Feminist theory

 Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here). This is a great example of sophisticated media analysis and an indication of the level we want to be writing at by the end of the two-year course.

1) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?

HBO’s Pan Am and Beyoncé’s and music video for ‘Why Don’t You Love Me’,

2) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form?

Both these texts reinforce typical stereotypes aimed at women and there are strong hints of sexism through actions and clothes.

3) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.
Feminism – A movement aimed at defining, establishing, and defending women’s rights and equality to men.

Male Gaze – The gaze referring to Laura Mulvey’s seminal article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which argues that main stream Hollywood films subject female characters to the ‘male gaze’ of the camera, fragmenting and objectifying their bodies.

Patriarchy – An ideology that places men in a dominant position over women.

Now read The Theory Drop: Gender Performativity (MM69, page 25) and answer the following questions.

1) How does the writer suggest gender performativity is established from a young age?

The writer suggests that Gender is a social construction, it is taught to us by external influences and it’s ingrained at such a young age that we often mistake it as ‘nature’ rather than ‘nurture’.

2) What does the phrase 'non-binary' refer to and how does it link to Butler's theory?

Non-binary, referring to someone who doesn’t define themselves as either wholly male or female.

3) How and why does the media help reinforce gender stereotypes? The writer provides several examples in the final section of the article.

It could be on social media platforms, narrative in TV, magazines, articles and many more. I believe no matter where a person is traditional gender stereotypes will always be subverted due too lots of older generational people in our world working and constructing most of the jobs. Thy have a fixed mindset from childhood due to being introduced to technology from and young age and being passive. This is also shown in shows especially cartoons where children generally see the separation of pink for girls and blue for boys.

Music video analysis

Finally, write up our analysis of the two music videos we studied in class. This is your opportunity to develop your own opinions on these crucial media debates.

Watch the Beyonce video for ‘Why Don’t You Love Me?’ again: 

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’?

Beyoncé is seen in her music video where she is dressed with little clothes on revealing a lot of skin showing how dressing up is a pattern portrayed in women. A few shots of her cleaning can reinforce stereotypes seen by women that are culturally constructed.

2) What might van Zoonen suggest regarding the representation of women in this video?

In the music video Beyoncé is sexualised through her clothes and movements throughout the video. This can illustrate the male gaze where women are objectified for the males pleasure and entertainment. 

3) What are YOUR views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ and oppression of women? 

I believe that Beyoncé is attempting to empower women through her outfits by showing her freedom and self confidence by dressing up at home. Her also cleaning the house in heels with a full face of makeup to communicate women's capability and commitment to a task showing how they are still able to do any task whilst being themselves. However, her video could also be taken from a different point of view where instead she is reinforcing typical stereotypes establishing how women are men to stay home do the chores and look pretty for their husbands.

Watch Will Jay's video for ‘Gangsta’ again:

1) How does the video suggest representations of masculinity have changed in recent years?

The video clearly subverts stereotypes toward males as it portrays how being a man is not all about violence and power but instead about being yourself and doing the thing you enjoy for example Jays music and dancing.

2) What does David Gauntlett suggest about representations of men in the media over the last 20 years?

He believes masculinity is in crisis and that men are not longer acting the stereotypical way.

3) What is YOUR view on the representation of men and masculinity? Are young men still under pressure from the media to act or behave in a certain way?

In my opinion, men have improves the way of masculinity and have gone away from its definition by expressing themselves without the use of looking tough and having no feelings. Toxic masculinity has caused so much damage to mental health across men restricting them to certain ways and beliefs on the way they should act. This is influenced by their surroundings when magazines, adverts and TV still follow stereotypical representations. However, in the modern day, social media and various platforms has changed the way we thing and view men where people are able to freely express themselves through e.g sexuality.