JUDITH BUTLER

Judith Butler discusses many ideas involved with gender representation such as gender fluidity and changeability. She states that gender is a “Social Construct” and that our gender identities aren’t established at birth, childhood or adolescence, but are formed through our consistent performances of gendered behaviour. She has stated that historically, gender has been viewed in a binary fashion – divided into categories based on stereotypes/characteristics that can’t be changed.

• “What it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade”
• The historical meaning of gender can change as its norms are re-enacted, refused or recreated”

MAYBELLINE

The Maybelline AD appeals to many people due to having a diverse cast of different genders, races and sexualities – this “cast” appeals to more than just straight white women and instead appeals to everybody, whether male or female, black or white, gay or straight. This shows a change in how we view gender and sexuality as just a few decades ago, this AD would never have been aired just because it included a black woman and a gay man. At the time, most if not all models where described as “Tall, white and skinny”, but now models can be anyone.

SCORE

The score AD appeals to straight white men, immediately it is obvious from seeing the male model being held up by women -hinting that he is royalty – that the AD is appealing to patriarchal views of society – where men dominated over women. Furthermore, all of the women in the AD are seen to be staring at and reaching towards the man as if he was a luxury. In addition, whereas the man is fully clothed; the women are wearing little, helping to sexualize them.

Judith Butler

Judith Butler is an American gender theorist who goes by ‘she’ or ‘they’ pronouns and is legally non-binary. Butler states that gender is ‘performative’ and a ‘social construct.’ She believes that our gendered identities aren’t established at birth, nor in childhood or adolescence, but are formed through a continuous performance of gendered behaviour. Butler argues that the dominance of heterosexuality representation in media maintains typical male and female identities as a social norm. She critiques the notion that gender exists inside the body and suggests that these gendered identities are realised through our desires, sexual contacts and physical expressions of love – they are not a fixed object and are created as a result of our behaviours.

Score

The women in the Score advert are young, slim and are wearing sexualised outfits that reinforce the idea of the male gaze. They are carrying a man above their heads on some form of pedestal as though he is a godlike being and are looking and reaching out to the man in awe. The exotic setting also fulfils male fantasies and promotes escapism. The text on the advert, “Get what you’ve always wanted” directly addresses the viewer which makes it more personal and implies that the product will make women attracted to you and fulfil your fantasies.

Maybelline

The Maybelline advert touches on issues of gender representation, ethnicity and lifestyle. Shayla Mitchell and Manny Mua are significant as they are makeup artists, beauty bloggers and brand ambassadors of Maybelline. They therefore act as a form of celebrity endorsement/box office draw, particularly to younger audiences who are likely to know of these influencers, therefore encouraging them to keep watching as it features people, they are interested in. The connotations of gold, the setting of New York and the slow motion sequencing of the mascaras being thrown on to the bed immediately focus our attention on the narrative of two friends having a fun weekend away with luxury and glamour.

Fluidity of Identity – To create identity of society and create specific ideas, where you can change the perspective of how you see the world .

Constructed Identity – Having the ability to change how you see yourself or the world.

Negotiated Identity – Negotiated Identity suggests that we contain a balance of our desires and meeting the expectations of others.

Collective Identity – Gives the impression that everyone belongs somewhere whether its in its own cultural or group.

“the boyband star turned cultural and style juggernaut announced the launch of Pleasing.” – negotiated identity where he is trying to portray the desires of others.

“However, he is adamant that his venture is more than a celebrity endorsement.”

“Pleasing is at odds with outmoded beauty industry ideas about masking and concealment.”

stylized repetition of acts – in other words non verbal communication

repeated performance – butler suggests that gender is forced behaviour or performance for example in my product I got Molly to hold up her hair to make her look like a female.

Fluidity of identity: This is the idea that someone’s identity is changeable to what they want it to be. There’s no fixed expectation for anyone’s identity. For example using male and female, they will not stick to the black and white idea of girl and boy. It’s more for a spectrum that they can go along. Their identity doesn’t necessarily have to match their biology. These are two separate things.

Constructed identity: The idea that we have these ideas of identity presented to us. That they are these fixed ideas that we take on and learn from.

Negotiated identity: There is some tension between this construct of identity in the media and how we present ourselves to the world. So due to this, there are always discussions on

Collective identity: Collective identity is associating with a group or a group associating as something. An example of this is belonging to a certain school a religion. You then get this expected identity associated with those groups that might not even match your personal identity.