representations of gender in the media

Gender Representations

December 2013

Gender REPRESENTATION

Learning Objectives

• To explore femininity and masculinity and how it is represented in the media

• To understand the stereotypical representations of gender in the media

• To explore the representation of gender in film, music and advertising

Think, Pair and Share

Individually write down:• What is representation?

Pair up and discuss• What is a stereotype?• Name an example of a stereotype from a

media form

• Share with the group your two answers.

Class discussion

What is Representation?

-Representation is the construction of ideas surrounding reality.

-The problem with representation is it is just that ,a re-presentation of someone else's view of reality not reality itself. At times an audience may misinterpret this.

-In some examples, representation can also be our desires of reality, but is very far away from actually representing reality

-Some texts may contain obviously unrealistic representations of reality, but over saturation of any common representation could effect and influence a passive audience.-It could also be argued the representations media texts contain are commonly stereotypes. -For example stereotypes of cultural identities, race, gender and classSome texts include stereotypical representations of certain types of people deliberately, why?

What is a stereotype?A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person. A stereotype is a prejudice someone has and applied to a particular person based on an assumption. A stereotype is a pre-conceived notion of a certain group of people. To stereotype is to judge someone's character on some sort of superficial appearance.

-A stereotype of the woman would be – the carer-A stereotype of a woman with blonde hair?-A stereotype of males?-A stereotype of Americans?-A stereotype of the Irish?-A stereotype of people who belong to the Jewish religion?-A stereotype of people who belong to the Muslim religion?

Task

What is your opinion of any of the following? Discuss in pairs and write down 3 points on each person

• David Beckham• Britney Spears• Nelson Mandela• Star Trek fans• Immigrants

• In most of these cases it is unlikely that you know these people personally — what impression that you have of them must come from the media. They have given us descriptions that have affected our views of these people.

Representation of Women

Women and Femininity

• Women have a narrow set of representations in the media

• Domestic situations: Housewives or Mothers• Sex objects (sexualized and objectified) to

entertain and please the male audience

Task

In groups of three:

Pick 3 Magazine front covers that are completely different genres of magazine

Analyse the representation of women: Is it a normal representation or a stereotype? How does it appeal to women? What language is being used?

Upload onto your blog

Visual Codes

• Clothing and physical appearance• Gesture and body language• Facial Expressions• Settings• Use of colour• Any use of graphics• Denotation/Conotation• Intertextuality

Technical Codes

• Shots – range of shots and why they’re used – wide shots? Close ups? High/low angle shots?

• Editing or manipulation of the images?• Use of Lighting – what type and why?• Mise en Scene – what’s in the shot.

Task - analyse

• iplayer (Drama and Soaps)

• 1 Cagney and Lacey (Taxi Cab murders)• 2 Doctors (Series 15 .157)

How are the women represented? Upload findings to your blog – with screen

grabs of examples to illustrate your points.

Women in Advertising

Watch the following clip (next slide)

• How are women generally represented in Advertising?

• Why?• Who is in control of most advertising ?

Task

• Find two adverts that represent women in two different lights.

• These can be from different media forms.

• Reflect on the mise-en-scene, technical codes, camera, lighting and location etc

Learning Objectives

• What have you learnt from todays class?

Differences in Gender

• Look at the following magazines (next slide)

• How are the genders represented?• What technical codes are used (Camera/Mise-

en-Scene/Body Language etc)• Who would be the audience for these

magazines and who might be an alternative audience.

Male Representations today

Representations of men focus on• Body Image and physique• Physical strength• Sexual attractiveness• Power and independence

Representation of Men

• 1 Homefront Official Trailer #1 (2013)• 2 The Wanted - We Own The Night • 3 Dolce&Gabbana The One: "Street of

Dreams"

1 How are the main male characters represented in the clips?

Extension: How are the main female characters represented?

Upload on to blog

How do men’s magazines attract their audience?

• Create a mind map with how you think they attract their audience

• Can you think of any specific examples?

Representation of Men

Representation of Men

Idea of the New Man

• What do you think is meant by the term – ‘New Man’?

• A man who can be both masculine and feminine

• Links with sexualised images of men, the new roles that men are taking, culture today...

Can you think of any examples of the ‘New Man’?

Examples of Old and New Representations

Old New

Examples of Old and New Representations

Old New

Task

In groups of three:

Pick 3 Magazine front covers that are completely different genres of magazine

Analyse the representation of men: Is it a normal representation or a stereotype? How does it appeal to men? What language is being used?

In Conclusion

• Write down 3 thing about representation that you have learned during this lesson.