Exam Question

"Explain what is meant by 'Collective Identity' and the role of media in its construction."

Use this question in the representation of gender.
Two page essay.
Set up a theory page of media representation.

Source Guardian (2011) - "The average percentage of female reporters was 22.6% compared to 77.4% of males."

Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property; in the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children.

Hegemony - Gramsci 

Gender roles in Fairy Liquid Advert (1966) - Stereotypical mother figure, woman's placed in the kitchen (housewife), and the daughter is learning about it as the next generation will be doing the same things when she's older. In 1966 the use of maternal, domestic women - in an advert complies with patriarchal representations of a female as either the sex object or the domesticated woman. 

Lynx Advert - "Lynx Shower Gel - Get Dirty" - Woman in a bikini with the words "wash me" on  her stomach. This is an example of objectifying women as sexual objects. Her face is also not included in this piece, it is cropped from chest down to her thighs as these are suggested as being the only elements of a woman's body that attract a male's gaze (Laura Mulvey) . 

Cinematic text conforms to Schopophila - To be voyeuristic is to be sexually excited by watching others. Peeping Toms are voyeuristic. A voyeur is a word for a Peeping Tom, someone who likes to watch people who are engaging in private activities. Anything voyeuristic therefore has to do with watching or spying on someone. 

The female gaze Hanson (1984) 

Antony Giddins - Structuration - changing social structure

"Explain what is meant by 'Collective Identity' and the role of media in its construction."

~

Collective Identity is the individuals sense of belonging to a group, which forms part of their personal identity, and the idea is that through participating in social activities, in this case watching films and TV, that individuals can gain a sense of belonging and in essence an 'identity' that transcends the individual.

This is not just representations from main stream media, but all media including self-representation by individuals and groups.

Mediation, is the process where you take something that is real, record it in some way, and then represent it back to an audience. 

Gender is a form of collective identity which is portrayed differently when it comes to the representation of men and women. The above GQ magazine is a males sports and fashion magazine, that uses sexually provocative photographs of women as their front covers. The majority of the women on these front covers are naked with one item of clothing on, however when they have clothes on, there is still an element of their body exposed for the viewer's pleasure. The viewer is most likely going to be a male, as it is a men's magazine. The women are usually naked with an item of clothing on that covers their private areas along with their pose, for example, Rihanna above. The Male Gaze Theory is evident here as women have been presented as sexual objects for male entertainment (Mulvey, 1991). Jonathan Schroeder (1998) also quoted "to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze". In this case, men are most certainly superior to women here as it's said that "sex sells" - and a male is more likely to pick up this magazine with a woman on the front than they are to pick up a magazine with a picture of a smartly dressed male on the front. 

In women's magazines, you would expect there to be an equal amount of men on the front covers, just like the amount of women on men's magazines. However, just women are the front covers of female magazines - conveying the separation in genders. Men are not used as sexual objects on the front covers of women's magazines to entice a customer. The women are also less exposed in the female magazines as they do not need to strip naked in order to attract an audience unlike they do in men's magazines. The women are dressed in stylish outfits or in clothes that expose their fit figure for the health magazines - completely appropriate for the content. Jonathan Schroeder (1998) also quoted "to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze"

In the Marie Claire magazine, Mila Kunis has been used as the front cover, where her face has been evidently touched up by Photoshop in order to make her look "beautiful". Society present women on the front covers as gorgeous, which makes the consumers believe that this idea of beauty is exactly what they should look like aswell. However, when Mila Kunis is being photographed in her natural state without any make up, the reality of her appearance is exposed. This presents the issues within the representation of women in the media. Their faces are edited until they look flawless, their hair is volumized until it's as big as it can get, and their clothes come from extremely expensive wardrobes.

Like the male-gaze theory, the female-gaze theory also exists. Gaylyn Studlar stated that "in masochism as in the infantile state of dependance, pleasure does not involve mastery of the female but submission to her body and her gaze." In the Coca Cola advert below, I have taken screenshoots of when a group of women are gawping at a man who has sprayed Diet Coke all over his shirt. One of the women purposely rolled the can down the hill towards the man in order for him to get it over him, and result in him stripping topless. At this moment in time, the man is submissive to the group of women, conforming to the female gaze theory. 

Gender roles in Fairy Liquid Advert (1966) - Stereotypical mother figure, woman's placed in the kitchen (housewife), and the daughter is learning about it as the next generation will be doing the same things when she's older. In 1966 the use of maternal, domestic women - in an advert complies with patriarchal representations of a female as either the sex object or the domesticated woman. Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. 

Years ago, it would be seen as the social norm for women to act as the housewife at home with their children, preparing food for their husband's dinner when he returns home from a long day at work. This ideology has changed over time, as women have grown to become more independent and men have become more domesticated. In one of the most recent Fairy Liquid adverts, a man acts as the person who has just done the washing, conveying how easy it is to wash clothes by just 'chucking it in and pressing a button'. This is sarcastic humour, as it demonstrates how men take washing as a joke, whilst Ariel are advertising their product as being something that makes the washing easy, specifically for the men. Giddens talks about identity being a conscious activity. He says how traditionally we have found ourselves in clearly defined roles based on age, gender, sexuality. Nowadays, we have to work out these roles for ourselves.

Lynx Advert - "Lynx Shower Gel - Get Dirty" - Woman in a bikini with the words "wash me" on  her stomach. This is an example of objectifying women as sexual objects. Her face is also not included in this piece, it is cropped from chest down to her thighs as these are suggested as being the only elements of a woman's body that attract a male's gaze (Laura Mulvey).