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Notes, Theory

definition

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Cultural industries- the different types of popular media, produces, distributes products in the creative arts generally in favour of popularity

Production- the making of a form of media

Distribution- The methods by which media products are delivered to audiences, including the marketing campaign

Exhibition/ consumption- the retail branch of the film industry/ when the media is taken in by individuals or a group

Media concentration- the ownership of mass media by fewer individuals

Conglomerates- a group that owns multiple companies which stand out different media specialised in written or audio-visual content

Globalisation (in terms of media ownership)- the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas

Cultural imperialism-The practice of promoting the culture values or language of one nation in another

Vertical Integration- a way in which media companies expand by acquiring different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution

Horizontal Integration- a way in which media companies expand by acquiring media companies that work in similar sectors (owns several businesses of the same value eg. a media company can own Magazine, Radio, Newspaper, Television and Books. )

Mergers-a merger or acquisition in which 2 or more of the undertakings involved carry on a media business

Monopolies- concentrated control of major mass communications within a society

Gatekeepers- the process through which information is filtered for dissemination

Regulation- the process by which a range of specific, often legally binding, tools are applied to media systems and institutions to achieve established policy goals such as pluralism, diversity, competition, and freedom

Deregulation- the process of removing or loosening government restrictions on the ownership of media outlets

Free market- one where voluntary exchange and the laws of supply and demand provide the sole basis for the economic system

Commodification- the transformation of the shape of the relationship, which is initially trafficked into things that are free of the commercial nature of the relationship  

Convergence- the merging of previously distinct media technologies and platforms through digitization and computer networking 

Diversity- diversity of ideas, viewpoints or content options 

Innovation- change in several aspects of the media landscape, from the development of new media platforms, to new business models, to new ways of producing media texts

Audience, Journalism

david hesmondhalgh:

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His theory, that major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success.

David hesmondhalgh is among a range of academics who critically analyse the relationship between media work and the media industry. In his seminal book, The Culture Industries (Sage, 2019) he suggest that:

the distinctive organisational form of the cultural industries has considerable implications for the conditions under which symbolic creativity is carried out’

the individualising discourses of ‘talent’ and ‘celebrity’ and the promise of future fame or consecration, have special purchase in creative work, and are often instrumental in ensuring compliance with the sometimes invidious demands of managers, organisations and the industry.

He states that ”the media industry is a risky business”.

Hesmondhalgh identifies that the media industry is split into 3 sections which are production, distribution and consumption, this concept is not owned by anyone. It is an idea that certain people in the industry are involved in each one. Such as cameramen and directions in production, social media marketers for distribution and cinema projector engineers for consumption.

Theory

essay

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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. 

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

The interpretation of gender, Girl, boy, man and women, has constructed how humans live for millions of years. Only now in the last two century’s it’s starting to be challenged. Through many types of media for hundreds of years the ideology of gender characteristics and how they can be desirable to each other has determined how each gender lives their life. A woman expressing her delicateness and virtue results her being wed and respected, and a man being tall and strong is desired and celebrated. But the question is why women cannot be big and strong, and men are not delicate and emotion. The social construct of gender is the answer, without generations passing down the social ideology of gender we would not be subjected to do certain things or present ourselves in a certain manor to seek the approval from our opposite gender to finally mate and pass on the exact same ideals to our children. 

I suggest that Judith butlers claim that gender is a performance, negotiates that we ‘pretend’, and ‘act’, the characteristics that are compulsory to are gender assignment. She protests that we are not born with the desire of certain things, for example boys playing with trains and cars, and girls playing with princess dolls and unicorns, it is the result of ‘‘an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts’’. Butler explains that gender is fluid that there isn’t a box we should fit in, she follows up on this theory and argues that our gender is on a suggestive spectrum of male and female. On the other hand, Laura Mulvey (2nd wave feminist) suggests that gender is fixed to male and female, that it is structured by institutions and those powerful individuals who are able to exert power and control for example Harvey 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. 

The sexualisation of women has been among one of the most argued and challenged subjects in media. From the ‘wash is whiter’ and ‘score’ adverts they both along with thousands of other adverts from that time subjected women to limited purpose in life, to be sexualised and to serve men. On the score advert I intently analysed that the date of this advert, 1963 explains the sexist reasoning behind it. The ideology of women being stay at home mothers and the stereotypical women cook and clean was still very much distinctive. Therefore, advertising a product that shows women working hard to please the man, ie, holding him up on the stretcher teases the men that the product brings this. The disregarding focus on women shows them in a negative and gullible light, and that we would they are happy. The only aspects of women that the advert show are those that are favourable to men are their bodies and their submissive tendencies, illustrating the voyeuristic tendencies of the patriarchy.  

In addition, the third wave feminism included things like intersectionality, raunch culture and queer theory. the Maybelline advert in context to Judith butlers’ theory’s the advert describes gender as non-conforming and an illusion. The male actor Manny Mua is a gay man is used to highlight the fluidity of gender and sexuality and proving that these ideals shouldn’t be one thing, like the stereotype of men being strong and heroic. In this advert he over exaggerates his actions and tone of voice to present more feminine and to promote LGBTQ plus furthermore also links to Judith Butlers theory that gender is performed and not set in stone as such. Maybelline has applied a male to advertise their product, this is a clever advertising strategy as it does not target a specific audience. The advert is radical as normal advert for makeup would have a white female using the makeup, this advert challenges that as it has a gay male using the makeup and representing the product. Things such as “promotes the dangerous sentiment that men are supposed to adhere to hyper masculine culture.” and “he encourages people to think of makeup as genderless. He thinks boys deserve just as much cosmetic recognition as their female counterparts.” shows how people are trying to advertise the idea that gender isn’t fixed, and so certain things shouldn’t be applied to one gender.  

Institution

institution

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As a way of linking some of the ideas that we covered in terms of Feminist Critical Thinking towards the 4th KEY CONCEPTUAL AREA OF A LEVEL MEDIA STUDIES: INSTITUTION, let’s look at Bombshell (2019, Dir. Jay Roach) a story based upon the accounts of the women at Fox News who set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. Follow this link for a brief summary of the plot.

As such, this film provides a narrative of INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM, in the same way that we could look at other stories that are concerned with other institutional prejudices – racism, homophobia, Islamaphobia etc. In other words, this film presents a version of the story of INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM and MISOGYNY. It suggests a link between the presentation / representation of the female form and the ideas of a ruling patriarchy (Fox News, specifically Roger Ailes) and perhaps explains why we are presented with the stories we are presented with and how those stories are presented to us.

You can understand misogyny (the poor representation of women in the media) in the same way you can understand racism, homophobia, ultra-nationalism and other forms of casual stereotyping, bias and prejudice, that is, through TEXTUAL ANALYSIS and the notion of REPRESENTATION.

Feminist Critical Thinking, Institution, Representation, Theory

feminism notes

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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‘. 

2nd wave 

‘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 Chatterly trial. Nevertheless, 

This period is often termed second wave feminism – after the first wave of feminism, which was galvanised by organisations such as, the British women’s suffrage committee (1867), international women’s committee.

In contrast, ‘at the beginning of the 1970’s the Women’s Liberation Movement set great store by the process of consciousness raising’, ‘influencing everyday conduct and attitudes.’ and ‘exposing the mechanisms of patriarchy, that is, the cultural ‘mind-set’ in men and women which perpetuated sexual inequality’ . 

3rd wave 

Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, 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. 

According to Barker and Jane (2016), third wave feminism, which is regarded as having begun in the mid-90’s has following recognisable characteristics: 

  • an emphasis on the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion
  • individual and do-it-yourself (DIY) tactics
  • fluid and multiple subject positions and identities
  • cyberactivism
  • the reappropriation of derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ for liberatory purposes
  • sex positivity

3rd wave- Niomi Wolf:

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‘ As such, from the radical stance of #MeToo to the free the nipple campaign, which Miley Cyrus endorsed and supported (which may encourage you to re-evaluate your initial reading of her video Wrecking Ball above), the use of new media technologies has been a clear demarcation for broadening out the discussion and arguments that are played out in this line of critical thinking.

Feminist Critical Thinking, Institution

key notes-judith butler and David Gauntlet.

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Judith Butler:

  • our bodies or sex do not define our gendered identities. – we do not have to conform to society’s demands of being masculine or feminine.
  • “our gendered identities are not naturally given but constructed through repetition and ritual.” 
  • the media assists in the marginalisation of subversive identities through absent representations, abjection and parody. 
  • the performance of gender trouble is a difficult, sometimes painful, process given the entrenched nature of heteronormativity. 
  • contemporary culture reinforces a traditional gender binary- identities that fall outside of that binary are constructed as subversive. 

David Gauntlet:

  • “Audiences realise they can change their identities”– David refers to Anthony Giddens’ theory who suggests “late- modernity” – where our identities are transitioning from the rigid stereotypes and starting to construct our own. 
  • “Contemporary media practices mean that heteronormatitvity does not completely dominate”– showing how heterosexuality is not in complete control over society and that we are becoming a more inclusive community.
  • Audiences are in control of the media – adapting and assimilating ideas about themselves through the various representation that the media presents.” – illustrating how audiences are collectively adapting cultural norms and adapting themselves to fit in to society. 
Feminist Critical Thinking, Institution

home school work -Judith Butler- gender

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Judith Butler discusses the presence of gender and their roles in society and how we essentially locked door on what gender is and who it belongs too.

Judith expresses that our gender identity is like acting, at birth we are assigned a role and from that moment on we act how we should according to our gender, for example boys acting dominant in comparison to women who are supposed to act innocent and delicate to guarantee a males approval. She argues that we have a fluidity of gender, it isn’t one set thing. She quotes ‘There was no gender from the start’, we have just took it upon ourselves to assign characteristics to the two. That gender is pro-formative meaning the ideology of gender and the way we express that has been produced and passed on for generations therefore that is all we have ever known.

  • Butler states that gender is ‘performative’ and a ‘social construct.’
  • Best known for her book “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. ” 
  • Butler says that historically we have viewed gender in a binary fashion- dividing gender into categories based on stereotypes or characteristics which cannot be changed. She believes this limits us.
  • “gender should be seen as a human attribute that shifts and changes”

score and Maybelline notes-

This advert communicates a negative view and opinion of sexuality, the tag line ”let what you’ve always wanted”, translates that the product only attracts women, this is demonstrated when the women are overjoyed when the mans hair is perfect as a result of using the product. The advert informs the gay community that this product only attracts women and it would be pointless to use it. The main aim of this product is not to look good to yourself but to the opposite sex, which for the LGBTQ community is useless.

The diversity of gender and race furthermore shines a lights and ticks a box if you will on this advert and product not being directed at one specific group or type of person. As in the previous advert we focused on ‘score’ it was focused on middle class, straight white men. In comparison with this product which is for everyone.

In comparison score generally focuses in on the ideology of men being dominant and women should worship them as a result of the product and conclusively his gender, linking back to Judith Butlers notes on the representation of gender in society and the result of the pro formative characteristics of gender it confirms concretely that the assignment of the male gender it has built a sense of dominance and power and is being clearly represented in this advert. The women on the other hand wearing few items of clothing also links with Judith butters notes and highlights that characterises of women that are in place to attract and please men such as skin showing and their standing positions justifies her case that these characteristics we produce in result of our gender and made by us and our minds and not our bodies.

With Maybelline it flips this representation of gender and goes against the stereotypes of makeup being for women. In the past decade the ideology of gender has been breaking down due to the ongoing convocation on social media and it is slowly being normalised. The dispelling the myth of a binary existence is furthermore being accepted through this advert of a man, ‘Manny Mua’, wearing, using and advertising the product of mascara. His tone and physical movements also connote a females, celebrating the fluidity of gender not being one single thing.

Feminist Critical Thinking

constructed reality- judith Butler

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‘stylized repetition of acts’.

Judith butlers states that ”identity instituted though stylized repetition of acts”. She expands on how our reality is all constructed by ourselves and that we mould our lives into this norm. Money, time, gender the worlds boxes that we have to fit into to practically be human and survive.

The idea that women and girls like pink, makeup and small dogs builds a stereotype, alike certain thing such as short skirts, small waist, and big lips attract boys. This is all a constructed reality for us to aspire to or not to.

Harry styles pleasing line tries to surpass the ideal of binary living and belonging to a constructed reality of belonging to a certain group of people, and advertises a product that is usually advertised to souley women, and advertises the product to all audiences no matter what gender. The fact that it it advertiseed by a male increases the rebel to this constructed reality

Feminist Critical Thinking, Representation, Uncategorized

DAVID GAUNTLETT

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Fluidity of identity– Gauntlet comments on how someone’s identity can change because of how men and woman are being represented in the media. Identity is always changing and people are adapting to new cultural normality’s. Gautlett states we have a “greater diversity of identities”. Fluidity of identity means that a persons identity is always changing, and they don’t have to specifically stick to one personality trait and that to wholy represent you as a person.

Constructed identity– This is when a person builds up their identity and it slightly changes, depending on their peers/audiences. Men and women are becoming more equal and there is also no longer a specific gender to belong too, people classify themselves as ‘they’ or ‘them’ and that is the identity our generation has allowed people to do (more or less) . Magazines, Movies or the opinion leaders who dominate our society (influencers, celebs) all help us to “construct” this identity for ourselves suggesting ways of living in todays society.

Negotiated identity– A negotiated identity is a direct balance between our own desires and wants and meeting the expectations of others and what they desire.

Collective identity– Means that we refer to our sense of belonging to group, This could be out of a shared interest/experience or even something in common. Our desire to be with others and “fit in”. These groups could be social, religious, occupational or gendered.

Notes, Theory

statement of intent

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In my advert I represent both a radical and reactionary product based on Nike air force one. I initially was drawn towards a perfume or Jewely, but I wanted to express the usefulness of something, or a product you can use every day that is essential; Perfume and Jewely isn’t an essential therefore there would be more to express and advertise with a shoe. 

My reactionary advert consists of a person not specifically man or women to represent gender diversity. The add will be of a person wearing either tracksuit bottoms or jeans with the product, as trainers are stereotypically to be worn in a ‘sporty’ or ‘comfy’ manner. My radical representation is a girl wearing a long prom style dress with what normally would be heels but in air force ones to show that they can be worn in any situation. I placed a pair of heals next to the model to inform the audience that the model was previously wearing the heels but decided to replace them with the air force’s due to their trusty qualities. If a model in a dress uses these shoes with a dress, then anyone can wear them, but also brings a less stereotypical ‘teenager’ aesthetic to the shoe. 

When taking the photos, I wanted to represent and capture minimalism and a white colour palette, with different tones except the red Nike tick, which is the main signifier along with the shoe. I focused on a more exposed image to ensure the advert wasn’t dominated by shadows, or dark qualities.  

One important aspect of photography I wanted to incorporate into my adverts was the butterfly shot which is a snapshot from above instead of a straight forward close up which I noticed a lot of my classmates where doing. It creates an effective view of the model and the shoe. Furthermore, more professional addition to the photos.  

My style models were all focused on the knee below and their main signifier being the shoe and not the face. I like this as it doesn’t advertise to a certain audience for example male or female and doesn’t include any negative stereotypes. My radical representation includes an obvious girl in a dress which is purposely used to attract girls to the shoe making the product radical. 

My tagline ‘’anytime, anywhere, forever’’, is used on both adverts to ensure the image is the main meaning of the adverts and not the words. The shot should inform the audience all they need to acknowledge. Anytime, meaning the shoes can be worn anytime, day, night whenever the buyer wants to wear them, they are not advertised for a certain time. Anywhere meaning the shoes can be worn wherever they want for example a high-profile event shown in my advert when the model wears the dress. They don’t have to be obligated to wear this shoe in any specific time it can be anywhere. Finally, Forever meaning they are long lasting, trust worthy and can be relied upon anytime.