Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylised repetition of acts” so identity is learnt through repeated performance
How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented? compare and contrast your ideas in terms of both media and music videos
refer to music style videos, Mens. health and OH
When considering media institutions we should look at some key media language firstly conglomerates are powerful influential groups that own various businesses examples of this is Walmart in America and State Grid in China. Vertical integration is when a production company owns the means of production, distribution, and exhibition of their film and are of the same company, because of this they will receive all of the profit a good example of this would be a solar power company that produces photovoltaic products and also manufactures the cells used to create those products. Horizontal integration is when the business has the same chain of production and command. An example of this would be Pixar as it operated in the same animation space as Disney, but its digitally animated movies using technology as an innovative vision.
When looking at Men’s Health and consider the idea of Institutions we should think about who owns Men’s health, what is the conglomerate Hearst, before exploring Hearst we should consider what is a conglomerate? Conglomerates are powerful influential groups that own various businesses and Hearst is the largest men’s magazine brand in the world with 35 editions in 59 different countries. It also has a digital magazine which ranges from “Harper’s Bazaar” what is about woman’s fashion to “Runners World” an “essential guide to anyone who runs”. Men’s Health dominates an ideology of the negative stereotype of how men should be strong and independent, which in a sense they are not negative qualities, but men should also be allowed to have the qualities that women are stereotyped for, like being kind and nurturing, being able to be “feminine” and when relating back to stereotypes, the stereotype of women being kind and nurturing is called a positive stereotype. By Men’s health pursing this ideology it narrows the way that men can publicly be portrayed and creates a stereotype which is limiting, and from this when men stray from this stereotypical man ideology they can be seen “abnormal” in the sense they are straying away from the norm and this isn’t great as men can feel like they are un-masculine or “weird” from wanting to do something that isn’t socially conventional, However, the idea of Men’s health is to portray men of different ages, mainly middle-aged or younger, at peak psychical performance as an idea of what men should strive to look like and idolize but with their negative ideology can have negative effects on men and how they perceive themselves and how they should be. Other theorists that relate to this point is Mulvey as he suggests that gender is fixed and is created through institutions like Hearst’s, men’s health who creates and fixates on the stereotypical fixed idea of how men should be perceived ie Strong, built, and large whereas Butler believes that gender is fluid and so it is fixed and like fluid is ever-changing and in motion, adapting and evolving
Oh, the magazine is formerly known as “Oh comely” is published by “Pirates Ahoy’ what is owned by “Iceberg press’ who also own “the simple things” and their magazine “celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have and making the most of where you live.” Oh describes themselves as a “magazine that explores lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty-first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement. Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment” So let’s break this down. What they mean by this is firstly a “magazine that explores lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which re-brand consumerism as an ethical movement”, they are trying to differentiate themselves from the consumerist, Gossipy, negative magazine’s that focus on scandals, sex, Secrets and these 3 S’s grab the “trash Gossipy culture” that are designed to grab our interest and intrigue, for example cosmopolitan magazine has these three S’s and is designed bold and bright with a vary of bold simplistic colours to grab our attention and reel us in with one of the three S’s with the help of a “pretty poster girl” celebrity to grab our interest even more, we Can relay this to Katz and Blumer uses and gratification theory, what is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs and for example Oh is used to satisfy feminist ideals with their woman empowerment or a way to enjoy and appreciate life as much as possible. Secondly when breaking it down again is says “Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment” as once again they are trying to stray away from the negative idealistic ideas of showing unrealistic woman body types and focus their good bodies to attract readers to be “perfect” like them but instead showing the beauty and power of the girls themselves cropping out their bodies. (like below) By doing this they enforce the ides of empowerment through beauty without sexualised or idolised bodies which could cause negatives ideas which could be unrealistic for most to achieve so by Oh demonstrating a more positive empowering view of women as it helps break down the objectification and sexualisation of woman.
When considering feminist critical thinking in relation to an institutional analysis we could look at Michelene Wander who said: “sexism refers to the systematic ways in which men and women are brought up to view each other antagonistically, on the assumption that the male is always superior to the female” and this means there was always be opposition and discord between the two genders as woman fight for their right to equals rights.
When considering this theory we should explore its applicability to Oh magazine, In Oh magazine, they strive to empower woman combating against “sexism” as they try to oppose the sexualisation and objectification that most “gossip” magazines or magazines targeting men. A good example that enforces “sexism” is the magazine cosmopolitan as it has these three S’s That I mentioned before and enforces the sexism ideology of men dominating over the woman as cosmopolitan magazine grabs our attention in with one of the three S’s, “sex”, with a “pretty poster girl”, objectifying her and sexualising her to appeal to the male gaze, which is part of a theory by Lacan where she proposes the idea that men gaze at women, and women are to pose, to be gazed at by men, We can also consider the psychologist Freud and his theory of Scopophilia where you objective someone ie, in this case, the “poster girl”. Relating back to Oh magazine they once again, they try to oppose the ideology of “sexism” by them contrasting against the negative ideals Cosoplitan shows Oh magazine dominates the idea of showing the beauty and power of the girls that arrises from their faces and not the sexualised body (like below) By doing this they dominate the idea of empowerment through non-sexualised facial beauty by Oh demonstrating a more positive empowering view of women as it helps break down “sexism” the idea that women are insignificant to men.
When considering another feminist critical thinking theory there is Laura Mulvey idea where she believes gender is rigid and fixed, and that male, as well as female, is dictated by “institutions” as well as “powerful individuals who are able to exert power and control” Whereas Weinstein proposes a contradictive ideology that gender isn’t fixed but fluid and forever changing to experiences that occur throughout one’s life.
Men’s Health dominates a rigid “masculine’ ideal of how men should be strong and independent to which are dictated by institutions relating to the idea of Mulvey but men should also be allowed to stray from the norm and have the qualities that women are stereotyped for, like being kind and nurturing, being able to be “feminine” so gender should be interchangeable so relating back to Butler. By Men’s health pursing this Rigid view of gender, it limits the way that men are publicly portrayed at an institutional level as it creates a stereotype which is limiting and rigid, and by from this when men stray from this stereotypical man ideology exploring and changing to build their “gender”, (Butler), they can be seen as un-masculine as they are doing something that isn’t socially conventional for that gender in this case male that has been created by institutions such as Hearst. The idea of Men’s health is to portray men at peak psychical performance as an idea of what men should strive to look like and idolise as masculine, “butch” and “macho” but with these negative ideologies can have the negative effect where men perceive themselves as un-masculine as they don’t follow the rigid institutional gender ideologies set (Mulvey). Relating back to our theorists Mulvey ideology that gender is fixed, is created and enforced through institutions like Hearst’s the owners of men’s health, Hearst is just one of the many institutions who create and fixate on the stereotypical fixed idea of how men should be perceived ie Strong, built, and large and suppress Butler’s idea that gender is fluid and ever-changing, in motion, adapting and evolving.
You could also try to include some reference to the #metoo movement and the scandal involving Roger Ailes at Fox News.