewer (and has also been successfully exported to Mexico, Spain, Germany, Russia, India and Israel, which must say something about ‘universal’ themes of the underdog winning through). Whether or not we find the baseline of the narrative ultimately regressive (i.e. these are the kinds of issues in terms of objectification of women that feminists were arguing about back in the 1970s), the series has nevertheless allowed a space for debate and reflection about some of the key issues of our times.
As these prompts suggest Ugly Betty can provide you with savvy media know-how during the course of your study – the text is deserving of close textual analysis (MED 1); you could follow up any number of the suggested contextual issues (for example, casting, the inevitable merchandising industry created around the series, including faux-pearl necklaces and knitted ponchos) for a MED 5 research assignment or focus on developments around genre (MED 2 or MED 4), even studying some of the often-neglected theories on humour such as the ‘superiority theory’ or the ‘incongruity theory’. Look them up – and avoid the trap of dismissing texts that seem lightweight or just too corny to be worth analysis. They’re often the ones that speak the loudest about our zeitgeist, allowing us to laugh at the increasingly bizarre preoccupations of our time.
Sally Brady is Project Leader for Gifted and Talented at Villiers Park Educational Trust and an examiner for AQA Media Studies.
from MediaMagazine 22, December 2008.
One of the most liberating aspects of Media Studies, particularly at A Level, is the freedom it can afford you to study a whole range of texts – including those of your choosing that may strike a particular chord, whether positive or negative.
If you are following any A Level course, you certainly need to be able to demonstrate an ability to refer to your own viewings and interpretations of a range of broadcast media – as well as those you may have studied in the classroom. AQA’s MED 1: Reading the Media, for example, demands an ability to provide a textual analysis of an unseen media text – so using clips from TV programmes, as well as other moving image/print texts, is always sound exam practice. MED 2: Textual Topics in Contemporary Media, has the option of responding to questions specifically on Film and Broadcast Fiction and it is here that you can bring your own examples to the exam table – allowing you to stand out from the crowd and provide a response that differs from the others in your centre (don’t forget that your examiners mark your work in centre batches, so it can become very tedious if students are evidently relying solely on taught texts).
At A2, the need to be working towards a position of ‘critical autonomy’ becomes even more crucial if you are to be able to hit the higher grade boundaries. MED 4: Texts and Contexts in the Media, with its focus on a more in-depth study of the Key Concepts, provides further opportunities to ‘colour’ your exam responses with current, relevant texts of your choice. At MED 5, the Independent Study is the ideal platform for you to explore and develop further your own personal interest, whether it be in print, moving image or new media technologies. So, the ethos of this Awarding Body is clear – they want you to be able to translate and utilise your existing engagement with the media, in all its guises, in order to become an independent, dynamic and informed ‘reader’ of media texts. And this is, of course, equally true of the OCR and WJEC specifications.
The AQA specification is, as you aware, founded on the Key Media Concepts of Audience, Genre, Institutions, Language, Representations and Values and Ideology – and your understanding of these concepts will become more sophisticated throughout the duration of the course. In this piece I attempt to suggest just some of the ways in which the TV text, Ugly Betty, can be a useful example of contemporary moving-image media for your examination purposes.
Institutional issues
A significant hit for ABC in the States (and the recipient, at the time of writing, of several awards, including Best Comedy Series Award at the Golden Globes, Best Actress prize for its star, America Ferrera and a Directors Guild of America Award for Richard Shepard who directed the pilot), Ugly Betty first launched on C4 in the UK in January 2007, with 4.5 million viewers. The show was immediately acknowledged as a prime-time Friday night slot saviour for the channel which was still struggling to regain the halcyon audience shares provided by Friends. A year on and a second series later, the viewing figures are averaging around the 2 million mark, still good going for C4’s overall share of the market, particularly in the current climate of audience fragmentation and alternative modes of viewing instigated by advances in technology. (See viewing figures on www.barb.co.uk in order to analyse how the show’s ratings compare to other offerings on C4, as well as their terrestrial competitors.)
Ideological debates
The show’s initial broadcast received a mixed reception from the critics and continues to do so – always a good sign of a potentially useful text for your academic purposes! On the one hand, disappointed feminist interpreters, bemoaning the fact that the media (and American television, in particular?) continue to support the allegedly conservative, and perhaps sexist, values of the fashion industry which represent stereotypical ideas about female ‘beauty’ and ‘behaviour’. On the other hand, more positive critical responses to the series have applauded the inclusion of specific storylines as a refreshingly subversive attack (using humour as the seemingly innocuous vehicle) on right-wing American policies on, for example, immigration or gay rights.
Language and contrasts
The text offers rich opportunities for analysis in terms of mise-en-scène and uses of contrasting settings to highlight the thematic content. The scenes at Betty’s home in Queens evoke and sustain the established and recognisable values of a traditional Hispanic family unit – complete with warm oranges, browns and greens, we are immersed in an atmosphere of cosy, ambient lighting, comfortable clutter and a focus on the kitchen as the heart of the home, with the crucial representation of Betty’s father adorning an apron, cooking fajitas for his daughters and grandson, providing perhaps a more ‘feminised’ version of patriarchal dominance. The contrast to the Mode office setting is striking and, of course, intentional – here the furniture and décor is as starkly clinical as any minimalist showcase interior, with trendy (read – uncomfortable) ‘soft’ furnishings and mirrored surfaces reflecting the ‘beautiful’ chosen ones of the fashion industry. Any food that is eaten is usually a lettuce leaf or two, a timely re-presentation of current debates around size zero and the (usually) female recourse to dieting and/or bingeing (note Amanda, the bitchy receptionist, losing ‘control’ by stuffing sweets and gaining weight – horrors – when faced with a dilemma about the identity of her biological parents). Of course, the show is founded on contrast.
Betty, played by the not-at-all ‘ugly’ America Ferrera, is set up to provide comic ‘difference’ to those around her at Mode – including her clothing, make-up, body language and modes of speech. Her ethical behaviour, in contrast to, for example, the self-absorbed, power-seeking indulgences of Wilhemina, is a key component of the weekly narrative – and we are invited, naturally, to root for Betty every time.
All the exterior scenes are filmed in green screen, allowing the Production Design team to perfect the almost fairytale-like backdrops of New York and Queens – the CGI fakery lending a further layer of nuance to the overall theme of deceptive appearances. The camerawork and use of sound is also worthy of analysis and, again, it is in the symbolic contrast of the ‘sophisticated’ world of Mode versus the Ferrera homestead that the camera and soundtrack reiterates what we should know – that slick camera angles and stylish transitions cannot compete with the retro furnishings and reassuring Latino rhythms of ‘real’ people.
Genre
Although some critics have analysed Ugly Betty as a prime example of a new development within television genre – the ‘television novel’, 20+ part series that extend a single plot arc across half-a-year (think Lost, The Sopranos, 24, Desperate Housewives), the commonplace scheduling label is that of a mainstream workplace sitcom, inevitably relying on the specific generic conventions (sometimes constraints?) of this established format. The ‘situation’ itself acts as the conduit for the humour (i.e. Betty as the incongruous personal assistant of Daniel Meade); stock characters (and don’t we just love that ever so clear-cut depiction of heroes and villains?) and limited settings.
The economic context of the exportability of American and British sitcoms is crucial here – and worthy of your exploration. The idea for the series arose from a hugely successful 1999 Columbian ‘tele-novela’ (the television novel genre described above, popular with viewers in Latin and South America, versions of which are also viewed by Betty’s family in a neatly ‘postmodern’ nod to the original, with cameo appearances as a maid by the show’s creator, Salma Hayek) Yo Soy Betty, La Fea (‘I am Betty, the Ugly One’). Criticised by some as nowhere near as subversive as the original, which is said to be a much stronger parody of racial and social issues in Latin America, Ugly Betty has nevertheless managed to provoke critical debate in terms of some of contemporary America’s values and ideologies around ‘sensitive’ issues such as gay children (the depiction of Justin, as a younger and equally camp version of the character, Marc St James); the inept bureaucracy and perceived injustice of new immigration laws as represented by Ignacio and the farcical scenes in Series 1 with his ‘immigration officer’, who turns out to be an impersonator; not to mention transsexuality and attitudes towards ‘difference’ generally, as depicted in the storyline of Daniel’s brother/sister, Alex/Alexis (resulting in the show winning a real-life gong at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards!).
These political contexts firmly place the text within contemporary American culture – arguably, the generic formula of sitcom allowing a far more radical ‘take’ on these issues than drama or documentary, for example, would allow. Some may argue that a particularly regressive regime at any specific time (in this instance, the notably right-wing policies of Bush’s particular branch of Republicanism) leads to a more subversively creative climate within broadcast media (and the arts generally), as a means of representing disquiet and opposition amongst segments of the viewing population. The very ‘kitsch’ nature of the production of Ugly Betty affords, perhaps, ‘safe’ oppositional readings of the issues raised – it is surely no coincidence that the series has been so popular with marginalised groups, as well as the more ‘mainstream’ viewer (and has also been successfully exported to Mexico, Spain, Germany, Russia, India and Israel, which must say something about ‘universal’ themes of the underdog winning through). Whether or not we find the baseline of the narrative ultimately regressive (i.e. these are the kinds of issues in terms of objectification of women that feminists were arguing about back in the 1970s), the series has nevertheless allowed a space for debate and reflection about some of the key issues of our times.
As these prompts suggest Ugly Betty can provide you with savvy media know-how during the course of your study – the text is deserving of close textual analysis (MED 1); you could follow up any number of the suggested contextual issues (for example, casting, the inevitable merchandising industry created around the series, including faux-pearl necklaces and knitted ponchos) for a MED 5 research assignment or focus on developments around genre (MED 2 or MED 4), even studying some of the often-neglected theories on humour such as the ‘superiority theory’ or the ‘incongruity theory’. Look them up – and avoid the trap of dismissing texts that seem lightweight or just too corny to be worth analysis. They’re often the ones that speak the loudest about our zeitgeist, allowing us to laugh at the increasingly bizarre preoccupations of our time.
Sally Brady is Project Leader for Gifted and Talented at Villiers Park Educational Trust and an examiner for AQA Media Studies.
from MediaMagazine 22, December 2008.
UGC
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information''
The first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people' was in 1991 when footage of two white police officers beating a African-American man was tasered him and beat him with clubs after a high speed chase.
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and flickr
Gatekeepers decide what is and isn't news.
The primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC is that they might lose their jobs however big organisations and institutions are buying sites to reduce their competetion for example Microsoft investing in Facebook.
The first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people' was in 1991 when footage of two white police officers beating a African-American man was tasered him and beat him with clubs after a high speed chase.
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and flickr
Gatekeepers decide what is and isn't news.
The primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC is that they might lose their jobs however big organisations and institutions are buying sites to reduce their competetion for example Microsoft investing in Facebook.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Gay Depiction in Advertisement
Advertising and Gay Consumers
The media are making progress in its depiction of gays and lesbians. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the active courting of gay and lesbian consumers through gay-positive advertising and marketing campaigns.
In 1994, IKEA aired a commercial that depicted two gay men shopping for a dining room set, making the store the first company to actively target gay consumers. Since that time, many companies have started to target gay and lesbian consumers with gay-positive marketing campaigns. These campaigns are directed to a specific market: gay men and lesbians who live in cities, are single and have a large amount of disposable income.
Advertising critic Michael Wilke questions whether this trend is actually an attempt to court gay consumers. He says that advertisers are capitalizing on the cultural cachet and perceived hipness of the gay lifestyle only as a way of selling their products—and are not specifically interested in attracting gay consumers.
Writer Michelle Moinier disagrees. In an article in Altema, a publication on consumer trends, Moinier maintains that certain products, though not actually conceived for the gay population, are nevertheless marketed that way, with messages and images clearly targeted at the lucrative gay market.
Critics argue that the visibility of gays and lesbians in advertising is not an indication of the increased social acceptance of gays and lesbians, but simply an attempt by advertisers and network executives to access an untapped market. They worry that after almost thirty years of political struggle, gay and lesbian rights have been reduced to increased consumer choice. An increase in positive representations of gays and lesbians in commercials, films, and television shows is an improvement, but such progress does not signal the achievement of social and political equality.
The media are making progress in its depiction of gays and lesbians. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the active courting of gay and lesbian consumers through gay-positive advertising and marketing campaigns.
In 1994, IKEA aired a commercial that depicted two gay men shopping for a dining room set, making the store the first company to actively target gay consumers. Since that time, many companies have started to target gay and lesbian consumers with gay-positive marketing campaigns. These campaigns are directed to a specific market: gay men and lesbians who live in cities, are single and have a large amount of disposable income.
Advertising critic Michael Wilke questions whether this trend is actually an attempt to court gay consumers. He says that advertisers are capitalizing on the cultural cachet and perceived hipness of the gay lifestyle only as a way of selling their products—and are not specifically interested in attracting gay consumers.
Writer Michelle Moinier disagrees. In an article in Altema, a publication on consumer trends, Moinier maintains that certain products, though not actually conceived for the gay population, are nevertheless marketed that way, with messages and images clearly targeted at the lucrative gay market.
Critics argue that the visibility of gays and lesbians in advertising is not an indication of the increased social acceptance of gays and lesbians, but simply an attempt by advertisers and network executives to access an untapped market. They worry that after almost thirty years of political struggle, gay and lesbian rights have been reduced to increased consumer choice. An increase in positive representations of gays and lesbians in commercials, films, and television shows is an improvement, but such progress does not signal the achievement of social and political equality.
Gay and Lesbian Depictions in Films Article
Representations of Gays and Lesbians in Film
"In a hundred years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been depicted on the screen. When it did appear, it was there as something to laugh at—or something to pity—or even something to fear. These were fleeting images, but they were unforgettable, and they left a lasting legacy. Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gay people … and gay people what to think about themselves."
Vito Russo
Recent controversies over Hollywood’s negative depiction of homosexuality have focused on how such portrayals marginalize and silence gays and lesbians. Organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) argue that films such as Basic Instinct and The Silence of the Lambs demonize gays and lesbians by portraying them as psychopaths.
In his book The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo analyzes the representation of gays and lesbians in Hollywood films from the 1890s to the 1980s, and demonstrates a history of homophobia. He argues that Hollywood’s portrayal of lesbians and gay men has often been cruel and homophobic. Gay and lesbian characters have been defined by their sexual orientation, and lacked any complex character development.
During Hollywood’s early years, from the 1890s to the 1930s, homosexuality was often presented as an object of ridicule and laughter. The character of the sissy was popular at this time, and Russo asserts that such a character was a source of amusement and reassurance for the audience. The sissy was not a threatening representation of homosexuality because he occupied a middle ground between masculinity and femininity.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, religious and women’s groups criticized Hollywood films for contributing to immorality. As a result, the industry introduced a self-censorship code that affected the portrayal of homosexuality. During these years, films could not feature overtly homosexual characters—so homosexuality was suggested through a character’s mannerisms and behaviour.
This strict code was loosened in the 1960s and 1970s, which also saw the dawn of the women’s movement and the gay rights movement. While gays and lesbians were becoming more visible and vocal in public life, their representation in films was becoming even more homophobic. At this time, gay characters were often represented as dangerous, violent, or murderous.
Since the 1990s, Hollywood has improved its portrayal of gay and lesbian characters. The popularity of films such as The Birdcage, Philadelphia, To Wong Foo, Flawless and In & Out demonstrates that audiences can and do enjoy films with gay and lesbian characters. But despite these advances, critics say that the industry is still too cautious in its portrayals of gay themes, characters, and experiences. Hollywood films are designed to appeal to as large an audience as possible; and producers fear that focusing on gay and lesbian themes risks offending a large portion of the audience, as well as potential investors.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/gays_and_lesbians/gay_film.cfm
"In a hundred years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been depicted on the screen. When it did appear, it was there as something to laugh at—or something to pity—or even something to fear. These were fleeting images, but they were unforgettable, and they left a lasting legacy. Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gay people … and gay people what to think about themselves."
Vito Russo
Recent controversies over Hollywood’s negative depiction of homosexuality have focused on how such portrayals marginalize and silence gays and lesbians. Organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) argue that films such as Basic Instinct and The Silence of the Lambs demonize gays and lesbians by portraying them as psychopaths.
In his book The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo analyzes the representation of gays and lesbians in Hollywood films from the 1890s to the 1980s, and demonstrates a history of homophobia. He argues that Hollywood’s portrayal of lesbians and gay men has often been cruel and homophobic. Gay and lesbian characters have been defined by their sexual orientation, and lacked any complex character development.
During Hollywood’s early years, from the 1890s to the 1930s, homosexuality was often presented as an object of ridicule and laughter. The character of the sissy was popular at this time, and Russo asserts that such a character was a source of amusement and reassurance for the audience. The sissy was not a threatening representation of homosexuality because he occupied a middle ground between masculinity and femininity.
From the 1930s to the 1950s, religious and women’s groups criticized Hollywood films for contributing to immorality. As a result, the industry introduced a self-censorship code that affected the portrayal of homosexuality. During these years, films could not feature overtly homosexual characters—so homosexuality was suggested through a character’s mannerisms and behaviour.
This strict code was loosened in the 1960s and 1970s, which also saw the dawn of the women’s movement and the gay rights movement. While gays and lesbians were becoming more visible and vocal in public life, their representation in films was becoming even more homophobic. At this time, gay characters were often represented as dangerous, violent, or murderous.
Since the 1990s, Hollywood has improved its portrayal of gay and lesbian characters. The popularity of films such as The Birdcage, Philadelphia, To Wong Foo, Flawless and In & Out demonstrates that audiences can and do enjoy films with gay and lesbian characters. But despite these advances, critics say that the industry is still too cautious in its portrayals of gay themes, characters, and experiences. Hollywood films are designed to appeal to as large an audience as possible; and producers fear that focusing on gay and lesbian themes risks offending a large portion of the audience, as well as potential investors.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/gays_and_lesbians/gay_film.cfm
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Booklet Questions
1. How is your group of people represented typically in the media? Use detailed examples from your primary sources. Explore how the representations are constructed.
Homosexuals in the media are stereotypically represented as camp, foppish- fashionable and concerned with their appearance; an example of this is the character of ‘’Kurt’’ in the hit US show Glee, who is excessively indulged in his appearance; in one episode it is reveal that he has night-time routines where he does a number of face cleansing procedures before who goes to bed to maintain his flawless skin. Another example is the character of ‘Mark’ in Ugly Betty, who is fashionable and works in a fashion magazine, who is very camp, also in 'Ugly betty 'Justin' who aspires to be like 'Mark'.
The relationships between homosexual had proven to be represented very differently to a Heterosexual relationship. Homosexual relations seem to be more complicated and un-acceptable in society whilst heterosexual relationships can be complicated however not deemed by society.
Homosexuals are sometimes represented as weak and somewhat freaks of nature- especially young homosexuals, for example in glee, the character of ‘Kurt’, is seen to be bullied and thrown into trash cans, and it is evident that he cannot defend himself and is therefore represented as weak and useless, someone who cannot stand up to himself.
The representation of young homosexuals in contemporary US texts are all somewhat similar, the young gay character is usually someone that is abused and bullied in a stereotypical high school setting by the character of the ‘Jock’ and even sometimes the ‘Princess’. An example of this could be ‘Glee’ who contains the gay character of ‘Kurt’ that is tormented by bullies which are in the Football team. The male gay characters in Us contemporary texts seems to be more brave in terms of ‘coming out the closet’, they seem to proud and loud of the fact however lesbians in US contemporary texts seem to be more covert about it, for example 90210’s Adrianna.
2. What institutions are responsible for the production of your media texts? Production Company and channel of broadcast
Ugly Betty- series was produced by Silent H, Ventanarosa and Reveille Productions partnered with ABC Studios
Glee- The series airs on Fox
90210- The first series produced by CBS Productions
All my American teen drama texts broadcast onE4- a channel well known for its youth cultured programmes, aimed specifically at teenagers and young adults. The channel attracts its youth audience with texts that are solely for entertainment purposes that are comical or dramatic.
3. What other reasons might there be for why your group of people is represented the way it is? Consider the role of politics and the media e.g. hegemonic structure and why it might be in the interest of the media society to represent them in this way.
Homosexuality has been something that is not accepted society for a very long time ever since the topic was brought up historically and in contemporary times, due to the long history of homosexuality many stereotypes and ideologies have been distinguished. The common ideologies include young homosexual guys being ‘foppish’, a stereotypical little fashionsto who is also usually camp. Gays are normally represented as being feminine and essentially behaving like a woman. The question is why are they represented that way; well if you consider the hegemonic structure it could be that the hegemonic society will want to represent them like somewhat of a ‘woman’ and stereotypically women are weaker both physically and in terms of their positions in society and therefore this representation will consequently put homosexuals in their place in society.
Another representation which is not particularly common yet apparent is when homosexuals are represented as proud and loud about their sexuality and do not seem hesitant on acting the way ‘they’d like too, for example Kurt from Glee. This representation is apparent possibly due to the media wanting to put homosexuality as something that is ‘normal’ and something that should be accepted in society. An example of homosexual character that puts himself forward as proud and loud is ‘Kurt’ from ‘Glee.
4. Is there evidence of any alternative representations of this group in the media, perhaps in different genre? If not, why do you think this is the case?
In the media there are alternative representations of homosexuals especially through different genres, as their representations vary from one genre to another. For example in drama texts the representations of homosexuals generally includes homophobic abuse and the storyline of the text allows the audience to feely sympathy towards them for example in ‘Glee’ the character o ‘Kurt’ suffers from homophobic abuse at school and also his father has a hard time to accept his sexuality.
However in representation of homosexuals in comedy texts differ, because usually the homosexual characters in comedies are the comic relief. As I mentioned before the stereotypes of a homosexual guys is generally that they’re camp. And being camp can evoke comedic performances by a character, for example ‘Justin’ and ‘Mark’ from the US hit series ‘Ugly Betty’.
5. Using the above as an example consider if your group of people have always been represented the same way or has it changed over time
In the 1960s Hollywood allows the depiction of homosexuals in their productions.
Illinois becomes first state to abolish its sodomy laws.
In 1973 The American Psychiatric Association declares that homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder.
In 1979 the national march of Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights with over 100,00 thousand people taking place.
In 1981 doctors indentify first cases of what they termed ‘gay-related immune deficiency (GRID) soon to be named AIDS
1990s President Bill Clinton adjust bans on gay in the military
2000s California abolish their bans on same-sex marriages
6. Who are the primary target audience for each of your three media text and how do you know?
Ugly Betty- I believe the target audience for this text is 16 to 40 year old. The range is quite big because I think the younger audience will be attracted to show because of maybe the character of ‘Justin’, or ‘Betty’, who are the younger characters of the cast that people can identify with. The older audience will be attracted to the text because of the storylines with the older cast who career orientated.
Gender wise there will be a female majority because generally females will be attracted to the fashion industries and the fact that the show centres around a fashion magazine, that mostly women consume could maybe suggest that more females watch the show. There also be a big gay fan base because typically there are a lot of gay people in the fashion industry and the gay fan base may identify themselves with that.
Glee- I believe the target audience for this text is from about 13 to 35. The reason for that is because the younger audience of the show will be attracted to show because of its ideologies and the entertainment values such as the song and dance as well the adult audience perhaps who are the secondary audience. Also the younger audience can identify themselves with the characters within the text that go to school and might face problems such as themselves.
90210- I believe the target audience for this text is 14 to 22. The reason is because of the school setting once again where the audiences can identify themselves
with the characters.
7. How might the target audience respond to and be affected representation of your group in your chosen texts?
In ‘Ugly Betty’ the intended reading of homosexuals is that they are normal human beings that are equal to heterosexuals. They can be successful and live a normal however with struggles due to their sexuality represented through the characters of ‘Justin’ and ‘Mark’.
In Glee the intended reading of homosexuals is that they are normal human beings that are equal to heterosexuals. They can be successful or talented and live a normal however with a lot struggles due to their sexuality represented through the character of ‘Kurt’.
In 90210 the intended reading
8. Now consider the issues of consumption by an audience and production. Other than political reasons why might it be that such representation exist.
9. Does the representation of you group vary from different cultures and from different institutions in different countries (do they perhaps offer an alternative and oppositional reading) If so why.
The two different cultures I will be exploring is the American culture and British culture, looking into how they represent homosexual characters within their texts. The British text that I have in mind is ‘Eastenders’. The show seems to have more serious storylines to do with sexuality such as abuse and homosexuality and religion, with the ‘Christian and Syed’ storyline. In British texts that include homosexual characters the homosexual is rarely the comic relief and never really has light hearted storylines unlike American text that consist of homosexual characters such as ‘Ugly betty’ and ‘Glee’, where the homosexual characters are sometimes the comic relief with light hearted storyline, in particularly for example ‘Kurt’ who takes part in song and dance routines.
10. Do the institutions promote these representations globally and why might this be important. E.g., consider the representation of the family in ‘The Simpsons’ and how the distribution of this text and its ideologies may present an issue for other countries or ethnic groups outside of the US.
Ugly Betty has had a cultural impact in the United States. In January 17, 2007 California congresswoman Hilda Solis saluted America Ferrera for bringing a positive profile to the Latin and Hispanic communities. In addition to that recognition, on May 8, 2007, star America Ferrera was honored by TIME on the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people. The actress was recognized for defying stereotypes with the show.
Glee is distributed over 25 countries globally; therefore some of its ideologies will be promoted in countries such as South Africa, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Latin America. Ideologies such as pre-marital sex and homosexuality are more controversial in Muslim countries such as Malaysia.
11. What values and ideologies lie behind the representation of your group? Explore the hegemonic power structures and dominance including Marxists/Pluralists theories. How might each of these approaches be used to comment on the representation of you group?
Homosexuals in the media have many ideologies and values that lie behind them because they are group that have been apparent in the media for just over 30 years. Some of the ideologies that lie behind them are, that they are un-Christian and that homosexuals have no religious values, also that homosexuals are victims and subordinated due to the homophobia apparent in every society in the world. Another Ideology is that homosexuals can be a symbol of liberty and freedom because they are free to live their life the way they’d like too, even though homosexuality isn’t fully accepted.
The hegemonic power structures and dominance of Marxists and Pluralists theories have affected the representation and depiction of Homosexuals.
12. Apply the relevant theory to the areas that you have explored. How might each of the theorist’s approached comments be used to comment on the representations of you group?
Richard Dyer
Queer theory
Homosexuals in the media are stereotypically represented as camp, foppish- fashionable and concerned with their appearance; an example of this is the character of ‘’Kurt’’ in the hit US show Glee, who is excessively indulged in his appearance; in one episode it is reveal that he has night-time routines where he does a number of face cleansing procedures before who goes to bed to maintain his flawless skin. Another example is the character of ‘Mark’ in Ugly Betty, who is fashionable and works in a fashion magazine, who is very camp, also in 'Ugly betty 'Justin' who aspires to be like 'Mark'.
The relationships between homosexual had proven to be represented very differently to a Heterosexual relationship. Homosexual relations seem to be more complicated and un-acceptable in society whilst heterosexual relationships can be complicated however not deemed by society.
Homosexuals are sometimes represented as weak and somewhat freaks of nature- especially young homosexuals, for example in glee, the character of ‘Kurt’, is seen to be bullied and thrown into trash cans, and it is evident that he cannot defend himself and is therefore represented as weak and useless, someone who cannot stand up to himself.
The representation of young homosexuals in contemporary US texts are all somewhat similar, the young gay character is usually someone that is abused and bullied in a stereotypical high school setting by the character of the ‘Jock’ and even sometimes the ‘Princess’. An example of this could be ‘Glee’ who contains the gay character of ‘Kurt’ that is tormented by bullies which are in the Football team. The male gay characters in Us contemporary texts seems to be more brave in terms of ‘coming out the closet’, they seem to proud and loud of the fact however lesbians in US contemporary texts seem to be more covert about it, for example 90210’s Adrianna.
2. What institutions are responsible for the production of your media texts? Production Company and channel of broadcast
Ugly Betty- series was produced by Silent H, Ventanarosa and Reveille Productions partnered with ABC Studios
Glee- The series airs on Fox
90210- The first series produced by CBS Productions
All my American teen drama texts broadcast onE4- a channel well known for its youth cultured programmes, aimed specifically at teenagers and young adults. The channel attracts its youth audience with texts that are solely for entertainment purposes that are comical or dramatic.
3. What other reasons might there be for why your group of people is represented the way it is? Consider the role of politics and the media e.g. hegemonic structure and why it might be in the interest of the media society to represent them in this way.
Homosexuality has been something that is not accepted society for a very long time ever since the topic was brought up historically and in contemporary times, due to the long history of homosexuality many stereotypes and ideologies have been distinguished. The common ideologies include young homosexual guys being ‘foppish’, a stereotypical little fashionsto who is also usually camp. Gays are normally represented as being feminine and essentially behaving like a woman. The question is why are they represented that way; well if you consider the hegemonic structure it could be that the hegemonic society will want to represent them like somewhat of a ‘woman’ and stereotypically women are weaker both physically and in terms of their positions in society and therefore this representation will consequently put homosexuals in their place in society.
Another representation which is not particularly common yet apparent is when homosexuals are represented as proud and loud about their sexuality and do not seem hesitant on acting the way ‘they’d like too, for example Kurt from Glee. This representation is apparent possibly due to the media wanting to put homosexuality as something that is ‘normal’ and something that should be accepted in society. An example of homosexual character that puts himself forward as proud and loud is ‘Kurt’ from ‘Glee.
4. Is there evidence of any alternative representations of this group in the media, perhaps in different genre? If not, why do you think this is the case?
In the media there are alternative representations of homosexuals especially through different genres, as their representations vary from one genre to another. For example in drama texts the representations of homosexuals generally includes homophobic abuse and the storyline of the text allows the audience to feely sympathy towards them for example in ‘Glee’ the character o ‘Kurt’ suffers from homophobic abuse at school and also his father has a hard time to accept his sexuality.
However in representation of homosexuals in comedy texts differ, because usually the homosexual characters in comedies are the comic relief. As I mentioned before the stereotypes of a homosexual guys is generally that they’re camp. And being camp can evoke comedic performances by a character, for example ‘Justin’ and ‘Mark’ from the US hit series ‘Ugly Betty’.
5. Using the above as an example consider if your group of people have always been represented the same way or has it changed over time
In the 1960s Hollywood allows the depiction of homosexuals in their productions.
Illinois becomes first state to abolish its sodomy laws.
In 1973 The American Psychiatric Association declares that homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder.
In 1979 the national march of Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights with over 100,00 thousand people taking place.
In 1981 doctors indentify first cases of what they termed ‘gay-related immune deficiency (GRID) soon to be named AIDS
1990s President Bill Clinton adjust bans on gay in the military
2000s California abolish their bans on same-sex marriages
6. Who are the primary target audience for each of your three media text and how do you know?
Ugly Betty- I believe the target audience for this text is 16 to 40 year old. The range is quite big because I think the younger audience will be attracted to show because of maybe the character of ‘Justin’, or ‘Betty’, who are the younger characters of the cast that people can identify with. The older audience will be attracted to the text because of the storylines with the older cast who career orientated.
Gender wise there will be a female majority because generally females will be attracted to the fashion industries and the fact that the show centres around a fashion magazine, that mostly women consume could maybe suggest that more females watch the show. There also be a big gay fan base because typically there are a lot of gay people in the fashion industry and the gay fan base may identify themselves with that.
Glee- I believe the target audience for this text is from about 13 to 35. The reason for that is because the younger audience of the show will be attracted to show because of its ideologies and the entertainment values such as the song and dance as well the adult audience perhaps who are the secondary audience. Also the younger audience can identify themselves with the characters within the text that go to school and might face problems such as themselves.
90210- I believe the target audience for this text is 14 to 22. The reason is because of the school setting once again where the audiences can identify themselves
with the characters.
7. How might the target audience respond to and be affected representation of your group in your chosen texts?
In ‘Ugly Betty’ the intended reading of homosexuals is that they are normal human beings that are equal to heterosexuals. They can be successful and live a normal however with struggles due to their sexuality represented through the characters of ‘Justin’ and ‘Mark’.
In Glee the intended reading of homosexuals is that they are normal human beings that are equal to heterosexuals. They can be successful or talented and live a normal however with a lot struggles due to their sexuality represented through the character of ‘Kurt’.
In 90210 the intended reading
8. Now consider the issues of consumption by an audience and production. Other than political reasons why might it be that such representation exist.
9. Does the representation of you group vary from different cultures and from different institutions in different countries (do they perhaps offer an alternative and oppositional reading) If so why.
The two different cultures I will be exploring is the American culture and British culture, looking into how they represent homosexual characters within their texts. The British text that I have in mind is ‘Eastenders’. The show seems to have more serious storylines to do with sexuality such as abuse and homosexuality and religion, with the ‘Christian and Syed’ storyline. In British texts that include homosexual characters the homosexual is rarely the comic relief and never really has light hearted storylines unlike American text that consist of homosexual characters such as ‘Ugly betty’ and ‘Glee’, where the homosexual characters are sometimes the comic relief with light hearted storyline, in particularly for example ‘Kurt’ who takes part in song and dance routines.
10. Do the institutions promote these representations globally and why might this be important. E.g., consider the representation of the family in ‘The Simpsons’ and how the distribution of this text and its ideologies may present an issue for other countries or ethnic groups outside of the US.
Ugly Betty has had a cultural impact in the United States. In January 17, 2007 California congresswoman Hilda Solis saluted America Ferrera for bringing a positive profile to the Latin and Hispanic communities. In addition to that recognition, on May 8, 2007, star America Ferrera was honored by TIME on the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people. The actress was recognized for defying stereotypes with the show.
Glee is distributed over 25 countries globally; therefore some of its ideologies will be promoted in countries such as South Africa, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Latin America. Ideologies such as pre-marital sex and homosexuality are more controversial in Muslim countries such as Malaysia.
11. What values and ideologies lie behind the representation of your group? Explore the hegemonic power structures and dominance including Marxists/Pluralists theories. How might each of these approaches be used to comment on the representation of you group?
Homosexuals in the media have many ideologies and values that lie behind them because they are group that have been apparent in the media for just over 30 years. Some of the ideologies that lie behind them are, that they are un-Christian and that homosexuals have no religious values, also that homosexuals are victims and subordinated due to the homophobia apparent in every society in the world. Another Ideology is that homosexuals can be a symbol of liberty and freedom because they are free to live their life the way they’d like too, even though homosexuality isn’t fully accepted.
The hegemonic power structures and dominance of Marxists and Pluralists theories have affected the representation and depiction of Homosexuals.
12. Apply the relevant theory to the areas that you have explored. How might each of the theorist’s approached comments be used to comment on the representations of you group?
Richard Dyer
Queer theory
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Identifying Relevent Theorists
Theodor Adorno
He covered topics such as Popular Culture, talking about how it made t
he population passive, docile and content; no matter how terrible their economic circumstances.
Books
The culture industry: selected essays on mass culture (1991) Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' (2001).
Key Quote
"the same thing is offered to everybody by the standardised production of consumption goods".
Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan's The Mechanical Bride:Folklore of Industrial Man (1951) is a pioneering study in the field now known as popular culture.Each essay begins with a newspaper or magazine article or an advertisement, followed by McLuhan's analysis . The analyses bear on aesthetic considerations as well as on the implications behind the imagery and text.
McLuhan also is the theorist behind the idea of The Global Village. McLuhan described how the globe has been contracted into a village by electric technology and the instantaneous movement of information from every quarter to every point at the same time.
Books
The Gutenberg Galaxy- Global Village (1962)
The Mechanical Bride (1951)
Key Quoate
''Print is the technology of individualism. If men decided to modify this visual technology by an electric technology, individualism would also be modified''.
Richard Dyer
Dyer has a wide interest in culture and in the way that people are categorised. In his 2001 book The Culture of Queers was a general history of the culture of gay men. Specifically, he uses "queer culture" to indicate the values of that grouping before "gay culture".
Books
The Culture of Queers
Key Quoate
"Time and again, we are not told why Westerns are exciting, why horror films horrify, why weepies make us cry, but instead are told that, while they are exciting, horrifying and tear-jerking, the films also deal with history, society, psychology, gender roles, indeed the meaning of life."
(Book- Only Entertainment)
Stuart Hall
He covered the representation of Black people and talked about hegemony and cultral studies.
Book
Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices
Gaye Tuchman
She with involved with the theory of ''Symbollic Annillation of women
“Representation in the fictional world signifies social existence; absence means symbolic annihilation.”
Book- Gerbner & Gross
David Gauntlet 
He covered topics to do with gender and identity
Laura Mulvey
She covered topics such as the Male Gaze and Fetishism in her famous Essay ''Visual pleasure and narrative cinema''.
Antonia Gramsci
He covered the topic of Hegemony. He developed the initial concept of Hegemony that was previously used by Marxists.
Gramsci suggested, maintained control not just through violence and political and economic coercion, but also ideologically.
''Hergemony is a more sensitive and therefore a more useful critical term that "domination" which fails to acknowledge the active role of subordinate people in the operation of power"
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PULFz85FDMYC&dq=antonio+gramsci+hegemony&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Judith Butler
She covered topics such as the queer theory, and gender representation.
Book- Gender Trouble 1990
"When the relevant "culture" that "constructs" gender is understod in terms of such a law or set of laws, then it seems that gender is determined and fixed as it was under the biology-is-destiny formulation"
Friday, 5 November 2010
Representation Case Study
Half Term HW
- For my representation case study I would like to study the representation of Homosexuals in TV
- I have chosen this because the representation of homosexuals differs quite dramatically in different media texts and it will be interesting to explore how and why homosexuals are represented in such ways. I think this will be a rich area of study because homosexuality as been heavily addressed in the contemporary media landscape and therefore I will have a variety of case studies from the media that will be relevant and worth exploring.
- The three media texts that I will use as my primary sources are 'Family Guy', 'Glee' and 'EastEnders'
- Theorists that are relevant to my study are...
- Some of my chosen theorists have written something to do with my study, including...
Monday, 1 November 2010
Alternative Representation of Women
The Hip Hop genre is predominantly dominated my male artists who create music vi
deos that represent woman as decoration, objects for sexual gratification and are essentially subordinated. The women in these Hip Hop music videos are nameless talentless woman that are only seen as sexual objects and are mostly commodified. Their bodies are fetishized with close-ups and sometimes the face can never be seen to accompany the body at times. On the other hand, the odd majority of female hip hop artist that produce music video represent themselves alternatively to the music videos of male artists.Eve in the music video ‘Tambourine’ is represented as a woman that is talented due to the obvious fact that she is the star if the music video. She also seems to not acknowledge the male gaze in the music video because it is not apparent that a man is lusting over her body or touching her, and she doesn’t seem to be engaging intimately with the opposite sex, which can show that she is not dependent on a man and she is powerful and successful without a man in her life. Also her body is not actually being fetishized in close-ups or medium close-ups. The only close-ups that are used are usually for her face and lips. Furthermore Eve is also being served in the music video which is the absolute opposite to what a woman would be stereotypically doing in a hip hop music video of a male artist.
However Eve is not representing herself as a feminist or post-feminist, because s
he seems to be taking the role of the male representation in hip hop in music videos; surrounded by beautiful women and materialistic things such as cars- as if Eve would like to be a man rather than a post-feminist. If Eve was representing herself as feminist or post-feminist she would have had good looking men dancing around her and serving her drinks, evidently showing that she is challenging gender roles in hip hop music videos, however the fact that she is being served by women and the women around her self-objectifying themselves shows that maybe women will always have their place in hip hop music videos as decoration or as a mans or even a women’s status of power and wealth. 
Another example of an alternative representation of women in hip hop is Ciara’s ‘Like a Boy’ music video. In this music video the female artist is dressed as a man and the opening line of the video is ‘Ladies I think its time to switch roles’. This music video is obviously addressing gender roles in society. The female artist in the music video is playing both the male and female in the music video which suggests that men and women are equal and that women are fed up with conforming to their stereotypical perception and roles in society. Ciara is not the only woman that is alternatively represented; the female back-up dancers are also switching their roles, overtly presenting this by dressing up as men. Ciara has many looks in this video and one of them is very androgynous rather than the obvious male/female look she has. Androgynous looking women are hardly ever seen in Hip Hop music videos and this is a very alternative representation of women in Hip Hop music videos.
Also in ‘Like a Boy’ the women in the music video are not used as decoration, are not used to serve men or for the purpose of the male gaze, which are again very alternative representation of women in Hip Hop music videos. Moreover the only male in the music video who seems to be the female artists love interests seems passive, powerless and talentless, compared to the women in the video who either sing or dance, which shows that maybe Ciara is a feminist who believes that women shouldn’t be subordinated.
Monday, 18 October 2010
What is Post-feminism?
A more positive look at post-feminism
Post-feminism as backlash to feminism
Post-feminism as a colloquialism
The ambiguity of the prefix “post
Sunday, 17 October 2010
LAURA MULVEY- The Male Gaze
Mirror Stage
Lacan’s term used to describe the stage at which a child realises they are a person independent of their mother.
Narcissism
Excessive or erotic interest in the self.
Scopophilia
The pleasure of watching what shouldn’t be seen.
Voyeuristic gaze
A gaze which objectifies the recipient of the gaze in a non-sexual manner, rather through admiration.
Fetishistic gaze
A gaze which objectifies the recipient of the gaze in a sexual manner.
To-be-looked-at-ness
The way in which a character is constructed, using media language (through the framing of shots and position of the camera) to be objectified by another character or the audience’s gaze.
Intra-diegetic gaze
The gaze of one character of another within the narrative world of the film.
Extra-diegetic gaze
The gaze of a character out of the narrative to the audience, generally making eye contact and connoting their awareness of being watched.
Nouvelle Vague
French New Wave. A movement in French national cinema which rejected the established way of doing things by employing experimental film making techniques.
The female gaze: accepts that women can also gain voyeuristic pleasure from looking at a subject, and that film techniques can sometimes be used to position the female audience to do so.
Mirror Stage
Lacan’s term used to describe the stage at which a child realises they are a person independent of their mother.
Narcissism
Excessive or erotic interest in the self.
Scopophilia
The pleasure of watching what shouldn’t be seen.
Voyeuristic gaze
A gaze which objectifies the recipient of the gaze in a non-sexual manner, rather through admiration.
Fetishistic gaze
A gaze which objectifies the recipient of the gaze in a sexual manner.
To-be-looked-at-ness
The way in which a character is constructed, using media language (through the framing of shots and position of the camera) to be objectified by another character or the audience’s gaze.
Intra-diegetic gaze
The gaze of one character of another within the narrative world of the film.
Extra-diegetic gaze
The gaze of a character out of the narrative to the audience, generally making eye contact and connoting their awareness of being watched.
Nouvelle Vague
French New Wave. A movement in French national cinema which rejected the established way of doing things by employing experimental film making techniques.
The female gaze: accepts that women can also gain voyeuristic pleasure from looking at a subject, and that film techniques can sometimes be used to position the female audience to do so.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Raheam's Advertising Essay
Positive Repesentation of Women
This commercial is used to advertise a new range of clothing at Marks and Spencer’s for women. There is a positive representation of women flowing constantly throughout this advert. Females are presented as happy; the vibrant parallel music played in the background creates a happy-go-lucky atmosphere.
The mise en scene includes natural environments such as lakes, beaches and forests to connote natural beauty reflected in the women. This advert is constructed to mirror the fact that who matter who you are you are beautiful. The target audience for this commercial is women aged between 25-50, an older audience can relate to the older females displayed. Women are not portrayed in their stereotypical roles in the kitchen; instead this advertisement illustrates the alternative representation of females. The happy-go-lucky successful type.
Famous successful women such as Danni Minogue and Lisa Snowdon are used to model the clothes. This is also a positive representation because the females are portrayed as totally feminine, the seductive dresses they wear, the handbags hanging of their shoulder and the open cut shirts all add to their femininity.
Androgyny is not presented in this commercial, enforcing the fact it is not socially acceptable for women to dress like men. Although there is not a lot of flesh on show and explicit revealing of body parts on show, the women still look sexually gratifying with clothes on, this helps to establish a positive representation for women in general.
Negative Representation of Women
In this advert for Fairy washing up liquid, it is evident that females are being represented in a negative manner. To show that Fairy liquid will last a very long time, the narrative constructed is based in the kitchen where the product is used. The advert tracks through the decades placing women in the kitchen. The change in decade is created through improvements in the mise en scene.
The medium shots of the women present them all in non kitchen clothing. The fact the women have been in the kitchen since approximately the 1940’s and still are to this day is considered degrading and isolating them into these stereotypically roles. The stereotype that is reinforced is the concept of women being housewives; they are only good in the kitchen. The mise en scene in all the shots shown is of a kitchen environment, further cementing a woman’s rightful place.
Men are not shown in this advert, suggesting that there role is not in the kitchen and that the patriarchal society is still in perfect order, that they are the breadwinner and can go home to have their food on clean plates. The advert is a bit ironic, because the feministic waves for equality strived to get women out of these designated stereotypical roles, but this advert throws them back into their delegated positions. Also the aurora that the females are giving off, revealed through the facial expressions makes it appear that the females are happy to be in the kitchen.
In every shot the woman of the house is accompanied by a young girl supposedly her daughter. This further gives of a negative representation of females because she seems eager to wash up and stay in the kitchen. In conclusion this advert contains a strong moral; that women belong in the kitchen.
WWW- Good analysis of the representation of women in the 'Marks and Spencers Advertisement'. good use of media terminology, when talking about the music and mise-en-scene.
EBI- More media terminology could of been used in you analysis of the negetive representation of women, e.g when talking about the narrative structure you could have mention a 'Linear narrative stucture'. When talking about the 'degrading of women', you could have mention 'subordinating'. When talking about th 'strong moral', you could have mentioned 'ideology.
This commercial is used to advertise a new range of clothing at Marks and Spencer’s for women. There is a positive representation of women flowing constantly throughout this advert. Females are presented as happy; the vibrant parallel music played in the background creates a happy-go-lucky atmosphere.
The mise en scene includes natural environments such as lakes, beaches and forests to connote natural beauty reflected in the women. This advert is constructed to mirror the fact that who matter who you are you are beautiful. The target audience for this commercial is women aged between 25-50, an older audience can relate to the older females displayed. Women are not portrayed in their stereotypical roles in the kitchen; instead this advertisement illustrates the alternative representation of females. The happy-go-lucky successful type.
Famous successful women such as Danni Minogue and Lisa Snowdon are used to model the clothes. This is also a positive representation because the females are portrayed as totally feminine, the seductive dresses they wear, the handbags hanging of their shoulder and the open cut shirts all add to their femininity.
Androgyny is not presented in this commercial, enforcing the fact it is not socially acceptable for women to dress like men. Although there is not a lot of flesh on show and explicit revealing of body parts on show, the women still look sexually gratifying with clothes on, this helps to establish a positive representation for women in general.
Negative Representation of Women
In this advert for Fairy washing up liquid, it is evident that females are being represented in a negative manner. To show that Fairy liquid will last a very long time, the narrative constructed is based in the kitchen where the product is used. The advert tracks through the decades placing women in the kitchen. The change in decade is created through improvements in the mise en scene.
The medium shots of the women present them all in non kitchen clothing. The fact the women have been in the kitchen since approximately the 1940’s and still are to this day is considered degrading and isolating them into these stereotypically roles. The stereotype that is reinforced is the concept of women being housewives; they are only good in the kitchen. The mise en scene in all the shots shown is of a kitchen environment, further cementing a woman’s rightful place.
Men are not shown in this advert, suggesting that there role is not in the kitchen and that the patriarchal society is still in perfect order, that they are the breadwinner and can go home to have their food on clean plates. The advert is a bit ironic, because the feministic waves for equality strived to get women out of these designated stereotypical roles, but this advert throws them back into their delegated positions. Also the aurora that the females are giving off, revealed through the facial expressions makes it appear that the females are happy to be in the kitchen.
In every shot the woman of the house is accompanied by a young girl supposedly her daughter. This further gives of a negative representation of females because she seems eager to wash up and stay in the kitchen. In conclusion this advert contains a strong moral; that women belong in the kitchen.
WWW- Good analysis of the representation of women in the 'Marks and Spencers Advertisement'. good use of media terminology, when talking about the music and mise-en-scene.
EBI- More media terminology could of been used in you analysis of the negetive representation of women, e.g when talking about the narrative structure you could have mention a 'Linear narrative stucture'. When talking about the 'degrading of women', you could have mention 'subordinating'. When talking about th 'strong moral', you could have mentioned 'ideology.
Bianca's Essay- Media Terminology
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.
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.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Historical Adverts
Positive Representation of Women
In this advertisement the representation of women is not negative because it presents the male and female people within the advert as equal. The Jingle of the advert happens on both the female and male. The woman in the advert is not sexually self-objectifying herslef and not yearning for male attention, as she comes into the shop, she waves hello to her male friends and as the man comes in he waves hello to his female friends. So this advertisement presents both sexes as somewhat equal.
Negative Representation of Women
This advertisement represents the woman as subordinate compared to the man who is being served by her and then criticising her for her service, which highlights the patriarchal society within that era. This is further outlined when the man says 'the girls down at the office make a better coffee', which shows how the females in the society at that time are portrayed as subservient to the men, there for their needs. Also when the woman telling her friend that he didn't kiss' her on the way out, creates an ideology that men are only satisfied with a women if she is able to cook and provide services for them, and that women should provide for their man and that them being happy will also make them happy.
Historical Advert- Representation of Men (Sex Object)
This advertisement has the ideology that a woman desires the perfect man with the perfect hair. And that if a man doesnt have perfect hair, they're no good to women. And this is somewhat portraying men as sex object, since after the mans hair is good, he seems desirable as the woman kisses him.
Contemporary Representation of Men as Sex Objects
In this advertisement, the man is being viewed as a sex object. Firstly he is topless whilst the woman is wearing normal clothing, the body language of the man seems to be submissive and timid, usually qualities and an idealogy of women. He is being dragged out of the car my the women, as if the women is lurring him, instead of him flirting with her. This reversal of ideology is later heighten when the woman graps the man bum. this gesture is usually depicted with men rather than women. This advertisement seems to have a post-feminist view since the woman is carrying male qualities however by still being feminine.
Contemporary Representation of Men as Sex Objects
In this advertisement the representation of women is not negative because it presents the male and female people within the advert as equal. The Jingle of the advert happens on both the female and male. The woman in the advert is not sexually self-objectifying herslef and not yearning for male attention, as she comes into the shop, she waves hello to her male friends and as the man comes in he waves hello to his female friends. So this advertisement presents both sexes as somewhat equal.
Negative Representation of Women
This advertisement represents the woman as subordinate compared to the man who is being served by her and then criticising her for her service, which highlights the patriarchal society within that era. This is further outlined when the man says 'the girls down at the office make a better coffee', which shows how the females in the society at that time are portrayed as subservient to the men, there for their needs. Also when the woman telling her friend that he didn't kiss' her on the way out, creates an ideology that men are only satisfied with a women if she is able to cook and provide services for them, and that women should provide for their man and that them being happy will also make them happy.
Historical Advert- Representation of Men (Sex Object)
This advertisement has the ideology that a woman desires the perfect man with the perfect hair. And that if a man doesnt have perfect hair, they're no good to women. And this is somewhat portraying men as sex object, since after the mans hair is good, he seems desirable as the woman kisses him.
Contemporary Representation of Men as Sex Objects
In this advertisement, the man is being viewed as a sex object. Firstly he is topless whilst the woman is wearing normal clothing, the body language of the man seems to be submissive and timid, usually qualities and an idealogy of women. He is being dragged out of the car my the women, as if the women is lurring him, instead of him flirting with her. This reversal of ideology is later heighten when the woman graps the man bum. this gesture is usually depicted with men rather than women. This advertisement seems to have a post-feminist view since the woman is carrying male qualities however by still being feminine.
Contemporary Representation of Men as Sex Objects
Gender & Advertising
1. What sort of images of women and men dominated advertising pre-1970s? Why was this the case?
Media, Gender and Identity (Gauntlett), outlines that women in magazine adverts prior to the 1970’s were rarely shown to be in paid work and when they were it would usually be a stereotypical role, ‘a smiling secretary’ or ‘hairdresser’ and women in advertisement from 1950’s to early 1970’s predominantly had a ‘Housewife’ image.
However Men were most likely to be seen in authority roles and ‘were ten times more likely than women to provide the dependable voice’, which shows that men were the dominant figures in advertising prior the 1970’s.
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?
Content analysis of advertising in the early 1970’s found strong evidence of stereotypes of women, all ads featuring women; three-quarters were for kitchen and bathroom products.
Advertising continued to perpetuate the stereotype of women during the 1970’s since women were more than twice as likely as men to be shown inside the home and when in seen in paid work environment, they were more often than not subservient to men.
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?
4. Do you agree that adverts, such as those for the 1990’s Boots No. 7, ‘It’s not make-up. its ammunition.’ campaign, are post-feminist (thereby representing women as better than men?). Explain your answer.
I think the No.7 campaign is post-feminist since the tagline/slogan is portraying ‘make-up’ as important as ‘ammunition’, and the make-up can be symbolising the women and the ammunition is symbolising the men. The binary opposition of the make-up and the ammunition help to put across the post-feminism view.
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 women in the media can be accountable for the result of the survey which shows that ‘women were up to ten times more likely than men to be unhappy with their body image, since the UK Beauty industry takes £8.9billion a year out of women’s pockets and that shows that how beauty conscious women are now in the modern age, which is proven due to the fact that the cosmetic surgery industry is booming. (Greer) The beauty ideal seems to be a substantial pressure on women to make them look more like the mediated ideal which appears to be ridiculous.
6. Is the contemporary representation of men in advertising perhaps also a negative one where they too are treated as sex objects?
Men as well as women are told that they must have a perfect look to attract the opposite sex, so now people no longer seem have a critique of sexism in the media, instead people are left to with a criticism of advertising for telling everybody that they have to look great at all times. ‘Today’s man has pumped his pecs and shoulders and exhibits well-defined abs’. So men can be also treated as sex objects due to the advertisements that represent men as hunky sex objects for women, and men.
Media, Gender and Identity (Gauntlett), outlines that women in magazine adverts prior to the 1970’s were rarely shown to be in paid work and when they were it would usually be a stereotypical role, ‘a smiling secretary’ or ‘hairdresser’ and women in advertisement from 1950’s to early 1970’s predominantly had a ‘Housewife’ image.
However Men were most likely to be seen in authority roles and ‘were ten times more likely than women to provide the dependable voice’, which shows that men were the dominant figures in advertising prior the 1970’s.
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?
Content analysis of advertising in the early 1970’s found strong evidence of stereotypes of women, all ads featuring women; three-quarters were for kitchen and bathroom products.
Advertising continued to perpetuate the stereotype of women during the 1970’s since women were more than twice as likely as men to be shown inside the home and when in seen in paid work environment, they were more often than not subservient to men.
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?
4. Do you agree that adverts, such as those for the 1990’s Boots No. 7, ‘It’s not make-up. its ammunition.’ campaign, are post-feminist (thereby representing women as better than men?). Explain your answer.
I think the No.7 campaign is post-feminist since the tagline/slogan is portraying ‘make-up’ as important as ‘ammunition’, and the make-up can be symbolising the women and the ammunition is symbolising the men. The binary opposition of the make-up and the ammunition help to put across the post-feminism view.
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 women in the media can be accountable for the result of the survey which shows that ‘women were up to ten times more likely than men to be unhappy with their body image, since the UK Beauty industry takes £8.9billion a year out of women’s pockets and that shows that how beauty conscious women are now in the modern age, which is proven due to the fact that the cosmetic surgery industry is booming. (Greer) The beauty ideal seems to be a substantial pressure on women to make them look more like the mediated ideal which appears to be ridiculous.
6. Is the contemporary representation of men in advertising perhaps also a negative one where they too are treated as sex objects?
Men as well as women are told that they must have a perfect look to attract the opposite sex, so now people no longer seem have a critique of sexism in the media, instead people are left to with a criticism of advertising for telling everybody that they have to look great at all times. ‘Today’s man has pumped his pecs and shoulders and exhibits well-defined abs’. So men can be also treated as sex objects due to the advertisements that represent men as hunky sex objects for women, and men.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Representation of women in Advetisements
Negative Representation
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.
Positive Representation
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 self-objectifying herself or is being self-objectifyied shows that she is not adhering to the male gaze shows that she is respected and is being celebrated for her talent. The woman in the advertisement is being presented in a high-angle shot which protrays her as innocent and her 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 into the product (Specsavers), such as its sophistication and eliteness.
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.
Positive Representation
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 self-objectifying herself or is being self-objectifyied shows that she is not adhering to the male gaze shows that she is respected and is being celebrated for her talent. The woman in the advertisement is being presented in a high-angle shot which protrays her as innocent and her 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 into the product (Specsavers), such as its sophistication and eliteness.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Femme Fatales
Phyllis Dietrichson
‘A persuasive, sinister vulgar blonde - a beautiful, sharp, predatory and unhappy femme fatale housewife named Phyllis Dietrichson’
Phyllis is well known for defining the role of ‘femme fatale’ and is one of the most famous Femme Fatale. She is represented through low angle shots, low-key lighting and mostly white clothing throughout the film, which all goes towards Phyllis being a true Femme Fatale as this contradicts her conniving and evil demeanour, presenting her to the characters within the film as pure and innocent. She possesses the infamous characteristics and representation of a devout femme fatale; she smokes, has a sexually alluring physique and is in the middle of putting together an immoral and devious plan- all with cunningly having a seemingly innocent and angelic face. Like many Femme Fatales, Phyllis is a guru of seduction- the first time ‘Walter’ and the audience meet her, she is in a towel, and as she comes down the stairs she buttons her blouse, something that she could have easily done whilst still in her bedroom-
Catherine Tramell
‘Catherine Tramell appears as a brilliant, charismatic sociopath, who manipulates everyone around her, largely for her own amusement’
Catherine is one of the most widely know Femme Fatales of the modern era. She oozes sexual allurement and creates sexual tension with everyone that she meets, both men and women, which gives this Femme Fatale the modern, contemporary and interesting twist. Due to the fact that she is a modern time Femme Fatale, she can take her sexual appearance to the next level and make herself even more sexually desirable by explicitly showcasing her body, for example the infamous interrogation scene, where she uncrosses her legs and reveals that she is not wearing any underwear. Catherine Tramell also possesses the characteristics of a Femme Fatale; she smokes, sexually attractive and has a devious plan up her sleeves, however, she is more of a ruthless cold-blooded killer, who murders her husband with an ice-pick. All in all Catherine Tramell exceeds the expectations of a Femme Fatale and renovates the Femme Fatale into an even more exciting character.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO9wiK27iHM
Gilda
‘With her sleek and sophisticated eroticism and lush hair; the love goddess portrayed the sexy, hedonistic women’
Gilda is a showstopper of a Femme Fatale. She is a performer and is known for her infamous one sleeve tease performance. Gilda also has owns the characters of the ultimate Femme Fatale, she smokes, sexually attractive who is scheming and plotting.
‘A persuasive, sinister vulgar blonde - a beautiful, sharp, predatory and unhappy femme fatale housewife named Phyllis Dietrichson’
Phyllis is well known for defining the role of ‘femme fatale’ and is one of the most famous Femme Fatale. She is represented through low angle shots, low-key lighting and mostly white clothing throughout the film, which all goes towards Phyllis being a true Femme Fatale as this contradicts her conniving and evil demeanour, presenting her to the characters within the film as pure and innocent. She possesses the infamous characteristics and representation of a devout femme fatale; she smokes, has a sexually alluring physique and is in the middle of putting together an immoral and devious plan- all with cunningly having a seemingly innocent and angelic face. Like many Femme Fatales, Phyllis is a guru of seduction- the first time ‘Walter’ and the audience meet her, she is in a towel, and as she comes down the stairs she buttons her blouse, something that she could have easily done whilst still in her bedroom-
Catherine Tramell
‘Catherine Tramell appears as a brilliant, charismatic sociopath, who manipulates everyone around her, largely for her own amusement’
Catherine is one of the most widely know Femme Fatales of the modern era. She oozes sexual allurement and creates sexual tension with everyone that she meets, both men and women, which gives this Femme Fatale the modern, contemporary and interesting twist. Due to the fact that she is a modern time Femme Fatale, she can take her sexual appearance to the next level and make herself even more sexually desirable by explicitly showcasing her body, for example the infamous interrogation scene, where she uncrosses her legs and reveals that she is not wearing any underwear. Catherine Tramell also possesses the characteristics of a Femme Fatale; she smokes, sexually attractive and has a devious plan up her sleeves, however, she is more of a ruthless cold-blooded killer, who murders her husband with an ice-pick. All in all Catherine Tramell exceeds the expectations of a Femme Fatale and renovates the Femme Fatale into an even more exciting character.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO9wiK27iHM
Gilda
‘With her sleek and sophisticated eroticism and lush hair; the love goddess portrayed the sexy, hedonistic women’
Gilda is a showstopper of a Femme Fatale. She is a performer and is known for her infamous one sleeve tease performance. Gilda also has owns the characters of the ultimate Femme Fatale, she smokes, sexually attractive who is scheming and plotting.
The Guardian 100
1. What is the Guardian 100 and who are the panellists that create it?
The Guardian 100 is a guide to the most powerful people in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, digital media, advertising, marketing and PR.
2. How many women are in the top 100?
18 women out of 100 people
3. What companies do these women work for and in what roles?
Advertising
Cheif executive
Controller- publishing
Editor- publishing
Head of E4, commissioning editor responsible for Big Brother
4. What percentage of the 100 are women?
18%
5. How would you assess the balance of power in this list and why do you think it is this way?
In the Guardian 100, it is obvious that there are more men than women in the list, and one would think that anyways since we live in a patriarchal society, were men are dominant and women are subordinated and marginalised.
The Guardian 100 is a guide to the most powerful people in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, digital media, advertising, marketing and PR.
2. How many women are in the top 100?
18 women out of 100 people
3. What companies do these women work for and in what roles?
Advertising
Cheif executive
Controller- publishing
Editor- publishing
Head of E4, commissioning editor responsible for Big Brother
4. What percentage of the 100 are women?
18%
5. How would you assess the balance of power in this list and why do you think it is this way?
In the Guardian 100, it is obvious that there are more men than women in the list, and one would think that anyways since we live in a patriarchal society, were men are dominant and women are subordinated and marginalised.
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Internet Video Feedback
Average scores from class members
A- 3
C- 3.5
T- 3
U-2
P -3
What Went Well and Even Better ifs from Class Memebers
WWW- slow motion,
EBI- More examples
WWW- good soundtrck, humour
EBI- less dancing
WWW- Entertaining
EBI- better quality of filming
WWW- entertaining and informative
EBI- explain ideas and have more facts about the internet
WWW- creative and unique
EBI- more facts and statistics
A- 3
C- 3.5
T- 3
U-2
P -3
What Went Well and Even Better ifs from Class Memebers
WWW- slow motion,
EBI- More examples
WWW- good soundtrck, humour
EBI- less dancing
WWW- Entertaining
EBI- better quality of filming
WWW- entertaining and informative
EBI- explain ideas and have more facts about the internet
WWW- creative and unique
EBI- more facts and statistics
Friday, 9 July 2010
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