ISP 17

Task 1:

What audience pleasures do they offer?

Both adverts portray women as objects, something that is to be accepted by men. Women exist to please men, the early 1940 advert shows two men looking at a woman who has dropped her lunch, the inference is that she must bend down to gather her things, this helpless and sexual representation of women appeals to the male audience as they enjoy the hilarity of the situation and would not have seen anything wrong in the stereotype. Similarly the late 1940s advert shows how a marriage can be fragile from the sexist stereotypes, with the wife serving her purpose as a housewife. It is also insinuated that the woman would do anything for intimacy as she gets a kiss for changing the tea brand, this appeals to the male audience as they may feel superior from their partners.

Why do you think they were popular at the time?

The stereotypes in the adverts would have been popular in the 40’s as there were no other representations in media. It was during the war so there was no time for women’s revolution, international wars were killing. The representations of women being helpless and seen as sexual objects would have appealed to the male audience, possibly appealing to the female audience as they didn’t know any better and they liked the idea of being desired. The adverts, although sexual, are intended to be comedic, the comic strip style and the bold taglines evoke laughter, “lost: one ham on rye”. The adverts are also not explicitly adverts, if you don’t read all the text you may not know what they are selling, this subliminally left customers at ease as they didn’t feel that they are constantly being sold thing, unlike modern advertisements.

What values do they share with your set products?

The adverts both have similar context to the Vogue and Tide adverts. The representation of women and the subtle sexualisation of them if apparent in both too. Additionally the comic strip style is shared with the Tide adverts, giving all the products advertised a glossy appeal. The element of narrative is also shared, the story of a woman losing her sandwich, buying new tea and conversing with neighbours in the three.

 

Task 2: https://youtu.be/m8lzyaMZ-mA

Audience Pleasures?

The scene shows the comedic relationship between a divorced couple, who were also boss and employee. The audience would be pleased by the star cast “Cary Grant” and the stereotypical attractive lead. In addition the banter between the characters would have been interesting for the audience, a strong female lead who did not back down from her ideals would be new on the scene, typically being seen as helpless in times of stress.

Why was this popular at the time?

This was popular as it saw the changing times, the female character was no longer silent and her words were witty and funny. The challenging of gender stereotypes would have appealed more to the female audience as they would have been able to see a shift in the hierarchy in the film industry. The relationship between the characters, although somewhat progressive, is still stereotypical in the sense that the man controls the situation and talks over the woman, asserting his dominance.

How is gender being represented? What representations are traditional or progressive?

Gender both conforms to and opposes typical stereotypes. The woman is not easy to control or talk over for the man, he may raise his voice at her but she does the same back. It looks like it is natural for the woman to look somehow superior whereas the man needs to assert his dominance by getting close to her and standing above her, thus being more progressive in representation. The traditional representations shown are the manipulative relationship between the two of them, and the fact that the man tries to control the situation and stop the woman from sharing her views. He also uses emotional manipulation to try to make her feel guilty quitting her job. The response he gets is more progressive, instead of sitting and listening to the man she instead mocked him and matches his fast talking with a funny commentary as if he is bidding in an auction, this would have been seen as funny in the 40s due to the challenged power dynamics and the wit of the woman.

 

Task 3: https://youtu.be/fVI7-ufWR6I

What strikes you as old-fashioned about the way (most) of the men and women behave?

The outfits that the characters wear and the way they hold themselves. On a not so obvious way, its striking how they segregate the genders in the workplace, men are resolutely seen as superior and the women seemingly dumb makeup lovers who the men seem to enjoy watching for their “research”. Also the blatant sexualisation of the women in the scene is jarring, the men literally observe the women through glass, as if they are some spectacle that must be preserved. The men also rate the women with nicknames and innuendos. The seemingly most intelligent women being called mouse eared, and when questioned on her clever naming of a “basket of kisses”, the male is surprised that she came up with the idea on her own.

Why would this be considered inappropriate in today’s workplace?

The discrimination of women in a higher position of work would be inappropriate as they are ridiculed for their gender, seen as if they can not do a job the same way a man can. Additionally in some more forward fashion places it may be sexist to assume that women are the only ones who enjoy makeup, meaning that they should encourage men to also partake in the experiment. Furthermore the sexist comments that the men make, and the act of having one way glass that the women are unaware of would be inappropriate, the women should have been at least informed that they were being watched, and the men should not have even been watching in the first place, their input was not needed in the process and they added nothing to the evaluation as they could not tell what lipstick was what from their positioning.

How do you think the way men and women behave (or are expected to behave) has changed in the West since the early 1960s?

I think that due to more variation on the media and a range of representations we feel like we can be more individualistic. As seen in the clip all the women are shallow and one dimensional, their only calling being trying new lipstick and the only woman who is different is the cleaver “mouse eared” woman who is made fun of by the men for her looks and then verbally offended by another woman behind her back, this wouldn’t inspire women to be seen as intelligent at all. But no due to a rise in creator made content and social media we are open to a wider range of personalities. With people being able to create their own content on video sharing platforms like YouTube they do not need to follow trends or guidelines set by large oligopoly producers, therefore expanding the variety and representations in media.

 

Task 4:

In what ways are the representations of men and women similar to those in Tide? In what ways are they different?

The divide between the genders is seen clearly in both, the women being more consumerist and the men being workers, this is seen in the Tide advert by the absence of men but the inclusion of men’s clothes being hung to dry. Also the excitement around products from women is similar in both. The women in the Tide advert are excited that it will give them the best and whitest wash, whereas the women in the video are excited for a new lipstick range. In the video men are seen to be leaders in the working world but also sexists, who feel like women are only tools of pleasure not knowledge, on the other hand men are not represented at all in the Tide ad, suggesting cleaning is a woman’s job.

How might have contexts influenced these representations?

The Tide advert has a better representation of women, even though it is still largely stereotypical, they use inter textual links to army posters to show the empowerment of women, and although they wear makeup, they wear red lipstick which was a colour used to boost morale in the war and show defiance. The context of the Tide advert, a possibly still the video, would be related to the male gaze. Due to inequalities of power in work, it is unlikely that a woman constructed the representations we are shown, therefore the sexism is in favour of a male audience and has negative denotations and connotations of women.

 

S&C

Write a practice question and answer using PEETA

Utilise the PEETA system – Point, Example, Explain, Theory, Answer. Note down which one you found the most difficult to utilise and request an individual Subject Support session on this element.

How and why do audiences enjoy shows like the one you have studied? Refer to examples of the Uses and Gratifications theory to support your answer. [10]

Life on Mars appeals to a varied audience, the elements of a sci-fi genre and 70s time period would appeal to those brought up in the 70s and those who enjoy more fictional pieces. A family may therefore me the intended audience for the program, with grown up children, due to the sensitive topics and slightly mature language. Bulmer and Katz state in their U & G theory that there are many reasons that we consume text. For the set text Life On Mars we an assume that it is loved for entertainment, social and educational reasons. Firstly the show showcases very talented actors who manage to send you back in time to a period the audience may remember or may have seen portrayed before, paired with the exciting narrative and immersive costumes, we are able to be transported into a new world, involved with Sam Tyler’s new life. Shirky suggests that an audience is not longer passive in watching media and instead is active in following the narrative, this in the large part is due to a rise in social media and technology. But also how we become invested in the story of others and see their lives as ones that we should be invested in. Applied to the U & G theory, to socialise, we may be more interested in the sharing of knowledge from the show through this new expanded receivership.

Due to the historic iconography on set and the low key sepia lighting we can easy sink into Sam Tyler’s new life in the 70’s, but for some audiences they may be attracted to the historical contexts behind the series. With the intent (or subconscious intent) of being educated, some audiences may become appealed to with the 70’s links and the crime genre. Although i wouldn’t think that the investigating in the show would be 100% true to life (due to the repeated representations of poilice staff and stations). Baudrillard’s Postmodernism theory suggests that the boundaries of the ‘real’ world have collapsed and we can no longer differentiate between reality and a simulation, therefore the police station we see in Life on Mars may not be realistic, yet we would be none the wiser. Consequently those who watch the programme to be informed and educated, may be misinformed, hindering their television experiance.