In this essay, I will be discussing representation in media. I believe that Judith Butler’s ideas about gender are very useful in understanding how gender is represented in both the ‘Score’ and ‘Maybelline’ advertising campaigns.
Judith Butler describes gender as “performative” and suggests that there can be no gender identity before gendered acts (daily practices, learned and performed based on cultural norms of femininity and masculinity), because the acts are constantly forming the identity and therefore nobody can be a gender before doing gendered acts. Butler argues that the dominance of heterosexuality representation in media maintains typical male and female identities as a social norm. This is harmful for individuals who “deviate” from gender norms and is harmful to those who participate in this heteronormative culture because it limits their capacity to empathize and create. 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. Similarly with Butler, Liesbet van Zoonen sees gender as dependent on social and historical context. She suggests that the meaning of gender is a “discursive struggle and negotiation, the outcome having far-reaching socio-cultural implications.”
None of these ideologies are associated with the ‘Score’ advert, which seems to be more connected with Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory – the idea of how typical, heterosexual men viewing media, sexualise and objectify women.
The ‘Score’ advert shows that if you buy their product, then you can attract lots of women. This is suggested in the strapline: “Get what you’ve always wanted” and the dominant signifier of a man surrounded by women. The costumes for the women are incredibly revealing and sexualising, and have connotations of voyeurism for heterosexual men. In the advert, the women at the back are gazing lustfully at the man – which insinuates that most women look at men wearing the product like this. Another woman, on the right, is looking proud, as though she is showing off the man and the final woman, on the left, is looking directly at the camera, which could connect the advert with the potential purchaser.
The ‘Score’ advert is an artefact from 1967, a period of slow transformation in western cultures with laws about and changing attitudes to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques in society – something that this advert can be seen to overcome. Feminist critical thought was becoming much more prominent at this time, which later brought many changes including a greater acceptance of birth control, divorce, abortion and homosexuality.
This period is often termed as “second wave feminism” – set after the first wave of feminism, which was influenced by organisations such as: the British Women’s Suffrage Committee (1867), the International Council of Women (1888) and others who, in early part of the 20th Century, worked to get women the right to vote. The second wave passed many laws that helped women get more reproductive rights and equal pay in the work force. It also liberated women and changed their mindset. However, the second wave of feminism overlooked other aspects of diversity – their focus on sexism did not extend to include the consideration of intersectionality, resulting in a predominantly white woman’s movement.
Media is a loudspeaker that magnifies power relations, and it can either reinforce or expose those who have political and social power. Diversity in media matters because it brings attention to an otherwise underrepresented community and gives a voice to the otherwise voiceless. When a given minority or disadvantaged group is portrayed in the media in a positive light, stereotypes can be dismantled, and this is especially important for younger generations who are more directly exposed to this.
In his investigation into the fluidity of identity, David Gauntlett noted how the representation of gender in the media was beginning to break down the old binary definitions and was now offering a more diverse range of identities. Women, who were simply stereotyped as housewives and passive in the past, were now represented as empowered and assertive. Instead of the physical and combative masculine identity, men could now be seen as sensitive and introspective without any ridicule. In “That Boss Life”, Manny embodies the merging of masculinity and femininity. He wears typical masculine clothes, but his speech and actions are quite feminine and he is also confident in his identity to use mascara.
None of this diversification came into place until third wave feminism began in the early 1990s. It was a response to the generation gap between the feminist movement of the 1960s and ’70s – challenging and changing some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period. In particular, the third wave sees women’s lives as intersectional (the realisation that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and people must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people such as: gender, race and class).
Whilst ‘Score’ completely ignores third wave feminism ideologies by having an exclusive cast of white characters, ‘Maybelline’ follows these ideologies by including a black woman and a homosexual man – showing how as time moves on, diversity becomes more common.