Quotes from books

reputation of men - Kenneth Mackinnon
(maleness & masculinity in the media)

Arthur Brittan - "biology and soicety are never seperate - they maturally consituate eachother, hence the 'true facts' of biology & pristine and uninterpreted. The are always mediated, The 'facts' of sexual differences are 'facts' by the virtue of ... generalized beliefs... "

"social rewards fir being 'real' men or 'real' women.... In society actual women and men present themselves demand to be precieved as real"

"male sexuality involves alienatiomn under the gender system, a great deal of literature on sexuality takes no account of such aspects of construction of gendered identity"

"'hypermasculinty'( the exaggerated display of what are culturally taken to be macho thaits) overcompensates"

masculinity in advertising

"male charecters in an advertisment has the required authority & suggests the appropriate power is through visual apperance"

"strength suggested not only in terms of physic. But also in the suggestion of his influence and business sucess."

Hyperdermic Needle Theory

- just like a syrenge used to inject drugs in body
- mas the media injects messages directly into the minds of viewers/ listeners/ readers
- This draws attention to the power of the media producers over its audiences.
- It makes audiences seem 'passive' and 'powerless'

- as my critical investigation is about how males are influenced form adverts, this theory fits in becuase what they see is what they consume and the output is the influenc eon their life style

"One such theorist stated that the new found media was manipulating the mainstream masses and deliberately causing crime and violence for financial gain. Although this argument has been cast aside man times it always returns in modern society when there is a severe outbreak of violence on TV."

“it is the process of creating shared meaning.”(J.Baran, Introduction to mass communication).

“It views audience as the passive receptors of virulent viruses produce by the media” (Starker, Evil influences: crusades against the mass media).

"It can be argued that the mass media is used as “an instrument”, both more powerful and more flexible than anything in previous existence, for influencing people into certain modes of belief and understanding within society."

Cultivation Thoery

- As audiences watch more and more TV and films they gain more opinions and views on the world. They follow the status quo and Hegemony.

Hegemony - a theory of ideologies and beleives that reiterate dominant ideologies.
- It draws attention to the fact that audiences gain a lot of thier knowledge from the media. Although it does encourage false measures.

"Cultivation theory is a social theory designed in the 1950s and '70s to examine the role of television on Americans. Another kind of cultivation effect is Computer Mediated Communication or (CMC) this kind of communication is done by email, list servers, use net groups and chat rooms"

"The mass media are controlled by people who are in power in society, and therefore tend to provide representations which uphold the status quo."

"television is a cultural arm of the established industrial order and as such serves primarily to maintain, stabilize and reinforce rather than to alter, threaten or weaken conventional beliefs and behaviours"

Media presentation mr bush

View more presentations from Sonia Dhunna.

Major News Providers in the UK - and what they own

Independant Broadcasting Authority

News Corp- Rupert Murdock
News International
Rotten Tomatoes
BSKYB
News of The World
The Sun
The Sunday Times

BBC - Jimmy Wales
BBC 1, BBC 2
BBC Radio
BBC Online

Independant Television Authority - Kenneth Clark
ITV
ITV2
TWW

Media Magazine - links and quotes

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/mm22_DVD_extra.html

"These audiences now enjoy the similar access provided by television extras, which can also be seen to provide access to wider on-screen audiences, whether they be in the studio or communicating with the programme via phone or computer"

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/mm27_global_marxism.html

" Marxism can inform our understanding of the political and economic relationships underpinning global media."

"Marxism can inform our understanding of the political and economic relationships underpinning global media."


http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/mm22_what_is_news.html

"Elite nations are often focused upon, reinforcing their perceived importance, whilst many smaller and poorer countries and communities are ignored altogether. News is inherently ideological."

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/reading%20charity.pdf


http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Buffalo_Sold.html

An ideology is a collection of ideas that form a larger system of beliefs. Typically these are the ‘isms’ that you will have heard of, many associated with political beliefs – communism, Marxism, capitalism – together with other ideologies like feminism, Christianity and environmentalism

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/4sets.html

The technological forces are then harnessed, or exploited, by economic forces, the companies in the business of making profits

technologies that make it possible to manufacture a certain media product at a certain time. For example, highly miniaturised digital circuitry and broadband telecommunications for the so-called 3G (third generation) mobile phones, which are starting to hit markets this year.

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Ofcom.html


Since its launch at the end of 2003, the ‘unified regulator’ the Office of Communications (Ofcom) has been happily banning advertisements.

It takes only a single member of the public to complain about an ad, for a ban to be considered. The largest number of complaints that has prompted a response from Ofcom to date is 797 – very high only in comparison with the others

Google Scholar Articles

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2489083

Product class advertising, effect on first time buyrs' decision stratergies

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4189027
consumer eye movement patterns on yellow page advetrising

' how charecteristics influence consumer infomation processing behavior'

' 93% of conusmers are attractedto te colourthen writing'

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2118455
Simple thery of advetrising as good or bad

' most economists and otr interlectualls have not liked advertismnts that provide little infrmation'
'we agree that many ads create wants witout producing informaion, we do nto agree that they change our tastes'

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2297881
Advertising and Coordination

' sellers foten fnd it difficul to submit reevent information in thier advertising'
' price advetisin may even be illegal'
' sellers seect lowers prices and soperae at larger scales'


http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=162717

Repetitive Advertising and the Consumer

Advertising is in an odd position. Its extreme protagonists claim it has extraordinary powers and its severest critics believe them. Advertising is often effective. But it is not as powerful as is sometimes thought, nor is there any evidence that it actually works by any strong form of persuasion or manipulation.


http://abs.sagepub.com/content/38/4/593.short
Social Comparison, Advertising, and Consumer Discontent

Consumers encounter countless advertising images during the course of everyday life. Many of these images are idealized, representing life more as it is imagined than as it actually exists. This article uses theories originating in social psychology to examine the impact these idealized advertising images have on consumers' perceptions of their lives, particularly with respect to their material possessions. Using social comparison theory as a basis, the author argues that exposure to idealized images leads consumers to compare, often unconsciously, their own lives with those represented in idealized advertising images. In addition, information integration frameworks are used to explain how repeated exposure to idealized images raises consumers' expectations and influences their perceptions of how their lives ought to be, particularly in terms of their material possessions. The result of both these processes, for some consumers, is consumer discontent and an increased desire for more.


http://www.jstor.org/pss/2352485
economics consequences of advertising

' advertising opperates predominantly by changing consumer tastes'

'advertising changes tastes interlecually unsatisfactory'

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1061355

Perduasive advertising and product diffrentiation

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1251108
Impact of advertising and price of consumer products

Gardian Links

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/15/soft-drinks-hard-men

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/15/green-consumers-more-likely-steal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/nov/11/marketingandpr.advertising

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/nov/11/marketingandpr.advertising

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2006/jun/09/advertisingto

Critical Investigation

Critical investigation
How effective is aspirational advertising such as '1 Million:Paco Rabane' and car advertising in general, in influencing male consumer lifestyles, and why is this the case?

Linked production
An advertising campaign for a lifestyle product targetting the 18-34 male demographic, to consist of a 30 second TV advertisment and a series of print adverts.

Keywords
Tastes, Fashion, Masculinity, Modern, New, Style, Contempary, Real, Fit, Body, Money, Power, Women, Class, Wealth

Article Links

http://www.springerlink.com/content/f7pthn2p59e12bat/

- 'femine gender roles encourage women to please themselves'
- ' maculine gender roles emphasis power, wheather in a boardroom, bedroom or on the playing field'

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Jpm4x1bNw7kC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=how+advertising+influences+male+tastes&ots=J4iQbn0CPo&sig=pKPrcxyVguWuSLsmMymylPK8aUw#v=onepage&q&f=false

- ' media images of celebrities tecah kids to hate their bodies'
- entertainment specials focus on eating disorders, and celbrity plastic surgery... pressures mates to look like models'

http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/1/109.abstract

-'Results. The recognition thresholds of all four basic tastes of elderly participants were significantly higher than those of young participants'


http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=40-0ksQARtoC&oi=fnd&pg=PR10&dq=how+advertising+influences+male+tastes&ots=muicFkuHoo&sig=Vfs4MrGmiy0OIB7nGiA9t0HwgDw#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/worts22&div=11&id=&page=

-' most americans view more than 3000 ads a day in one day'
- ' danger of advertising is especially how it effects women and girls'

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4189010

- ' ' reason is that consumers grow up in particular cultures and become accustomed to that cultures values, belief in their advertising'


http://www.jstor.org/pss/3151194

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bloy3pwa_7YC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=how+advertising+influences+male+tastes&ots=R0e_IDAkDm&sig=1CPNL1A2reBK6LbWUuB0wYj4WfA#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tCFxM82-w10C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=how+advertising+influences+male+tastes&ots=zzIPfdXF6x&sig=E-2BKv3lVEyLn4j2-YJjOvXGc9s#v=onepage&q&f=false

- effects pf advertising looks at consumers cultural tastes'

MEST4 COURSEWORK IDEAS

Three Critical Investigation Titles & Linked Production Ideas:

1. How adverts influence consumer lifestyles?
- Car advert, which embraces the personas lifestyle

2. How adverts influence male tastes?
- Perfume advert, which shows the personas taste in choice

3. How adverts stereotype genders
- advert on typical stereotypes by a typical product targeted at them


How adverts influence consumer lifestyles?
- Car adver, which embraces the personas lifestyle

Migrain
Media Language- Iconographies- Lots of gold jewellery,expensive cars, stereotyping rich people

Institution- Car model eg. Aston Martin

Genre- Advert

Representation- powerful, rich, strong dominant person

Audience- if its a male in the advert and its for a car then main audience would be males aged 30+

Ideologies-

Narrative- advertising a tangable object however within it you can see the males life, form its use of mise en scene eg. setting



Shep
Social -

Historical - how people in adverts change according to society

Economic - how money and the 'free market' has influenced the way a consumer can live their life

Political -


Media theories that link
Hypodermic Needle Theory - Do audiences believe everything they see?

Uses and Gratifications - Escapism, identification..


Issues and Debates
- Social influences
- media and advertising < global issue


This fits into the contempary media landscape becuase... it shows how consumers are so youst to immatating their lives to what they see on TV.


Possible links for my research

http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-10-0-000-000-2005-Web/JSS-10-1-001-076-2005-Abst-PDF/JSS-10-1-009-016-2005-164-Ayanwale-A-B/JSS-10-1-009-016-2005-164-Ayanwale-A-B.pdf

http://www.globalissues.org/article/160/media-and-advertising

http://www.warc.com/ConferenceBlogs/WAAC-072008.asp

Qu.6 - Laura Mulvey

A beginners’ guide to...Laura Mulvey

Frequently quoted but often misunderstood, the work of Laura Mulvey on ‘the Gaze’ is at the heart of feminist film theory, and has been hugely influential since the mid-1970s. Lucy Scott-Galloway offers you a beginners’ guide, using a case study of Y Tu Mamá También. But be warned: this is difficult stuff.

Essentials

• Laura Mulvey is a Professor of Media and Film at Birkbeck, University of London. She is also a successful screenwriter, producer and director, and has written and edited many books and articles on the subject of contemporary film and feminist theory and practice.

• Her most famous work to date is her seminal essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, written in 1973 and first published in 1975 in the British film theory journal Screen.

• At a simple level, this work, based on her own conceptual analysis of classical Hollywood film texts, rather than empirical audience research, argued the feminist position that the typical audience member is assumed to be male.

• Furthermore, the typical audience member becomes aligned with the film’s male protagonist, by identification, admiration or aspiration.

• According to the theory, which really assesses the representation of gender and the relationship between the text and the audience from a solely feminist perspective, women in film are simply objects for ‘the gaze’ of the protagonist/male audience.

Influences

Mulvey’s essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ borrowed from popular psychoanalytical frameworks of the time, specifically Sigmund Freud’s concept of scopophilia during child development, and Jaques Lacan’s reinterpretation of this by his explanation of the child’s ‘mirror stage’. (See glossary on page 67)

What is ‘feminist film theory’?

Feminist film theory studies the way films make meaning for their audiences from the perspective of feminist politics.

Studies may include, for example, the roles and functions of female characters in the context of narratives and genres, exploring how far representations reinforce dominant patriarchal ideology.

The theory

FREUD AND SCOPOPHILIA

Put simply, scopophilia is the pleasure of watching. The concept as it is used by Mulvey is borrowed from the ‘anal stage’ of child development as suggested by Freud. Freud argued that an individual moves through the stages of oral and anal fixation before reaching the genital stage in adult maturity.

Whilst in the ‘oral stage’ the child is fixated on activities to do with the mouth: biting, sucking, feeding etc.; in the anal stage the child is toilet training, and learns how to keep itself clean, and that certain bodily functions should be kept private. Theoretically, these childhood obsessions can pass into adulthood to cause personality complexes.

Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) has been widely associated with Freud’s theories. With respect to oral and anal fixation, it is often suggested that Norman Bates’ constant sucking on sweets is illustrative of his oral fixation, and Hitchcock’s decision to include a shot of a toilet bowl for the first time in fifty years in mainstream American films challenged the culture’s collective anal fixation.

Scopophilia then, refers to the mature adult’s desire to see things that are culturally forbidden or taboo.

JAQUES LACAN AND THE MIRROR STAGE

In essence, the Mirror Stage, according to Lacan, refers to the moment in early childhood when the child perceives itself as an independent being.

In early infancy, the child has an imaginary identity with the mother, and forms their only sense of self as part of her. At some stage, generally between six and eighteen months, the child looks in the mirror and recognises itself. It feels a sense of jubilation at its own independent existence, and this feeds into its ego and a sense of narcissistic pleasure.

When children first perceive themselves as independent of their mother by way of their mirror reflection, it is at a stage of frustration in their personal development; as their physical desires are greater than their physiological ability. They then consider their mirror reflection to be more able, more perfect, and more complete than they currently feel.

Mulvey believes that this stage leads into the process of film viewing in adulthood, as the mirror is replaced by the screen. The typical audience member gains a sense of narcissistic pleasure from identifying with the film’s protagonist, and following fascination with their filmic counterpart.

LAURA MULVEY AND THE GAZE

Applying these ideas to Hollywood film viewing, Mulvey suggested that women in film are represented as ‘objects’, images with visual and erotic impact, which she termed their ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’. Classical Hollywood films positioned the audience as male, and through identification with the male protagonist (Lacan) gave him an active role in viewing the female subject and gaining pleasure from doing so (Freud). This look, from audience to actress, is termed ‘the look’ or ‘the gaze’. According to Mulvey the look could be ‘voyeuristic’ (women are viewed as virtuous and beautiful) or ‘fetishistic’ (women are viewed as excessively sexual beings).

DEVELOPMENTS OF THE GAZE

Throughout the decades following Mulvey’s essay, the concept of the gaze was developed to incorporate a number of different viewer-positions. For example:

• The spectator’s gaze: the audience looking at the subject on the screen.

• The male gaze: in keeping with Mulvey’s theory describes the male viewing the female, either voyeuristically or fetishistically.

• 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.

• The intra-diegetic gaze: when one character in the text looks/gazes at another character in the text. Through the process of identification, this may lead to the spectator’s gaze also.

• The extra-diegetic gaze: when a character in the text looks out of the text at the audience, breaking the imaginary ‘fourth wall’.

The gaze is inextricably linked to power relationships – the bearer of the gaze has the power. In most cases, the subject of the gaze doesn’t even know they are being looked at (we assume); thus the bearer of the gaze has more knowledge than the subject, and therefore, more power. In Mulvey’s original essay, it is the male who holds this power, and the male film-maker who gives it to him. In developments of the theory, the bearer of the gaze may be female, and the subject may challenge the bearer’s power by gazing right back.

UPDATING THE GAZE

Mulvey’s essay was much discussed in the decades following its publication; she herself re-assessed it in 1981, when she pointed out that she had written the original essay as a starting point for further study and debate, rather than a reasoned academic study.

• The original essay assumes that the film audience is a heterosexual male. This denies the possibility that women can enjoy films as much as men and considerably dates her argument. We now consider that an individual makes their reading from a highly subjective personal standpoint: male, female or transgender, straight, gay or bisexual, as well as influences from class and age and region.

• It also assumes the protagonist is male, which may be the case for much of the classical Hollywood output (1910s-1960s, approx.), but is no longer always the case.

• It is also generally accepted now that the male audience can enjoy, or even identify, with a female character’s point of view, and vice versa. Richard Dyer, for example, has written about the complex relationship created by many gay males with female stars.

How it works – Y Tu Mamá También

In practice, Mulvey’s work is often misunderstood or at least grossly over-simplified. Vaguely referring to ‘the gaze’ as the way every male audience member objectifies every female character into a sexual entity fails fully to explain how this process takes place, and ignores the all-important issue of identification with the protagonist.

Mulvey originally used texts from around the 30s to the 60s to illustrate her argument. But since her theories have been updated by various theorists to include different types of gaze and different gendered audience readings, it is interesting to apply the principles to a film outside her field of investigation.

Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001) is a Mexican film with Spanish dialogue. Translating into English as ‘And Your Mother Too’, the title refers to the point in the comedy/coming-of-age film when a teenage boy tells his friend he has had sex with his friend’s mother. This is typical for the themes of the film, which represent the interests of teenage boys as sex, drugs, alcohol and friendships.

The plot is simple and has been likened to other well-known examples of national cinema; Godard’s Bande À Part (1964) and Truffaut’s Jules et Jim (1962). Despite being a product of Mexico whilst the Godard and Truffaut’s productions were French, Y Tu Mamá También appears to be informed by the Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave) politic of the former films. Rejecting established conventions such as classical narrative in favour of experimental camera technique, editing and storytelling, Y Tu Mamá También features a constantly fluid and shaky camera, long takes with no edits and narrative asides and digressions provided by a narrator. However, in its use of the gaze, the film remains very conventional.

THE NARRATIVE

In Y Tu Mamá También, two teenage boys, Tenoch and Julio, go on a road trip taking along an older woman, Luisa, for the ride. Both are attracted to her, and rivalry arises between the boys not only in relation to Luisa, but also incorporating most other aspects of their lives.

THE OPENING

The film is sexually explicit, and opens with a sex scene involving full nudity of both the characters, Tenoch and his girlfriend Ana. The camera work positions the audience as a voyeur, almost in a point-of-view shot, beginning with half the frame hidden by a door, and then moving fluidly with a hand-held shake onto the bed with the characters, and then moving back out again. This scene is juxtaposed with shots of Julio and his girlfriend, Cecilia, having sex, the first of a number of juxtapositions that represent the boys’ rivalry. It is an unusual opening for a film as it is particularly graphic, and the audience may receive scopophilic pleasure from viewing such a private and intimate act. The film emphasises the process of looking throughout: the audience looking at the characters, characters looking at each other, characters looking at passing scenery of Mexico in long takes of the characters’ POV from the car. The constantly fluid and hand-held camera positions the audience as voyeur. The spectator’s gaze puts the audience in a position of power; we are watching the scenes unfold by seeing but not being seen.

Whilst the film doesn’t assume that the audience is male, the opening of the film is constructed to encourage identification with one of the male protagonists. The audience may employ the male gaze or the female gaze in their reading of the scene; both characters are represented as sexual objects, both have similar amounts of nudity. However, the male voiceover is all-knowing, and makes references to what has happened in the past to these characters, and what will happen in the future. In his telling of the story, he anchors meaning that sex is the male, rather than the female, endeavour, although the female characters are sexually proactive. He refers to what the male characters ‘do to’ their girlfriends, and how the girls’ parents feel about it. Having served their narrative purpose, the girls are flown off abroad as part of the narrative.

THE POWER OF THE GAZE

The boys lack power in their lives, as most teenagers do, and this may help us identify with the male protagonists. Both have to follow instructions from their parents, live by their parents rules, and are put down by a successful relative. What the boys do have is their sexuality, and this is signified in the film by their use of the intra-diegetic gaze. Their ability, and ‘right’, to look is their power. The first time we see Luisa, the boys are at a family wedding. Whilst the audience are focused on a figure in an extra long deep focus shot, Luisa ambushes the audience’s gaze by walking through the foreground of the shot in shallow focus. She is then a recognisable visual sign when Julio first sees her. He stares at her for a full five seconds, and the camera, still fluid, moves closer to his face to emphasise his gaze, suggesting his objectification of her. As much of the story has been told from the male protagonist’s point of view, the audience then objectifies Luisa similarly. But this process is not necessarily solely male; the female audience is literate enough to be able to occupy the position of a male character. The voiceover reinforces this objectification, encouraging initially a voyeuristic gaze, rather than fetishistic, by representing her in relation to her domestic role, a wife. Her dialogue supports this, as she suggests that salt will take a stain out of her husband’s shirt.

When Tenoch approaches Luisa and makes conversation, he offers her a cigarette, which she accepts. A psychoanalytic interpretation would see this a phallic symbol of masculinity, and her acceptance of the cigarette is Tenoch’s first penetration of Luisa’s life, if not her body. The ensuing conversation takes place in a medium long 3-shot, of Tenoch and Julio closing Luisa in to the far left of the frame.

The boys’ fetishistic attraction to Luisa is however confirmed by a following scene, in which the two boys masturbate and both ejaculate at the mention of Luisa’s name. However, their attraction to Luisa gives her no real power over the boys; her role remains functional to their story. The transience of their affections is illustrated by the dialogue when Tenoch tells Julio Luisa wants to come on the trip, and Julio asks, ‘Luisa who?’ Shots of the boys from different forms of gaze are usually set up in terms of their rivalry, either by juxtaposing their sex lives, by their teasing assessments of each others’ bodies, or when they competitively swim naked. The masturbation scene is immediately followed by a shot of Luisa; her bare legs occupying at least three quarters of the frame, and thus inviting a fetishistic gaze. She discovers her husband is cheating; with her sobs, her body rises and falls slightly, in a classic sexual pose. Until now she has lacked any overt sexuality. But her husband’s infidelity serves to ‘allow’ her to express sexuality in terms of the film’s moral code, and following scenes represent Luisa as bearer of the intra-diegetic gaze, and sometimes, a willing receiver.

At a hotel on the trip, Luisa bears the intra-diegetic female gaze, as she asks Tenoch to take off his towel and he complies. Tenoch has his back to the camera and deep in the frame, Luisa moves around so that she can get a better look. The audience see her seeing, rather than seeing what she sees. But, when the boys look, the audience tend to see what they see, such as when they spy on Luisa crying in her room, encouraging the audience to identify with the male protagonists. Mulvey may argue that this assumes that the audience is male, especially as the ensuing scene of them having sex plays on the typical male fantasy of having sex with an older, experienced woman. However, the scene is about much more than sex, and when the audience sees Julio watching Tenoch and Luisa having sex, they may identify with Julia’s feelings about his friendship with Tenoch. He feels betrayed by Tenoch, rather than Luisa; these are feelings that a female audience can relate to as well as a male. Equally when Luisa tries to restore the balance between the boys by having sex with Julio, Tenoch tries to climb a tree to watch, but fails. Both boys experience the feeling of wanting to see what is culturally taboo, but then wishing they hadn’t.

Towards the end of the film, the three get drunk together, tell each other secrets, and eventually dance. The scene is shot in an extra-long take with very little technical direction. Luisa looks into the camera as she dances, almost ‘seeing’ the audience with an extra-diegetic gaze. Breaking the convention of the ‘fourth wall’, it is as if she knows she is being watched, and she regains a certain amount of power. Following this scene, she chooses to stay at the beach and not return with the boys, and the audience never see her cry again but only hear about her strengths.

Different audiences may make different readings of these scenes, based on their own gender, sexuality and experience. I don’t think the film assumes the audience is male, or even heterosexual, and a great number of readings of the film question the boys’, especially Julio’s heterosexuality, basing their arguments on Julio’s intra-diegetic gaze of Tenoch in the closing shots of the film. However, the film does make use of the gaze to make meaning throughout. The final scenes of the film include an extra long take of Luisa’s point of view, as she watches the boys clear up the beach. It becomes clear at this point that the film is not about sex, or nudity, or male objectification of women, but about friendship, and coming-of-age. Luisa’s intra-diegetic gaze, for me, anchors the meaning of the film.

Glossary

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.

Quotable Quote

‘The paradox of phallocentrism in all of its manifestations is that it depends on the image of the castrated woman to give order and meaning to its world.’

Simplified: ‘Isn’t it funny that a culture obsessed with masculinity needs images of women, and their absence of masculine characteristics, to give it meaning?’

Worth a visit to the library...

Laura Mulvey, 1989: Visual and Other Pleasures: Collected Writings

A collection of essays collated over a period of time, exploring film from a feminist perspective.

Laura Mulvey, 1996: Fetishism and Curiosity

Investigations into Hollywood cinema of the studio system, in the contexts of work by Marx and Freud.

Lucy Scott-Galloway teaches Media Studies at Newham Sixth Form Centre.

from MediaMagazine 21, September 2008.

5. Post-Feminism Reading/Reserach

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



popular culture in Bridget Jones dairy

"This is a movement detectable across popular culture, a site where “power … is remade at various junctures within everyday life"

"the shrill championing of young women as a “metaphor for social change” on the pages of the right wing press in the UK, in particular the Daily Mail."

My argument is that post-feminism positively draws on and invokes feminism as that which can be taken into account, to suggest that equality is achieved..."

popular culture in car adverts




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

"Once again, the shadow of disapproval is introduced (the striptease as site of female exploitation), only instantly to be dismissed as belonging to the past, to a time when feminists used to object to such imagery. "

"Feminism is “taken into account,” but only to be shown to be no longer necessary. Why? Because there is no exploitation here, there is nothing remotely naıve about this striptease. She seems to be doing it out of choice, and for her own enjoyment; the advert works on the basis of its audience knowing Claudia to be one of the world’s most famous and highly paid supermodels."

Wonder Bra advert

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

"The composition of the image had such a textbook “sexist ad” dimension that one could be forgiven for supposing some familiarity with both cultural studies and with feministcritiques of advertising (Judith Williamson 1987)."

"It was, in a sense, taking feminism into account by showing it to be a thing of the past, by provocatively “enacting sexism” while at the same time playing with those debates in film theory about women as the object of the gaze (Laura Mulvey 1975) and even with female desire (Rosalind Coward 1984;Teresa de Lauretis 1988)."

sex in the city trailer



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

"Individuals must now choose the kind of life they want to live. Girls must have a lifeplan. They must become more reflexive in regard to every aspect of their lives, from making the right choice in marriage, to taking responsibility for their own working lives,and not being dependent on a job for life or on the stable and reliable operations of a large-scale bureaucracy which in the past would have allocated its employees specific,and possibly unchanging, roles".

4. understanding post feminism

Clarifying Concepts:

A more positive look at post-feminism:
In raising these questions, I am only at the beginning of figuring out what a more positive kind of post-feminist account of religion and family might look like, and so have no compelling summary to offer, let alone a call to a specific research agenda. In my own work, I do want to take some feminist insights for granted. But I explicitly reject the idea that strong feminist critiques have had their day and must now give way gracefully to approaches that favor a consensual and functional, or even communitarian, interpretation of the good society. I am feeling more combative, or at least constructively critical, about theories that neatly divide society into a “public” and a “private” realm, while systematically devaluing those feminine things (religion, family) assigned to the private (cf., Warner 1999). I am not sure where it will lead, but it feels right to begin pushing back the boundaries of post-feminism by asking a different set of questions.

Post-feminism as backlash to feminism:
What the hell is postfeminism, anyway? I would think it would refer to a time when complete gender equality has been achieved. That hasn’t happened, of course, but we (especially young women) are supposed to think it has. Postfeminism, as a term, suggests that women have made plenty of progress because of feminism, but that feminism is now irrelevant and even undesirable because it has made millions of women unhappy, unfeminine, childless, lonely, and bitter, prompting them to fill their closets with combat boots and really bad India print skirts.

i feel this is the best concept on post feminism

Post-feminism as a colloquialism:
It’s about deeply held political convictions, not to mention strategy. If there’s a wad of people out there extolling postfeminism and meaning “I think feminism is flawed and I’d like to see some goal-shifting, fresh tactics, and revisiting of contentious topics,” this isn’t just an issue of what’s going on in a speech group that doesn’t overlap with mine. It’s about defending feminism’s ground. Feminism is already doing the work that these (as I have come to think of them) non-evil postfeminists think comes with their prefix. And it’s beyond obvious that feminism suffers from its terrible reputation and from the vast misunderstandings that stunning numbers of people still have about it (no matter how many times it happens, I will never, ever get used to being asked if I hate men). I can’t help but see even the non-evil usage of “postfeminism” as a rejection of and attack on feminism, and an implication that the movement is finished. And that means I need to challenge it at every turn.

The ambiguity of the prefix “post”:
I’ve come accross the term used in the way Lurker describes, similarly, in academic circles, and for academic reasons I don’t think anyone should use it. The problem lies in the ambiguity of the prefix “post”, because post can mean since something commenced OR since something concluded. So, while technically a “post-feminist society” could mean a society since feminism began to be an influence, there will always be people who think you mean since feminism ended.

Stella Artois advert - negative representation

Gucci Guilty - positive representations

what are the different representations of women in adverts and how are they signified (Bianca)

What are the different representations of women in adverts and how are they signified?
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.

negative representation of women

This advert is a Mr muscle advert for washing up detergent, it consists of a female ‘housewife’ he is trying to clean her sink but is finding it very difficult and is in need for some help, then Mr. muscle comes along ‘to the rescue’ and gives her Mr. muscle cleaning detergent and it works, then saves the day – this is apparent as she is so thankful towards the end when she says ‘oh thank you Mr. muscle you’re a life saver’. I chose to use this advert as it is a negative representation of the female, as she is shown to be weak and helpless because she cannot simply clean on her own and is in need of help. Not just help from any person but a ‘hunky’ male almost superhero like to come and save her from her troubles. This representation foe hr makes it seem as if women cannot do nothing on their own and always need a male around to save them, it also makes males look much stronger and dominant then women this therefore places women in a subordinate group, because of things such as what is shown is this advert as she couldn’t even complete a simple task of cleaning without male attention.
other ways in which this could make her come across as a negative representation is form the situation she has been placed in and form the mise en scene, as she is in a kitchen making her seem as if she is a ‘house wife’ and this therefore encourages that role in society for women; which is not quiet the case today as women today are very successful and in some jobs seem more than men. This advert is one that may have been appropriate in 1960s as many adverts then which involved women mainly showed them as housewives however after the 1990s more dominant roles where given to this. Therefore this advert almost challenges time and make the audience question if women are still perceived in the same subordinate way as they would have been back then.

This is a poster to go with the perfume advert – it also adds to the positive representation of the female used in the advert Charlize Theron, through many ways. The use of high key lighting on her face and body in the medium shot highlights her significance and beauty as well as importance as she is almost more focused on then the perfume itself. In addition to this, her facial expression tells the audience a lot about her as it makes her look in charge, fearless and very dominant. She almost looks as if she is made out of gold; this signifies the rich beauty that the perfume brings and the value of her being high and expensive, and because the background is black and everything else is golden it connotes how she and the perfume are in control on this poster and nothing else needs to be focused on, again making her seem very important.

Representation of women

positive representation of women

This is a perfume advert for women featuring Charlize Theron who has been advertising for Dior since 2009. Whilst watching this advert I felt that her character is represented in a positive aspect, as soon as it begins. It starts off with a long shot of her, highlighting her body and posture as there is high key lighting which directs the focus on her. This makes her seem powerful and independent as she is walking on her own throughout the advert and full focus of the camera is on her. In addition to this, whilst she is walking she begins to strip whatever she is wearing – by doing this the viewer automatically can see how she is control and is being fearless because she is not afraid and has the courage to expose herself, as stereotypically men usually do in adverts, taking her out of this subordinate role. The use of her dialogue such as when she says “gold is cold, diamonds are dead” shows how material items are worthless, this makes men look weak as stereotypically they buy women material things to keep them happy.

Throughout the advert her facial expression is very strong and a lot of lighting is used to focus the viewer towards it as we her looking in control and far from weak, this is made evident of toward the end of the advert when she is walking naked as if she is walking down a catwalk and has nothing to hide and is proud of her body rather than feeling paranoid as stereotypically sometimes the media makes women out to be insecure of themselves therefore they try and buy material things etc to fit in with this ‘perfect image’, however the women in this advert is far from it as she strips herself away from these material things.

Media Guardain 100

1. What is the Guardian 100 and who are the panellists that create it?
It is the top 100 people working within the media industry, it also states the 100 most powerful people currently in todays media industry, it includes; tv, radio, pess and publishing, media business, advertising, marketing and PR, and the digital meida

2. How many women are in the top 100?
18

3. What companies do these women work for and in what roles?
The companies and roles are; advertising, cheif executive, controller - publishing and editor in publishing

4. What percentage of the 100 is women?
18%

5. How would you assess the balance of power in this list and why do you think it is this way?"
By looking at the satistics of women within the industry it is a very small percentage, therefore this indicates how the males are more dominant and in power within the 100 people working in media today. This makes women almost be subordinates in society today.

Marshall McLuhan - global village theory

http://itwofs.com/beastoftraal/2010/04/18/marshall-mcluhans-global-village-is-happening-now-finally/

" the next era was the electronic era (television/ radio). This, McLuhan calls the shared tribal identity, where we have consumers consuming content from the medium, but not necessarily alone – it’s no wonder it was called ‘mass media’. "

http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_mcluhan.htm

"Resonating interval": an object which goes beyond time; and is affected by both its own characteristics and the environment which surrounds it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan

"individualistic print culture would soon be brought to an end by what he called "electronic interdependence"

Shrek 3

View more presentations from Sonia Dhunna.

self evaluation

www

- Well rehearsed and good body language
- Passionate and confident about the text
- New the text very well
- Good use of media terminology
- It was significant and simple
- Good knowledge on gross and sales

EBI

- Good beginning however ending was poor
- Towards the end text increased – looked as if i had given up
- Needed to use more media terminology
- Needed to interact more with the audience

significance:2
structure:3
simplicity:3
rehersal:2

Shrek The Third officail trailer

Dream works

• In December of 2005, DreamWorks was purchased by Paramount Studios for $1.6 billion
• Ending DreamWorks' 11-year run as an independent studio.
• DreamWorks was never able to produce enough films to cover the cost of being their own distributors.
• The move allowed Paramount to increase the num of films released each year.
• Spielberg stayed on as a director & Geffen as chairman.
• The two agreed to produce up to six movies this year.
• In addition, Paramount has the right to distribute DreamWorks future animated features.

The score recard review - Shrek the Third

http://thescorecardreview.com/review/film-reviews/2010/05/21/shrek-forever-after-3d/10525

this is a review on what this website and other rate Shrek the third as a whole going through, the main aspects of it and how well it worked in achieving the narrative.

SCORECARD (0-10)

ACTORS:

Mike Myers as Shrek: There is something sad about Myers failure to make audiences laugh. The Austin Powers character has grown old, The Love Guru was painful … yet Shrek lives on. Somehow Shrek doesn’t get the Myers taint on him. Shrek is back to having some passion. He’s sick of the day in day out of raising a family. I assume most dad’s will appreciate this at least a little bit. He wants a break from it all, and when that goes terribly wrong, you actually feel a little bad for him.
Score: 7

Eddie Murphy as Donkey: Murphy just makes Donkey work. For him, it’s probably just an excuse to sing a wide variety of songs. For me, the singing works, but not as well as the quick one-liners. It’s one of those cases where the audience is laughing and you almost wish they wouldn’t, so you can hear the next thing coming out of his mouth. My favorite? “Flip flop Fridays.”
Score: 9

Cameron Diaz as Fiona: It seems Fiona’s main goal in the beginning is to point out Shrek should be happy with what he has. Then, in the alternative Shrek universe, without ever meeting her Orge of choice, she becomes a warrior princess. The concept that she goes from a princess, desperate to be rescued, to a strong woman who must rescue herself is a good one.
Score: 7

Antonia Banderas as Puss in Boots: Almost purely comic relief, Puss is now a fat cat in body and mind. He’s being taken care of by Fiona and likes bows in his hair and cream (heavy on the cream). It’s amusing and even the animated kitty eyes work when he needs Donkey to lick him dry with “All By Myself” cranking in the background.
Score: 7

Walt Dohrn as Rumpelstiltskin: An entertaining, crafty, amusing looking villain. That’s all we need for these films and Dohrn does a great job with Rumpelstiltskin. Dohrn is actually in the animation department, and in an early screening he filled in as the voice. Well, everyone liked it so much, he stuck. I love stories like that, and was immediately rooting for him. Rumple and his pet Goose deliver. And if you disagree, then I’ll have to get out my angry wig! You’ll understand once you see Rumpelstiltskin in action. As Rumple says, “Nobody’s smart but me!”
Score: 8

TALKING: The jokes are back. At first it seems it could be a rehashing of “It’s better out than in,” but luckily that line is used more as a device to show the mundane repetition of Shrek’s life. More important than the jokes, it’s a basic story kids can follow and we can care about.
Score: 7

SIGHTS: This movie made me remember that simply looking at the first Shrek movie is good times. There’s great animated detail whether it’s the slow-motion shots, or Donkey’s unkempt coat. They use the 3D extremely well, especially with flying sequences. It’s worth the extra money.
Score: 8

SOUNDS: For Shrek films, it’s typically about the songs. Well, prepare yourself now because there isn’t a new song for the big song and dance finale. But the other songs are used quite well. Again, Donkey sings, but my favorite use of music was when Shrek goes back to being a feared Orge, and “Top of the World” accompanies his journey.
Score: 8

Music Review: Various Artists- Shrek The Third

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-various-artists-shrek-the/

An important aspect of any film is the music incorporated into it. It’s often carefully selected to suit the mood or theme of the movie. The music selected helps to make it work, or in some cases bomb. Shrek The Third mixes the old with the new, as well as throwing in some impressive covers.

The Eels kick off the soundtrack with “Royal Pain”. A cute little ditty that has bounce, it’s delivered in E’s recognizable raspy voice. It’s not the first time that the Eels have appeared on a Shrek soundtrack. In fact, apart from Eddie Murphy, they are the only band that has appeared on every soundtrack. This time they appear twice, also performing “Losing Steak”, which is another stellar performance.

From there the soundtrack takes a welcoming step back in time with The Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?”, Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, and Wings’ “Live And Let Die”. It was a surprise to hear such classics on a Shrek soundtrack, since the others have been more pop albums than rock, and more about newer bands, rather than older ones. However, after listening to the rest of the soundtrack, the songs meld within the soundtrack, especially “The Immigrant Song”, which compliments Wolfmother’s classic rock-sounding “The Joker And The Thief”. Both tracks have such a similar style of sound, that it’s hard to separate the two from each other.

Fergie’s version of “Barracuda” was another surprise. I’d heard, before buying the album, that she had covered Heart and was prepared to skip through the song. Although vocally, she has always had the strength to produce great music, I didn’t think she would be able to give “Barracuda” the justice it deserved.

I was wrong. Fergie’s cover of “Barracuda” is one of the best songs on the soundtrack. She really nails each line, delivering it with the same oomph Ann Wilson delivered the first time around. In honesty, hearing the first couple of lines delivered with such strength, I thought it was Ann Wilson singing. Fergie has updated the classic rock track for a whole new generation to fall in love with all over again.

Film review: Shrek the Third- the Sunday Times Review

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article1994474.ece

Children may devour the slapstick, but the once-mighty Shrek has somehow lost all his charm and spiky humour

James Christopher

Now is the winter of Shrek’s discontent made glorious summer by box-office gold. But Princess Fiona is big with child. His royal father-in-law (a frog) is about to croak. And the business of ruling Far Far Away will fall upon the ogre unless he can get a weedy relative called Arthur to sit on the throne. Shrek aches for his swamp like Richard III once ached for a crown.

Unfortunately, that’s the full extent of his Shakespearean ambition to which the title – Shrek the Third – playfully alludes.

Not so Prince Charming. Rupert Everett’s vainglorious ham can’t get enough of the stage, even if he has to relive his fading moments of glory in grim theatrical dives. Tired of being heckled every night, Charming rallies an army of fairytale villains and storms the streets of Far Far Away.

These days he may be best known as a CGI moggy in Shrek movies, but Antonio Banderas still does a passable global sex god

His dastardly plan to pinch the crown chimes with Shrek’s desire to capitulate. The plug-eared monster feels imprisoned by duty. He is stapled into Restoration frocks, and he manages to sink more ships with a bottle of champagne than he actually launches. Worse, he has nightmares about becoming a father.

Like all the previous Shreks, the story, penned by seven authors, hinges on a journey where the grumpy ogre is forced to eat humble pie. Fans will choke on the déjà vu. Shrek’s quest to transform Justin Timberlake’s Arthur from a medieval high-school drip into a regal winner is as novel as Tesco.

Children will devour the slapstick. Adults will mourn the lack of fresh spin. There are only so many times you can recycle characters such as Donkey, Puss In Boots and Pinnochio before you feel as if you’re in a launderette rather than a film.

Even Mike Myers’s mighty ogre is a washout. Shrek is not half as beastly as he used to be. The tantrums are more Paris Hilton than Richard III, the Scottish accent is on the slide, and I’ve got serious issues about the size of his head. In some scenes his mug looms as large as a hot-air balloon. In others it looks like a ping-pong ball.