Score

That Boss Life

theorists

Advertisement	Score	That Boss Life
Summary	Published in 1967, the representation reinforces negative gender stereotypes with its portrayal of the powerful and dominant man who conquers the passive and subservient women.
Key Facts
Key Words	David Gauntlett, Judith Butler, Richard Dyer, Myth, Barthes, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Van Zoonen, bel hooks, encoding/decoding, negotiated reading, intersectionality, Charles Peirce’s Triadic Model of Communication	David Gauntlett, Judith Butler, Richard Dyer, Myth, Barthes, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Van Zoonen, bel hooks, encoding/decoding, negotiated reading, intersectionality, Charles Peirce’s Triadic Model of Communication
Talking Points	A number of signifiers help encode this preferred reading. First, the man is positioned at the top of the mise-en-scène, connoting his higher status, and the fact he is being carried on a litter could even suggest a god-like superiority. The rifle, which is propped casually in his manly arms, has obvious connotations of violent power and adventure. Presumably, this is weapon he used to subdue and dominate this new world. The indexical animal skin is evidence of his success. Finally, notice how his short-sleeved shirt reveals his muscular arms. This is a man who is ready to fight.	It reflects the fluidity of gender identities and how values and ideology are never fixed. (Gauntlett). The most obvious signifier is the colour gold. It is introduced on the title card “That Boss Life” and on the label “Big Shot Mascara”. The producers then direct the viewer’s attention to the gold suitcase on the trolley by making it stand out among the other pastel-coloured cases and tracking the camera so it dominates the mise-en-scène. When Manny and Shayla open the suitcase, it reveals a divine light. The angelic sound effect, an important aural code in the text, and their positive reaction reinforces the mental concept of beauty and bliss.
Introductions

Question: Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of box
acts”. In other words it is something learnt through repeated performance.
How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented in marketing and
advertising products? Refer in detail to the Close Study Products Maybelline ‘That Boss
Life part 1’ and the Score hair cream advert.

Score and Maybelline offer an insight into how representation of gender has changed over time, Score being made in the 60’s and Maybelline reflecting the contemporary media landscape of 2017. Judith Butler’s statement “an identity instituted through stylized repetition of box acts” can be seen to be useful in reference to Score and Maybelline, Score offering a reactionary view of masculinity referring to the patriarchal society at the time – Score also displays a sense of cultural imperialism which may provide a sense of double consciousness to the diaspora of African-Americans. On the other hand Maybelline exhibits common conventions of the contemporary media landscape in regards to advertising, this can be seen by using Pierce’s idea of myth, Maybelline uses the myth of gold to create imagery of wealth and status which in turn conveys a sense of desire to the audience. The myth of gold is repeated in the industry as it is seen to “minimise risk while maximising sales” (Cultural Industries, David Hesmondalgh). Maybelline reflects the current state of the industry by also having radical and modern representations of masculinity with use of popular social media influencer Manny Gutierrez, which further universalises the target audience as the market and audience for the product has been seen to become more diverse in terms of gender.

Intro

David Gauntlett believes that identity is fluid, and representation changes over time to accommodate for this. A great example of this is Score and Maybelline. Whilst both are an example of queer theory and present a eudemonia through their hyperreal (Jean Baudrillard) depictions of gender and sexuality, they are still essentially binary oppositions. Score depicts gender through the lense of old traditional binary definitions and ideals. Sexualising the women and placing them as subservient to the man (Jean Kilbourne). It is exclusively for heterosexual men, and more specifically, white heterosexual men, its lack of racial representation (it only includes white characters) is an example of Paul Gilroy’s post-colonial theory, as it fails to provide equal representation for black individuals. Maybelline on the other hand, puts an emphasis on inclusivity, representing multiple races, sexualities, and genders. Maybelline’s use of Manny MUA, a gay makeup artist / influencer, and Shayla Mitchell, a black makeup artist / influencer shows that their product is for everyone.

Eudemonia – happiness as the result of an active life governed by reason.

David Hesmondhalgh

believed companies involved in cultural industries were motivated by profit rather than a duty to public service broadcasting.

“Cultural industry technology realizes standardization and mass production by subtracting the two logical differences between social work and social system.” In order to make products attractive to consumers and occupy the market, producers “rationalize” according to consumers’ preferences.

• The constructed identity presented of the eras new prototypical masculinity representations and ideologies on ‘being a man’ during the time era of score, relates to the idea of toxic representation of masculinity being used as a tool to promote and sell products to its male audience rather than a duty to provide a quality product to its target market. Relating to Hasmondhalgh‘s idea on rationalisation with their consumers preferences by appealing to gender roles and norms of the time, this time being a representation of men as strong and having control over women, they were to attain to these societal roles otherwise they’d be discredited and not seen as a man.
• Specifically and more relating to, ‘Oh!’, a self-proclaimed feminist production with an aim to celebrate femininity and specific female individuals. These products have a clear juxtaposition to each other and represent advancements in how the media presents females, relating to the theorist Van Zoonen, who believes that ‘media portray images of stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces societal views‘. So when applying this theory, it shows a shift in representations of women in media, and therefore a shift in societal views, which celebrates women more than the time era of score. Similarly, a reason for the increase in female related productions and products would be as a duty motivated by profit rather than a duty to appeal to new 3rd wave of feminism ideas and to rationalise that feminism is a new wave of consumers and there is a need to appeal to them.

Clay Shirky and the End of Audience

Old Passive Audience VS New Active Audience

Lazerfeld

Key Words/Ideas:

• Diversity
• Identity (David Gauntlet)
• Gender Performance (Judith Butler)
• Detonation (Barthes)
• Intersectionality
• Queer Theory
• Jean Kilbourne
• Bel Hooks
• Hegemony
• Hybridity – Genre (Steve Neale)
• Semiotics
• Transformation of the Public Sphere (Habermas)

Opening Para:

David Gauntlet states we construct our own identities through different influences such as people/experience/interests which may not be the traditional cultural norm. Similarly, Judith Butler expresses the idea that gender identity is changeable and fluid as we ‘perform’. That boss life, is an advert focusing on contemporary representation and construction of identities. Meaning it is much more progressive and provocative then ‘Score’ as it includes different representations of age, race, gender and sexuality.

  

Roland Barthes
Commodification
Preferred Reading
Binary Opposition

• Lazarfeld Opinion leaders/Chomsky Opinion leader 5 filters
• Hesmondhalgh risk/profit
• Gauntlett Constructed Identity/Propp stock characters
• James Curran and Jean Seaton

Intro

David Gauntlett believes that identity is fluid, and representation changes over time to accommodate for this. A great example of this is Score and Maybelline. Whilst both present a eudemonia through their hyperreal (Jean Baudrillard) depictions of gender and sexuality, they are still essentially binary oppositions. Score depicts gender through the lense of old traditional binary definitions and ideals. Sexualising the women and placing them as subservient to the man (Jean Kilbourne). Through Stuart Hall’s reception theory we can see Score is encoding messages which are exclusively designed to be decoded by heterosexual men, and more specifically, white heterosexual men. Its lack of racial representation (it only includes white characters) is an example of Paul Gilroy’s post-colonial theory, as it fails to provide equal representation for black individuals. Maybelline on the other hand, puts an emphasis on inclusivity, representing multiple races, sexualities, and genders. Maybelline uses opinion leaders such as Manny MUA, a gay makeup artist / influencer, and Shayla Mitchell, a black makeup artist / influencer to gain access to a wider audience.