Introduction to representation of women

Key words

• Representation
• Stereotype
• Denotation
• Connotation
• Challenge
• Mediation- This is the process of taking reality, interpreting it, and then re-presenting it to the audience.
• Male Gaze- The media is made by men for men
• Self representation
• Ideology-are messages or values that are embedded into the media
• Dominant Ideology- An ideology which is accepted by the majority
• Hegemony- the ruling class maintains their power through the use of control of ideas and culture rather than force

Theorists

• George Gerbner- He started the Cultivation Theory.  This theory helps understand the importance of media. 'Drip drip' but slowing down from an immediate effect to a slower more accumulative effect. Cultivation theorists argue that media has long term effects which a gradual.
• Jean Baudrillard- He is known for his concept of Hyper Reality which when something is real however is based on something which is not.
• Roland Barthes- He argues that representations are mythic in the sense that they have an appearance of natural. Representations can be founded on reality or indeed a reality that does not exist.
• Richard Dyer- He quoted 'how we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them, how we see them comes from representation' This means that your only experience of the group being represented might be the media text that the representation is in.
• David Chandler- Representation always involves the construction of reality.
• Henry Jenkins- believed in cultural convergence, meaning when consumers are empowered to edit, annotate and create content for example social networking sites
• Anthony Giddens- believes ideology refers to the influence of ideas on peoples beliefs and actions

Representation of Women in 'Sket'

At the beginning of the clip, the women are fighting which is representing them to be cold and violent which challenges the stereotype of women. 

In contrast to the first screen shot, the women can be seen laying on the floor. This is presenting her to be weak and powerless and from this we can connote that she has been beaten up by the other women.

In this screen shot you can see the women being represented as a motherly figure the the girl which follows the stereotype for women.

Representation of Women in 'Blurred Lines'

In the blurred lines video, women are represented to objectified for the pleasure of a male audience. This shows the male gaze as male pleasure would have been in mind when making the video.

The women in the video are wearing provocative and suggestive clothing that shows a lot of flesh in order to attract the male audience.

Richard Dyer's theory can be applied to the blurred lines video. In this specific video women are objectified for male pleasure therefore this may be how people will begin to see them. This then links to women being objectifies for male pleasure as a dominant ideology as it will be accepts by the majority within society.

Representation of Women in 'Chandelier'

In this music video, the girl is wearing a flesh coloured leotard and is dancing in a way which appears too old for her. This portrays her to be an object that is telling a story rather than a little girl which is what she is.

The subject of the music video is suicide and alcoholism which wouldn't be associated with a young girl, this is seen as very controversial and challenges the stereotype of young women.

Due to the controversy of the video, it was able to gain 1 million views within the first 24 hours of release.

Roland Barthes theory can be seen in the chandelier video due to the theme of the song(suicide and alcoholism) being association with an 11 year old year. This representation can be seen a a myth as this would not be real within society. Therefore this further links to the theorist David Chandler as the video has constructed reality to make a controversial video.

Blurred Lines Parody- self representation

 In this blurred lines parody, the women are represented to be more powerful than the men. This is clearly shown by them placing there shoe on the men while the press ups. This is the creators of the parody trying to represent women to be powerful and have authority over men.

 In the second part of the parody, the women is represented to be clever by wearing smart classes and holding a book which carries a connotation of intelligence. This is showing that female are able to have more challenging jobs apposed to just being house wives which would appear to be the dominant ideology.

In this last part of the parody, the women are represented to have self represented by wearing clothes which cover up the majority of their body therefore challenging the stereotype that they are women are purely for males to admire their appearance and for pleasure.





Henry Jenkin's Theory of cultural convergence can be applied to this parody as the creators of the have been able to create this parody to show a representation of women which is not shown within the media and may be more closer to the real representation of women.