Women and Men in TV:
*In the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's only 20 to 35% of characters were female. By the mis 1980's there were more women in leading roles, but still there were twice as many men on screen.
*In action adventure shows only 15% of the leading characters were women.
*In 1987 study found female characters to be most common in comedy programmes (43%)
*In action adventure women had almost doubled their showing to a still low 29% of characters.
*1970's consistency found that marriage, parenthood and domescticity were shown on television to be more important for women than men.
*McNiel (1975) concluded that womens movement had been largely ignored by television, with married housewives being the main female role shown.
*Women intercations were very often concerned with romance or family problems in 74% of the cases.
*Female characters were unlikely to work especially not if they were wives or mothers, even if they did it was not typically shown on screen.
*In 1970s men were the dominant characters and decision makers on TV.
(Gunter, 1995)
*Men- assertive, agressive-adventuruous, active and victorious.
*Women-passive-weak, innefectual, victimised, supportive, laughable or morely token females.
(1978) Gaye Tucham
*Women were underrepresented in televisions fictional life- they are 'symbolically annihilated'
*Women don't matter much in American society
*Women who were shown to be working were portrayed as 'incompetents and inferiors', as victims, or having 'trivial interests.
*Women had little value in the TV world
*In the mid 1980s a number of programmes showed women in a more centralised way such as documentaries, discussion programmes and dramas, they also began to be shown in police and crime roles.
Women and Men in movies:
*In the 1950s most films almost always focused on male heroes.
*Men typically made the decisions which led the story and were assertive, confident and dominant.
*Women had many important roles but were far more likely to be shown as frightened, need protection and directing and offering love & support to male characters.
*1970's- Woody Allen featured women more intelligent.
*Sherron Smith- the role of a women in a film almost always revolves around the physical attraction and the games he plays with the male chracters.
*Ann Kaplan- women are ultimatley refused a voice, discourse and their desire is subjected to male edesire.
* Kathi Miao- Women are given less screen time, likely to be portrayed as powerless and ineffectual.
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Hegemonic vs Pluralistic model
Hegemonic model is about how people get brainwashed to do things, they help to determine how groups and people are represented.It believes in Marxist- dominant ideology- their views and values get promoted to the mass media.
Pluralistic model has an active audience and instead sees the media as diverse and full of consumer choices.
In a way I do believe in both the models as they can both be justified, however I mostly believe in the pluralistic model. I believe I am more of an active audience rather than passive as I tend to interpret and take the media in a way that I want and not the way that that it has been presented and portrayed.
However I kind of believe in the hegemonic model as it speaks about the ruling classes who brainwash us and this is true, for example Rupert Murdoch owns BSKYB, Star TV, The Sun and the Times therefore his views are portrayed to us and we believe what he believes however we are unaware of this, this is called false consciousness. However these institutions need to attract an audience therefore they would show what the audience would like, therefore they need to use the pluralistic model as well.
Pluralistic model has an active audience and instead sees the media as diverse and full of consumer choices.
In a way I do believe in both the models as they can both be justified, however I mostly believe in the pluralistic model. I believe I am more of an active audience rather than passive as I tend to interpret and take the media in a way that I want and not the way that that it has been presented and portrayed.
However I kind of believe in the hegemonic model as it speaks about the ruling classes who brainwash us and this is true, for example Rupert Murdoch owns BSKYB, Star TV, The Sun and the Times therefore his views are portrayed to us and we believe what he believes however we are unaware of this, this is called false consciousness. However these institutions need to attract an audience therefore they would show what the audience would like, therefore they need to use the pluralistic model as well.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Points from expamle cw
* Since the late 1990s their has been a change in what society is willing to accept, for exampe their has been a decrease in the amount of censorship.
*Their was a lot of controvesy in society beause the magazines contained images and articles that were seen to promote a sexist attitude, degarding representatin of women.
*Women have been rising in statu throughout the media.
* 'Lads'- men aged between 15-25, their modern, fashionable young men, not afraid to admit they enjoy porn, women, sex, heavy drinking and sports.
*Mens magazines represent women as the prototypical object of sexual desire, presenting the idea that a womens purpose is to look appealing and attractive to male audience.
*Prototypical-constituting or representing an original type of something that others are modelled on, or derived from
*The student talks about exactly how the person on the magazine was posed and colours and how all that relates to the audience and connotations of colours.
*Women are traditionally seen as beatifull, attractive, thin and well groomed. This puts pressure on women to conform to hat the male audience finds attractive.
*Women are stereotypicaly seen to men as only objects of theri sexual desire, and should conform to what they view as attractive, this relates to the hpodermic needle, that audiences are passive and easily influenced.
*"Effect tradition"theory- men to be the dominant gender over women.
*Their was a lot of controvesy in society beause the magazines contained images and articles that were seen to promote a sexist attitude, degarding representatin of women.
*Women have been rising in statu throughout the media.
* 'Lads'- men aged between 15-25, their modern, fashionable young men, not afraid to admit they enjoy porn, women, sex, heavy drinking and sports.
*Mens magazines represent women as the prototypical object of sexual desire, presenting the idea that a womens purpose is to look appealing and attractive to male audience.
*Prototypical-constituting or representing an original type of something that others are modelled on, or derived from
*The student talks about exactly how the person on the magazine was posed and colours and how all that relates to the audience and connotations of colours.
*Women are traditionally seen as beatifull, attractive, thin and well groomed. This puts pressure on women to conform to hat the male audience finds attractive.
*Women are stereotypicaly seen to men as only objects of theri sexual desire, and should conform to what they view as attractive, this relates to the hpodermic needle, that audiences are passive and easily influenced.
*"Effect tradition"theory- men to be the dominant gender over women.
Wednesday 12 November 2008
Cover work: Analysis of a scene
In the beginning of the scene we see a shot of the institution sign of the film in big which are, ‘Screen Gems’. Screen Gems is an American subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation. Screen Gems mostly make movies that are thriller or Sci-fi, such as, Zombies and The Grudge. The scene starts with Milla Jovovich lying in a bathroom and only covered in the shower net. The camera zooms out on her and shows her whole body. In this image she is represented as week as she has no clothes on and looks helpless. She is also represented as a sex object, this is after the bath scene we see her wear a red dress which is quite short this reinforces the stereotypes that women are seen as sex objects as red connotates love and makes her look seductive, she also reinforces some of the stereotypes that are linked to Malveys 'male gaze' theory. The lighting is very dark which foreshadows that something bad is going to happen or has already happened. After that we the camera slowly walking with Jovovich in a dark corridor and then in a white, bright corridor, the cut from a dark lighting shot then a white shot shows Binary opposition between good and Evil. This could give the audience a clue that the story is line is about good vs. evil. In the next shot we see Jovovich get shot the camera then fades to black and we see her fall to the ground, the fade to black creates a sense of sadness in the audience as it slows the shot down. In all of these shots the music is quite slow paced which build up tension to the audience. We then see a man who looks like a scientist tell some other people to dump Jovovich’s body; this shows the female character as week as the man has defeated her. After this the movie is kind of gone to a new theme, this is as before Milla Jovovich is represented as weak; this is as she gets killed. However in the shots shown after she dies she is represented as an independent and strong female, her character seems to be challenging the stereotypes that females are associated with weak, emotional, and sex objects. Milla Jovovich is represented as dominant in the rest of the scene as we can see her riding a motorbike which is usually associated to men who are mostly stereotyped as strong and powerful. She is also shown as a powerful character and challenges stereotypes as she is shown using weapons such as guns and machete’s to kill zombies. There are many narrative theories that can be applied to the film, one of them include the Proppian theory. The film contains both hero (Milla Jovovich) we can tell this because she is the main icon on the poster of the film e.g. she’s positioned in the middle also the film starts of with her, and Villain of the film (Iain Glen) this could be identified through his first appearance in the film e.g. in a lab experimenting with clones etc. other narrative theories that can be applied to the film is Todorovs equilibrium theory. However you cannot apply the theory exactly because the film doesn't exactly start of with an equilibrium however there is a disruption and realisation and a new equilibrium where she kills the villain. We can also apply Levi-struasses binary oppositions to the movie, for example there is the binary oppositions of good and evil and light and dark. The film also contains narrative enigmas for example at the beginning you see a big close up of the protagonist eye, it then slowly zooms out showing her in a bathtub with a white cloth over her, this starts getting the audience thinking as to why she’s there and what the situation and the slow paced music also builds up tension which therefore leaving them wanting to know more. Milla Jovovich is viewed as the hero ‘who will save the day’ not just through the shots but through the way the shots are put into sequence with the phrases. Jovochic is represented as powerful, mainly through the use of propp's e.g. her gun. The film Resident evil clearly suggests that the representation of females within the film industry has changed, due to the reason that nowadays there are many female action stars whereas before females were only given parts which fitted in with their stereotypes e.g. housewife or object of sexual desire for the male. By Jovovich taking on a masculine role she is presenting females as more independent and strong. On the other hand it can also be argued that she is still represented as a sexual object, mainly through her clothing, for example at the beginning of the film she is wearing a red dress which is quite revealing, this could portray her as seductive. The text is likely to be aimed at teenagers and adults from all ethnic groups aged 18-35 who are interested in action/horror movies. The primary audience could be males because of the genre of the film; action, which boys are normally associated with, however due to the protagonist being a female it could also be primarily aimed at females. From the text we can tell that the audience would be interested in films that include violence and guns because the film includes many scenes of violence. The audience could be consuming this text mainly for entertainment or division; to escape from the reality they are in. The audience are actively engaged in the interpretation of the text therefore they would be decoding the text in ways that relate to their social experience. The film is likely to be aimed at people of all genders and ethnicity in order to target a wide range of audience, in order for the film to be successful, also the film does not contain any particular ethnic groups e.g. whites whereas it includes ethnic groups such as black and white and also other actors e,g, Oded Fehr, an Israeli.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Director: Russel Mulchay
Russel mulcahy:
*He has made many movies with the genre of thriller, sci-fi and adventures.
*Russell Mulcahy's career began with making music videos.
REE is not the only movie that he has shown women to be strong; he also makes them look strong in films many other films such as 'The Sitter' and 'The Scorpion King' which has two dominant female women.
REE is not the only movie that he has shown women to be strong; he also makes them look strong in films many other films such as 'The Sitter' and 'The Scorpion King' which has two dominant female women.
Award-winning director of commercials and rock videos in the 1980s turned polished and proficient helmer of Hollywood genre movies. Mulcahy directed over 300 rock videos by 1983, including 15 starring Elton John and others featuring glitzy sets and costumes and fluid camerawork which highlighted Duran Duran, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac ("Gypsy") and Rod Stewart ("Young Turks"). He also made many TV commercials, including advertisements for HBO, Doritos, Miller Lite beer, Ford and British Petroleum. Mulcahy made his feature debut with the British-produced "Derek and Clive Get the Horn" (1980), starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and followed up with "Razorback" (1984), a galvanizing cult thriller about a killer pig set in the Australian outback.
Mulcahy achieved some measure of commercial success with the Sean Connery/Christopher Lambert fantasy vehicle, "Highlander" (1986), which yielded the disappointing sequel, "Highlander II: The Quickening" (1991). He next fashioned a slick urban thriller, "Richochet" (1991) starring Denzel Washington and John Lithgow, which seemed to set a pattern for his subsequent work. Teaming for the first time with producer Martin Bregman on the made-for-cable spy drama, "Blue Ice" (1992), Mulcahy reteamed with Bregman and stayed in character with the unsuccessful "The Real McCoy" (1993), a tale of a burglar starring Kim Basinger. Mulcahy's third teaming with Bregman, "The Shadow" (1994), was his most ambitious feature project to date. With a $45 million budget at his command, Mulcahy unleashed his video-bred stylishness on the period adventure thriller as he sought to bring the cult pulp-fiction figure Lamont Cranston to the screen.
Monday 3 November 2008
10 keywords
-Representation:
The process by whereby the media constructs version of people.
-Radical femenism:
A femenist perspective that sees men as the enemy who have used patriachy and the traditional family structure to suppress all women, regardless of class, culture or ethnicity
-Post femenism:
Part of the postmodern perspective which takes the achievements of feminism for granted and views it as ineffective in explaining the current condition of women and the many identity choices they face.
-Mulvey, Laura:
femenist academic and media and film critic, responsible for developing theories of the male gaze in her 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure' and 'Narrative Cinema'.
-Marxist femenism:
A femenist perspective which sees capitalism as the principle source of gender inequalities.
* In a capitalist class hierachy, women are seen as being subordinate to men and serving the male workforce in terms of low-paid, low-status employment and unpaid domestic labour and child rearing.
*Domestic violence against women is seen to be the result of the powerless male workforce exercising its fustration on the famle sex rather than directing it at the class system.
*The media and culture industries serve the interest of capitalism by reinforcing traditional gender roles and supporting the status quo created by the dominant ideology.
-Male gaze:
*used by Laura Mulvey to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience.
-Gender consumption:
the way that gender affects our consumption of media texts.
-Femme fatale:
in french film noir theory a famale character who uses her sexuality, often in devious, disreputable, secretive ways, to achieve the ends she desires.
-Active audience theory:
This audience theory sees the audience as active participants in the process of deconding and making sense of media texts. This can be relevent to my study because while im talkin about audience i can say how they active audience would consume the text in different ways e.gg. feminist could say that females are becoming more powerful.
-Stereotype:
The social classification of a group of people by identifying common characteristics and universily applying them in an often over simplified and genralised way. This is linked to my study because i will be talkin about the stereotypes that the females in my text are associated with for example sexual objects etc.
The process by whereby the media constructs version of people.
-Radical femenism:
A femenist perspective that sees men as the enemy who have used patriachy and the traditional family structure to suppress all women, regardless of class, culture or ethnicity
-Post femenism:
Part of the postmodern perspective which takes the achievements of feminism for granted and views it as ineffective in explaining the current condition of women and the many identity choices they face.
-Mulvey, Laura:
femenist academic and media and film critic, responsible for developing theories of the male gaze in her 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure' and 'Narrative Cinema'.
-Marxist femenism:
A femenist perspective which sees capitalism as the principle source of gender inequalities.
* In a capitalist class hierachy, women are seen as being subordinate to men and serving the male workforce in terms of low-paid, low-status employment and unpaid domestic labour and child rearing.
*Domestic violence against women is seen to be the result of the powerless male workforce exercising its fustration on the famle sex rather than directing it at the class system.
*The media and culture industries serve the interest of capitalism by reinforcing traditional gender roles and supporting the status quo created by the dominant ideology.
-Male gaze:
*used by Laura Mulvey to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience.
-Gender consumption:
the way that gender affects our consumption of media texts.
-Femme fatale:
in french film noir theory a famale character who uses her sexuality, often in devious, disreputable, secretive ways, to achieve the ends she desires.
-Active audience theory:
This audience theory sees the audience as active participants in the process of deconding and making sense of media texts. This can be relevent to my study because while im talkin about audience i can say how they active audience would consume the text in different ways e.gg. feminist could say that females are becoming more powerful.
-Stereotype:
The social classification of a group of people by identifying common characteristics and universily applying them in an often over simplified and genralised way. This is linked to my study because i will be talkin about the stereotypes that the females in my text are associated with for example sexual objects etc.
Kill Bill Trailer
This is the trailer to Kill Bill, which is similar to the text which i am studying. Both the films include female protagonists who are challenging the stereotypes that females are associated with. In the trailer the first shot of Uma Thurman is a low angle therefore the camera is looking up at her which could portray her as superior and powerful. This is common throughout the trailer as most of the shots of the female actions stars are low angle, as they are looking down at the camera, this makes the audience feel inferior to them. In the trailer Uma Thurman is holding a sword most of the time, this could be a symbol of her power and strength. At one part there is a group of men "Crazy 88" surrounding her and shes on her own, the men are all dressed in black which clearly have connotations of evil in contrast to Thurmans costume which is all yellow, which could have possible connotations of power. Also as she draws her sword back all the men move one step back, this implies that they are afraid of her, this could be challenging the stereotypes that men are more powerful and physically stronger then women, as she is the only female fighting the "crazy 88".
Related films:
Catwoman:
Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) is a timid woman who can't stand up for herself. She lets people walk all over her, and has wasted her artistic talent working for a cosmetic company as a graphic designer. George Hedare (Lambert Wilson) runs the company with his supermodel wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone). The company is about to launch a new anti-aging product nationwide. Patience must go to the production factory to deliver her artwork, and she accidentally hears that the product has unsafe health problems. To keep the secret safe, she must to be eliminated. Patience runs into a large waste water pipe, where she is trapped, and they flush her into the river, where she drowns. An Egyptian Mau cat has been watching Patience for several days, knowing that she was about to die. The cat has special powers that are given only to a few deserving women after they die. Patience is reborn with new catlike powers. She now becomes Catwoman with the senses and agility of a cat. Patience and Catwoman are two completely different people, yet they are one. Catwoman goes on the prowl, looking for the reason why she was murdered, and then for revenge. A police detective, Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), who is investigating crimes, that he thinks Catwoman committed, meets Patience and asks her out for a date. Catwoman's wild side begins to have more influence over Patience, and she begins to follow her own rules. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)
Charlie's Angels:
Kill Bill:
The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad consists of five most deadly killers, led by Bill. There is O'Ren-Ishii as Cottonmouth, Elle Driver as California Mountain Snake, Vernita Green as Copperhead, Budd as Sidewinder. And there is The Bride, whose name is not spoken, who wanted to quit because she was pregnant. One day, somewhere in the Texas desert, The Bride wanted to marry the love of her life. Then Bill and her former colleagues showed up and killed everyone there. But they did not do a good enough job: The Bride survives, barely, and is in a coma for four years. Her colleagues know this but won't kill her in her sleep, it would just ruin the reputation. One day, The Bride awakens. For her, not a second has consciously passed, and after she realizes all the things that have happened, The Bride decides to take revenge. Bloody revenge. On each single one of those who betrayed her. First on her death list is Cottonmouth, who has become the yakuza boss of Tokyo, Japan, second in line is Copperhead, who chose a more decent life as well. The Bride sets out to take back what was once hers: Her life.
Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) is a timid woman who can't stand up for herself. She lets people walk all over her, and has wasted her artistic talent working for a cosmetic company as a graphic designer. George Hedare (Lambert Wilson) runs the company with his supermodel wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone). The company is about to launch a new anti-aging product nationwide. Patience must go to the production factory to deliver her artwork, and she accidentally hears that the product has unsafe health problems. To keep the secret safe, she must to be eliminated. Patience runs into a large waste water pipe, where she is trapped, and they flush her into the river, where she drowns. An Egyptian Mau cat has been watching Patience for several days, knowing that she was about to die. The cat has special powers that are given only to a few deserving women after they die. Patience is reborn with new catlike powers. She now becomes Catwoman with the senses and agility of a cat. Patience and Catwoman are two completely different people, yet they are one. Catwoman goes on the prowl, looking for the reason why she was murdered, and then for revenge. A police detective, Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), who is investigating crimes, that he thinks Catwoman committed, meets Patience and asks her out for a date. Catwoman's wild side begins to have more influence over Patience, and she begins to follow her own rules. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)
Charlie's Angels:
Kill Bill:
The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad consists of five most deadly killers, led by Bill. There is O'Ren-Ishii as Cottonmouth, Elle Driver as California Mountain Snake, Vernita Green as Copperhead, Budd as Sidewinder. And there is The Bride, whose name is not spoken, who wanted to quit because she was pregnant. One day, somewhere in the Texas desert, The Bride wanted to marry the love of her life. Then Bill and her former colleagues showed up and killed everyone there. But they did not do a good enough job: The Bride survives, barely, and is in a coma for four years. Her colleagues know this but won't kill her in her sleep, it would just ruin the reputation. One day, The Bride awakens. For her, not a second has consciously passed, and after she realizes all the things that have happened, The Bride decides to take revenge. Bloody revenge. On each single one of those who betrayed her. First on her death list is Cottonmouth, who has become the yakuza boss of Tokyo, Japan, second in line is Copperhead, who chose a more decent life as well. The Bride sets out to take back what was once hers: Her life.
Usefull sites
*This is linked to women:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html
This is linked to Luara Mulvey who is one of the theorists I will be talking about in my independent study.
*Gender, Race and Ethnicity
http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/GenderMedia/femmedia.html
This will be useful as it shows me a feminist point of view and will help me understand the topic more.
*Media, Gender and Identity
http://theoryhead.com/gender/extract.htm
This is a website about how gender is represented in todays modern world.
*Media/Gender/Identity
http://www.theory.org.uk/giddens.htm
A website dedicated to theory and gender helping me gain scope of my topic.
*Gender and Representation
http://mediaknowall.com/gender.html
This has lots to do with gender and shows different role models and stereotypes of each gender.
*Kiranjits Blog
http://killbill-volumetwo.blogspot.com/
This will help me as it is on Kill Bill which is a related text and focuses on the representation of women.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html
This is linked to Luara Mulvey who is one of the theorists I will be talking about in my independent study.
*Gender, Race and Ethnicity
http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/GenderMedia/femmedia.html
This will be useful as it shows me a feminist point of view and will help me understand the topic more.
*Media, Gender and Identity
http://theoryhead.com/gender/extract.htm
This is a website about how gender is represented in todays modern world.
*Media/Gender/Identity
http://www.theory.org.uk/giddens.htm
A website dedicated to theory and gender helping me gain scope of my topic.
*Gender and Representation
http://mediaknowall.com/gender.html
This has lots to do with gender and shows different role models and stereotypes of each gender.
*Kiranjits Blog
http://killbill-volumetwo.blogspot.com/
This will help me as it is on Kill Bill which is a related text and focuses on the representation of women.
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