Lynx advert (male fantasy)
This ad represents the stereotypical ways in which men see woman in modern times and creating a parallel way of what the ideal female would be like for men. Some of the traditional stereotypes displayed were pieces of objectification from a average females point of view, as it was showing a side of them that only decreases their representation by suggesting things like them openly allowing themselves to be sexually promiscuous, and weak to the temptation of being angry at the men for cheating on them. The producers attempt to brainwash male audiences that if they use the product then their partners will be more lenient and allow them to get away with things they shouldn't, this insults the female intellect as they clearly have more self confidence and respect for themselves to allow a form of deodorant to change their minds.
Binge drinking female ad
The advert portrays the supposed mythical belief that this is the average 21st version of a young female which is in Stark comparison to what one would have been like even 20 years ago. Although this is an advert targeted at young female girls it reveals home truths that some teenage girls will watch and have personal identification with. It shows the girl getting ready for a night out but using all the connotations of a stereotypical teenage party where she is drunk and doesn't know what shes doing like ripping her bra, throwing up, and wiping her mascara on her face unaware the mess it has made. This represents the young teenage girl in a bad light by being "symbolically anahliahed" in front of a t.v audience especially with adults who are watching it for surveillance purposes. It also shows her conforming to the false consciousness theory that the way to get a mans attention is to dress up in this way and be wild.
Levi walk the line ad (skinny jeans)
This is one of many adverts in a growing culture in the 21st century to put female representation and a good light. It shows the woman walking through different places to get to her destination with an Aura of confidence style and Independence about her. Although in some parts of the commercial she is slightly objectified through the male gaze she does not seem to care that this is currently happening and carries on through her journey. She is given a powerful and determined appearance to the extent where traffic stops when she crosses the rode further signifying how dominant and strong she is. She commands an authoritative figure has she walks through the locations suggesting that is it now females who are and becoming the respectively and dominant gender. This takes a huge step for social gender equality in advertisement as this time 40 years ago the women would be in the kitchen or looking after the children while the man walks on his journey with a purpose, and their isn't a hint of sexist stereotypes. As David Gauntlet says "woman we expect to see in ads these days is the busy, confident, attractive success in control of her own personal life and a kitchen slave to no one" that is undoubtedly proven in this advertisement.
Sunday 14 December 2008
Saturday 13 December 2008
3 Images
Man: That's it love beans on toast and make it snappy Ive got to go to workWoman: I feel so subservient to his requirements I'm not a second class citizen
Cant I persuade you to buy these drinks without having to strip off?
I bet all those men in the audience aren't appreciating my tennis that's for sure
Friday 12 December 2008
3 historical adverts
1950s hair gel ad
This advertisement is about a special type of hair cream that is suppose to appeal to men but uses the female as the selling point. In the advertisement it shows a down on his luck man with a normal life using a shampoo that is designed to make you seem more attractive and give a confident boost. The female casts is supposed to be the object of desire for the man and a "reward" for using the shampoo for good effect. It portrays the female as weak to temptation for not the mans charms or personality but for his hair that has just bursted into life. Without the use of the females approval the ad is not effective and therefore the male audience is not convinced or satisfyed that the product works. However for all the sterotypes that are displayed in this advert it contridicts what some reasearchers like gunter suggest with it actually being the man who is obsessed with his apperance as apposed to being concerned with his work.
1950s soap ad
This advertisement is about a new brand of soap that was being relased that was being aimed at both a male and female audience. Despite this the producers felt the need to cast a woman in this role because as a sign of the times where the women were mostly seen as houswives and therefore most likely to be in the house doing something whether it was cooking or cleaning. Using soap back then was as something that was femenine and was a direct reference to thier mythical (barthes) obsessity of being as clean as possible both with them selves and the house they were lviving. There are a lot of close up shots the advert uses on the woman to demonstrate how happy she is to be using it to become clean , this partly relates to walters theory that they want to be as clean as possible and use make up in a boost to gain attention from men. They have used a women for the female audience to identify themselves with her as apperently this is what they were concerned with at the period of time. In additon gunters study also backs up what is shown " where all ads featuring women three quarters were for kicthen and bathroom products"
Purgeot 1970s ad
This advert substansially degrades women to the level that they are only objects of a males view of an idealistic world. The advert is a 1970s advert for a Peugeot 305, which at that period of time was a new and improved version of current cars that were on offer. So quite why a female was cast in the advert to help sell a male dominated and targeted product which has nothing to do with her furthers emphasises the pointless roles that female used to play in persuading men to buy products. It shows the car from different angles to give it a better appaerance but also contains a physically attractive woman saying how good the car is, this demonstrates the image of brainwahsing the male audience through what the woman is promissing, making them beilive that buying the newest car around will help them to attractive females. With the actress partcipating in some promiscoius poses it suggests the idea of sex sells, in additon what she is saying is good about the car connotates what is bieleived that the women wants in her ideal man as she says it has "power" and "control" which further brainwashing males.
Thursday 11 December 2008
3 Ways to Improve Female represenation offscreen
1) Get female actresses to publicly endorse and ask for more female directors (cult of celebrity) to come out and show what they have got, they can say that they want to work with someone new , fresh and someone who shares their views from a patriarchal perspective. By doing this it will them give female film directors more better representation as more people will take them seriously
2) If famous male directors took the up and coming female ones under their wings and made it public they was doing so to put more attention on the females off screen. People will respect that they are working under such big names and then will be taken more seriously if they go on to direct a film after the guidance of a successful well known male director like Tarintino or Spielberg.
3) Create bigger versions of the women's film festival with more attention on the events to portray their hard work and dedication to what the are making, this would highlight their ability to produce good films just as good as men and put the spotlight on their career juggling showing that it isn't impossible to balance directing a film and having children.
2) If famous male directors took the up and coming female ones under their wings and made it public they was doing so to put more attention on the females off screen. People will respect that they are working under such big names and then will be taken more seriously if they go on to direct a film after the guidance of a successful well known male director like Tarintino or Spielberg.
3) Create bigger versions of the women's film festival with more attention on the events to portray their hard work and dedication to what the are making, this would highlight their ability to produce good films just as good as men and put the spotlight on their career juggling showing that it isn't impossible to balance directing a film and having children.
5 female directors and what they have made
Gurinder Chadha- was born in Kenya, and grew up in Southall, England. She has as her career total 14 wins in major awards and 7 nominations in other awards.
Movies shes directed
Angus, thongs and perfect snogging (2008)
Bend it like Beckham(2002)
Bride & Prejuduce (2004)
A Nice Arrangement (1994)
What do you call an indian women who's funny(1994)
Amma Asante- was born in streatham, london, England and she has won awards such as the Baftas in 2005 and was nominated as best new comer in london critics circle film awards in the same year.
Movies shes directed
Where hands touch (2010) (pre production)
A way of life (2004)
lynne Ramsey- was born in 5th december 1969 in glasgow, Scotland, shes been nominated for a bafta and has 19 awards in total
Movies shes directed
Movern callar (2002)
Ratcatcher (1999)
Gasman(1997)
Small deaths (1996)
Kill the day (1996)
Cinema16: British short films(2003)
Debbie Allen- was born on the 16th of january 1950 in houstin texas, As a child she lived in Mexico to escape US racism. She has won a total of 8 awards in her career and had 21 nominations.
Movies shes directed
The old settler (2001)
Out of sync (1995)
Barbara Albert is austrian and was born in Vienna in 1970 and has won 15 awards with 11 nominations
Movies shes directed
Fallen (2006)
Visions of europe(2004)
Nordrand (1999)
Somewhere else (1997)
5 Reasons why female directors are a rare sight
1) Most of the time it is about "who you know" that is already established in the business and 9 out of 10 times it will be a high powered positional male, females don't really tend to know anybody that is also female in high places that would give them a break through empathy.
2) Their is already apparently a established hierarchy in place in the film industry that has a way of continuation on certain rules about gender superiority, this is putting females off getting into the industry because of expected sexism and objectification. This is a myth( Barthes) that has been around for a long time and females are believing that myth to be the case as such because their aren't any well known female directors.
3) As the usual film needs a big technological crew containing lots of heavy equipment it would require a majority Strong male based group to deal with all the lifting etc, it is widely accepted that it makes sense for a man to be in charge of that as the film crew would respect him more because their are still gender issues about control and authority.
4) Their are very few big name female directors in today's film industry for young pretenders to look up to as inspiration that they could one day be spoken about in the same light as their male director counterparts, they may feel that they will never become a success because those who tried before them haven't becomes ones either
5) The main reason for their being such a lack of female directors is because it is such a heavy devotion to time in their lives and if they are juggling that with a family it is virtually impossible to do both jobs to the maximum level of their ability simply because of the required commitment both bring. Men usually do the directing while theirs wives bring up their child so its an easier schedule for them whereas females who are and will always be linked to motherhood generally don't have the same luxury of their husbands being able to look after the kids while she directs.
2) Their is already apparently a established hierarchy in place in the film industry that has a way of continuation on certain rules about gender superiority, this is putting females off getting into the industry because of expected sexism and objectification. This is a myth( Barthes) that has been around for a long time and females are believing that myth to be the case as such because their aren't any well known female directors.
3) As the usual film needs a big technological crew containing lots of heavy equipment it would require a majority Strong male based group to deal with all the lifting etc, it is widely accepted that it makes sense for a man to be in charge of that as the film crew would respect him more because their are still gender issues about control and authority.
4) Their are very few big name female directors in today's film industry for young pretenders to look up to as inspiration that they could one day be spoken about in the same light as their male director counterparts, they may feel that they will never become a success because those who tried before them haven't becomes ones either
5) The main reason for their being such a lack of female directors is because it is such a heavy devotion to time in their lives and if they are juggling that with a family it is virtually impossible to do both jobs to the maximum level of their ability simply because of the required commitment both bring. Men usually do the directing while theirs wives bring up their child so its an easier schedule for them whereas females who are and will always be linked to motherhood generally don't have the same luxury of their husbands being able to look after the kids while she directs.
Monday 8 December 2008
Book Reaserch Bibliography
Title: The complete Hitchock
Year published: 1991
Author Surname: Condon
Author name: Paul
Place it was published: USA
How it is useful to me
Alfred hitchcock is one of the most well known directors of all times and his crediditied for releases such as psycho which is responsible for demonstrating the final girl chracter. He played a part in giving females more attention by putting them in lead roles such as in psycho and Dial M for murder, the book is a comprehensive guide to all Hitchcock's works including TV series and early silent films as well as the Hollywood classics he produced. From a modern day perspective it would be very helpful to me to examine his inflence on other film-makers over the years and all the way up to today to see the impact had had in casting females in particular roles that gave them a better light in representation but also soemtimes a negative one aswell.
Title: A personal journey through american movies
Year published: 1997
Author Surname: scorsese
Author Name: Martin
Place it was published: Italy
How it is useful to me
This book goes through the decades of american movies since its creation and how characters and roles have evolved through time, some of which were reflection of society at the time for instance the wave of femenism and the civil rights movement. The different changes over the whole period of hollywood relates to the historical part of shep and so I would get a vital.
Title: Impossible bodies femeniity and masculinaty at the movies
Year published: 2002
Author Surname: Holmlund
Author Name: Chris
Place it was published: USA
How it is useful to me
This more than most should directly help me as its portraying the aspcets of both femeninity and mascunilty in moviess. It wil demonstrate what exatcly makes feminitiy by how females act and what they do, this will help me write my indepdenant study as some of the females in my current movie are still being represented as femenine with the types of moves and actions they are given while some are being represented in the opposite way for a binary oppostion with soem aspects of masculintiy. This book will give me an indication of what is means to be these things and whether the stereotype of femeinity and mascuniutly have changed from then untill now. Impossible Bodies investigates issues of ethnicity, gender and sexuality in contemporary Hollywood with gender being the most important to me in completing my study. Chris Holmlund the author offers a view of contemporary cinema that I agree with which other dont It is an essential guide to the ways in which genre conventions resolve sexual differences.
Title: Media Studies, The essential guide resource
Year published: 2004
Author Surname: Rayner
Author Name: Phillip
Place it was published: Canada
How it is useful to me
This is an innovative book which brings together a comprehensive collection of primary source material about all the things to do with media studies. Each extract in the book is accompanied by commentary which places the writing in its historical and critical context. The book discusses the significance of each decade of film and books and they also identify key terms which I could use for the indepdenatn study write up and explains its importance for Media Studies. Phillip rayner introduces step-by-step to the skills of reading media texts to the audience aswell as key concepts such as genre, representation, media institutions and media audiences which in turn will build up my Migrian skills and partly help with my shep skills in additon.
Title: Odd girl out
Year Published: 2003
Author Surname:Simmons
Author Name: Rachel
Place it was published: USA
Important quote: "The princess is the last frontier of acceptable girliness. It points to how crazy our times have become that I, as a feminist, am promoting princess culture"
How it is useful
This is the only book where for the first time I could possibly find out about a hidden side in females according to the author rachel simmons, this book gives an insight into the hidden agenda of girls and women both in normal lives and where they are mostly exploited as weak and innifective and that is places like the film industry, sports , and careers in buisness, she labels what was the wave of feminism and says thier could be another one soon to come , if this is the case it would help females like the ones in my film study x-men for example gain more vital roles than the current supporting ones they play
Title: The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era
Year published 1999
Author Surname:Menefee
Author Name:David
Place it was published: USA
Important quote: "Silent cinema brought us many talented women, but setting aside the Pickfords, Swansons, and Gishes of the world, few today have retained their star power".
" Not only was the industry run by men, who often favored their male stars with larger, meatier roles, but it was also very selective in preserving its own history"
How it is useful
The book is basicly about women in the film industry when only silent films were around, it looks back into the historical and economical parts of shep by showing how they were treated back then as apposed to how they are in the modern film era.
Title: Halle Berry: A stormy life
Year published: 2004
Author Surname:Sanello
Author Name:Frank
Place it was published: USA
Important quotes: " Shes a combintation of formiddleable actress with a sense of social fairness genuine humility and she has a great sense of humour about herself"- warren betty
How it is useful to me:
As halle berry is one of the main film stars im going to be focusing on when I write the independant study it is important to have this in the bibliography because i will be able to get quotes from other stars in the industry, and take notes on her rise to stardom and compare that to how it was in the early days of hollywood. Halle Berry is now acknowledged as a supremely talented actress and the book gives an insight into her story, and the struggles she faced upon getting where she is today.
Title: The cinema book
Year published:(1981)
Author Surname: Cook
Author Name: Pam
Place it was published:Britian
Important quotes: " In hollywood film these two functions were almost always gender specfic reflecting and perpectuating the values of a world ordered by sexual imbalance" pg 163
" The narratvie role of making things happen and controling of events usually fell to a male character while the female star often virtually peripheteral to functional events remained more passively decorative" pg 336
How it is useful to me:
The cinema book has a lot of refrence to the general femenist view on the female hero so it would be useful to know what femenists think of the roles and features the main female protagnoist has in comparsion to men. It is very detailed with chapters on just about every section of film theory, like mise en scene and audience, in addition how the alternative to Hollywood which is the arthouse movie genre represents thier female characters.
Title: BFI Film and television handbook
Year published: 1999
Author Surname:Dyja
Author Name: Eddie
Place it was published:Britian
Important quotes:"Well defined male lead characters and marginalised women have meant that generations of women have had to view films from a predominatnly male perspective. While this situation hasnt exatcly changed there have been a few more films made recently with women starring in lead roles"
How it is useful to me:
This is similar to the media , gender and identity in talking about the statistics of women on tv in general but also the effect females playing major roles in films have on audiences. It actually states that during 2001 thier was a shortage of audiences with the main reason for falling being that thier was no new narrative just the same patrharical view on films with the male hero doing what he always does, while the female plays thier same average role. Its useful for my study as I could quote this numurical information to back up theories that I come up with in relation to other studies.
Title: Media , gender and identity
Year published :2002
Author Surname: Gauntlett
Author name: David
Place it was published: Britian
Important quotes: " In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s only 20 to 35 per cent of characters were female, by the mid 1980s, there were more women in leadings roles, but still there were twice as many men on screen"
"It was tied to a buttoned down, statesmanlike, qiuck thinking masculinity which contrasted with the feminine beauty and lack of assertiveness of key women chracters"
How it is useful to me:
David gauntlett speaks about female portrayl on the film stage and this is what my study is based on, he brings up a lot of valid points and intresting statistics on the popularity of females castings in both tv series and film plus he compares and contrasts the characteristics of what the average man and women have in a traditional hollywood blockbuster.
Year published: 1991
Author Surname: Condon
Author name: Paul
Place it was published: USA
How it is useful to me
Alfred hitchcock is one of the most well known directors of all times and his crediditied for releases such as psycho which is responsible for demonstrating the final girl chracter. He played a part in giving females more attention by putting them in lead roles such as in psycho and Dial M for murder, the book is a comprehensive guide to all Hitchcock's works including TV series and early silent films as well as the Hollywood classics he produced. From a modern day perspective it would be very helpful to me to examine his inflence on other film-makers over the years and all the way up to today to see the impact had had in casting females in particular roles that gave them a better light in representation but also soemtimes a negative one aswell.
Title: A personal journey through american movies
Year published: 1997
Author Surname: scorsese
Author Name: Martin
Place it was published: Italy
How it is useful to me
This book goes through the decades of american movies since its creation and how characters and roles have evolved through time, some of which were reflection of society at the time for instance the wave of femenism and the civil rights movement. The different changes over the whole period of hollywood relates to the historical part of shep and so I would get a vital.
Title: Impossible bodies femeniity and masculinaty at the movies
Year published: 2002
Author Surname: Holmlund
Author Name: Chris
Place it was published: USA
How it is useful to me
This more than most should directly help me as its portraying the aspcets of both femeninity and mascunilty in moviess. It wil demonstrate what exatcly makes feminitiy by how females act and what they do, this will help me write my indepdenant study as some of the females in my current movie are still being represented as femenine with the types of moves and actions they are given while some are being represented in the opposite way for a binary oppostion with soem aspects of masculintiy. This book will give me an indication of what is means to be these things and whether the stereotype of femeinity and mascuniutly have changed from then untill now. Impossible Bodies investigates issues of ethnicity, gender and sexuality in contemporary Hollywood with gender being the most important to me in completing my study. Chris Holmlund the author offers a view of contemporary cinema that I agree with which other dont It is an essential guide to the ways in which genre conventions resolve sexual differences.
Title: Media Studies, The essential guide resource
Year published: 2004
Author Surname: Rayner
Author Name: Phillip
Place it was published: Canada
How it is useful to me
This is an innovative book which brings together a comprehensive collection of primary source material about all the things to do with media studies. Each extract in the book is accompanied by commentary which places the writing in its historical and critical context. The book discusses the significance of each decade of film and books and they also identify key terms which I could use for the indepdenatn study write up and explains its importance for Media Studies. Phillip rayner introduces step-by-step to the skills of reading media texts to the audience aswell as key concepts such as genre, representation, media institutions and media audiences which in turn will build up my Migrian skills and partly help with my shep skills in additon.
Title: Odd girl out
Year Published: 2003
Author Surname:Simmons
Author Name: Rachel
Place it was published: USA
Important quote: "The princess is the last frontier of acceptable girliness. It points to how crazy our times have become that I, as a feminist, am promoting princess culture"
How it is useful
This is the only book where for the first time I could possibly find out about a hidden side in females according to the author rachel simmons, this book gives an insight into the hidden agenda of girls and women both in normal lives and where they are mostly exploited as weak and innifective and that is places like the film industry, sports , and careers in buisness, she labels what was the wave of feminism and says thier could be another one soon to come , if this is the case it would help females like the ones in my film study x-men for example gain more vital roles than the current supporting ones they play
Title: The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era
Year published 1999
Author Surname:Menefee
Author Name:David
Place it was published: USA
Important quote: "Silent cinema brought us many talented women, but setting aside the Pickfords, Swansons, and Gishes of the world, few today have retained their star power".
" Not only was the industry run by men, who often favored their male stars with larger, meatier roles, but it was also very selective in preserving its own history"
How it is useful
The book is basicly about women in the film industry when only silent films were around, it looks back into the historical and economical parts of shep by showing how they were treated back then as apposed to how they are in the modern film era.
Title: Halle Berry: A stormy life
Year published: 2004
Author Surname:Sanello
Author Name:Frank
Place it was published: USA
Important quotes: " Shes a combintation of formiddleable actress with a sense of social fairness genuine humility and she has a great sense of humour about herself"- warren betty
How it is useful to me:
As halle berry is one of the main film stars im going to be focusing on when I write the independant study it is important to have this in the bibliography because i will be able to get quotes from other stars in the industry, and take notes on her rise to stardom and compare that to how it was in the early days of hollywood. Halle Berry is now acknowledged as a supremely talented actress and the book gives an insight into her story, and the struggles she faced upon getting where she is today.
Title: The cinema book
Year published:(1981)
Author Surname: Cook
Author Name: Pam
Place it was published:Britian
Important quotes: " In hollywood film these two functions were almost always gender specfic reflecting and perpectuating the values of a world ordered by sexual imbalance" pg 163
" The narratvie role of making things happen and controling of events usually fell to a male character while the female star often virtually peripheteral to functional events remained more passively decorative" pg 336
How it is useful to me:
The cinema book has a lot of refrence to the general femenist view on the female hero so it would be useful to know what femenists think of the roles and features the main female protagnoist has in comparsion to men. It is very detailed with chapters on just about every section of film theory, like mise en scene and audience, in addition how the alternative to Hollywood which is the arthouse movie genre represents thier female characters.
Title: BFI Film and television handbook
Year published: 1999
Author Surname:Dyja
Author Name: Eddie
Place it was published:Britian
Important quotes:"Well defined male lead characters and marginalised women have meant that generations of women have had to view films from a predominatnly male perspective. While this situation hasnt exatcly changed there have been a few more films made recently with women starring in lead roles"
How it is useful to me:
This is similar to the media , gender and identity in talking about the statistics of women on tv in general but also the effect females playing major roles in films have on audiences. It actually states that during 2001 thier was a shortage of audiences with the main reason for falling being that thier was no new narrative just the same patrharical view on films with the male hero doing what he always does, while the female plays thier same average role. Its useful for my study as I could quote this numurical information to back up theories that I come up with in relation to other studies.
Title: Media , gender and identity
Year published :2002
Author Surname: Gauntlett
Author name: David
Place it was published: Britian
Important quotes: " In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s only 20 to 35 per cent of characters were female, by the mid 1980s, there were more women in leadings roles, but still there were twice as many men on screen"
"It was tied to a buttoned down, statesmanlike, qiuck thinking masculinity which contrasted with the feminine beauty and lack of assertiveness of key women chracters"
How it is useful to me:
David gauntlett speaks about female portrayl on the film stage and this is what my study is based on, he brings up a lot of valid points and intresting statistics on the popularity of females castings in both tv series and film plus he compares and contrasts the characteristics of what the average man and women have in a traditional hollywood blockbuster.
Sunday 7 December 2008
Film clips
The men (1950)
High noon ( 1952)
1950s film
The 1950s was a time when audiences both young and old wanted new and exciting symbols of rebellionism and as a result of the demands saw the rise of the anti-hero. These types of heroes were mostly men and had a different attidute and persona to the typical hero associated in hollywood. This is portryaed in films such as high noon where sometimes the hero doesnt always have good intentions and is out for himself. In additon the 50s was a time when women still relied on the help of men espically physically wise as is shown in the clip of the men, when the male lead character helps the female counterpart open the bottle.
Cleopatra (1963)
Psycho (1960)
1960s film
The 1960s was a big step for females in terms of on screen envolvement in film but their fortunes in how they were represented took two different directions. A binary oppostion is created when comparing the two clips as in cleoparta the lead actress is given a positive represenation in that she is powerful and in charge of all around her, however you could argue that this is only an attempted reanctment of an apperent period of time in history and that the directors had no choice but to cast a female. In psycho the lead actress is playing "the final girl" role that is so well known in the slasher movie genre of noawadays as she is given a representation suggesting she is scared, vunerable and incapable of looking after herself, this is a stark contrast with cleopatra.
James bond - dimonds are forever (1971)
Star wars - a new hope (1979)
1970S Film
In the 1970s women are supposedly seen as more valuable as they are portrayed more often than in other decades as prizes for the male hero after his completed conquest. In the star wars clip when the two male protagonists are being awarded it is the female who is awaridng them that catches thier eyes. However they are aslo seen as a disctraction and sometimes a welcome one for the male who is on his quest like in dimonds are forever when they are mostly seen fighting semi naked or flirting with james bond. This as a result empahsises the statement by sharon smith (1972) in saying that women and the mating games are key roles played in the film, as this is apperent by how james bond acts around the ladiesand the fact that they hardly do anything else fully clothed.
Honey I shrunk the kids (1989)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
1980s Film
In this decade you had the rise of the extreme femme fatle, although the phrase had been around since the 50s thier evolved and much more senial and deranged personailties becamce more eveident in movies such as fatal attraciton. They didnt want to just steal money from their male counterparts or be potenial homewreckers but their roles had now been developed into attmepted killers which is shown in the clip of fatal attraction, this is a negative represetnation of females by which it is implying that if females get some sort of power they will abuse it and go out of control. In contrast in honey I shrunk the kids the girls actresses are shown to be just as interllectual, brave and entuhsastic to get out of trouble as thier male counterparts.
Beuaty and the beast (1991)
American beauty(1999)
1990s Film
Up until this decade It was widely felt that female characters in film had been restricted to the easy categories that classical narratives and familiar genres demanded of them with the typical complaints being that women in films are either virgins, mothers or whores. To an extent this was still the case like in beauty and the beast when it portrays the female character as the domesticisits, that she is conformed to just her housework and is waiting for a man to save her from the life she is living. This isnt the case in another sample movie from the 1990s in American beauty as the main actress has the leading role in the film and is more obsesed with her, career , relationship and appearence then the usual sterotype of females in the past, this also backs up the study from gunter in 1995 that thier were more leading women.
High noon ( 1952)
1950s film
The 1950s was a time when audiences both young and old wanted new and exciting symbols of rebellionism and as a result of the demands saw the rise of the anti-hero. These types of heroes were mostly men and had a different attidute and persona to the typical hero associated in hollywood. This is portryaed in films such as high noon where sometimes the hero doesnt always have good intentions and is out for himself. In additon the 50s was a time when women still relied on the help of men espically physically wise as is shown in the clip of the men, when the male lead character helps the female counterpart open the bottle.
Cleopatra (1963)
Psycho (1960)
1960s film
The 1960s was a big step for females in terms of on screen envolvement in film but their fortunes in how they were represented took two different directions. A binary oppostion is created when comparing the two clips as in cleoparta the lead actress is given a positive represenation in that she is powerful and in charge of all around her, however you could argue that this is only an attempted reanctment of an apperent period of time in history and that the directors had no choice but to cast a female. In psycho the lead actress is playing "the final girl" role that is so well known in the slasher movie genre of noawadays as she is given a representation suggesting she is scared, vunerable and incapable of looking after herself, this is a stark contrast with cleopatra.
James bond - dimonds are forever (1971)
Star wars - a new hope (1979)
1970S Film
In the 1970s women are supposedly seen as more valuable as they are portrayed more often than in other decades as prizes for the male hero after his completed conquest. In the star wars clip when the two male protagonists are being awarded it is the female who is awaridng them that catches thier eyes. However they are aslo seen as a disctraction and sometimes a welcome one for the male who is on his quest like in dimonds are forever when they are mostly seen fighting semi naked or flirting with james bond. This as a result empahsises the statement by sharon smith (1972) in saying that women and the mating games are key roles played in the film, as this is apperent by how james bond acts around the ladiesand the fact that they hardly do anything else fully clothed.
Honey I shrunk the kids (1989)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
1980s Film
In this decade you had the rise of the extreme femme fatle, although the phrase had been around since the 50s thier evolved and much more senial and deranged personailties becamce more eveident in movies such as fatal attraciton. They didnt want to just steal money from their male counterparts or be potenial homewreckers but their roles had now been developed into attmepted killers which is shown in the clip of fatal attraction, this is a negative represetnation of females by which it is implying that if females get some sort of power they will abuse it and go out of control. In contrast in honey I shrunk the kids the girls actresses are shown to be just as interllectual, brave and entuhsastic to get out of trouble as thier male counterparts.
Beuaty and the beast (1991)
American beauty(1999)
1990s Film
Up until this decade It was widely felt that female characters in film had been restricted to the easy categories that classical narratives and familiar genres demanded of them with the typical complaints being that women in films are either virgins, mothers or whores. To an extent this was still the case like in beauty and the beast when it portrays the female character as the domesticisits, that she is conformed to just her housework and is waiting for a man to save her from the life she is living. This isnt the case in another sample movie from the 1990s in American beauty as the main actress has the leading role in the film and is more obsesed with her, career , relationship and appearence then the usual sterotype of females in the past, this also backs up the study from gunter in 1995 that thier were more leading women.
Monday 1 December 2008
David Gauntlett- Media, Gender & Identity
Gender in contemporary T.V programmes
Summary
In this chapter of the book david gauntlett repeatedly suggests the more equality shared out between male and female characters and represnetations in film is the sign of the times, with the stats he uses to portray how things were for woman in the past in comparison to now he uses both historical and social ascpets of shep to agure his point.
Key quotes that have been picked out by him are from peoples different views on how females are treated and should be treated in the film industry could be treated as binary oppostions, for instance the female writer for IMBD says women shoudl be kicking butt on screen more often , something that isnt seen an femnine wheras micheal thompson says woman should be fiesty but not forget feminine values in order to be sucessful.
Key Bits
In prime time tv shows , 1992- 1993 men took 61 percent of the total number of speaking roles with women having the other 39 percent. The 1995-1996 study found that men took 63 per cent of the speaking roles, with women having the other 37 percent
To an extent, programme makers arrived at comfortable, not particualrly offensive models of masculinity and feminity which a majority of the public seemed to think were acceptable. Producers thus seemed to give up on feeling that they might need to challange gender representations
The 1992-1993 study found that only 3 per cent of woman were represented as housewives as thier main occupation- a massive decrease from the 1970s. An additional 8 per cent of women were shown as homemakers.
The studies show a growth in gender euality on screen , although by
the mid 1990s there was still some distance to go. However, the reaserchers note that thier findings are part of on going trends which are seeing women on televsion becoming gradually more emancipated and equal.
Bunting later complaints that men will still be able to comfort themselves that they remain the sole object of any sensible womens life, but given these womens very high standards, there is little room for men to be complacent.
Buffy the vampire slayer made an indeliable impact on teen tv and also broke new ground by becoming hugely popular within the typically male dominated word of sci fi fans. Buffy is more confident and assertive than either incarnation of the Man of steel( superman) whilst remaining recognisably human. - Polly Vernon( 1991)
Buffys creator and driving force, joss whedon adds that buffy is a good role model for not just girls but for everybody, because she has to use wits and her physical strength to win, yet she still has to get high marks in all her courses at school.
Queer as folk offered visions of mascunilty and to a lesser extent femninity which made a break with tv traditions. Representations of gender on tv have changed considerably within the past couple of decades, today, female and male characters are likely to be as intelligant, talanted and resoruceful or stupid as each other.
What hollywood culture is offering, in place of the bold spectablce of male mascularity and/ as violence, is a self effacing man, one who now, instead of learning to fight learns to love instead
Men in hollywood films today tend not to be the seamlessly macho heroes which we saw in the 1980s, they more often combine the toughness required of an action hero with a more sensitive, thoughtful or caring side typically revealed at certain points of the movie.
Important Quotes
Micheal Thomson off bbc online- " by all means be fiesty but never forget to be feminine
Maggie Humms, Feminism and film (1997)- film often and anxoiusly envisions women steoreotypically as "good" or "bad", hysterical careerists in the past and today, every hollywood woman is someones elses other.
Female IMDB reviewer- The fact that we so rarely get too see female action heroes particualry ones we can like. We had trinity at the begininng the matrix before the movie qiuckly found a man to focus on, and we have Max and Buffy on television. Its a sign though that even silly movies featuring women kicking butt are so popular among well woman. We need strong women kicking ass.
Movie representation related to my study
Lara croft- tomb raider (2001)- The girl power icon dreamt up by video game boys is 100 percent tough resourceful and sucessful
X men(2000) - The female superheroes are just as cool and useful as the male ones, but it could be said thier powers are more feminine( telepathy absorbing powers of others, directing weather -a force of nature. Plus they all look up to wise old patrick stewart.
The matrix( 1991) - Carrie Anne moss is a powerful woman who is equal or superior to any man. But then keanu comes along and turns out to be actually superior
Final fantasy (2001)- The main character Dr aki ross is another solid female role model from a video game, her combination of toughness and intelligance is superior to that of any of them men. As a robust character herself it is perhaps understandable that she falls for a soldier who is clearly styled on the action man doll.
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