Posts tagged: representation
Is the Media guilty of causing some girls to be body fascist (opressive/ controlling/ not allowing alternatives) towards other girls? #bcotbody
e.g ‘You are too fat’. ‘You are too skinny’. ‘You need to eat something’
This is an example of what the Marxist Antonio Gramsci called ‘hegemonic pressure’ in which people do what those in charge/ power want them to do to re-establish the social order.
We will discuss this further in next weeks lecture.
Tweet using #bcotrace Do you think black characters are under represented in mainstream media? If so - why is this?
Patriarchy (rule by fathers) is a social system in which the male is the primary authority figure central to social organisation and the central roles of political leadership, moral authority, and control of property, and where fathers hold authority over women and children.
For example - the mainstream media is often accused of being patriachal in its treatment of women and emphasis on a heterosexual male perspective.
A patriachal society implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and leads to female subordination.
Many patriarchal societies are also patrilineal meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage. The female equivalent is matriachy.
#SpringBreakers - feminist empowerment or pandering to the #malegaze? Or both? Please tweet using #bcotbreak
GLOSSARY
A Feminist is someone who believes in equality for females.Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.
To pander is to gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire, need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.).
The Male Gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man. It may linger over the curves of a woman’s body, for instance. The woman is usually displayed on two different levels: as an erotic object for both the characters within the film, as well as the spectator who is watching the film. The man emerges as the dominant power within the created film fantasy. The woman is passive to the active gaze from the man. This adds an element of ‘patriachal’ (male dominated) order and it is often seen in “illusionistic narrative film”. Mulvey argues that, in mainstream cinema, the male gaze typically takes precedence over the female gaze, reflecting an underlying power asymmetry between the genders.
Little Red Riding Hood:
EQUILIBRIUM(Todorov) or ACT ONE Setup (Field)
A state of equilibrium in the calm world of the home as Little Red Riding Hood is given a task to perform and an instruction “keep to the path and don’t talk to strangers”. The moral of that we should listen to our parents.
DISEQUILIBRIUM(Todorov) or ACT TWO Confrontation (Field)
Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf in the forest and decides to trust him. The technique of dramatic irony is used here because we know that she is in danger, but she doesn’t. This reinforces a second moral – that nature is dangerous
NEW EQUILIBRIUM (Todorov) or ACT THREE Resolution (Field)
Little Red Riding Hood is saved by the woodcutter, this reinforces the moral that children should rely on adults and introduces a new one that men are stronger than women and can protect them.
These morals which would be either consciously or subconsciously learned by the audience of the fairy tale are what we call ideology.
Criticism could be focused on the passivity of young girls in fairy tales waiting to be rescued (e.g. Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel), the encoded binaries in a text that equate beauty with goodness (Attractive is good/ Ugly is bad), the representation of evil stepmothers (family values), and the closures which seal a girl’s dependency on a prince (sexual difference).
The narrative of a story, whether they be fairy tales or television programmes is a kind of journey that the audience go through where every important point in the narrative reinforces the ideological message of the story.
‘Equality Street’
Why do you think this Comic Relief song has attracted so many racist comments on YouTube? Are people misunderstanding the irony and satire? What are your thoughts? Please use #bcotbrent
EQUALITY AND DIVERISTY
At @BCoT we meet the diverse range of needs of the learners, are inclusive for all age groups, cultural contexts, gender differences, learning difficulties, and differentiate learning to suit the student.
EQUALITY = recognising that learners needs can be met in different ways. Treated fairly and given fair chances.
DIVERSITY = Valuing individual differences/ Recognising, valuing, and managing difference
Deracinated means to de-race/ pull out by the roots/ displace from the native or accustomed environment.
The Harlem Shake was originally a dance move in New York borough of Harlem - a major African-American residential known for social trouble and creativity.
It has now evolved in to a popular meme.
QUESTION
Do you agree with these residents of Harlem - is ‘The Harlem Shake’ is a deracinated and disrespectful joke at black culture?
Tweet your response to this question using #bcotharlem
#bcotmedia students - what is your opinion of how Tina Fey dealt with this criticism? Use #bcotfey
“Dear Internet” by Tina Fey
From PerezHilton.com/Posted by jerkstore on Wednesday, 1/21/2009, 11:21 P.M.
“In my opinion Tina Fey completely ruined SNL. The only reason she’s celebrated is because she’s a woman and an outspoken liberal. She has not a single funny bone in her body.”
“Dear jerkstore,
Huzzah for the Truth Teller! Women in this country have been over-celebrated for too long. Just last night there was a story on my local news about a “missing girl,” and they must have dedicated seven or eight minutes to “where she was last seen” and “how she might have been abducted by a close family friend,” and I thought, “What is this, the News for Chicks?” Then there was some story about Hillary Clinton flying to some country because she’s secretary of state. Why do we keep talking about these dumdums? We are a society that constantly celebrates no one but women and it must stop! I want to hear what the men of the world have been up to. What fun new guns have they invented? What are they raping these days? What’s Michael Bay’s next film going to be?
When I first set out to ruin SNL, I didn’t think anyone would notice, but I persevered because—like you trying to do a nine-piece jigsaw puzzle—it was a labor of love.
I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I feel safe with you, jerkstore, so I’ll say it. Everything you ever hated on SNL was by me, and anything you ever liked was by someone else who did it against my will.
Sincerely,
Tina Fey
P.S. You know who does have a funny bone in her body? Your mom every night for a dollar.”
(source)
Beyoncé: being photographed in your underwear doesn’t help feminism
The singer’s interview in American GQ offers a perfect snapshot of where the western women’s movement is. And it’s not pretty (Hadley Freeman)
Famous women can sing about independence, as long as they’re wearing next to nothing.
#bcotbeyonce Twitter debate….
Do you agree or disagree with Hadley Freeman’s article?
Is Beyonce claiming her own sexuality and empowering women OR is simply she pandering to the ‘male gaze’ perspective of male-owned mainstream media?
Beyonce photographed by Terry Richardson for GQ, February 2013
The Semiotics of Contemporary Feminine Beauty.
Lady Gaga was ‘Born This Way’ - Michel Foucault begs to differ.
Ask in lectures for more information on this brilliant man.
But for young women, the culture of slut shaming that the Kristen Stewart scandal represents won’t go away. I might not be concerned for K-Stew, but I am concerned for all the young women today who are tuned into this scandal, ones who are learning that it’s not okay to screw up, ever. Chris Brown can publicly beat the hell out of his girlfriend but still be played on the radio and win Grammys. However, if you ever cheat on your boyfriend, your life is over and no one will ever want to be associated with you. Almost no one will blame the much-older guy you cheated with, and it might actually make him more famous andhelp his career. Few will care that he was your boss and in a position of authority or that he may have have taken advantage of your youth and relative inexperience. Everything is your fault, and your life will be threatened over it. If you are a trampire, you will be publicly staked for it, even though cheater Ashton Kutcher recently emerged relatively unscathed by the media. No one asked for him to be fired from Two and a Half Men.
I might not be concerned for K-Stew, but I am concerned for my younger stepsister who has pictures of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson on her walls, who idolizes and worships them, and who might grow up to hate Kristen Stewart for reasons she doesn’t understand. I’m worried she will be taught that it’s not okay to mess up, learn from it and apologize, because no one wants your apology, just your suffering on camera. I’m worried that she’ll think its okay to harass and threaten women for their indiscretions, even if men get off scot-free. I’m worried she will think this culture of bullying, slut-shaming and rhetorical violence against women is the norm, because you get a t-shirt for it. I’m worried she will learn to internalize the shame brought on far too many women today, for having sexualities, for not being perfect, for not fitting into a box. I’m worried she’ll believe men like Todd Akin, Paul Ryan and Mike Huckabee are right.
Because even if she doesn’t know who Akin, Ryan and Huckabee are, even if she doesn’t pay attention to politics or the radical right-wing GOP, she does pay attention to Twilight and Robsten. And if we want to empower her to be a strong, independently minded woman who knows that her body, sexuality and safety are legitimate and can stand up for her rights, we need to pay attention, too. This might seem ridiculous to us, and most people I know can’t wait to stop talking about it. But for her, having this conversation makes a difference. Although no young woman shouldn’t think it’s okay to cheat, what we are teaching them right now is so much worse.
“Trampire:” Why the Public Slut Shaming of Kristen Stewart Matters for Young Women
gq:
20% of Anorexics Are Men
Twenty percent. And rising. More and more men are starving themselves to death in a pathological pursuit of perfection. Male anorexics have much in common with women who suffer from the same debilitating illness, but there’s a striking difference: For the vast majority of men, help is not on the way.
When food is served, John eats as if it’s a relearned behavior, as if he’s a robot trying to pass as human. He tells me he eats only because not eating will trigger a sequence of events that begins with him losing his job: “And if I lose the job…” Mordantly he observes that he still reads articles about the Golden Gate Bridge to see “whether or not they’ve ever gotten around to installing that suicide barrier.” He calls it his Plan C.
We stand apart from the other guests for a moment, and John startles me by saying, abruptly, that he’s decided to settle his lawsuit. Monte Nido has hired new lawyers, and in his view they’re no longer arguing the case on its merits; instead, he says, they’re strategically outspending him. John can’t afford to depose their out-of-state witnesses or to hire his own experts. He knows that a judgment against him would have a chilling effect on future litigation of this kind, so he’s reached out to Monte Nido through a mediator. The terms of the settlement will be confidential. John likens himself to the John Travolta character in A Civil Action, who runs out of money fighting three giant corporations that have contaminated the water supply of a Massachusetts town. At the end of the movie, Travolta packs up his files and mails them to the EPA, hoping someone there will finish what he started.
John tells me he still feels fat all the time. The goal is to not think this way—he knows that. “But the people I know who have gone through treatment and say they’re at that point? This is going to sound awful, but they’re fat.” Is it possible, I ask him, that he might feel differently if he had a partner who loved him? He snorts. “It’s kind of like saying, ‘Once you’re on the moon, what’s it going to be like to look at the earth?’ Ask me when I get there.”
