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Paco Rabanne Olympea advert:

Textual analysis – Iconic sign is the perfume, dominant signifier is the two models

Semiotic analysis – The advert shows a reactionary representation around masculinity, with the dominant signifier appearing confident and happy, appealing to the idea of the “Cool Man”.

Representational analysis – The models in the advert relate to the idea of patriarchy due to the man being above the woman representing the stereotype of men being better. The advert seems to target younger men and woman that want to be confident with themselves by using this perfume.

Calvin Klein Eternity advert:

Textual analysis – iconic sign is the perfume, dominant signifies are the two models that seem to be together

Semiotic analysis – the advert shows the dominant signifies who try to represent that when the perfume is used you can attract a partner easier. The two models both seem confident and happy which represents what this perfume is presented to do.

Representational analysis – The advert is reactionary in that it follows the stereotype of men using cosmetic products in order to appear more positive and powerful than they are in reality. 

Dyson Vacuum advert:

Textual analysis – iconic sign and dominant signifier is the vacuum. A slogan is seen saying “Our vacuums suck but in a good way” in a basic font.

Semiotic analysis – the advert presents the dominant signifier (vacuum) through a very basic advert which could mean to the customers that the vacuum and very easy and understandable to use. The use of the slogan could prevent customers from buying he product due to it sounding slightly sexual to some viewers.

For my video game cover, I have made a game cover based in the Alps which includes violence. The background will have a mountain with the main character. My main character is inspired by the ‘winter solider’ but instead she is a female and her body is full metal. She will be portrayed as a strong character which goes against the stereotypical weak female character. My character has a wider and muscular body frame a rather than the ‘small waist’ stereotypical slender frame.

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1. Cristiano Ronaldo Shampoo Advert

Textual Analysis – Iconic sign of shampoo, dominant signifier is Cristiano Ronaldo who is a famous and well known celebrity along with details about the product.

Semiotic Analysis – The advert shows a reactionary representation around masculinity, with the dominant signifier appearing confident and calm, appealing to the idea of the “Cool Man”.

Representational Analysis – The advert presents a patriarchal outlook, with the dominant signifier wearing posh, well-fitting clothes. You could say that the advert targets young men who are rather impressionable, and the audience positioning may be one of positivity, with the advert giving the target audience a role model to look up to. It could also be one of negativity with the target audience comparing themselves to unrealistic representations of men shown in the advert.

2. Nivea Shampoo Advert

Textual Analysis – Iconic signs of man and shampoo which promote conventional methods of showering, along with details and information about the product. There is also a background which denotes a bathroom or shower, which shows the consumer where the product should typically be used.

Semiotic analysis – The advert shows the dominant signifier in the process of using the product, who looks to have unrealistic bodily features. The paradigm of signs relating to the idea of washing and cleaning the body convey the conventional method of doing so, which may be a positive idea in that more impressionable people in the target audience (men) will start carrying out these actions.

Representational Analysis – The advert promotes the idea of patriarchal hegemony as it uses the phrase “what men want” which implies that all men must try to use such cosmetic products to make themselves appear more attractive. Consequently, it may be a misrepresentation of masculinity as not all males aspire to have such a mindset and it is forcing these myths to the consumer. This may mean that the advert gives a negative representation of masculinity and one that is not necessarily correct. On the other hand, the advert could be said to be radical ans there is not a woman accompanying the man as would be seen in a stereotypical reactionary advert.

3. Clear Shampoo Advert

Textual Analysis – Advert shows an iconic sign of shampoo surrounded by bright, sparkly auras, with a faint image of a human person in the background and fancy font used for the text.

Semiotic Analysis – The dominant signifier, being the shampoo, is encased in positive imagery with a bright and sparkly background. This may convey false ideas that you will also experience similar ideas to the ones shown in the advert, and this may encourage consumers to buy the product. In addition, the person in the background has an almost “godly” appearance, which is very unrealistic and does not give the target audience an appropriate role model to loom up to.

Representational Analysis – The advert is reactionary in that it follows the stereotype of men using cosmetic products in order to appear more positive and powerful than they are in reality. This could mean that the advert is showing us a negative representation of masculinity in that men may not be nearly as dominant in society without the products made for them.

“Only solutions to kill the damsel to protect her”

”Young, white, straight male”

“As a girl growing up playing games I was always like, why do I have to play as a boy?”

”Make them exude sexuality for the entertainment of the presumed straight male player.”

“Only solutions to kill the damsel to protect her”

“The Damsel in Distress predates the invention of video games by several thousand years”

“Most games feature white protagonists”

“The gruesome death of women for shock value is especially prevalent in modern gaming”

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Image 1 (Clear):

Textual Analysis

Ronaldo the celebrity is in the advertisement and so is the shampoo bottle. The bright colours (gold) suggests that he is important.

Semiotic Analysis

The dominant signifier is Ronaldo the footballer and there is anchorage in the image to provide context of what the product itself does “Removes dandruff and Styling residue”. He also creates an ideology by pointing to his head that using that shampoo will make you smart in some way.

Representation Analysis

This advertisement would be a reactionary representation as it is seen as normal for celebrities to sell themselves. This could be seen as a counter-type as he is not accompanied by a woman in this advert which would be seen as stereotypical.

Image 2 (Nivea):

Textual Analysis

With the denotation of this you can see that there is a man and a woman in the shower and they are naked, both seem to be smiling and enjoying themselves. And the brand name is Nivea.

Semiotic Analysis

The code of the product is that you will be happy if and with someone if you use this product maybe even suggesting that you will be with a woman. And the signifier of the object is shampoo bottle.

Representation Analysis

Through the process of signification you can see that the product has been scaled down the anchorage with the text would be “What men want” causing Voyeurism towards the heterosexual male. You could see this advertisement as patriarchy

Image 3 (Aveeno):

Textual Analysis

They are saying that now it is “Healthy to wash your hair everyday” as if it wasn’t before hand. Which could be creating a myth. They also use harmonizing colours such as green.

Semiotic Analysis

You start to see a paradigm with the advertising of hair products. This can be seen as radical as people might not believe the fact that there hair was no healthy before.

Representation Analysis

This pictures that provide anchorage may be misrepresenting reality. The industry also seems to be a hegemony of woman as it is dominated by them.

ANALYSE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIGNIFIERS AND SIGNIFIEDS IN THE TWO CSP GAMES COVERS

In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the Tomb Raider and Metroid video games covers. I will discuss Saussure’s idea of signifiers and the signified and how the representation of women in tomb raider is both radical and reactionary.   

I will argue that Lara Croft is both objectified for being a woman however also represented as a radical character, although it is seen as a good thing a woman being the main character in an action game I don’t believe that it will be a productive representation of women in the gaming industry. Tomb raider is a presentation of the theory of the ‘ the male gaze’ created by Laura Mulvey, the male gaze is an act of depicting women, from a straight male perspective that objectifies and sexualises women for their own pleasure, I don’t believe that this is a productive nor positive representation of women in the gaming industry. 

In the front cover of the video game tomb raider, the dominant signifier Lara Croft is positioned in a very particular way in order to show her assets, sexualising her with her polygonal breasts and breathy voice, it is hard for some heterosexual males to see her as representing more than an online sexual fantasy. Lara Croft was a huge exception to a rule that still sadly holds true for much of the gaming industry today:” building a franchise around a female lead is seen as a risk” because stereotypically women are not portrayed as action seeking characters. 

In the Metroid front game cover the main character “Metroid” is displayed to be a big shouldered, muscular,  masculine character, however the person controlling the suit is actually a female character, That is portrayed to appear as masculine which implies that men are stronger and better at defense in comparison to females; it also implies that the male suit is to defend Samus because she cannot defend herself. In addition to this the character is meant to meet the reactionary assumption of what tough, dominan character should be, this is shown to be a male character. The concept of a woman being the main character of a popular video game is a tremendous thing and it gives a good view on the company releasing the game, however there are other ways to avoid the reactionary, negative stereotype of women being oversexualised. ‘(From an article called “Diversity matters”) – This shows that no matter how much effort or help that a company can put in, there is always more to go, or more to do before people are happy.

In addition, the character Lara Croft from tomb raider is shown to be a capable, independent woman who can fend for herself. However Lara Croft can be seen to be in a revealing crop top and a tiny pair of shorts which specifically show off her sexual assets which are unrealistically curvy and creates an unrealistic expectation for women and girls playing the game and from the male perspective which goes along with the belief of a patriarchal society. As Well as this, in other video games male characters have full suits of armour that defends and helps the character and doesn’t show off certain parts of the character’s body but when it comes to a woman they don’t need armour and the majority of their body is shown off. This further shows how the idea of the male gaze is dominant in the video games industry.

In conclusion, both characters from Tomb Raider and Metroid are unjustifiably treated because of their gender. We can see Samus being represented as the opposite of her gender to display the idea that she cannot defend herself, therefore she needs to use and be protected by a big suit of armour that looks masculine on the outside and we can also see Lara Croft being oversexualised to fit the male gaze and identify her as a sexual object for the presumed straight male sales and attraction by using certain clothing. 

In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both Tomb Raider and the  Metroid’s video games covers, I will argue that the representation female protagonists is radical in comparison to the reactionary representation of a male protagonist.

The cover of Tomb Raider provides a dominant signifier of the main protagonist Lara Croft who is being presented as overly feminine. This corresponds to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze which is, a feminist view that in almost all forms of media the representation of women is altered to appeal to the average male consumer. However despite being represented as very feminine there is also some radical elements in this front cover, such as the inclusion of guns. This is radical because it shows that the female protagonist can protect herself without the need of a male protagonist, this radical representation also juxtaposes the idea of “The Damsel In Distress” which says that women in media are simply used as plot devices that the male protagonist needs to rescue to satisfy the story. This creates a positive representation of women as, contradictory to most games, Lara Croft does not need to rely of the help of a male protagonist, This also creates a positive impression on the gaming community as a whole because it shows that female protagonists can still be strong and independent without a male protagonist and that it does not impact enjoyment of the game as a whole.

Even though the representation on the front cover of tomb raider may provide a brief break from the normal representation of women it is not without flaws. The main example of this is Lara Crofts clothing the use of skimpy and revealing clothing could be harmful to younger audiences as it provides unrealistic standards for people to aspire to, it may also have been used to appeal to the average male gamer, this would have been done because males take up the majority of the gaming industry in terms of both creation and consumerism therefore appealing to the male audience provides the biggest profit margin. The paradigm of tight clothing ,provocative stance and a seductive facial expression makes up an objectified persona, this reflects upon Laura Mulvey’s notion on the male gaze in that the dominant signifier is designed in such a way that she appears sexualised. In other words the character is designed so that it appears sexual and erotic in order to appeal to the sexual and erotic standards for women in the video game industry. By dressing Lara Croft in this revealing and skin tight clothing the game developers are taking away from the representation of Lara being able to defend herself without the help of a male protagonist. With that you can argue that this is a reactionary representation of women in video games.

In comparison the front cover of Metroid provides dominant signifying image of a robotic suit , presumably the main character, and is presented as masculine even though it is never stated whether or not they are male or not, the protagonist is presented to be muscular and broad which are characteristics that have been universally recognised as masculine. This creates a reaction representation of men in video games this is because the front cover displays a stereotypical representation of a male hero which is presented as strong and powerful so that they can complete their goal which is normally defeating a big evil and saving a damsel in distress. The inclusion of a large gun attached to the robotic suit implies that there will be themes of violence and combat, this further portrays the male character as fearless and a warrior. This juxtaposes the idea that the sexualisation of women is always used as the main selling point of video games, This also avoids the theory of the male gaze as it does not include any sexualisation towards women. The representation on the front cover of Metroid also shows that games can have extreme success without the sexualisation of women on the front cover.

In conclusion, both Metroid and Tomb Raider portray two rather similar representations of their respective gendered protagonists this is because they are both presented as radical due to their either exaggerated features or their stereotypical features, this is not a good theme as it provides unrealistic body standards for both genders and could possibly be harmful to younger peoples mental health.