Discuss the way that women are represented in the media. Use the work we have done so far to include a historical example and at least two contemporary ones to cover at least two different media types.
Women in the media have a narrow set of stereotypes that they are represented by. The three main representation's in the media are a domestic role that will show them in situation's of being a mother or a house wife. The second representation is a a sex object which will objectify them to appeal and entertain the male audience. And the last main representation is in the non-fictional media women's role's tend to be much smaller and less important than than the men actors. Furthermore in the media of magazine and advertising women are seen as young,slim and confirming to the ideal definition of beauty. They are seen to be perfect and alluring the glaze theory as this is when middle age men create the media to attract the target audience of the male gender. In addition the maternal, house wife representation is shown in the media in the past in cooking/food, washing and cleaning roles in particular in adverts. An explanation to consider with this representation is that is this representation a stereotype that is disagreeable or is a stereotype that is shaping society and something that society are becoming so used to that they naturally expect women to take up these roles in daily life routines.
The historical example that represent women as very feminine in different personalities of characters is the film 'Brief Encounter'. In this film the dominant ideology for the representation of women is that they are seen to be emotional, weak and very sensitive. A very obvious example of all of these ideologies was when the lady in the cafe was being harassed by the intimidating male workers. Her natural response was to get very emotional and call for help. This action taken immediately shows that women are represented to be weak as they have to call for help from a much more stronger and dominant male figure to protect them. This is also a domestic situation as the women are working at a cafe this is an obvious stereotype given that women should be in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. Another example of representations of women in this historical film is when the main protagonist woman played by 'Celia Johnson' broke down in tears because she was beginning to feel very guilty that she was having an affair on her husband as her friends were beginning to see her out with him. The representation shown in this scene was that the producer has shown women to be very sensitive and this was shown through her tears. Furthermore by her having an affair could convey that her husband is not giving her any affection or love as he could just expect her to cook and clean for him instead of being a part of his life.
Similarly in the music video Blurred lines the women are shown to be the expected stereotype of being represented as a sexual object. This is shown through the women walking around in very little clothing and very sexual dancing to the music being played. Furthermore to confirm the representation of being a sexual object the producer as chose to have the women all wearing red lipstick. The denotion of this is that they are wearing red lipstick and the con-nation of this is that the red lipstick makes them look very seductive. The men are staring at their bodies and dominating them by leading them where to walk. This shows the representation of women being weak and easily controlled by the opposite sex. The hyper reality theory by Jean Baudrillard says that there is blur between what is real and what is not. For example celebrity image. In this music video the female models are shown to have a perfect figure, perfect hair and flawless faces this isn't real as in real life they don't look like this. This has been done through Photoshop and other photography sites and can cause females in society to have high expectations for their appearances which could lead to them feeling very negative about their look and figure.
Lastly in the film 'Sket' women are represented to challenge the obvious stereotypes of women. This is because the women in the gang are represented to be very manly through the tracksuits they have been clothed in, their violent actions of them fighting this is shown when the group of females are beating up the woman on the ground. This shows a contrast of representations as the woman on the floor is represented to be very weak and vulnerable however the females beating her up are represented to be very dominant and intimidating which is the opposite of the dominant ideology of women being weak and emotional. Furthermore the theorist Acland claims that media representations of young people out of control allows the state to have more control of them. In the film Sket the representation of the youth are shown to be very violent and rebellious this is a negative representation and they have contrasted this with a 'Normal' adult for example the mum to construct a bad view on the youth.
In conclusion the media is a very powerful industry that constructs different representation of women shown above which are sexual objects, domestic house wives and less important characters. These representations are excepted in society because what they see they believe and naturally see these representations in their every day life. However some media's can challenge these representations which can be very successful through the representation in 'Sket' however its not challenged often because otherwise audiences may get confused with the change in codes and conventions and not enjoy the program, advert or magazine advertisement as much.
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