Friday 19 October 2007

Attainment – B, I think I have worked for a b as I have analysed and research for my blog and my h/w is to a good standard.

Effort – 2, work hard on my homework, but could make more contribution in lessons.

Punctuality – 1, I’ve been coming to lesson and haven’t been absent so far.

Submission and quality of homework – 2, always handed my homework on time but could make it more detailed.

Ability to work independently – 2, I work well independently when work set, could do a bit more self directed research.

Quality of writing – 2, I write good and detailed analyse texts well.
Organisation of Media folder – 3, I need to sort that out a bit.

Oral contributions in class – 3, could make more contribution in lessons, when i do contribute its mind altering stuff.

Standard of Module 5 blog – 3, looks sick, have a lot of visual texts, but need to add more posts.

Standard of Module 6 blog – 2, I’ve done a not a lot of research but to a good standard and the research I have found is really good, also lots of visual analysis.

Thursday 18 October 2007

Self directed research

delicious tags-

http://www.genderit.org/en/index.shtml?w=a&x=91365

Consistently throughout Asia, women have been portrayed in the media as victims, subservient, nurturing, sacrificing and objectified sexualised beings. This not only inaccurately represents the diversity of women’s lives, roles and experiences within this complex and rich region, women’s contributions to the socio-political and economic development of society are often neglected.

The perpetuation of stereotypes in images and representation solidifies women’s traditional roles and unequal gender relations in multiple ways. Most visibly, women are seen as mourners at tragedies or as victims of violence. The Global Media Monitoring Project mentioned above found that out of the small number of women who were interviewees in news stories (14%), 29% of them were as victims of accidents, crimes or other events .This does not only represent women as helpless subjects without agency, it also fails to emphasise men’s role as perpetrators in instances of violence against women. Further, the dissemination of these messages affects women’s self-confidence, mobility and subsequently access and participation in public spaces (for fear of assault).

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_coverage.cfm

Female athletes are increasingly photographed in what Professor Pat Griffin calls "hyper-sexualized poses." Griffin notes, "When it was once enough to feminize women athletes, now it is necessary to sexualize them for men. Instead of hearing, 'I am woman, hear me roar,' we are hearing 'I am hetero-sexy, watch me strip.'

http://www.medialit.org/focus/ster1_articles.html

We now know that rape is not an act of passion; it is an act of aggression in order to show domination. Are the images and lyrics of women chained, beaten and raped a media expression of a deep cultural need to dominate women, to keep them in their place? Are these images simply the overt expression of the psychological violence against women that we have tolerated for so long?

If so, the problem we face is much deeper than censorship, artistic integrity or our freedom of speech as guaranteed in the Constitution. It is the problem of facing the profound misogyny within our culture, within ourselves and even within religious traditions. We need to realize the ''fun" has never just been fun and begin the arduous task of personal conversion, cultural conversion and institutional conversion. When our cultural values change, so will our media.


http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/hbo/johnson_01.htm

In a gesture of solidarity with sex workers, the episode encourages the audience to sympathize with Tracee, as we see her humiliated and hurt in a thousand small ways before the scene of her death. She tries to show Tony her braces and is reprimanded by Silvio for fraternizing. She offers a kiss to Ralphie and he turns away, making rude remarks about what she's been doing with her mouth. She says "hi" to Tony with a huge smile, but he waves her away and goes into another room with another stripper. Standing there in her too-tight tomato-red dress, hair swept up in an approximation of classiness and elegance, she has that look of gangly girls in six-inch heels for the first time. With this shot, the stripper is transformed into wallflower. The usual catty attitude among women toward exotic dancers (based on distorted fantasies of the stripper as blonde bombshell, a jealousy that implicitly condones violence against sex workers who are regarded as getting what they deserve) is undermined as the camera lingers on Tracee's disappointed face and awkward retreat. She becomes someone we recognize, someone we can identify with, someone we have perhaps been.
keywords

Action code - a narrative structure based on a dramatic sequence of events, often leading to a violent resolution. In ‘The Sopranos’ there are many problems that resolved through murders and violence as “Tracee” and other women and men, like Ralph Ciferetto.

Anti-hero – the protagonist in a narrative who lacks the qualities of an archetypal hero but nevertheless attracts the sympathy and support of the audience or reader. In the sopranos Tony Soprano is the anti-hero as when Tracee is killed he takes up the responsibility of confronting Ralph and beating him, his own foot soldier.

Big close up – a close up camera shot, particularly of an actor’s face, showing prominent detail and facial expression as a means of creating intimacy and audience engagement with the thoughts and the emotions of the character. Big close ups are often used in the sopranos as it depicts the angry emotions of characters such as Ralph or Tony Soprano, when at the psychiatrist or beating his gumar.

Connotation – a meaning attributable to an image beyond the obvious denotation level. Such meanings may be metaphorical, symbolical or culturally generated and will vary in line with the cultural background and attitudes, beliefs and values of the individual viewing the material. There are many connotations in the sopranos of the mise en scene such aspects as props and costumes.

Construction – the process by the creation of all media texts. All texts are the product of decisions relating to selection and are constrained and defined by the criteria used for that purpose, the choice available, and the order in which the elements are combined. The text is constructed in certain ways to connote meanings to the audience for example Carmela cut off the scene when having oral sex, connoting patriarchal dominance.

Channel 4 – independent commercial television channel established in 1982 under the independent broadcasting authority. Channel 4 developed a reputation for cutting edge and challenging programming, often drawing criticism from television watchdog groups such as mediawatch. Additionally channel 4 is funded by advertising companies, so they can broadcast shows and dramas such as the sopranos. The channel is known for broadcasting documentaries and American dramas.

Denotation – the first and the simplest level of meaning of an image, e.g. the mise en scene in the scene when Tracee is beaten to death there is trash connoting white trailer park trash, or wearing a revealing dress.

Feminism – political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social constructions and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women and favour men. The movement emerged from the liberation culture of the 1960’s, although individual feminists argued for women’s rights from a much earlier time. Characters such as Carmela and DR. Melfi are enforcing the ideologies of strong and independent.

Marxist feminism – a feminist perspective which sees capitalism as the principal source of gender inequalities. In a capitalist class hierarchy, women are seen as being subordinate to men and serving the male workforce in terms of low-paid, low status employment and unpaid domestic labour. Domestic violence against women is seen to be the result of powerless male workforce exercising its frustration on the female sex rather than directing it at the class system. In the sopranos the housewives have no work so are not paid and the strippers are at the bottom of the social hierarchy due to their job.

Sunday 14 October 2007

Task 6




The scene above begins with a stripper asking to work in the V.I.P. section, she immediately sexually objectified by a man as she has to pay to work in room that will earn her more money additionally the she has to give a “blowjob”. The man acts as a “gate keeper” and it his choice to lets her in the room or not, this exemplifies the inferiority of the women in “The Bada Bing”. The dancer at the door is subjected to undertake a role that does not push or make a difference to the storyline and make no effect to the narrative structure.

Moreover in the scene Tracee is dressed in a tight, revealing dress, the red dress connotes women as impure and reinforces the ideologies of “white trash”. The mise en scene used in the scene imposes Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as the archetype stripper characters the male audience’s sexual fantasies and desires. Additionally the non diegetic sound parallels the scene to the audience and creates male dominant atmosphere.

Furthermore the strip club “The Bada Bing” is a symbol of male backlash as the place is made for men to fulfil their sexual desires, the club acts as place for anti-feminists as women are treated and portrayed as sex objects. The club shapes the patriarchal order in society and acts as microcosm of male dominance in the macrocosm world.

“Don’t kiss me, how many cocks you suck tonight”, Tracee is treated like a sex object and is seen as a woman whose only reason in life is to fulfil male pleasure. This implies that the phallic is a symbol of male dominance over women and are treated as sexual object only in the drama for the male gaze and pleasure and not to drive the narrative. Additionally Ralph slaps her back side; this enforces the ideologies of women as possessions and reinforcing the views of patriarchal order. The character of Tracee is dehumanised as she is treated as a sexual object.
Furthermore outside the club there is a confrontation between Ralph and Tracee, Ralph beats up Tracee “does it make you feel like a man”, the quote exemplifies issues in society as women are beaten up to make the male gender feel powerful and dominant also the use of the phallic in the programme enforces patriarchal order in society.


Furthermore the scene uses close ups on the Ralph when Tracee is beaten up to death to exemplify his facial expressions. There are fewer shots of Tracee facial expressions, she is cut off the screen, and the scene is constructed to only depict Ralph’s emotions. This implicates to the audience that she is inferior, is of no importance and does not drive the narrative cycle. Moreover the scene incorporates low angle shots to portray male dominance in the scene, Tracee is depicted as vulnerable and weak sue to the high angle shots towards her. Tracee's status representation of whore seems to make her vulnerable to attack and is less deserving of safety and sexual freedom because she’s a stripper. Additionally the low key lighting connote danger and vulnerable atmosphere, the low key lighting sets the aerie atmosphere and fulfil the expectations of the audience.

There are no traditional narrative roles in the scene as Propps theory defied, Ralph undertakes the role of the villain however every mob member takes the role of an anti-hero or a villain, however Tracee cannot relate to a specific role as she is depicted as a whore by the audience and her character is mediated in this way buy the director. The audience is only left to sympathise for Tracee’s.

The director is a male, meaning the show is mediated in a male’s perspective, reinforces Mulvey’s theory of the media reflected and shaped patriarchal order, which can also be because of the director.

Moreover Tracee is beaten to death on outside next to bin bags and trash and is left dead next to, the trash connotes the representation women as Tracee is compared to “white trash” in society and is worthless and demeaning to men. The long shot portrays her life as meaningless as the mise en scene depicts her class in society.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Much has been made of the ‘new’ postmodern breed of magazines, from lads’ mags to celebrity glossies with their tongue-in-cheek versions of the conventional gender roles; but how far do our current lifestyle mags really challenge the well-worn stereotypes they claim to undermine?

The new breed of magazines presents women in a stereotypical manner as magazine editors believe that sex sells. Magazines such as Loaded and Nuts portray women in a demeaning way; these magazines enforce the ideologies of sex sells and the male gaze. In addition men’s lifestyle magazines have also accepted the fact that sexually objectified women sell more magazines.

“Loaded has become increasingly more pornographic in its content; as such it has increased the use of female stereotypes, namely as sex objects”. Women on the front cover are depicted nude and with their bodily assets on display. Additionally they are positioned in with long shots and mostly high angle shots and highlighted in vibrant high key colours on magazines. This to portray them as sexual objects and inferior to men and make the women stand out on front covers and inside the magazine, suggesting they are only put on the magazine to be looked emphasising Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze.

Moreover, Nuts have also stylised their magazine similarly to Loaded and other competitors such as Zoo magazine and FHM around sexually objectified women in order to attract the male target audience. In addition the women are also positioned in a sexually demeaning manner; also the price of the magazine can vary from only 60p to 0ver a £1. This connotes that women are meaningless and emphasises the patriarchal order in society. The women are dehumanised as only parts of their bodily features are mostly shown to the audience, and enforcing the idea of that women are to be looked at and have no physical or emotional feelings. Furthermore, the ways the women are depicted in Nuts magazine are stereotyped as sex objects, fulfilling the audience’s chauvinistic dream, women depicted with good looks and no brains. Additionally the use of red in the magazine is highly emphasised as women are wearing red tops or make-up and also the mast head being red. The red connotes the sexual connotations and the impurity of women, making the male audience treating women as fetishist.

Both Loaded and Nuts magazine impose the stereotypical views of women, the magazines both portray the ideologies of a patriarchal order as women are depicted as sexually demeaning and dehumanized. The magazine implements the male gaze and Mulvey’s theory as she viewed the practice of the camera lingering on women's bodies as evidence that women were being viewed as sex subjects for the gratification of men.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Keywords

Archetype- An often repeated character type or representation which is instantly recognisable to an audience.

Cliff Hanger- A television or radio soap opera episode which ends with an unresolved dilemma or crisis in order to encourage the viewer or listener to tune in to the next episode.

Continuity editing- An editing tyle that aims to present the txt in a linear and chronological manner toemphasise the real-time movement to the narrative and to create a sense of realism for the viewer by giving the impression of continuous filming.

Disequilibrium- The disruption of narrative by persons or events presenting a challenge to the equilibrium often found at the beginning of a media text.

Dominant ideology- The beleif system that serves the interests of the dominant ruling elite within a society, generally accepted as common sense by the majority and reproduced in mainstream media texts.

False consciousness- Marxist term for the effect of dominant ideology on the awareness of workers with regard to their real economic and social circumstances. Marxists argue that workers are manipulated by institutions, such as the education system, organised religion or work/class system.

Male gaze- Term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay 'visual pleasures and narrative cinema' (1975) to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed audience.

Mulvey viewed the practice of the camera lingering on women's bodies as evidence that women were being viewed as sex subjects for the gratification of men. She argued that the central active characters in films are maleand that the male audience indentifies with them in their viewing of the passive females. Women in the audience are also positioned by the narrative to identify with the male gaze and see the world throught male eyes.

Patriachy- Male domination of the political, cultural and socioeconomic system. Under patriachy, male perspectives and male achievements are valued and rewarded at the expense of the female. female contributions to society are ignored and women are culturally and economically invisible, being defined solely by their relation to men.

Sexist- Representations that discriminate on the basis of sex, especially against women, which is seen to derive from and sustain patriachy. Some feminists would see any media represenatation of women that confirmed a stereotype as sexist, for example, the display of women'sbodies as sex objects in 'lads mags' or other media texts, this is for the entertainment of men.

Stock character- A stereotypical, predictable minor charcter for example strippers in "the bada bing".
del.ici.ous tags

http://www1.medialiteracy.com/representation.jsp

the site focuses on gender race and representation.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html

http://www.genderads.com/

Roles addresses some of the common social roles that are attributed to women in the world of advertising. Strippers is a category that was suggested by a viewer and it considers the representations of women in a specific role, that of the stripper or dancer.

Bodies Only is an analysis of the ways in which the advertising world shows women as being connected to their bodies, not their minds.

Sex Object is a page that features the common representation of the woman as a purse sex object, there for the gaze and musings of the viewer. Dehumanized depicts contexts in which women are dehumanized, often seen as animals in ads. The Literal Object trope emphasizes ads in which woman are literally depicted as objects, from ice cream to tools.

http://www.kidulthoodlife.blogspot.com/

Laura Mulvey focuses on the portrayal/use of women within cinema and on screen; Mulvey argues that women are viewed as mere sex objects, purley for the male gaze on screen, and segregates women into the category of both the 'madonnas', and 'whores'. This visual conception of the role of women onscreen, Mulveys argues, consequently allows males to indulge in their voyerustic pleasures. Mulvey's work also refers to the physchoanalysis of Sigmeund Freuds work, due to her strong Feminist viewpoint. Reference is paid to the patriachial society in which we live, and debates wether any representation of women will ever be free from male enforced values/ideologies. Mulvey also argues that lead roles are predominantly male, and as the viewer we are encouraged to identify with the male protagonist; Therefore as women are useually presented in films as objects of the male gaze/sex objects we as the audience are alos positioned in a masculine role,and therefore influenced to think from a male perspective.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html

in detail of laura mulvey's theory

http://www.allisonmedia.net/downloads/Year_12/Representation.pdf

http://www.clipland.com/Search?What=the+sopranos

this site shows clips of the sopranos shows, i can analyse in detail.

http://mediaknowall.com/gender.html