The past week we have been discussing female super heroes. Does this give power to women or does it take away from women? We have been observing these questions in the show Charlie's Angels.
Here are women who are given power because they fight and solve crimes that men cannot figure out. Usually their culprit tends to be a man which lends power to these women because they have bested a male. What could this mean for women? This empowerment meant many changes for females everywhere.
Unfortunately in order to make this show popular these women also needed to be "saved" and "controlled" by a man. Charlie is seen as a highly desirable and a very sexual "voice" that "saved" these girls from boredom. They also seem to need the help of at least one male in every episode in order to solve the problem at hand. These women are also made to seem very pretty and desirable. Their hair is always down and flowing, smiles are perfect, and their makeup and clothes are impeccable. We also discovered that Farrah Fawcet had it written in her contract that she was not supposed to wear a bra for the whole season.
Overall I think that Charlie's Angels was an attempted step toward women becoming more independent, but in trying to make the show popular the writers fell back into making women subordinate once more.
Have you ever noticed that the advertisements on the side bar of your
computer suspiciously always have to do with something you're interested in?
Recently I saw an ad on my side bar about running shoes... I bought my running
shoes in a store...not online. So how do people know what I'm into and what
should be put up? Anything and everything you do can be tracked or traced on
the internet. For example, I signed up for a race online so the common sense ad
to show would be one involving running gear. Advertisers look at the sites you
visit and the things you buy online in order to create a side bar just for you!
So you see advertisers really are out to get you...
How can you protect yourself from the insidiousness
of advertising companies? Erase cookies on your web browser and be sure to
block or hide any ads or pop-ups on your computer that are distracting. Oddly
enough I think that what advertisers have done is very smart! What better way
to get you to buy things than an advertisement of item(s) you might buy on the
web pages you are browsing. So a word of caution...be careful about what you
look at and know that they're always watching...
Today we discussed media for children. We read an article that described a major shift in the way marketers were allowed to sell to kids. Instead of selling to parents, advertising that their product was good/healthy for children, advertisers have started marketing directly to children so that they in turn will beg their parents for the item the companies are selling.
Companies have now not only targeted kids in general they have started targeting specific age groups. Using the age compression method advertisers have started creating "older young children". They use older children to advertise products so that younger children will want to be "cool" like the big kids and buy the product. For example, Nerf Guns are generally sold to younger kids, but older children are in the commercial.
Interestingly though ads that target boys generally have a much older male in the commercial. Ads that target girls don't normally have girls much older than the age group they were intended for.
These commercials not only target children they teach them that this is what they want. The commercials show them that should want to play with these things in order to fit in. For example, you will never see a boy in a commercial for dolls or a girl in a commercial for guns. Even the colors are gender specific. Boys have blue, grey, and orange in their commercial while the girls are all purple, pinks, and yellow. I think the laws that protected children from a multitude of images in the media should be replaced.
Our new topic in class has been about sex and sexuality in the media. Years ago sex was a very taboo subject. Men would rarely outright talk about sexual encounters and even when they did it was in the most non vulgar terms. Women were taught that it was not "proper" to discuss unless older women were preparing a young girl for what to expect on her wedding night. The female body was seen as highly sexual so clothes were designed to cover and hideaway almost everything except a woman's face and hands.
Today though there has been a big shift in how the world views and talks about sex. Instead of being sacred and an act between only a married couple it has now become a big part of the media and has gone viral across the world, especially the U.S. Now sex is talked about openly by both men and women. Women no longer have to be quiet and only ever have sex with just one man. An example of this is the show Sex and the City. Women are now allowed to pursue men for simply sex without fear of being ostracized from all of society. Women's bodies are still highly sexualized, but today it is more acceptable to show skin, especially the legs and midrift which were previously extremely off limits. Sex itself has become more talked about in society. There's a whole genre of media dedicated to it now. It is used to sell simple products like food and clothing where as before it was never talked about.
Sex becoming a less taboo subject can be seen as a good thing since more men and women receive education about the dangers of sex and diseases, but it can also be bad because it objectifies what used to be a private act.
In class we have been discussing how the media portrays gay men and women. In the past these portayals have not been particularly good. Gays have been portrayed as goofy or bad. For example, in the film we watched in class it mentioned the show Will and Grace. In this show there is a gay man who is portrayed as overly flamboyant. This portrayal gives the impression that all gay men are like this.
Recently there have been more shows that give insight on how hard it is to be gay in a very heterosexual world. For example, Glee has two gay characeters, both male and female. The gay male is slightly flamboyant, but he is not overly peppy like Jack from Will and Grace. He struggles with his sexualism and constantly gets bullied for being a gay male. Glee also has a gay female who is more accepted by her fellow high schoolers because she is a very intimitdating woman. She gets hazed for being gay as well, but she fights back with her attitude. I love this show and I do think that the teenagers in this show are represented well. They're rejected and hazed, but they are also supported by teachers, parents, and their Glee Club. I think this show is a good example for gay teens in high schools today who are having trouble coming out because they fear for their well-being or lives.
Media portrayal of underpriveleged characters is changing, but unfortunately it's changing slowly.
In class we have continually found examples of women not being in power or in charge. One woman who is always in charge is Judge Judy. She is ruler of her court room and of all of the people in it no matter what race, gender, and age. Even though she is a woman she has power because of her education and her status as a judge. She commands respect and does not tolerate nonsense. You can view this in the example below...
As you can see Judge Judy is ruthless in her courtroom. She has no mercy for those who she sees as guilty. Even the baliff is subordinate to Judge Judy's rule. Part of her power is due to the fact that she has a masculine quality which is aggression. This quality can also help sell products. For example the commerical about Crystal Light being a "woman's energy drink" and women not being good enough for "men's energy drinks" shows a woman agressively chasing two male robbers. She is running on foot while they are driving away on a scooter. The woman makes them subordinate by giving them a disapproving look and jumping at them to scare them away when she catches them.
This commerical effectively sells it's product by making women more powerful. It even ends with the saying "Girl Power To Go" and having a cop come say he'll take over, but he's late and clueless. So powerful women may be few and far between, but they do exist in media!
Many of the messages in media tell women that they simply are not good enough. TV shows, commercials, music, and movies all show an example of the "ideal" woman. In reality the ideal looking woman only occurs in about 1% of the population. The messages are everything from "You're not thin enough" to "You're not pretty enough". Now that technology is rampant in the U.S. we, as women, are flooded with hundreds of images of what we should look like everyday. Make-up commercials are one of the easiest to identify. The images we are shown have been digitally altered to make women look as if they have no pores. In order to look like the image shown to us women will buy the product being sold.
This photo is of Rhianna posing for a CoverGirl magazine. Her makeup and hair are perfect. Women are told they should look like this all day, everyday even when doing chores. Thinner models is one of the worst images shown to us. Instead of buying something to put on your face women are starving themselves in order to look "beautiful". They are dropping to incredibly unhealthy weights.
Images are not the only thing that tell women they're not good enough. Music is a big factor too. Songs about women being objects of possession and sexualization are very prominent in most popular songs today. Of course as always there is a counter balance of songs that try to empower women, but they're not as numerous as those that do not empower women. Songs that objectify women also have music videos to reinforce them.
As you can see this song "Wild Ones" by Flo Rida ft Sia is a great example of the sexualization of women. Flo Rida opens his song with
"I like crazy, foolish, stupid
Party going wild, fist pumping
Music, I might lose it
Blast to the roof, that's how we do'z it
I don't care the night, she don't care we like".
I think he is talking about how wild he likes his women. At one point he also sings to the women that he "heard you're super models" which reinforces the media message that you need to look like a model which is thin. The bridge in the song is really one of the worst parts. Sia sings...
"I am a wild one
Break me in
Saddle me up and lets begin
I am a wild one
Tame me now
Running with wolves
And i'm on the prowl
Show you another side of me
A side you would never thought you would see
Tell that body
Gotta make sure do you have enough
I can't lie
The wilds don't lie"
Not only do these lyrics compare a woman to animals that are meant to be tamed by men, but they're being sung by a woman! Which in my eyes makes it even worse because she's basically saying "Yes I am an animal...tame me please." This song basically tells women to be wild and tells men to be in charge and be manly by taming a wild woman. The video as you saw objectified women greatly. A few shots of women dancing were only of their curves or behinds. We never saw these parts of a man. The men in the video were always shown in either full body shots or in a shot being surrounded by pretty scantily clad women.
To conclude, women are told everyday that they're not good enough. Images and music in the media help encourage this belief.
A few days ago I was up kind of late with a friend and we ended up watching a few shows that I have never watched or payed attention to before. One of these shows was Golden Girls. Seeing a show with the four main characters being older women got me thinking about the fact that it is very rare to find female actresses over the age 35. But it seems that there are some shows and movies out there that do actually want older women for their show.
As we discussed in class women are most commonly portrayed as young and attractive even when they're supposed to be acting someone in their later years. Also actresses over 35 seem to have a hard time finding work in the world of TV because they look "old". I found it refreshing and fun to have a comedy about four older women. Not only were these women older than the average they were portrayed in their later years. I enjoyed the fact that in the episode I saw they didn't exactly stick to "elderly" roles. For example, Blanche (the woman in yellow) is trying to make a man that has stood her up twice, jealous by going out with and flirting with another man. These are usually actions associated with a younger woman yet they are being acted out by an older woman. Unfortunately I could not find the video clip. :(
After seeing this show I remembered watching a movie with my mom called Calender Girls. This movie was about older women who were doing a nude calender shoot to raise money for local hospital. It was funny and witty. I enjoyed the fact that it portrayed these women who were supposed to be "beyond their prime" as spunky, ambitious and above all very brave about doing a nude shoot. Generally when anyone hears the phrase "nude calender" they automatically think of younger women being in the photos because that is what the media has conditioned us to expect.
I was very happy to see that these women were all in their later years. None of them could have been under 35. I like to think that the number of shows and movies about older women in non-traditional roles is on the rise. It makes me happy to see that movies like this one are coming out to shake up the norm a bit. I was excited to see that someone wasn't afraid to make a movie about older women and portray them in an entirely untraditional way. Here's the trailer. I hope you all get a chance to enjoy a little bit of a different view on older women!
In class we were discussing how TV shows and movies help create the definition of masculinity. A majority of the examples we came up with were all about men being strong, tough, and dominating. I decided to analyze a few kids movies to see if I could find the "definition" of masculinity in these as well. The first movie I watched was How To Train Your Dragon. I have seen it before and I remember the main character being made fun of for not being "viking-like". Even this cartoon had a definition of how to be masculine. The main character, Hiccup is the example of how to be a subordinate male. His own father, who is a good example of a dominant male type, tells him that he is a sad excuse for a Viking which translates to being a sad excuse for a man. In this movie the Viking culture represents masculinity. Even the women of the tribe are tall, strong, tough, and sometimes slightly dominating. All of these things are what Hiccup is not. Even the girl, Astrid, in his dragon training group is represented as tougher than he is.
The first thing that indicates to the audience that Hiccup does not fit into the dominant male group is his size. He is small and scrawny as compared to the other Vikings who are big, muscular, and tall. The second thing that is shown to the audience is the fact that Hiccup is uncoordinated and can't catch a dragon. When he finally does catch a dragon he doesn't have the heart to kill it marking him as subordinate once more. Everyone makes fun of Hiccup for not being more "viking-like". This ridicule helps educate the audience that it is better to be more masculine which means being rough, tough, muscular, and a dragon killer. Although by the end of the movie Hiccup displays certain masculine traits that help redeem the fact that he was a subordinate male to begin with. Hiccup exhibits extreme bravery and cunning which are valued traits and therefore seen as "masculine". These traits are greatly praised by his group and they finally begin to accept him.
Another children's movie I watched that defined masculinity as being big and bad was Beauty and the Beast. Gaston, the main man after Belle is large, strong, and tries to be very dominating of all the women he meets.
At some points he is almost violent towards Belle when she refuses to marry him. Gaston is made out to be the best and an all around wonderful guy who is loved by all. He is painted as the character that everyone wants to be. Big, tall, and a hit with the ladies. His sidekick is a perfect example of the subordinate male that no one wants to be. The sidekick is small, unpopular, and ugly making Gaston look even more manly and dominant. The Beast is an even better example of "masculine". The Beast is a metaphor for being manly. He is aggressive, large, strong, and tries to control Belle. When the Beast starts to fall in love with Belle and show emotion he becomes human again which marks a step down from being a dominant man.
Socialization about how to be masculine starts at a young age and is helped along by movies like these that show "manly" men as being strong, tough, tall, and dominating in some way.
The popular hit series Glee helps to perpetuate gender stereotypes and encourages young people to follow them by telling the audience being this way is “cool”. All of the girls in the Glee show always look very pretty; they wear skirts, dresses, and other very fashionable outfits. They also wear makeup and usually have their hair down. A stereotype about women is that they should always look nice and wear “gender appropriate” clothes. Glee helps carry on this stereotype by making their female characters conform to gender norms. Women are also said to be catty and very into their own groups. Glee portrays this by making a few of the girls mean cheerleaders that band together to pick on the other girls. In truth high school does not have clearly defined groups anymore, but Glee makes the line between popular high schoolers and non-popular high schoolers very clear.
The show portrays stereotypes about men too. They wear generally more comfortable clothes at school in the form of jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies. In the earlier episodes not many boys wanted to join the high school Glee club because they considered it “uncool” to sing. This is a common stereotype among high schoolers today. Boys in choir are often made fun of or it is assumed that they are gay. Glee also has a gay character that faces being bullied and frowned upon in almost every episode. The gay character is very feminine in his dress and mannerisms, therefore; the more “manly” men (such as the football players) make fun of and haze the poor boy for not conforming to the gender norm. The favorite form of torture the bullies prefer besides the usual verbal abuse is a slushie to the face. Here's a compliation of some hits...
Most of the Glee characters follow a specific gender norm. If there are characters that are out of the ordinary for men or women they are generally picked on by the other young people in the school. This popular TV program helps reinforce gender stereotypes and norms to all viewers watching whether they realize it or not.
