Capital (Series 1, episode 1) and Deutschland 83 (Series 1, episode 1)
Needs reference to all four elements of the
Theoretical Framework (Language, Representation, Industries, Audience)
| Media Language | codes and conventions of the crime drama are intertwined with aspects of social realism. Analysis should include: • Mise-en-scene analysis • Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings |
| Narrative | narrative techniques used to engage the audience |
JOKER- In this film poster the joker stood dead centre is the dominant signifier therefore in my poster if like to use a human as my dominant signifier. The title of “JOKER” is a signifier within this poster as it shows what the film is going to be about. The writing underneath the title is an anchorage which is used to provide extra information about the film like release date and stars etc. The falling mask is an iconic sign due to the fact that it is a sign which looks like the object. Finally the background is an indexical sign as it has a link to the object or in this case the story.
ROCKY- In this film poster there is a signifier or resilience trying to be invoked as you can see by the iconic sign. The link can be seen as a symbol or code in the way the film has connections with the poster. There a high level of signification in the poster due to the blue background effect and the de4notation between the film and the poster.
DUNKIRK- The dark colours in the poster represent a darker way of showing war and portraying across the theme of melancholy. The main dominant signifier is the actor stood in the centre of the poster looking over the war ridden sea presenting how much war destroys.
AVATAR- In this film the dark blue contrasting with the yellow represents the idea of within the darkness there is always hope which i can use within my film poster due to the panic of not knowing what your fate will be.
THE WALK – the minimalistic image presents the films title as the dominant signifier and draws the audiences attention more to the anchorage (information underneath the title) to grasp more information about the film more than the image which also is indexical to the film and films title.
Sing 2: When looking at the poster we can see a anchorage related to the title “Sing 2” contrasting with the musical instruments and how a few of the dominant signifiers that clearly dominate the screen are wearing performers clothes such as tuxedos. The title contains a “2” in it which is an indicator that it is a sequel meaning it is the second instalment of the franchise. Looking at “Redshore” we can perceive that it is a fictional location that the movie will take place in and is based solely on fantasy.
Over the Hedge: When looking at this poster we can see the dominant signifier in it is the man in the orange jumpsuit with some sort of capture device which can be assumed to be used against the animals that are flying over his hedge. Looking at the facial expressions on the animals it is easy to tell the movie is based on fantasy and is animated also. The title “Over the Hedge” is ironic due to indexical sign that the animals have broken through the hedge rather than getting over it.
Breaking bad: When looking at the title of the poster we see the letters “Br” and “Ba” being highlighted in a certain way, upon closer inspection we also see there are periodic table numbers above the letters meaning that the title contains elements at the start of each word. These elements are Bromine and Barium which is information that most likely the average viewer will not know, and when suppling context from the show we know one of the dominant signifiers are a chemist which would explain the title and it’s anchorage to the poster which also includes chemical labelled barrels in the background. The bold yellow shown for their suits creates a reactionary idea that they’re wearing hazmat suits that may relate to the chemical barrels. The gun being held is a symbol for danger which also helps create an ideology to a viewer.
John Wick 3: In this poster we can see the dominant signifier and main character John Wick taking up most of the poster and then some sub signifiers in the background which are also characters in the movie. There is a paradigm of characters related to the movie.
Jumanji: The dominant signifiers of the poster are in heroic poses in front of a hectic background and if you look closely you can elements of the movie and foreshadowing of what may happen. There is an anchorage of the sub-title “Welcome to the Jungle” where we can see a clear jungle-like setting with wild animals and also by how the main signifiers are specifically dressed in a safari like clothing and gear.
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?
In this essay, I am going to analyse and evaluate how gender is represented in the Score and Maybelline adverts we have studied in and outside of school. I will argue that the way that gender is represented in the Score advert conforms to the gender stereotypes of the 60s that we have thought to have “moved on from”. Contrastingly, I am going to argue that the advert Maybelline “That Boss Life” (2018) has a progressive view on gender representation because it seems to support to David Gauntlet’s concept that gender is fluid and presented throughout signs and expression.
Firstly, in SCP 4 (Maybelline’s That Boss Life advert, produced in 2018; promoting a mascara) there is a significant change in the way gender and identity is represented and gender is presented as fluid and free to self expression further supporting Butler’s ideas, in the ad there are three characters, the bell boy, Shayla and Manny Gutierrez: Maybelline’s first inclusion of a man in their campaigns, “Maybelline’s first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign. Manny’s encouraging everyone, no matter their gender, to “lash like a boss.” Through the cosmetic industry doing this it encourages a shift in the outdated stereotypes that makeup is specifically for women and that men should be allowed to express their identity throughout the application of makeup, and show a more feminine side to their masculinity or present themselves completely as feminine; trying to reduce the amount of toxic masculinity widely presented throughout men claiming they can not wear cosmetic products. This is cleverly expanded on by the use of the bell boy, as he turns from someone you could easily forget in the advert at the beginning to using the makeup when the two stars of the advert turn “Bossed up” showing men who we have no insight to their sexual preference can also accept men coming to terms of makeup being androgynous and use it. Manny or widely referred to as Manny MUA is also a very popular influencer or makeup guru (with a following of over 4 Million), by using someone with a high platform and a counter-typical choice of a model in a makeup advert can also attract more audience to the advert as his viewers would want to see his success as the first man in Maybelline’s campaign, even any haters would watch- by doing so the advert plants this subliminal message taking society one step closer to seeing that gender is a constructed idea and a product shouldn’t alter the expression of someone. Furthermore, Manny could be associated as a radical representation of gender and masculinity which connotes to Judith Butlers theory of gender being performative. The term Toxic masculinity can be used describing reactions from specific men as the product “promotes the dangerous sentiment that men are supposed to adhere to hyper masculine culture.” and presents people against Butler’s ideas and leaning more towards Laura Mulvey’s idea that gender is fixed. Additionally, the advert displays the product as being gender neutral as the whole presentation of the product connotes to luxury; the golden suitcase, the New York apartment described as everything, the golden packaging, and the room transforming into full golden and glam after the two use the product. All these features create a semantic field of wealth and luxury for the user to associate with the product- despite their gender, further enhancing the products androgynousness and promoting Butler’s ideas that gender is fluid and is more based on a expression of signs.
However, in SCP 3 (Score), an advert promoting male hair groom (note how it’s promoting it towards men, anti-progressive towards Butler’s ideas as it suggests females can’t express themselves with masculine hairstyles and are fixed to a lengthy style). The advert contains a man being lifted up by numerous females who fit the theory of the male gaze (Laura Mulvey), a theory that women are used in adverts in a sexualised, reactionary way to attract male attention and increase sales by exploiting a women’s sexuality. Although the man is surrounded by females he is still the one with authority and on the top- possibly a connotation to the patriarchal mindset that men are more powerful or have more status, again could reflect the way genders are treated throughout work and the difference in the wage gap; this can be backed up as in the 1960’s females were still fighting for equality in society, compared to the the Maybelline advert that is based after 2nd and 3rd wave feminism where adverts (some still are bad to this day) should more focus on how women are treated and exploited in the industry- this is spoken about in the third wave of feminism and how Naomi Wolf, challenged and re-contextualized some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period, they are more accepting of newer ideas and of the idea of fluidity when it comes to gender as time goes on. This shows not only how time has changed but the difference that it makes with the representation of gender throughout the years in marketing campaigns, while older ones are more likely to be anti-progressive and cater more towards outdated stereotypes and ideologies- going against Butler’s ideas: While newer ones are more likely to be more inclusive with the idea of fluidity in gender and be more progressive to break stereotypical stigmas (such as the ones we can ink in to each score- SCP 4 being men can’t wear makeup and SCP 3 being women can’t use hair groom). The advert contains women wearing quite revealing short outfits in a jungle setting, exploiting their appearance for the benefit of the male gaze- the setting however seems to be a jungle which the man seems appropriately dressed for while the women wouldn’t be wearing that in a jungle, as well as the man holding a weapon- this gives us a huge insight to how corrupt the ideas of gender were back in the 1960s as the women in the advert are represented very sexually and unrealistically, in abundance almost making them seem replaceable or reliant on the one man while the man has a weapon asserting his power (once again reflecting on the patriarchal society that the campaign was created and advertised in). Clearly the advert goes against Judith Butler’s ideas due to it’s fixed reactionary outdated representation of women vs men which gives us an insight on how times have changed and the effects of the waves of feminism.
Maybelline doesn’t have many negatives to pick out on, however, one we could note about is that Manny MUA is given very stereotypical gay slang and presented much more feminine, as much as the advert including a man is a huge step forward we need to take account that he is already presenting himself or shown as feminine in the advert- this creates a slight stigma that makeup is still for femininity rather for straight/masculinity.
In conclusion, both SCP’s give a extremely different however useful insight to the expression of gender and how it links, compliments or disagrees with Butler’s ideas. Through score I can see with effects of the corruption of society takes a huge play in the advert while in maybelline I can see how society and idea’s on gender have progressed and further promoted/backed up Butler’s idea on the fluidity of gender.
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 how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?
In this essay, I am going to analyse and evaluate how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline adverts we have studied. I will argue that the way that gender is represented in the Score advert is alarming and conforms to the outdated gender stereotypes of the 60s. Contrastingly, I am going to argue that the advert Maybelline produced in 2018 (That Boss Life) has a progressive view on gender because it seems to adhere to David Gauntlett’s concept that gender is fluid.
Judith Butler believes in society, gender roles play a part in the day to day life. Butler suggests that specific qualities and features don’t define what gender you are and that gender is a choice. Butler suggests that gender is fluid, changeable, plural a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space. Butler suggests things like lipstick lesbian (“Lipstick lesbian” is slang for a lesbian who exhibits a greater amount of feminine gender attributes, such as wearing makeup, dresses or skirts), butch and femme (Butch and femme – French language, meaning woman) are terms used in the lesbian subculture to ascribe or acknowledge a masculine (butch) or feminine (femme).) and girly-girl (Girly girl is a term for a girl or woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style, such as wearing pink, using make-up, using perfume, dressing in skirts, dresses and blouses, and talking about relationships and other activities which are associated with the traditional gender role of a girl) and how these traits determine the gender of the people based on attributes behaviour and that being born male or female will indefinitely be the way a person acts or chooses to associate to. Judith was part of third wave of feminism, where she worked towards stopping women from being objectified and being called names such as “slut” for showing off skin. Her work helped to normalise Raunch culture, where women play into their stereotypical gender role in a way which empors themselves. By choosing to show skin, and be sexy, women are taking power of their own sexuality. This culture is a massive part of the third wave of feminism as it is seen as empowering and proggressive. The idea at the heart of raunch culture is that by taking power of their own sexual appearance, men no longer have a say in how women ‘should’ look.
Looking specifically at Score, its opinions on gender identity are clearly in line with Gauntlett’s notion that gender is constructed. The advert came out during second-wave feminism, where feminist critical thinking became much more prominent and pronounced. Despite this, the advert is fairly traditional in its views towards gender. This is evident through the mise-en-scene of the advert. By choosing to select 5 young, skinny, attractive female models the advert is suggesting that women must be young and beautiful to be desirable. Jean Kilbourne stated that “You almost never see a photograph of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been Photoshopped”, and this statement applies to this advert. Additionally, the one man in the advert is being carried by the women as if he’s some kind of God. He is above them and sitting comfortably, suggesting his power and superiority. By showing the man being carried by the women, it creates a mental concept of masculine power and control. Interestingly, the man is shown wearing a watch (which suggests he is reliable, responsible, and sophisticated), whilst the women in the advert aren’t wearing watches. The man is also a lot older than the women, which links to the idea that gender is constructed because older men are often seen as desirable by modern media. There is no doubt that the representation of men and women in the advert conforms to the constructed identity of gender in the 60s. The girls are objectified, wearing sexualised clothing that appeals to the male gaze (a term coined by Laura Mulvey to describe when women in media are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man. These women are usually represented as passive objects of male desire). The women skirts are short, and their matching shirts are tied across their chests, revealing as much skin as was allowed in a 1960s advert. Their tanned bodies, black eyeliner and luscious hair also conform to the constructed identity of women in the 60s. Similarly, the man is dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, carrying a gun, a symbol of power, violence, and masculinity. Guns are also phallic symbols (any object that resembles or might be taken as a representation of the penis), which may be one of the reasons that the man is carrying it in the advert. The indexical sign of the ad – the tagline “get what you’ve always wanted” is especially problematic because it objectifies women, suggesting that they are objects which can be bought and sold. This relates to the ad’s opinion on gender because women were frequently objectified and treated as sex objects. Therefore, by presenting women in this way, the ad is adhering to the constructed identity of women in the 60s. Furthermore, the indexical sign, animal skin, is evidence of his success as a hunter, and it suggests to the audience that they too will have success if they wear Score. Also, the man’s short-sleeved shirt reveals his muscular arms. Muscular arms are a symbol of strength, dominance, and power. The binary representation of masculinity and femininity is obvious. Liesbet van Zoonen argued femininity is traditionally represented as passive and subservient, whilst masculinity is traditionally represented as dominant and powerful – the women and men in this advert certainly reflect that identity.
Contrastingly, Maybelline’s advert, That Boss Life, takes a more open-minded approach to gender. This is most evident through the choice of model, Manny Mua, who is an openly gay beauty blogger. Manny adopts a more gender-neutral look, wearing full make-up, and wearing feminine clothing. This links to the idea that humans are becoming less and less binary. It’s no longer expected for humans to fit into a constructed gender identity. Harry Styles stated that he wants to ‘dispel the myth of a binary existence.’ This is an example of how the once tall barriers of toxic masculinity, homophobia, and gender constructs are being broken down. Styles says “I’ll often see a colour on a flower or a specific wallpaper and think ‘Oh, I wanna put that on my nails’”. The Maybelline advert attactches to a similar viewpoint to Styles, believing that gender is fluid and unfixed. Maybelline uses a number of signifiers to show this. The most obvious signifier is the colour gold. It’s a gender-neutral colour, and it symbolises luxury. The advert also uses clothing to break down gender stereotypes. Both the man and woman in the advert are wearing similar clothing, and this clothing changes from casual to luxurious mid way through the ad. The dialogue in the advert also adheres to a more gender fluid identity. Manny speaks in a stereotypically feminine tone and says ‘camp’ things such as “giiiiirl, this room is everything”.
In conclusion, I believe that the two CSP’s we studied are juxtaposed in their representations of gender, with Score taking a stereotypical approach to gender, and Maybelline taking a more non-binary approach. This can be seen through the power dynamics at play between men and women. In CSP 3 (Score) the man in the advert is presented as strong, dominant, and on a higher social class to women. Whereas, in CSP 4 (Maybelline) women and men are as equals, with stereotypical gender constructs being disregaded in favour for a more non-binary approach.
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?
This idea is particularly useful in understanding gender representation in both Score and Maybelline advert campaigns, this is because gender and identity are something that can be changed- as David Gauntlett identified, the fluidity of identity gives ideas that you can choose to identify as the binary ‘stereotype’ male or female, or you can identify as more fluid- Non-Binary, Transgender, Gender-fluid etc. Essentially, gender is not the fixed set of rules it once used to be, which Judith Butler suggests. She also presents ideas that identity is just a social construct you are meant to abide to so you can be essentially categorised. Now, in more modern days, people are starting to realise that the world does not have to be so binary, and you are allowed to be more fluid, and that there is not a set of ground rules that separates males to females and identifies what you can and cannot do as a specific gender and you cannot cross that line.
In the Score advertising campaign, straight away you can see a patriarchal dominance over the 5 women draped around the focal point- a man. The word ‘masculine’ is used in the description in the phrase ‘Score’s famous masculine scent.’ This indicates the fact that if you use the product, not only will you not look good and appeal to women, but you will also appear masculine AND smell masculine. The man is also being held up on a pedestal by the women while holding a gun, indicating that he is ‘above all’ Straight away you can see a sense of toxic masculinity that many males were a part of in the 1970s, linking back to fluidity of identity, you can see the time difference and how people in the 20th century agreed that you were either male or female no in-between, and you had to act like one due to a stylized repetition of acts that society agreed made you a specific gender.
In the Maybelline advertising campaign, they advocate gender, sexuality, race, and social class. Two of the main representations are reversed gender stereotypes and sexuality, which completely contrasts the Score advertisement. They were the first beauty advertisement that cast a male, which was a huge step in the right direction to some sort of equality. Having a male, who is openly gay, in a beauty advert, allows other males and people who might not identify as female, the stereotype for beauty products, to feel comfortable purchasing the products. This differs to the Score advertisement as it attempts to eliminate the toxic masculinity that comes with beauty and cosmetic products, whereas the Score advert promotes their product to be for males and males only.
Similar to the Maybelline advert, Harry Styles, a singer and an actor, has recently launched his own beauty/cosmetic line. Harry Styles himself, says “Me seeing a colour on a flower or a wallpaper or something and thinking ‘Oh, I wanna put that on my nails’”. Which is a clear representation of breaking the social construct of gender and toxic masculinity, as Harry, a male, enjoys painting his nails. With him releasing this beauty line, it can be seen that he is trying to break the barrier even more than it has been broken, and with a large following, he is more likely to achieve this.
Another major thing in the Score advertisement is that the man held up on the pedestal is seen to be wearing a watch. While this may not be an important thing in modern day adverts, the fact that none of the 5 Caucasian women are wearing a watch, almost hinting at the fact that women are so subordinate to men that they do not deserve education or even an accessory that helps you with day-to-day life. Known theorist, Virginia Woolf created a character for a book as famous novelist, William Shakespeare’s sister, and used it as a metaphor for if William were born a female, the world would have missed a huge part of history. This highlights the fact that we have most likely missed other major or crucial parts of history as women were not allowed to be educated or read and write, the had immense potential but could not use it as they were females and did not have the same opportunities as males. This is known as the First Wave Feminism, where the suffragettes, Suffragists, and the International Alliance of Women (IAW), and many other women around the world started to realise that they should have the same opportunities and chances at success as men- they did not like the fact that they were extremely subordinate to males. Secondly, the watch can connote to high social class, and only people of that social class can purchase the item being advertised- essentially, if you buy the Liquid Hair Cream, you are going to be well respected, and even if you are a male, if you do not wear or buy it, you will be slightly more subordinate to men who do wear it.
On the other hand, in the Maybelline advert, there is a lot of Second Wave and Third Wave feminism seen with the reversed gender stereotypes, inclusive sexuality, race and social class. With having both a male and a female putting on the mascara, this gives off ideas that women are less subordinate to men as they once were as they are sharing the same beauty cosmetic product. There was a massive trend in 2017 on Twitter called the #MeToo movement where women from all around the world shared similar experiences with sexual assault and other major incidents that have been controlled by a man. As Simone De Beauvoir comments, ‘If you’re around long enough, you will see that every victory turns into a defeat.’ Which indicates that even when the Suffragettes etc managed to get women to be able to vote, we are still controlled and do not have total power over ourselves. In the Third Wave Feminism, Naomi Wolf explains that there is a lot more fluidity in sexuality and ways women are allowed to express themselves, which is a substantial difference to the Second Wave Feminism. It is also more multi-dimensional, which brings me back to Judith Butler saying that gender was never there from the start, it is believed to be who you are but in reality, it’s constructed based on things you like and act.
As Jean Kilbourne makes clear, women are overly objectified in many adverts, but mostly print ones. The Score advert is a prime example of this as the five women in it are wearing little clothing that shows off their body for men to enjoy looking at, which reinforces Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze and how men look at women in an extremely oversexualising way. Alternatively, the Maybelline video advert contains no sexualising of women at all and includes males also getting ‘Bossed Up’ to equalise the gender stereotypes.
To conclude, I believe that both Score and Maybelline adverts are juxtaposed by using women’s sexuality and gender. While Maybelline’s advertisement advocates gender, sexuality, race and social class, Score’s advert is all about men being the superior gender and only being able to buy the product if you’re of the correct social class. Theorists such as, Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler, David Gauntlett and many others previously mentioned all have great ideas of identity, how you express yourself and feminism that helps analyse the two adverts further.
semiotics
sign code convention dominant signifier anchorage
cs pierce icon index syntage
roland signification denotation connotation myth
male gaze voyeurism patriarchy positive and negative stereotypes
counter types misrepresentation
David gauntlets ideas
Upload a statement of intent to your blog. It is worth 10 marks. It needs to be 500 words. So perhaps write about: what your intentions are (100 words), focusing in particular on: Media Language (codes, conventions, signs, elements of real print product). Put another way: how did if follow your style model? (100 words). Representation / content (use key language) (100 words). Audience, ie what kind of audience would consume it? (Again, 100 words). Institution: What kind of company would make your product? 100 words. This will be assessed with the products and will allow you to explain the ways in which you will apply knowledge and understanding of media language and media representation to your products, how your products will target the intended audience, reflect the industry context they are created for This is a compulsory element of the non-exam assessment and you must complete the Statement of Intent using a maximum of 500 words.
For this NEA I will advertising MarkHill strengthening shampoo i am aiming it towards females and males of most ages i am going to try and create an idealistic image of a woman after using this product to create need for the viewer to be like the model i will be trying to make a reactionary shampoo advert inspired by 80s adverts like the finesse advert copying its element’s of one key model in the middle a copy at the bottom which it uses to catch the viewers eye with a lady for you to then find out the product with it uses the sexualisation of women to bring in customers like many adverts from back then and this is what i intend to do as well the target audience for this are young and middle aged women looking for “luscious thickness” and some men who may be attracted to the advertisement because of the main picture being a lady
How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?
In this essay I will be constructing an argument based on the principles of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, which will evaluate the foundations of gender and identity and how they are represented throughout media. To do this I will analyse the gender representations in a print advert for Score, from the 1960s, and a video advert for Maybelline, made in 2017.
Judith Butler, in 1988, theorises that ‘rituals and performative actions constantly reinforce our identities’ which implies that it is your behaviour that fabricate your gender and identity, most significantly your repeated behaviour. In saying that, she highlights that no one is just born with an identity but as people grow up and as people are exposed to new knowledge and experiences and hardships; that is when one’s identity is formed. This approach is extremely subjective as just because a certain practice may be typically performed by a girl, such as painting your nails, does not mean that it cannot be performed by a male or any other gender. Therefore, because we the ones that control our performative actions, we have the ability to control and re-shape our identities, linking to David Gauntlett’s theory of fluid identity, which tells us that in reality gender is a social construction and is completely subjective. She states the issues with maintaining an identity which ‘falls outside of heterosexual norm in our society’ as it tends to be ‘a subversive act that takes a great deal of effort to maintain’. This is likely due to institutions, such as the advertising industry, who have constructed an ‘ideal’ identity whereby women have to be submissive and sexy whereas men had to be dominant and emotionless therefore under representing non-heterosexual identities and causing people to believe certain identities are more valid than others – which of course, is not the case. Her theory may have been the catalyst for the third wave of feminism at the beginning of the 1990s as it was solely focused on pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism, rather than just the role of women in society.
Score’s hair cream advert was made in 1967 and is a reactionary representation of men and women, highlighting the objective views people had of gender identity during this time. This is stereotypical of the advertising industry as these representations were very much reflect the dominating ideology at the time due to the fact it is portraying the white male as the dominant figure, which contrasts the females who are portrayed as submissive. Therefore, these gender representations support Butlers idea of gender performativity as according to society at the time, it is the male’s active dominance which makes him a man, and the females’ active submission which makes them women. The advert highly sexualises women by using conventionally attractive women and exposing their bodies by dressing them in little to no clothing, which seems ironic considering the product is to be used by men, reflecting upon Laura Mulvey’s notion of the Male Gaze as they are characters whose “appearance [is] coded for [a] strong visual and erotic impact” (“Visual and Other Pleasures”, 1989). This illustrates the role of women in society at the time, as they are only there to look attractive in order to feed the voyeuristic tendencies of the patriarchy and therefore are not serving any practical purpose other than to make the product sell – they are being used for their bodies. In saying that, it is very clear that the advert was produced before any real progress was made with regards to the role of women in society as although it was made after the first and second wave of feminism, it was not until the third wave of feminism in the 1990s that people began focusing on the representation of women and how they are treated throughout media, which was a lot more broad compared to previous waves, and therefore Score’s degrading representations of women would not have been affected by this movement.
Maybelline’s big shot mascara campaign was made in 2017 and portrays a radical representation of men and women as it ‘marks Maybelline’s first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign’ (Glamour Magazine, 2017). This can be seen as revolutionary, or as Manny states ‘breaking boundaries,’ as is it contrasts the dominant ideology that men typically don’t wear makeup and especially because there is a lack of representation of men in the cosmetics industry. This reflects upon David Gauntlett’s theory of fluidity of identity as Maybelline are advertising the product is being advertised to both men and women. Manny, despite being male, appears to have more feminine mannerisms, such as the way he dresses and speaks, which is typical of someone in the LGBTQ+ community, like himself, and corresponds with Toril Moi’s distinctions between being female, feminine and a feminist as he illustrates that it is possible to be feminine without being a female. Therefore his repeated performance of feminine acts is the foundation of his identity and what signifies to others how he identifies, supporting Butler’s theory that ‘identity is instituted through a stylised repetition of acts’. The advert perfectly illustrates a shift of certain social conventions in the sense that it highlights the growing acceptance of gender identities that aren’t just male or female. Despite the possession of such identities tends to be, in the words of Butler, ‘a subversive act that takes a great deal of effort to maintain’, the advert highlights how as a society we have grown to be more acceptive of them and the performative acts that come with them. This may have derived from the third wave of feminism at the beginning of the 1990s as it was solely focused on pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism, rather than just the role of women in society.
To conclude, both the Score hair cream advert and the Maybelline big shot advert support Judith Butler’s theory that gender is ‘an identity instituted through a stylised repetition of acts’ and help us understand the representation of gender . In terms of Score, each characters identity is made very clear due to the traditional conventions portrayed, for example the women portray a submissive persona which was a stereotypical female performative act at the time. In terms of Maybelline, the protagonists repetition of feminine performative acts, is what illustrates to others how he identifies as they are typical of homosexual conventions.
Judith Butler – Gender performance
Judith Butler suggests that gender is fluid, changeable, plural. She believes that the way people are represented are not strictly based off of our assigned gender at birth. She states that the way we act and the choices we make don’t specifically decide if we are female or male, we can act in a more feminine or masculine way but specific gestures or speech and acts don’t determine if we are a man or woman. She is trying to break out of typical gender stereotyping where specific acts decide who we are. Such as a sport like football being considered a male sport to play or makeup being regarded as a female thing to use, she tries to break out of this idea and allow anyone to do anything they like to live and embrace their identity.
This is contrasting to some of the ideas presented by Laura Mulvey which seem to suggest that gender is fixed – male/female.
Maybelline advert
The dominant signifiers of a recent advertisement campaign had stirred up a conversation, the recent ad titled “boss it up” features 2 people, one male and one female. This is significant because it is advertising eye liner, both the male and female are wearing this product. This is a radical approach to marketing and Maybelline now know that the focus on make up shouldn’t just be on females. You could see this as a genuine radicalism to fight against gender stereotypes, but more likely it is a realisation that there is a new market for men in the beauty makeup market. This follows ideas of Judith Butler that makeup shouldn’t be represented as a female only thing to use and we are now seeing a larger influx of influencers and people using makeup to portray their identities. Makeup is now considered a neutral choice. The ad also features a black female which is used to oppose normalities or straight white females being the main choice of models for these adverts. An example is Johnny Depp, a straight man who wears eyeliner, there should be no constructed reality idea on clothes, cosmetic products and peoples actions.
Score advert
Score, the printed advert, shows a completely different view to gender representation. It shows men and women as separate identities, an identity where woman are shown to be socially beneath men in the hierarchy. Woman are used as a tool in advertising to market a health and beauty product to men. It shoes women holding a man above them, clean shaven, portraying the use of their product. To put it simply, this is a clear opposite view of gender representation, a view where men are viewed as the more powerful and stronger gender and women are beneath them both metaphorically/ socially and literally in this ad.