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.

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, 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 signalling 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

most people think gender is just male and female. butler is like nah.

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?

Numerous different ideas have been presented circulating the topic of gender, implying that it is “an identity instituted through a stylised repetition of acts”. In this essay I will be stating arguments about this idea and the waves of feminism.

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.

In the first wave of feminism 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, for example Mary Wollstonecraft, (1792) A Vindication of the Rights of Women. ‘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.

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 for example Weinstein. While still recognising those arguments presented by Mulvey, Jean Kilbourne, Butler suggests that gender is fluid and changeable and can be altered by anyone at any point in time depending on how they see fit.

Putting it another way , it suggests that we can have multiple identities that are presented to different people in different ways whilst under different social settings, and different social conditions. For example, looking at a category such as butch and femme, girly girl etc., 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 and example of this would be the work of Dollimore, Sinfield and others.

The idea of identity performance is explored further in another post: Representation, Identity and Self However, to understand the approach of gender as performative and how to recognise it as a ‘phenomenon that is being reproduced all the time‘, which perhaps suggests that ‘nobody is a gender from the start.’ The question for Butler (and for students of media and cultural studies) is therefore: how can gender get established and policed? Which, of course, is why we look at her ideas in subjects like Media Studies.

The Score advertisement from 1967 is a genuine representation of advertising methods and techniques. It was first shown during a period of time when first wave feminism was starting to have a larger impact on society as a whole. This wave of feminism was trying to resist against the common thought of how men would be seen as superior over women, mainly their partners or counterparts. Score follows this strategy by having five women carry a man on a sort of platform, whilst they are reaching out to touch his arms and clothes. On the topic of clothes, the women are not wearing very much, whereas the man is fully dressed. One of the women, rather than looking at the man on the platform, is looking straight at the camera to give the impression of the reader being involved with the advertisement. This just about confirms the advert’s target audience being men around the same age as the male model. This contradicts Judith Butler’s theory of how identity is represented by choice and repetition of actions.

Maybelline took a very alternative approach. There were two actors in the first video advertisement. One was a straight black woman, the other a gay white man. This contrasts hugely from the Score advertisement as all six models were white and presumably straight. These choices also shows how the world’s methods of advertising have changed in a relatively short period of time. The same approach is taken in the second part of the advertisement series. The same actors, Manny and Shayla, are pictured with two other actresses, one being white and the other of Asian decent, varying the contents of the advertisement even further.

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

Although the representation of femininity and masculinity might be shifting, they will still offer a variety of cues we can use in the meaningful construction of our identity. The magazines we read or the films we watch all provide information about ways of living which we can purposely and knowingly integrate into our own relationships and lifestyles. For instance, we value the ideas expressed by the contemporary opinion leaders who dominate our social media feeds. If an influencer suggests we should visit a particular shop or buy a certain brand, we might act on that advice. The representation of characters in a sitcom or a film could help us discover our own identity. This concept of the constructed identity is similar to the symbolic modelling in Albert Bandura’s social learning theory which argues children learn behaviour from the role models they see on television.

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.

The Leveson inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012. The Inquiry published the Leveson Report in November 2012, which reviewed the general culture and ethics of the British media, and made recommendations for a new, independent, body to replace the existing Press Complaints Commission, which would have to be recognised by the state through new laws. Prime Minister David Cameron, under whose direction the inquiry had been established, said that he welcomed many of the findings, but declined to enact the requisite legislation.

In 2007, News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were convicted of illegal interception of phone messages. According to the News of the World, this was an isolated incident, but The Guardian claimed that evidence existed that this practice extended beyond Goodman and Mulcaire. In 2011, after a civil settlement with Sienna Miller, the Metropolitan Police Service set up a new investigation, Operation Weeting. In July 2011, it was revealed that News of the World reporters had hacked the voicemail of murder victim Milly Dowler. Prime Minister David Cameron announced that a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 would be chaired by Lord Justice Leveson on 13 July 2011.

My aim is going to be to create two contrasting (one reactionary, one radical) advertisements to promote a Molton Brown body wash product. The two styles of advertisements will portray varying representations. I am going to try and replicate something that would be shown in a print magazine. The style model I am going to attempt to recreate is a Revlon Research Flex Formula advertisement for a hair product that was shown during the 80s. To do this, there will be a few things that must be included in my advertisements.

The main component of my advert will be a dominant signifier including the hands of my model and the product being spilt over them. I am aiming to have no harsh joints/lines between the images that I will insert during post-production to have a softer looking advertisement in general. For the reactionary advert, these images will be kept in colour with slight editing to the colour tints and textures. This will be done using Adobe Lightroom software accessible via the school computers. This will help match the Head and Shoulders style model as closely as possible. I am going to use a female model as this will create a reactionary response from the audience. This advert will be directed towards the Aspirer and Mainstreamer audience groups, with the target age group ranging from 10 and up. Either gender would be able to purchase and use the product, I just preferred to use a female model as one is used in my style model. The strapline will be: “The only wash you will ever need”, as it is similar to the original. This will present the idea that the model feels good about the way they smell and how their skin looks and feels.

For my radical advert, I am going to use both a male model and a female model. It will target the male audience only. I will do this by getting my models to pose in a position where the female is clinging to the male that men find attractive, accompanied with a strapline stating: “Drench your skin in the smell of health”, with accompanying text underneath explaining the benefits of using a Molton Brown product. Other features will include a small Molton Brown logo in either of the bottom corners and an image showing the products themselves.

Male Gaze, Dominant ideology, Audience Positioning, Counter-types, Patriarchy.

David Gauntlett – Collective. and constructed identity.