Judith Butler talks about “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. This can be shown through the acts of male and female and the stereotypical acts of females and males and what is a typical act for both of these genders. The typical act of a female could be to wear makeup or straighten their hair. A typical act for a male could be to drink a pint or play football. This can also be shown through photographs. For example, if a male was to hold up a sign with their hands or be standing in a certain stance. However, for females it could be to be stood in a certain more feminine stance and be playing with their hair this would represent both genders as it it the most stereotypical things that these genders would be doing to represent that gender. This is presented as a female doing or acting in a certain way that would represent that gender.

 the global beauty industry was valued at $511bn- some acts of stylised repetition are worth more money than others therefore you would be able to see it more often than others.

Styles announced that he hoped to “dispel the myth of a binary existence”.

I intend to create two print adverts for my product ‘coco Chanel’. I aim to create a separate radical and reactionary product to represent different ones. Both of my products will be following in the style of a professional print advert that are presented in magazines. In my advert I will have

The reactionary advert is going to be my historical advert set in the 1960’s. I am doing a basic advert that is stereotypical to a normal coco Chanel advert I will have a woman with nails done and rings on holding the perfume bottle this is very stereotypical as it follows the normal Chanel adverts which normally has a woman’s hands holding a Chanel perfume bottle. This links to the ‘male gaze’ as it shows a white females hands holding the perfume bottle and this would be seen as normal because the product is mainly aimed at females so having a woman holding the perfume bottle would be seen as predictable and stereotypical. The product is also seen as feminine. The slogan I have chosen is ‘be yourself, stand out’ I have chosen this slogan as it has 2 different meanings for both print adverts I am doing. For this advert the slogan shows that if you buy this perfume then you will above other women or people, because of the fact it says to stand out showing that this perfume bottle will make you stand out and be above other people who don’t use this product. This has a clear audience with the advert as the perfume bottle seems like it would be aimed only at women and that only women can use it as there is a ideology that coco Chanel is only for women and that only women can use it.

For my radical product I am going to be doing a more modern advert set in current time. I am doing another basic advert that is more controversial than a stereotypical avert for coco Chanel perfume. It will be a male hand holding the bottle to diversify the range of people who can use the product. This links to the stereotype that this perfume bottle is aimed only at females and therefore shows even if it is a more feminine product that anyone can use the product. This links to gender stereotypes because coco Chanel perfume is more so seen as a woman’s perfume and there is a idea surrounding it that only women can use this perfume. However using this method of advertising it shows a more modern ideology of the fact that men can also use this perfume as it is seen as feminine. This challenges the normal stereotypical idea of the perfume as in all adverts it is a white female holding the perfume bottle either a picture of the woman waist up or having a woman’s hands grasping the bottle showing lust for it. Having a male will challenge this normal idea of just having a woman in the advert and will grasp the attention of maybe a more wider audience to the product and therefore have a more wider range.

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textual analysis

-rich background to show the richness of erfume

-small text with classy font

-expensive clothing on to show she’s posh

-lighting directly on her to show her importance

semeotic analysis

-dominant signifier(women in far right)

– Anchorage( background to represent expensive place)

-Icon (lighting)

-Anchorage(curtains signifying richness)

represntational analysis

– Voyeurism

– Dominant Ideology

– Constructed Identity

– Patriarchy

research Product Speculation – Dior and Chanel

Quantitative : The social class of my research products Chanel and Dior are in the class of upper and middle, they are rather expensive for lower class but however not to pricy for upper and middle. The income that would be appropriate for people who buy these products, their yearly income would be £45,000 – £85,000. As well, the suitable education for the community who wear these products would be successful in a university of a sort and have succeeded with high grades. The age grouped aimed through the advertisement of these products are 20 – 40 years of age.

Qualitative : The Psychographic Descriptor for these products would be ‘The Aspirer’ and ‘The Mainstreamer’. The Aspirer would want this product to show off their income status and what sort of designer brands they own. The Mainstreamer would want these products to have a pleasant aura around them.

own product speculation- coco chanel perfume

quantative- The social class of my product such as coco Chanel perfume is based in middle to upper class. the fitting income range would be 35,000+. On top of that this perfume may be used by adults who are of higher class. The target market for the perfume would be 25-70 years of age.

Qualitive: The Psychographic Descriptor fore this product would be the ‘aspirer’ and the ‘mainstreamer’. This would be because the Aspirer would gain happiness from owning a more expensive item. The mainstreamer would also enjoy having a more expensive and posh item however it is not a necessity.

The Maybelline advert consists of many things representing. For example sexuality, gender, race and the use of marketing strategy’s. Their stereotypical adverts usually only include women however in this particular advert it uses a male to represent their product.

Manny MUA, a social media influencer is included in this advert alongside another character, Shayla who is another social media influencer. Manny is a gay male, he is presented in this advert as slightly feminine as he has a high pitched voice and certain ways in which he is presented. This could be perceived as both positive and negative to the representation of sexuality as it represents men in the makeup industry that has been preciously dominated by women.

The influencers in the advert were most likely chosen to be involved as they both have large platforms. Manny MUA has  almost 10 million followers across Instagram and YouTube, and Shayla has 2.7 million followers on Instagram. Due to their large platform this is good promotion for Maybelline.

The advert presents both characters using the mascara and showing the audience hoe the mascara is applied. It is presented as a rich expensive product as the emphasis on the amount of gold used in the advert to show the 3expensivness and high standard of the product as gold connotates to money and power. In the advert it shows both characters going from not having expensive clothes on and being in a average NYC apartment to the transformation of them wearing gold outfits and looking all glammed up after using the product. Presenting this idea to the audience that if you use the product then you will then also feel this luxury.

The advert also presents the idea of diversity of gender and race as Shayla in the advert is a black female and Manny is a white gay male. This is positive as it shows the audience that the product is not aimed at any specific group of people and that anyone can use this product. As in the advert ‘score’ that we looked at it focused on a specific group which is focused on middle class white men.

textual analysis- In the advert there is a male on a lectica surrounded by females wearing minimal clothing. They are all attractive white people. They are dressed in jungle like clothing surrounded by jungle trees. The clothing they are wearing is short. The people in a are also represented as more of a upper class type people. The male is on a lectica which is linked to richness and power above others. The male is also being carried by a bunch of females representing the fact that he is above them, above all females and everyone else.

semiotics- subtext this is his dream that he wished to come true and now his fantasy has come to be real after this product

representational analysis- the male in the advert is shown to have only had this power after using the product, he is shown to be higher up and more important than everyone else as he is sat on a lectica being carried by females. The advert is also highly sexualised as its shows lots of women surrounding a male who is higher up. All the women are wearing short clothing and the male is presented as highly masculine.

The male is presumably a straight male who is enjoying the female attention this has a reactionary representation and  and stays in line with the social stereotype. Specifically the lack of homosexual representation at the time of production, (1967). All of the characters being portrayed are white, there is no representation of people of colour. This advert is racist in a sense as it could be suggesting that people of colour are at an even more inferior position.

The advertisement is also classist. The male and female characters are seemingly of a high class due to their well groomed appearance.

	RESEARCH PRODUCT 1 (NAME)	RESEARCH PRODUCT 2 (NAME)	MY PRODUCT(daisy perfume)
UNDERSTANDING SELF	it briefly explains the idea of the product	Showing that anyone can wear makeup regardless off your gender, race or sexuality
ENJOYMENT	rolling around with lion	you can get enjoyment from using makeup
ESCAPISM	lion unrealistic therefore shows escapism	influences people to connotate this with holidays. Therefore leading them to want the product as they link it to being on holiday.
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WORLD	lion can relate to travel as they aren’t a usual animal	stereotype that only woman can use makeup
SELF CONFIDENCE, SELF ESTEEM	confidence as she’s with a lion	model looks confident while wearing the makeup
STRENGTHEN CONNECTIONS WITH FAMILY AND/OR FRIENDS	the lion and her are lying next to each other, making her seem bold and confident. The girl that everybody wants to date or be friends with. Inspiring people to become bold.	N/A	N/A
ANY OTHER CATEGORY OR THEME	brief description here as explanation

hyper dermic model based on passive consumption very significant to advertising.

Harold Laswell – Propaganda Technique in the World War “subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers… knocked them into submission”. As Martin Moore notes, Laswell, as a behavioural scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1.

in other words, there is the suggestion that the process of sending and receiving a message is NOT clear-cut, predictable or reliable and is dependent on a range of other factors that need to be taken into consideration. 

In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the Tomb Raider and Metroid video games covers. I will be discussing what both games in detail. I will argue that tomb raider is both derogatory and negatively represents femininity for the social world and for the online community. However, I will also explain how the Metroid game could be shown in a more positive light and may represent femininity in a more positive way. 

Firstly, Tomb raider could be shown to portray a negative and sexualising view of females. One way in which this is shown is how she has exaggerated body features which is putting this idea in people’s minds that this is normal body to have however you wouldn’t not clearly find that in the real world. The reactionary design idea shows links to the ‘male gaze’ which is women looked at as sexual objects which make men feel empowered. This representation of the character Lara Croft helps to enable the idea of the objectification of women, and people who play this game may get the idea of the fact that this is normal and the standard in everyday life. Because of this the idea of the sexualisation of women is Widley normalised among people in the real world., this is a negative thing because I don’t see the idea of the sexualisation of women as a good thing.  

In the tomb raider games cover it also has some other negative aspects. For example, there are weapons that Lara croft is holding in her hand this is negative because the age rating for the game is 12 assuming people actually follow the age rating therefore could be people using the game that are younger. Therefore, people these young who are using the game are exposed to the usage of weapons and violence. This could therefore lead to the idea of interaction on reality linking to the game. This is negative as if they link interactions in the game to interactions in reality the interaction in the game is negative as there is violence. 332 

However, in the Metroid games cover it shows a more positive aspect on femininity. The character on the front of the game is dressed in a large robot suit which may seem at first glance like a male character as the character is presented at muscular and large which to most people is more on the stereotypical male side. Because of this the people who are seeing the game may assume that the character is not female, furthermore adding onto the myth that males should be more involved in the violence and confrontation rather than females. When looking into this in more detail I have discovered that the character Metroid is a female this shows a more positive take on the look on females in video games as in this the main character of the game is female and therefore isn’t the damsel in distress. This also presents the female character as strong and independent. This challenges the idea that females are all weak which is stereotyped in certain popular games, this could have the audience of the game to adopt a new idea of gender representation giving them more positive characters to idolise.  

However, the tomb raider does have some positive outtakes on femininity as the main character of the game, Lara croft, is a female breaking the stereotype that the female is the weak and feeble character in the game. Lara croft being the main character breaks the gender stereotype that the male needs to be the strong main character of the game. This could have the effect of empowering young girls to idolise this more positive protagonist rather than believing in the stereotype that brings down the female empowerment and makes women seem weak and incapable. Lara also looks strong and dominant on the cover of the game therefore adding to the positive view on women. Men in society are seen as the more dominant and powerful people this aspect stands out to me as it breaks that idea and presents a new idea of the empowerment of the female character. 

Furthermore, Metroid can also be seen in a more negative aspect as, however it does have a female heroine but she is in a male’s costume. This portrays the idea that women have to ‘dress up’ or hide to be able to be shown as strong and powerful. The character in this is in a huge robotic suit where at first glance you may think that it is a male because you cannot tell the gender of the person inside the suit. This is negative because it may present the idea that women will have to hide to be seen as stronger than a male character. However, from a business standpoint making the characters gender not visible could be to attract more sales as people may not want to buy the game if there is a female main character because of the link to the misogyny of society due to the idea that males are stronger. This depicts women in a negative way in my opinion as even though it is a woman main character she is hidden behind a more masculine wall. 

In conclusion both Tomb raider and Metroid have negative and positive aspects of the games covers that can be interpreted both ways. The Tomb Raider can be seen as negative because of the fact that they have sexualised the character Lara croft to fit the ‘male gaze’ therefore fitting into the stereotype that can satisfy young players. Metroid can also be seen as a negative view as the female characters identity is hidden behind a masculine robot this could possibly link to the stereotype that women are weak and incapable compared to men. However, The Tomb Raider can be seen as positive as the main character, Lara croft, is a female breaking the stereotype that women are weak and not as capable as males. Metroid can also be seen as a positive take on femininity as the character behind the robot is a female therefore showing that the female character can be as strong as a male character. It challenges the idea that women cannot fend for themself and also challenges the idea of women being the ‘damsel in destress’. I overall don’t think that either game covers presents femininity in a negative way. For example, in the tomb raider even though Lara croft is sexualised she however is shown to be a strong female character that can fend for herself showing women in a positive aspect breaking stereotypes of weakness. Another example is in Metroid even though the character is hidden behind a robot it is a female character and it shows that females are just as capable as males in the game because at first glance you can’t tell the gender of the character but she is seen as a strong individual, this also breaks the stereotype of women being weak and not as capable as men. This could adapt the mind so the people playing these games and therefore could eventually have a positive outcome in society in the future.