Feminist theory - blog tasks

Media Magazine reading

Read Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media (MM40, page 64 - our Media Magazine archive is here).

1) What are the two texts the article focuses on? The two texts the article focuses on is Pan am and Beyonce

2) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)? One example that is provided from the text of the 'male gaze' is when Beyonce is objectified in her music video. Another example is in Pan am that women are clearly illustrated as attractive and appealing to men. "With a face like that you will find a husband in a couple of months" reinforces the fact that women are being objectified and only their looks matter.

3) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form? No, these texts show that feminism is strictly needed. The text clearly illustrates that women are being objectified and are being judged based on their looks.

4) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.

Male Gaze – The gaze referring to Laura Mulvey’s seminal article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which argues that main stream Hollywood films subject female characters to the ‘male gaze’ of the camera, fragmenting and objectifying their bodies.

Music video analysis

Watch the Beyonce video for ‘Why Don’t You Love Me?’: 

 

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’? This video might contribute to Butler's idea that gender roles are a 'performance' because women are preforming themselves in this way so they can be objectified and stereotyped in such a way.

2) Does this video reinforce or challenge the view that women should perform certain roles in society? In my opinion this video does both reinforces and challenged the view that women show perform certain roles in society. In the beginning of the video it is challenging stereotypes as Beyonce is attempting to fix the car. Usually men are seen as the mechanics and the ones that are fixing things but you can clearly see that this stereotyped is being challenged. On the other hand, throughout the video Beyonce is wearing seductive clothing and is cleaning the dishes with reinforces women stereotypes that they're meant to be in the kitchen and they are objectified because they want to be/ because of the clothing the wear.

3) Would McRobbie view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women? Why? McRobbie is a British cultural theorist known for her work analysing magazines aimed at women and teenage girls in the 80s and 90s. McRobbie highlights the empowering nature of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, taking a different perspective to traditional feminists. McRobbie would view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women as she was being very dominant in her music video. She was attempting to fix the car which most women wouldn't do and she chose to wear seductive/revealing clothes because she wants to and isn't afraid of what others would think.

4) What are your OWN views on this debate – does Beyonce empower women or reinforce the traditional ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey)? In my opinion, I think Beyonce reinforces the traditional 'male gaze' as she is wearing revealing clothes to be objectified and in the video she is seen in the kitchen cleaning the dishes which people would expect from women.



Watch Will Jay's video for ‘Gangsta’:

 


1) How does the video suggest representations of masculinity have changed in recent years? This video would suggest representations of masulinity have changed in the recent years as Will Jay is saying "I don't need to be a gangster to be a man". People would usually refer to gangsters as more manly, dominant however, Will is going against the stereotype saying you don't have to be the following to be a man.

2) What does David Gauntlett suggest about representations of men in the media over the last 20 years? He looked particularly at theorists such as Butler and McRobbie: "Although the popular remix of feminism is accepted by young women, it remains the case that most women and men remain somewhat constricted within the particular gender role".

3) What is YOUR view on the representation of men and masculinity? Are young men still under pressure from the media to act or behave in a certain way? I believe the media influences men to be more dominant. Series such as Power show that men are always looking out and taking care of women and also making sure they're happy.