feminist – a political position

‘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‘(Michelene Wandor 1981:13)

after the first wave of feminism, which was galvanised by organisations such as, the British Women’s Suffrage Committee (1867), the International Council of Women (1888), the The International Alliance of Women (1904), and so on who, in early part of the 20th Century, worked to get women the right to vote.

‘all this should not be seen as a straightforward displacement of dominant conservative attitudes‘ .(Johnathon Dollimore 1983:59)

Judith Butler :

“our gender identities are not fixed objects; they are constituted as a result of our behaviors”

“our gendered identities are not naturally given but constructed through repetition and ritual.” 

“Society also presents male/female relationships as the norm”

“Our bodies or sex do not define our gendered identities” 

“rituals and performative actions constantly reinforce our identities: the act of wearing makeup”

David Gauntlet :

“Gender is socially constructed”

“Audiences realise they can change their identities”

“media manufacturers narrow interpretations of certain roles or lifestyles”

“the characters we watch in television shows or on online games offer us examples of how we can transfigure ourselves”

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I intend for my product to be aimed towards females aged (15- 30). My product is the Lady Million fragrance, for my advert I will be having a solid background to ensure that all attention is on my product, the perfume will be affordable and good quality. I will also be using a female in my advert as it is the ‘Lady Million’ perfume in contrast to the mens ‘ 1 Million’ fragrance.

Maybelline has used a persuasive use of marketing by using the YouTuber and makeup artist Manny MUA who has a total of 4.85 million subscribers.

Maybelline New York is the latest big makeup brand to tap into the rise of the “beauty boy”, appointing American YouTuber Manny Gutierrez as its first male ambassador following a similar move by its competitor CoverGirl in October.

Manny, who has accrued more than 4 million followers to his YouTube channel since he started posting makeup tutorials in 2014, stars in the brand’s new That Boss Life campaign.

The advert shows Maybelline’s new line of mascara and the two actors seen using the mascara and watching their lives turn amazing after using the new product the frequent use of the colour gold: gold packaging, gold suitcase, gold clothing is symbolic of luxury and wealth reflecting upon how consumers will feel after using the product.. The use of the strap line ‘let’s get bossed up’ may seem repetitive and cheesy, but this is done on purpose as it is likely that consumers will find the advert memorable and therefore convince them to buy it.

Hypodermic model (passive consumption)

Harold Lasswell, who developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’

In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the Tomb Raider and Metroid video games covers. 

 I will argue that both Tomb Raiders games cover and display the relationships, similarities and differences between signifiers. I will argue the challenge of female representation and their place in society linking to the media Tomb Raider which I feel does not represent women in a positive or productive way for the gaming community as they’re both sexist and degrading to women. as the way in which the main character Lara Croft is visibly being sexualised on the front cover, they have done this by ensuring that she is contorted into a pose which shows off her female attributes for example her butt, as well as her breasts being enlarged while having a very petite torso while wearing minimal clothing, this is creating unrealistic ideations of women by the men playing video games and conforming to the stereotypical standards that they believe all women must look like. Although people may think that Lara Croft has was defeating gender stereotypes buy being a strong main female character, Croft does not rely on the help from a male character to complete her quest which therefore creates a influence on the male gaming community as it encourages them to have a more open mind in how women should be presented compared to how they typically are presented for example “the damsel in destress” however, it was subsequently overrun by how the game designers sexualised her as a character.   

 This reflects upon Laura Mulvey’s notion on the male gaze in that the dominant signifier is designed in such a way that she appears sexualised. In the words of Mulvey, she is a character whose “appearance is coded for a strong visual and erotic impact” (“Visual and Other Pleasures”, 1989). Laura states that women are presented as sexual objects for heterosexual male gratification, she believes this due to the abundant mass of females in the media being objectified to please men and to entice them to buy products.  

Additionally, from this the game Metroid the main character who is seen as a large robotic character (Samus Aran) is a radical character as she is defeating gender stereotypes by being a strong main character with no sexualised attributes of a female as she is always seen in a sci-fi robotics suit which also covers her face, this is effective as it makes a change in media as  the dominant signifier could point to suggest to a sense of power and independence the character has, on her own, regardless of her ‘Metroid’ character she plays. The Metroid character is usually the vast majority of connected with more strapping connotations and would stereotypically be depicted by a male. Evidently, this character counteracts this stereotypical representation, protesting a radical presentation. The media industry rarely showcases countertypes in a determined light. 

To conclude, both Metroid and Tomb Raider describe two rather lookalike representations of female protagonists in the sense that they’re both presented as radical due to their bravery and independence furthermore additionally both being sexualised to meet the want of the ordinary straight male audience. However, the limited disagreement is that this representation is a lot less clear with regards to the Metroid fore mask compared to the Tomb Raider fore mask due to the essential character being portrayed as a gallant figure at 1st glance.