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December 8, 2021 Honor Wade Leave a comment

Fluidity of Identity

Gauntlett commented on the changing representation of men and women in mainstream media. For example, the depiction of the passive housewife throughout the twentieth century was being increasingly replaced by images of assertive women taking control of their lives, epitomised by the “girl power” endorsed by the Spice Girls. The representation of men being active and confident was giving way to a more introspective and emotionally-aware version of masculinity. Despite the old binary representations still finding their way to the front covers of magazines and forming the narrative of most Hollywood blockbusters, there is now a “greater diversity of identities”.

Constructed Identity

This is when people build up their identity and it slightly changes, depending on their audiences. Now people can decide and create different genders and ideas and make it an identity, this generation allows for almost every idea and feeling to be dawned as a new identity. Different forms of media and influencers help us construct this reality.

Negotiated Identity

The media can help us establish our own identity – no matter what texts we choose to consume, there will certain representations of gender that will appeal to our own sensibilities. However, there might be some tension between this construct and how we present ourselves to the world. Whether it is our relationships, interests or careers, we want to engage with others but still retain some individuality. Therefore, as Goffman argued, we need to reach a “working consensus” or agreement regarding the roles each person will assume in any interaction. A negotiated identity is a balance between our own desires and meeting the expectations of others.

Collective Identity

In terms of media studies, collective identity refers to our sense of belonging to group, especially because there is shared interest or love for a media text. Fandoms are an excellent example of this cultural experience because they try to define and develop a way of life.

Essays

ESSAY

December 8, 2021 Rohan Hugh Leave a comment

Question: Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance. How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

Score Hair Cream Analysis | Close Study Product (CSP) (media-studies.com)

That Boss Life Analysis | Close Study Product (CSP) (media-studies.com)

Response:

In this essay I am going to talk about understanding gender through the advertising campaigns Score and Maybelline and how identity is instituted through a stylized repetition of acts. Butler suggests that gender is not fixed and reinforced consistently through behaviour and performance. “An identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, (e.g. a man sitting in a certain way would make him a man/male) this is seen in the advertisement for Score as the male protagonist is asserted his male dominance by sitting with his legs crossed in a man-like posture, this was common for the time as it was set in 1967 which at the time the society was very patriarchal this is also linked with the “male gaze”, something that sexualises women by empowering men and objectifying women. In the “male gaze” the women is objectified to fit the wants of the heterosexual male which links to voyeurism. “What it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade” as stated by Judith Butler indicates that the general society’s ideas and expectations around women are constantly changing as time goes on. For example, a long time ago, women were generally expected to not leave the house very much and focus on cleaning up after the man, and not work very strenuous jobs. While this view is still relevant to some degree today, it is far less prevalent, with women having no general “expectations” and they are allowed and not confined to particular jobs and hobbies as seen with the Maybelline advertisement, with her expressing her freedom as a women. Butler also examines the work of Sigmund Freud, who similarly explains same-sex affection as a form of melancholia. This means that Sigmund Freud explained same-sex affection to be caused by a feeling of deep sadness. “In social structures in which tradition dominates, the notion of who we are is heavily determined by long-standing social forces” This means that we don’t get much choice as these long-standing social forces have been here for much longer and therefore the tradition dominates. However this is becoming far less of a reality as seen with Maybelline, the protagonist in it (Manny G) goes against all social traditions and is a complete counter type. You could also say that the advert creates a syntagm in the fact that all the objects in the video are gold which creates a ideology that gold luxury. Gender is not solely determined by primary experiences during childhood” This means that your gender is defined by your childhood experiences as also seen with Manny G, he states that his childhood was not great but he still did not let his childhood experiences define him. “Men are expected to assume stereotypically masculine identities, to adopt the role of the primary earner, while women are expected to look after the children and clean the family home.” These are all typical social ideals and beliefs of a patriarchal society.” Paul lazarsfeld started off by saying that audiences are active, they control the representations they want to engage with and can actively reject those that do not appeal.” This means that the consumer decides what pieces of media he wants to consume and what he doesn’t want to consume. Arial levy said ‘Raunch culture is the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality’ Bell hooks work focuses upon the intersectionality of race, capitalism and gender. Intersectionality seeks to identify a system of oppression that moves beyond our traditional understanding of oppression. Intersectionality focuses upon how various biological, social, religious and cultural factors interact on multiple levels. This enables us to recognise the multidimensional basis of injustice within society. You cannot ‘understand Black women’s experiences of discrimination by thinking separately about sex discrimination and race discrimination’ This could have been the case with Shayla in Maybelline, as she is a woman and she is black, yet she still manages to feature in a advertisement. John Berger and his book “ways of seeing” says in it that women from their earliest childhood have always had to survey themselves constantly. She is told that is it crucial on how she appears to men as it determines how successful she is in life. This message is quite clear in the advert Score as the women are holding up the guy and looks into the game to say if you want to get him or be like him then you have to look like me. However, this is all a myth in today’s society as social traditions are changing all the time. As if someone were to see the Score advert today people would see it as radical whereas people at the time would give a reactionary view. This is quite similar with Maybelline the majority of people today would give a reactionary view; however, they would give a radical view with Score. Score was created at the start of second wave feminism where things like birth control, divorce and the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality. Score was trying to oppose this second wave of feminism and try to direct women back to first wave feminism by having them hold up a man as to say his is the one and he is most important. First wave feminism explained by Virginia Woolf (1929) “A room of one’s own” was focused on women realising they wanted votes and freedom from the patriarchal society. Now third wave feminism is around emerging in the early 1990s, coined by Naomi Wolf, was a big jump from the second wave feminism focused on seeing women’s lives as intersectional. In this essay I presented how gender is fluid and social ideals are not fixed and things are always changing by using Score made in 1967 as a demonstration of the 1960s and Maybelline made in 2018 as a demonstration of todays society. I also talked about feminism.

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Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.

December 8, 2021 Olivia Blackmore Leave a comment

How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

Structure

Introduce the overall aim and argument that you are going to make
Establish your first main critical approach (I would suggest Gender as Performance by Butler, but . . . )
Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation (Mulvey, Kilbourne, Moi, Wander, Wollstonescraft, Woolf, de Beauvoir, Van Zoonen, Dollimore, Woolf, Levy)
Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
Show some historical knowledge about societal changes
Establish a secondary theme or idea that you wish to raise (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th wave feminism, Raunch Culture, Queer Theory, Intersectionality)
Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation
Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
Show some historical knowledge about societal changes
Establish a contradictory argument that shows your ability to think and engage
Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation
Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s
Summarise your main arguments
Ensure you have a summative, final sentence / short paragraph

Introduce the overall aim and argument that you are going to make

Establish your first main critical approach (I would suggest Gender as Performance by Butler, but . . . )

Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation (Mulvey, Kilbourne, Moi, Wander, Wollstonescraft, Woolf, de Beauvoir, Van Zoonen, Dollimore, Woolf, Levy)

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist from Britain, best known for her essay on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Her theories are influenced by the likes of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan whilst also including psychoanalysis and feminism in her works.

“It is said that analysing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it.”

Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s

Show some historical knowledge about societal changes

Establish a secondary theme or idea that you wish to raise (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th wave feminism, Raunch Culture, Queer Theory, Intersectionality)

“Male and female identities are not naturally configured” – You can choose who you want to be (butler).

“Popular culture within the process of constructing their sense of identity” – The general idea of genders is constructed by opinions and stereotypes.

“Audiences learn how to perform gender via the media.” – The media in today’s society constructs our own gender identity for us.

“Society constructs a binary view of gender” – A binary view is a social construct made up of two parts that are framed as complete opposites (e.g. male and female).

“Audiences realise they can change their identities” – They can be whoever you want to be without being held back by society.

Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation

Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s

Show some historical knowledge about societal changes

Similarly, feminist critical thought became much more prominent and pronounced during the counter cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which heralded, among other changes a greater acceptance of birth control and divorce, abortion and homosexuality.

There was also the abolition of hanging and theatre censorship, and the Obscene Publications Act (1959) which led to the Chatterly trial. Nevertheless, as Johnathon Dollimore wrote: ‘all this should not be seen as a straightforward displacement of dominant conservative attitudes‘ (1983:59).

However, the Score advert was produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality and as such, the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signaling more anxiety than might first appear. The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of Empire.

Establish a contradictory argument that shows your ability to think and engage

Develop this approach by using key words, phrases and quotation

Apply your theoretical ideas to either or both of the set CSP’s

Summarise your main arguments

Ensure you have a summative, final sentence / short paragraph

Essays, Maybelline, Score

essay

December 8, 2021 Amber Le Cornu Leave a comment

Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.

How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?Introduce the overall aim and argument that you are going to make

In this essay I am going to talk about understanding gender through the advertising campaigns of Score and Maybelline and also how identity is instituted through a stylized repetition of acts. Judith Butler suggests that gender is reinforced consistently through behaviour and performance, “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. She also states “What it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade” meaning that the general society’s thoughts and expectations around women are constantly changing as time goes on. It is believed by many that gender is a concept strictly for male and female, however Judith Butler’s theory opposes this idea.

In opposition to Judith Butler’s theory, Laura Mulvey developed the theory of the male gaze, male gaze refers to the sexualized interpretation of the gaze in a way that sexualizes and objectifies women and empowers men, this supports the idea of negotiated identity which means the idea in which you come to an agreement of ‘who is who’. In terms of the idea of the male gaze, the Score advert could be similarly compared, this is due to the positioning of the female representation within the advert. The females are wearing minimal clothing and are all positioned in a way to suggest that they are praising the male character in order to indicate that their sole purpose is to pleasure the man. This can support the theory that gender roles were fixed around the 1970’s, as it indicates that women were confined to what they were allowed to do and how they were allowed to act. Jean Kilbourne researched and wrote a book on how females were seen in adverts, the idea of abuse and how institutional behaviour stems from sexualised female adverts. The book implied that the advertising industry continues to reinforce, and glamorize femininity. Femininity meaning a set of culturally defined characteristics. We can also link the Score advert to Jean Kilbourne, this is due to the idea that within the advert we can notice that the females are advertised in very specific way in order to ‘glamorise’ their femininity which is the exact concept Jean Kilbourne wrote about in her book ‘Killing us Softly’. They do this by making the females look ‘flawless’ and like the society’s definition of ‘beautiful’.

Additionally, the Score hair cream advert is a historical artefact from 1967, as such it can relate to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques. 1967 was a period of slow transformation in western cultures with legislation about and changing attitudes to the role of women and men in society, something that the advert can be seen to negotiate. The first wave of feminism can be described with the quote ‘sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Defined simply, 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’. The Score advert can be similarly linked to this idea because we can see a total of five female figures holding up the male figure giving us the assumption that the male is superior to the females.

On the other hand, the idea of fluidity of identity is a more modern and up-to-date concept, this means the ability to change how you identify yourself. For example, gender is fluid, you can choose who to identify as. This supports Judith Butlers theory, who quotes “Biological anatomies do not determine our gender”. She concludes that “masculinity and femininity are not naturally given states, but instead are maintained by individuals through everyday acts” meaning that an individual is not born male or female, but your gender defines you through your actions every day. She also indicates that the general society’s thoughts and expectations around women are constantly changing as time goes on.

This theory is not suggested in the score advert, however, it can be represented in the more modern advert of Maybelline, this is because in the Maybelline advert we can assume that the tole of the female gender has changed over time. We make this assumption due to the fact that the gender roles are suggested to be more equal. Within the advert, we can see a homosexual male character with what is thought to be ‘feminine’ qualities and also a female character who is suggested to feel like a ‘boss’ towards the end of the advert. This can oppose the idea that gender roles are fixed and that men are superior to women. The theory of raunch culture is also demonstrated in this advert due to the fact that the female character is not being sexualised within the advert. ‘Raunch culture is the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality’

The Maybelline advert is seen to demonstrate the third and fourth wave of feminism. The third wave of feminism was coined by Naomi Wolf as a response to the generation gap between the feminist movement of the 1960’s and ’70’s, challenging and re-contextualising some of the definitions of femininity that grew out. It saw women’s lives as intersectional and demonstrated a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism. It can be described as the ‘rebellion of younger women against what was perceived as the prescriptive, pushy and ‘sex negative’ approach of older feminists.’ This idea is demonstrated by the Maybelline advert by the fact that the female representation within the advertisement is not being sexualised or objectified meaning that she opposes the stereotype of what the first wave of feminism suggests what it means to be a ‘female’.

Overall, I think that Judith Butler’s description of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” helps us to understand how gender is represented more in the Maybelline advert than the score advert due to the fact that the Score hair cream advert opposes the idea that gender isn’t determined by biological anatomies.

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exam essay

December 8, 2021 Ashley Freeman Leave a comment

Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns

Judith Butler a gender theorist stated within her book gender trouble where she said that gender is a performance where everyone is performing their own gender and that its a fluidity of identity which gauntlet coined for his own and that the use of identity isn’t based upon the gender and the score advert is the male gaze view of advertisement where the male stereotypical ideals of male ideals the male gaze was brought up by Laura Mulvey and that the male gaze the hyper sexualisation of women within advertisements and the heterosexual male point of view it also highlights the time the advertisement was made and that the advert was made in 1967

The Score hair cream advert is an historical artefact from 1967, as such it can be examined productively by considering its historical, social and cultural contexts, particularly as it relates to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques. 1967 can be seen as a period of slow transformation in western cultures with legislation about and changing attitudes to the role of women – and men – in society, something that the advert can be seen to negotiate.

In many ways Judith Butler counterpoints earlier ideas of gender representation, for example, some of the ideas presented by Laura Mulvey seem to suggest that gender is fixed – male/female – that it is structured by institutions and those powerful individuals who are able to exert power and control – Weinstein. While still recognising those arguments presented by Mulvey, Jean Kilbourne, Sut Jhally and others, Butler suggests that gender is fluid, changeable, plural a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space.

Put another, it suggests that we have multiple identities that are performed to different people, in different social settings, under different social conditions. For example, look at categories such as lipstick lesbian, butch and femme, girly girl and so on, which illustrate the multiple, plural nature of identity, representation and performance with feminist critical thinking. Which can be explored and mapped out into similar studies on male identity.

Feminist = a political position

Female = a matter of biology

Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics

1st Wave Feminism

‘sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Defined simply, 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‘
Barry makes the point that although the women’s movement was not the start of feminism. In other words, the issue of women’s inequality has a history that pre-dates the 1960’s, see for examples: Mary Wollstonecraft, (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Women; Virginia Woolf(1929) A room of one’s own; Simone de Beauvoir(1949) The Second Sex.

2nd Wave Feminism

‘the feminist literary criticism of today is the product of the women’s movement of the 1960’s’
Indeed feminist critical thought became much more prominent and pronounced during the counter cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which heralded, among other changes: the facilitation of of birth control and divorce, the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality, the abolition of hanging and theatre censorship, and the Obscene Publications Act (1959) – which led to the Chatterley trial. Nevertheless,

3rd Wave Feminism -Raunch Culture

‘rebellion of younger women against what was perceived as the prescriptive, pushy and ‘sex negative’ approach of older feminists.’
Barker and Jane (2016)

Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, coined by Naomi Wolf, it was a response to the generation gap between the feminist movement of the 1960’s and ’70’s, challenging and re-contextualising some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period. In particular, the third-wave sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism.

Ariel Levy, in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs raunch culture is on the one hand, the idea of liberation involves new freedoms for sexual exhibition, experimentation and presentation, and on the other, it may well be playing out the same old patterns of exploitation, objectification and misogyny?

“Raunch” culture, also called the “sexualization” of culture, describes a hypersexualized climate that oversexualizes women while encouraging women to sexualize other women and themselves

3rd to 4th wave feminist critical thinking

The shift in critical feminist studies that reconciles exploitation against empowerment illustrates the shift in feminist thinking towards the 3rd Wave of feminist thought, see for example, groups such as Third Wave Foundation.

However, a 4th wave feminism also looked to explore these contradictory arguments and further sought to recognise and use the emancipatory tools of new social platforms to connect, share and develop new perspectives, experiences and responses to oppression, ‘tools that are allowing women to build a strong, popular, reactive movement online‘ (Cochrane, 2013). As such, from the radical stance of #MeToo to the Free the Nipple campaign, which Miley Cyrus endorsed and supported the use of new media technologies through her music video wreaking ball where she’s nude on top of a wreaking ball this has evidence of voyeurism and has been a clear demarcation for broadening out the discussion and arguments that are played out in this line of critical thinking.

Intersectionality:

‘In an attempt to understand what it means to be oppressed as ‘a woman’, some feminist scholars sought to isolate gender oppression from other forms of oppression’. Put another way, there was a tendency to be either ‘preoccupied with the experiences of white middle-class women or to ignore completely the experiences other women’ (Sigle-Rushton & Lindström, 2013,) It is from this that the development and articulation of intersectionality began to take shape. The early ideas around intersectionality can be traced to theoretical developments from the 1980’s, see for example, the work by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) or some of the propositions asserted around Queer Theory that brings together a set of complex ideas around the ‘multidimensionality of subjectivity and social stratification’. in other words you cannot ‘understand Black women’s experiences of discrimination by thinking separately about sex discrimination and race discrimination

the history of the male being above females is seen throughout the score advertisement the women are holding the man on a sedan mainly used by those of power or royalty suggesting the man is above the females and the females are wearing very little to no clothing going with Mulvey’s point of the male gaze as well as voyeurism the sexual pleasure of seeing someone naked or near naked. the levels within the score photo were the man is higher than the women also contributes to Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze as well as male patriarchal society where men were deemed better and stronger where women were seen as inferiors and treated as objects.

in the Maybelline advertisement the advert includes a male and female where they both put on make up on where is goes against the stereotype that men aren’t allowed to wear make up otherwise its seen as frowned upon although the advertisement has gone against the stereotypical trope of that only women are only allowed to wear make up the theory of that gender is performed helps support this as well as the use of fluid identity that gauntlet talks about and that the identity and gender of a person changes overtime as well as the fact that it performed as you get older or the situation changes depending on who you are talking to

Van Zoonen talks about how gender is not a homogenous group but sub groups under the name gender where gender isn’t a defining quality of what you are this can be related to the Maybelline advert where the inclusivity of class and gender where males and females are wearing make up and the bell boy wears the eyeliner and gets “Bossed Up” and everything turns gold representing power and wealth and royalty on the other hand the score advert is bland and has some green foliage with the man being held up. the man has a gun in his hand as to say he’s hunting for women and the green foliage is meant to be a jungle where he is “hunting” and he’s wearing the hair cream making woman want him.

harry styles said that “The mission of this venture is to bring joyful experiences and products that excite the senses and blur the boundaries” this is proof of gender being a performance and that has constructing a identity by blurring the lines of constructed Gender which gauntlet was saying as well as the thought of fluidity of identity there are many things that support this idea but there is many that go against this ideal.

the score advert brings a negative stereotype that men are all hunters and that they are all looking for women and that they are above men and that it highlights the patriarchal society that the score advert was made in where men are above women and that women are only objects and there is highlight of voyeurism that women are only good when they are wearing skimpy clothes there are two girls that stand out one is reaching out for the man and one girl has her had on his calf the man is sitting upon a sedan that is mostly used by those of power and royalty. with in the text on the score advert it talks about all the positives of the product and it doesn’t highlight any allergens there is a huge presence of the male gaze and raunch culture within this CSP. the Maybelline adverts product is coated in gold with purple writing which is a symbolism of royalty and richness and the purple colour is a big significance in the 1800s where purple is the most rich/wealthy colour. the text on the mascara says ‘BIG SHOT Mascara’ suggesting its the best mascara the bell boy at the start is dressed within old dull grey clothes with a gold suitcase bringing our attention to the suitcase. once the suit case was opened the two main characters throw the make up on the bed and jump into the make up as if it was money suggesting the worth of the make up. the two characters who get ‘Bossed UP’ have a gold glint within their eyes after applying the mascara suggesting a change they end up dressed up in gold and the rom changes from dull white to a exuberant gold hue and the bell boy at the start even gets bossed up and dons a gold suit which suggest that the make up is for everyone and the mascara is for all classes and there is no exclusion within the advert. the advert procures a positive stereotype that all people can wear make up black white rich or poor no discrimination the three characters are all different in some way the woman is black and the most discriminated against of all of the characters and the male is white and the bell boy is working in a low paid job suggesting poverty the reason why I highlighted the white male is that there is a Negative representation of white males where the have to a straight hetero sexual male but the advert pushes this stereotype away by creating a new label where the male is gay and he wears make up and he is white. there is a second advert where there is the two main characters and this one lonely girl who seems upset and she is by herself within a cab then the two characters act like two hero’s and ‘Swoop in’ they end up giving her mascara and the lonely girl becomes a model with perfect lashes and is happy this suggest that make up heals anything they end up all in gold suggesting importance and wealth. they end up going to a club and get accepted due to the mascara and then a lady with a silver platter holding a triangle formation of this ‘BIG SHOT Mascara‘ the triangle is the strongest shape and is the most stable. the lady that is holding is of oriental heritage this shows the inclusivity of class, gender and ethnicity creating a big label for them selves . the Maybelline SCP has many features of gauntlets theory of fluidity of identity as well as Judith Butlers theory of performative gender and the perceiving your own identity of who you are which relates back to gauntlets theory.

Essays, Maybelline, Representation, Score

Essay

December 8, 2021 Sarah Browne Leave a comment

Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.

How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

In this essay I am going to establish Butler’s views on gender – how they are relevant to a contemporary advertisement and then the contrasting classic advertisement.

Judith Butler’s famous work on Gender was Performative Acts and Gender Constitution. This work entails the distinctions between performing and acting. On page 519 Butler states that ‘social agents constitute to social reality through language, gesture, and all manner of symbolic social sign’ The reader may interpret this as one may act differently which then defines their character and how they are socially. For example, the gestures that one female makes can be the complete opposite of how another female’s gestures are – both their genders are female though. Just because they are both female does not necessarily mean that they will look and act the same. This is what Judith Butler believes in.

Toril Moi’s (1987) crucial set of distinctions between: ‘feminist’, ‘female’ and ‘feminine’. Feminist = a political position, Female = a matter of biology, Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics.

Toril Moi has the three concepts <Feminist<>Female<>Feminine> which shows her awareness in the differentiation of gender. Which is what Judith Butler strongly believes in. This supports Butler in which Gender is on a whole spectrum. Moi suggests that there is great difference between <Feminist<>Female<>Feminine> which shows that if you are female biologically you don’t necessarily have to be feminine nor a feminist. Toril Moi’s three concepts can apply to CSP4:Maybelline. In the Maybelline advertisement, one of the beauty guru’s used as a dominant signifier who is part of the face of the campaign, is a male and is gay and is also rather feminine. That is what the audience will gather from watching the advertisement. This correlates with Toril Moi because the beauty guru: MannyMUA goes against the age old stereotype of being a male and the need to be masculine and against feminism.

Laura Mulvey developed the theory of the male gaze. This theory indicates that all throughout film and the media and even real life the male gaze has been very prominent. This is the idea that women are viewed as objects by men. This also supports the ancient ideology of patriarchy in society; men being above all. In accordance to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the gaze, CSP3:Score depicts clearly men to be superior in a way against women. The man in the Score advert is being lifted by the 5 women which links to the idea of patriarchy. He has a proud look on his face which is symbolic as it can represent a poacher stood in front of his prey that he’s just poached. This creates a negative outlook on woman because it portrays them as objects that men can do as they like to them.

There is the Gender performativity theory which is the theory that gender and gender roles are elaborate social performances that one puts on in day-to-day life, the hegemonic versions of which underlay popular conceptions of “man”/”masculine” and “woman”/feminine”.

Feminist critical thought became much more prominent during the cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which brought on, other changes such as acceptance of birth control and divorce, abortion and homosexuality.

However, the Score advert was produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality and so the advert can be seen as negative and a “step backwards” since the reader might see the Score advert and sense that the world isn’t as accepting of homosexuality. This is because the Score advert does not show any awareness or acceptance of homosexuality, rather the opposite. The man is lifted up and above the women signifying his precedence over them. The 5 women are all made to seem as though they are “swooning” over him and showing their interest and admiration. One blonde woman is even reaching out to grab the man as if he is some special artefact that is wanted by all. That is what Score wants men to believe if they use their product. They mention their product countless times in the copy in their advert with numerous photos of the product.

Although the women’s movement was not the start of feminism. In other words, the issue of women’s inequality goes as far back as before the 1960s. ‘the feminist literary criticism of today is the product of the women’s movement of the 1960’s’ (Barry 2017:123) This quote means that during the second wave of feminism, many opportunities and greater personal freedom for women came about. Due to that, we have many written things to take from that such as, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Women also took over the means of production by setting up feminist printing houses such as Virago Press.

Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, coined by Naomi Wolf, it was a response to the generation gap between the feminist movement of the 1960’s and ’70’s, challenging and re-contextualising some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period. In particular, the third-wave sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism. ‘rebellion of younger women against what was perceived as the prescriptive, pushy and ‘sex negative’ approach of older feminists.’ (344)Barker and Jane (2016 p. 344) This quote means that women that were trying to get on with their lives and do as they please but older feminists were seeing them as if they were acting out and judging them as of course this type of behaviour was new and unexpected for everyone. Maybelline shows the freedom of individuals that these women during the third wave of feminism were trying to achieve peacefully. This can be further supported by Raunch culture. ‘Raunch culture is the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available, where its performers believe they are powerful owners of their own sexuality’ Hendry & Stephenson (2018:50)

However, 4th wave feminism also looked to explore these contradictory arguments and further sought to recognise and use the emancipatory tools of new social platforms to connect, share and develop new perspectives, experiences and responses to oppression, ‘tools that are allowing women to build a strong, popular, reactive movement online‘ (Cochrane, 2013). This encouraged things like the radical stance of #MeToo to the Free the Nipple campaign, which Miley Cyrus endorsed and supported, the use of new media technologies has been very helpful and progressive for broadening out the discussion and arguments that are played out in this timeline of femininity

In conclusion , I believe in Judith Butler’s belief that gender and that Maybelline and Score adverts have contrasting representations of gender and their take on feminsm.

Essays, Maybelline, Representation, Score

Representation Essay – Score and Maybelline

December 8, 2021 Xavier Potter Leave a comment

Judith Butler presents many different ideas about gender, suggesting that it is “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In this essay I am going to make numerous arguments around this idea, linking it to numerous critical approaches, such as gender as performance and waves of feminism. I will also compare these approaches to the two CSPs being Score and Maybelline.

First and foremost, one critical approach which I aim to consider is Butler’s idea that gender has nothing to do with physical biology, but is something which is performed by people in society. “The historical meaning of gender can change as its norms are re-enacted, refused or recreated” as stated by Judith Butler suggests that gender is never fixed and is ever changing, based on how we as a society act towards the normal behaviours of certain genders. We can even create trends towards genders which become ever prevalent as time goes on, which is a very realistic possibility when ideas like the two step flow model as depicted by Lasarfelt and using famous and influential people as advertising to encourage certain beliefs around gender are considered. From this, many people may follow the influential stars used in advertising and in turn this provides creators of adverts with a lot of influence and power over the impressionable public, which can change our attitudes towards gender. This backs up the idea that gender is ever changing. When these ideas described above are compared to the Score advert, I see little to no correlation between them. For example, the women are clearly below the dominant signifier, being the man, both literally and figuratively. This links to the idea of the “Male Gaze” as described by Laura Mulvey, and shows no change in the idea of the female gender from a long time ago, with women stereotypically seen as historically “weaker” and less dominant in society compared to the stronger, more able gender of males. This links to the idea of hegemony in that men were by far the dominant gender. In addition, the body types on the females in the CSP show that back when it was produced, there was a common negotiated identity that women were supposed to fulfil and had to be like in order to have a chance of succeeding in the patriarchal society of the 1970s (when the CSP was produced). The 1970s was a period of slow transformation in western cultures with legislation about and changing attitudes to the role of women and men in society, something that the advert can be seen to negotiate. Similarly, feminist critical thought became much more prominent and pronounced during the counter cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which heralded, among other changes a greater acceptance of birth control and divorce, abortion and homosexuality. On the other hand, in the Maybelline advert, male models have been featured, such as Manny Gutierrez. This is the first time males have been associated with makeup products in this way, and it tells us that makeup is not just for women, but for men as well. This is important because after decades of only making makeup products and depicting them as things that should be worn by women, impressionable men are being given role models to look up to who can reinforce their thinking that they can wear makeup too, encouraging the idea that gender is ever changing over time. This also links to the ideas about gender not being a term around biology, but that gender is fluid, changeable and plural – further suggesting we have multiple identities we perform to different people in different settings in that there are multiple identities present in the advert between the different people.

Secondly, I would like to present the idea of second wave feminism and show how it supports Butler’s idea of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. Second wave feminism took place around the 1960s/70s and it was societal counteraction towards previous feminist ideas. This positive change sparked a feminist cultural movement that began to shift societies views on abortion, homosexuality, birth control and divorce, and it primarily involved middle class, white feminists. The fact that society’s tight grip on ideas of concepts such as abortion, homosexuality and birth control being stereotypically unaccepted was loosening indicates that gender was beginning to be questioned, and the old belief that you are only either male or female from birth was becoming less prudent. This supports the idea that gender is not set in stone, but is “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” as stated by Butler. When these ideas are compared to the Score CSP, I see little to no relation. One example of why this is so is the fact that the advert has a sexual outlook, and connotations of voyeurism are created. This is because the man is fully clothed whereas the women are wearing little. This implies that men should naturally be attracted to women, which takes away from the changes in society generated by second wave feminism. On the other hand, when compared to the Maybelline CSP, I see many similarities between the idea of gender not being fixed as supported by second wave feminism and the advert. One example of this is that both the man and the woman share equal roles in the advert, and they are both “allowed” to use the makeup, which was something typically only associated with women. This creates a blur between men and women and they could no longer be considered binary opposites. In today’s world, the consensus around gender is much different compared to times of old, and gender is much more understood with non-binary concepts being properly considered. In addition, people are no longer required to fit into certain binary categories, allowing for intersectionality, which is the interconnected nature of social categorisations.

On the other hand, one could argue that the idea of Raunch Culture goes against the idea of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. This is because it is is the sexualised performance of women in the media that can play into male stereotypes of women as highly sexually available. This implies that all women should consider sex a part of their daily lives, and provides the impressionable public with role models who see the gender of female as one which regularly constitutes sexual appeal. This affects everyone who would call themselves a female, and categorises them into being related to these ideas. When this is compared to the Score CSP, I can see a big relation in that the sexual dynamic of the advert ties into the idea of the “male gaze” and the women present look confident about it. This gives connotations that they are highly sexually available, and that they are pleased about this as well. On the other hand, in the Maybelline CSP, there is little to no relation between it and the idea of Raunch Culture. I think this because there are minimal sexual undertones in the advert, and it does its best to remove the tie between the use of makeup and the female gender.

To conclude, I think that Judith Butler’s description of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” is useful in understanding how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns. One reason for this is taking into consideration the idea that gender has no biological roots, but is something which is performed by people in society. “The historical meaning of gender can change as its norms are re-enacted, refused or recreated” as stated by Butler suggests this, and also reveals that gender is ever changing as time goes on and does not have a set definition. When these ideas are compared to the Score advert, I see little to no correlation between them, because the women are clearly below the dominant signifier, being the man, both literally and figuratively. However, I think that the Maybelline CSP does use these ideas in a positive light, as the use of male models in the advert tells us that makeup is not just for women, but for men as well, which deters from typical constraints around gender. Moreover, second wave feminism supports Butler’s idea in that it began to shift societies views on abortion, homosexuality, birth control and divorce, and it primarily involved middle class, white feminists, meaning that it affected a lot of people. I can see similarities between this idea and the Maybelline CSP, however the same can not be said for the Score CSP. Finally, the idea of Raunch Culture goes against the idea of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” because it revolves around women constantly carrying out sexual performances, which then categorises all women into the same stereotype. I can see that this relates to the score CSP in that the women are being belittled, however the Maybelline advert very much goes against this as the man and women both share key roles which are not of a sexual nature.

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maybelline and score essay

December 8, 2021 Jasmine T Leave a comment

Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.

How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

I am going to be discussing how gender ‘the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between femininity and masculinity.’ is presented through the score and Maybelline advertising campaigns. I will also be discussing the changes of gender and gender representation.

Judith Butler, is an American philosopher and gender theorist. Butler argues that gender is a performance and not something that we are simply born with, we learn and adapt to become a certain gender; Contrasting to Laura Mulveys’ idea of ‘fixed gender’. Butler believes that gender is fluid, changeable and plural, being born into a certain sex, does not determine behaviour, people simply adapt and grasp onto the ways of society, whether it be male characteristics such as: football, video games, or more feminine characteristics such as: makeup and shopping “Our genders are culturally rather naturally formed”. Harry styles, an inspirational singer and activist has lead the way in breaking negative stereotypes surrounding gender, identity and sexuality. This brand ‘pleasing’ is a range of beauty products aimed at all genders. Styles, being an influential opinion leader, voices his views on masculinity and femininity in a radical way by presenting himself in a feminine manor. Styles is a perfect representation of Butlers gender being performative. Harry Styles claims that he aims to “blur the boundaries” of the gender binary and show that regardless of what you identify yourself as, beauty cosmetics is for everyone, not just women.

Butlers theory relates to the past norms of society, such as the idea from the 1900’s where the men would go to work while the women would stay home and do ‘feminine’ tasks such as: cooking, cleaning and caring for the children. Women were often stereotyped as weak, incapable and treated subordinately to men, The expectations and stereotypes of men and women are massively defined in the score advert.

The score advert is a historical artefact from 1967, we are presented with the contrast in gender roles and sexuality. The mens hair cream product features a frenzy of women dressed in little clothing posing voyeuristically. They are holding up the dominant signifier the man symbolising a hunter in what we are presented as Africa. We can see the man holding a presumably “loaded gun”, possibly corresponding to the sexual theme of the ad. Laura Mulveys theory of the male gaze is hugely displayed in this advert, the product aimed at men, displays a hierarchy through the mans placement above the women. It could be suggested that the women are the hunters pray. The man is above the women, at the top of the mice-en-scene, connoting his higher power, strength, and possibly in control of the women. Three of the women are staring at the man in absolute awe of his presence. The placement of the women is crucial in this advertisement, we can see the blonde woman at the back reaching for the male, accompanied by the brown haired woman looking directly at the viewer suggesting, they too can have this female attention and praise if they buy this hair cream. We can see the expectations of women presented in this ad, the women are all conventionally attractive, white with small body types. We can also see the indexical animal skin sheet which the man is sat on, this is referring to his success in ‘slaying’ the women. The triadic modal of signs, the representation of the man being worshiped and carried by the women, creates a mental concept of masculine power and control. The patriarchal society of the 1970s allowed the sexualising, demeaning attitudes towards women to be presented even in the media, this lead to a growing number of women desiring equality and freedom of male oppression.

In comparison to the score advert, the maybelline campaign presents male characters, such ad Manny Gutierrez, he is the first male brand ambassador for the make-up brand Maybelline. After decades of limiting makeup ads to women, beauty brands are finally getting the hint that makeup isn’t just for girls; it’s for guys too. This helps fight the battle of toxic masculinity and negative stereotypes for men, removing the barricade between men and femininity. The maybelline campaign links to Judith Butlers ‘gender performance’, it outlines gender fluidity, identity is constantly changing and adapting to the ways of society.

Similar to Butler, David Gauntlet wrote about how gender is fluid and changeable, gender is how you perceive yourself. Gauntlet explains identity in 4 categories, Fluidity of identity, Constructed identity, Negotiated identity and Collective identity. In his investigation into the fluidity of identity, David Gauntlet 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. Gauntlets theory of fluidity of identity is displayed in both the score and Maybelline ad. In the score ad we are presented with the traditional reactionary form of a man, muscles, adored by women, seen as god like. On the other hand, in ‘That Boss Life’, Manny epitomises this blurring of masculinity and femininity. He wears trousers and a jacket, typical of masculine dress codes, but his verbal and non-verbal codes, such as his final pose to camera, are quite feminine. He has facial hair but he is also confident in his identity to use mascara.

In conclusion, i believe Judith Butlers theory to be true and helpful. It has been proven from both the score and maybelline adverts that gender is a performance, although you are biologically male, you can share characteristics and traits of a female.

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Essay

December 8, 2021 Josh Roberts Leave a comment

Introduce the overall aim and argument that you are going to make

Establish your first main critical approach

Develop approach by using key words, phrases and quotation (Mulvey, Kilbourne, Moi, Wander, Wollstonescraft, Woolf, de Beauvoir, Van Zoonen, Dollimore, Woolf, Levy)

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She is now professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck University of London.