Representation

Possible questions:

1. How does your video represent different social groups/people/places/lifestyle? What values/ideologies are you representing/promoting?
2. Does you production create a hegmonic (dominate) representation/ Does it represent and reinforce the dominant ideology?
3. What positive/negative/sterotypical connotations and representation are you constructing/using/challenging.?
4. How are represenations in your production the products of your own culutural experience/background/ideology/value.

What would Laura Mulvey say about your production???

"the gaze is male whenever it directs itself at, and takes pleasure in, women, where women function as erotic objects" - Laura Mulvey.

Laura Mulvey is controversial individual in the media due to producing the term 'Male Gaze' in 1975. She introduced her beliefs that film audiences have to view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. For example, the video is based around women and using them sexually to create a viewing point for the males. However, females can see it in three set ways, how men look at women, how women look at themselves, and how women look at other women. I believe this has potentially played a big part of how society has been shaped and led to the insecurities of women today and how many feel the need to be 'perfect' and criticise the way they look, particularly if the focus is continually on women in a sexual way. Women often feel the need to change how they are for this reason.

Features of the Male Gaze include the camera shots and editing focusing on the female body and attractive parts of the body such as a women's figure and curves, exploiting their sexual aspects. There are also features regarding events which happen to the women but are presented in the aspect of the man's reaction. The way the women is portrayed, immediately produces the main focus on them and the way the male interact and view them. Although, there is also a slight focus on the male and the representation of the males and how the females view them. However, they are secondary and this is seen as not as important, showing how the main focus is from the male point of view.

 

Reflective view- Creating a identical replication. E.g News

Intentional view- Opposite of reflective, representation of person presenting. E.g an attractive person in a coke advert

Constructionist view- A Response to what has been seen as a weakness on the other two theories.

1. The thing itself

2.The opinions of people doing the represenation.

3. The reaction of the individual to the representation.

4. The context of the society in which the representation is taking place.

E.g the film Independance Day

 

John Berger- "men act women appear"

                      "men look at women, woman watch themselves being watched"

 

Barthes- Sexualisation

 

Walter Lippmann- a shortcut or ordering process  in ideological terms, stereotyping is a means byw hich support is provided by a groups differences against another. The way we see things automatically pick out things palcing them into sterotypes by us.

 

Richard Dyer (1997)

Details that if we are able to be told that we are going to see a film about an alcoholic then we will know that it will be a tale either of sordid decline or of insuring redervition.

Suggests that this is partisucarly interesting potentional use of stereotypes.