Representation of Women in Magazines

Magazines and gender from stmarysmediastudies

'The media do not construct identity, they merely offer a window on the world' - essay plan

A2 Collective Identity Essay Plan - representation of women in the media from stmarysmediastudies

Key theorists in this discussion (in order of appearance):

• Dr Sallie Westwood, 'Power and the Social' (2001)
• Rosalind Gill, 'Gender and the Media' (2006)
• David Gauntlett, 'Media, Gender and Identity' (2008)
• Anthony Giddens, sociologist, known for his theory of Structuration, 'Modernity and Self-identity' (1991)
• Max Almy, 'Difference: On Representation and Sexuality' (1984)
• Marjorie Ferguson, 'Forever Feminine: Women's Magazines and the Cult of Femininity' (1983)
• Janice Winship, 'Inside Women's Magazines' (1987)
• Gaye Tuchman, 'Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality' (1978)
• Newbold, 'Mass Communication Research Methods' (1998)
• J Tunstall, 'The Media in Britain' (2000)
• Naomi Wolf, 'The Beauty Myth' (1991)
• Jean Kilbourne, 'Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising' (1999)

Cannes Winner, British director, Andrea Arnold

Director Andrea Arnold's win of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival is, of course, one in the net for female film directors.
See a writeup here: http://filmmakermagazine.com/98565-ken-loach-xavier-dolan-top-surprising-cannes-awards-ceremony-andrea-arnolds-american-honey-wins-jury-prize/#.V0LtzTUrK1s

With Ken Loach winning the coveted top prize, the Palme d'Or, this was a great year for British film directors. Arnold's 'American Honey' is an exuberant and lyrical US-shot road movie about a trouple of homeless teens selling magazines across the Midwestern hearland. Arnold has received the prize twice before, for Red Road and Fish Tank.

IMDB link to 'American Honey':
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3721936/

Suffragette Case Study

This 2015 film has been hailed as a milestone in the efforts to both celebrate historical moments where women have achieved great things, and to push forward the representation of women both on and off screen.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/07/suffragette-london-film-festival-meryl-streep-carey-mulligan



Meryl Streep defends feminist credentials as Suffragette opens London film festival


Planned protest and controversy over untactful tie-in t-shirts are backdrop for gala screening of film telling story of the campaign to secure women the vote
‘We need inclusion. It has to be equal’ … Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep at the Suffragette press conference. Photograph: John Phillips/Getty Images for BFI


Suffragette review – a valuable, vital film about how human rights are won

The London film festival opens with the European premiere of Sarah Gavron’s suspenseful tale of fighters from opposing sides of the class divide starring Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep

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It has taken a decade to get off the ground, but as Suffragette received its UK premiere as the opening film of the London film festival, the film’s director revealed that she was determined not to be knocked off course in her quest to make her 10-year “passion project”. “A film is never easy,” said Sarah Gavron, “but this was a tough proposition because we wanted to stick to our guns. We pushed through all the obstacles.”

Gavron was speaking at a press conference before Suffragette’s gala screening in London’s Leicester Square, and scriptwriter Abi Morganadded: “A film that is fronted by an ensemble of women, and they are not being funny or romantic, is hard. That became a huge obstacle.”

Suffragette tells the story of the militant campaign in support of women’s voting rights in the UK, and features Carey Mulligan – who appeared at the press conference only three weeks after the birth of her first child - as a laundress called Maud Watts, a fictional working-class character whose struggle is the centre of the drama. Suffragette also features Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst, Natalie Press as Emily Davison, the activist who died at the 1913 Epsom Derby; andHelena Bonham Carter as Edith Ellyn, an amalgamation of more than one prominent suffragette.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Streep and Mulligan with Sarah Gavron and Abi Morgan. Photograph: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

The film-makers explained their decision to focus on a peripheral figure in the suffragette struggle, and a fictional one at that. Streep said: “The great achievement of the film is that it’s not about women of a certain class; it’s about a working girl, a young laundress, who looks like us, and the circumstances of her life were out of her hands, completely.” Mulligan, whose character joins the suffragettes’ campaign after years of toil in a laundry, suggested that this focus meant that it was more relevant to contemporary audiences than a straight historical biopic. “It doesn’t feel like a documentary about the past, it feels like a film about today. I always felt it’s resonance was about where we are now, and its achievement is to mark what these women did, and what they gave to us. Of course, we still live in a sexist society, but the film allows us to look at where we are today.”

However, despite the film’s positive message about female empowerment – inside the film industry, as well as in the wider world – Suffragette has found itselfdogged by an unexpected furore over T-shirts the cast wore for a magazine photo-shoot –bearing the words “I’d rather be a rebel than a slave” – taken from a line Pankhurst says in the film, at which some African-American commentators took offence, suggesting the contribution of non-white campaigners was being ignored. Morgan addressed the controversy by saying: “It would be a pity if the negative connotations of that conversation – and it is an important conversation – overshadowed the true and sincere intentions of the film, which is to empower all women, globally, to look for equality for all women. That to me is the really important narrative. But the discourse is really important, and it is vital we keep talking about it.”

Streep also responded to questions over her refusal to describe herself as a “feminist” in a recent interview. “There is a phrase in the film – ‘Deeds not words’ – and that is where I stand on that. I let the actions of my life stand for what I am, as a human being. Contend with that, not the words.”

The film’s status as something of a political hot potato was reinforced by the declaration of activist group Sisters Uncut to stage a protest at the premiere event against cuts to domestic violence services.
— Emma Jones (@EmmaPJones)October 7, 2015

#suffragette premiere just decided to ignore protesters. V British. All v polite#deadwomencantvote pic.twitter.com/RRGJCS4M3j

Having described this year’s edition of the London film festival as “the year of strong women”, festival director Clare Stewart said that Suffragette “first and foremost, tells an important story made by British women”, and that given the commitment to diversity by the British Film Institute, the festival’s parent body, giving the film the opening slot felt “entirely appropriate”. She said: “The issue over gender equality, especially in the film industry, has become an increasingly important one. It’s clear there is talent everywhere, but not a lot of opportunity.”

In accordance with its powerful themes of gender struggle, empowerment and solidarity, the production has also made much of its female-dominated creative team, led by director Gavron (previously best known for the film adaptation of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane) and scriptwriter Morgan, whose film work includes The Iron Lady, Shame and The Invisible Woman. Gavron said that the cast and crew had formed “an immediate bond”. “There was an unusual sense of camaraderie,” she said. “Partly it was because we were telling a story everybody felt very passionate about, but also because there was an unusual balance: we had men, and we had women, in key positions, and that was exciting.”

However, Streep did have harsh words for forces in the film world that she considered negatively influenced audiences’ appreciation of films that might appeal to women. Saying she wanted to investigate “buzz”, and how people decided which films to see, Streep cited the reviews aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes for its skewed gender balance, saying she tabulated 168 women critics and bloggers on the site, as opposed to some 760 men. “If the Tomatometer is tilted so completely to one set of tastes, it affects box office, absolutely... the word isn’t ‘disheartening’, it’s ‘infuriating’. Because people accept this as received wisdom. It isn’t fair. We need inclusion. It has to be equal.”

Susan Sarandon on Women in Film at Cannes Film Festival 2016

Susan Sarandon: if Thelma and Louise was being made today, it would be a cartoon



Actresses Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis attend Kering Talks Women In Motion At The 69th Cannes Film Festival. CREDIT: VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR KERING

Hannah Furness, arts correspondent, in cannes 16 MAY 2016 • 7:14AM


It was the original feminist roadtrip movie, nominated for six Oscars and tipped as heralding a new era for women in film.

But Thelma and Louise may not even get made today, according to its stars, as Susan Sarandon says it would have to be turned into "an animation".
After Thelma and Louise, they predicted there would be so many films starring women. But it didn't happenSusan Sarandon


Sarandon, who played Louise in the 1991 film, said corporate studios are now increasingly staffed by men taught to commission film by formula, who lack the imagination to see women in leading roles.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate 25 years since the release of Thelma and Louise, Sarandon and Geena Davis lamented the lack of progress in Hollywood since their landmark film made the headlines.

When asked if she thought it would ever get commissioned today, Sarandon said: "Maybe as an animation?

"I mean everybody thought that they're were going to be so many more buddy films [afterwards].

"Well I don't think the studios have fallen off their horse and had some kind of epiphany about women in film.

"After Thelma and Louise, they predicted there would be so many films starring women. But it didn't happen."
Actress Susan Sarandon attends Kering Talks Women In Motion At The 69th Cannes Film Festival. CREDIT: VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR KERING


Speaking at a Kering Women in Motion event, part of a festival-long series, Davis added: "And that's one of the really uncomfortable things, because when they said that I believed it. It didn't happen.

"The thing about film is it can change overnight. It isn't like real life, where it takes so long to get women to be half of congress or boards or CEOs.

"The next movie somebody makes can be gender balanced. We don't have to sneak up on it, just do it."

When asked about what was holding Hollywood back, Sarandon said: "There are still many more male executives making these decisions.
But why should we not be paid as preposterously as men?Susan Sarandon


"Hollywood has become more and more corporate and the kind of people making those decisions and the basis on which they're making those decisions.

"Whereas women can see a woman or a man in a leading role, I don't think it's as easy for a guy to see a woman in a leading role and say 'I'll get behind that'.

"I think it's a cultural thing, and that's part of what slows it down: a lack of imagination on the part of men.

"It's done in a very formulaic way."

She joked she too would not survive as a modern celebrity starting out today, with scrutiny over the every move of actresses.

On the issue of equal pay, she argued Hollywood actors were "all paid preposterously considering what we do".


"But why should we not be paid as preposterously as men?" she added.

Speaking of the reaction to the original release of Thelma and Louise, which sees the two leading ladies on the run after running into trouble with the law, Sarandon said: "I don't know if you remember, but there were a lot of people who were very offended by the movie.
We were making a buddy film where we had power and choices, but I certainly didn't anticipate that it would be such an affront, that we had backed into this white, male, heterosexual landscape that had been that long held. Really we were just having a good timeSusan Sarandon

"Because women having those kind of options got people upset, suddenly we were accused of condoning suicide which was ridiculous.

"I can't say that when we made it we were making a feminist film.

"We were making a buddy film where we had power and choices, but I certainly didn't anticipate that it would be such an affront, that we had backed into this white, male, heterosexual landscape that had been that long held.

"Really we were just having a good time."

Sarandon also shared her frank views on a wide range of subjects, from film to politics.


At one point, she took on the festival's most controversial topic of sex abuse allegations levied at the director Woody Allen.

Last week, his son Ronan Farrow complained Allen, who is in Cannes with his film Cafe Society, had not received enough scrutiny for the allegations, which have not been proven in court.

Sarandon said: "I think he sexually assaulted a child and I don't think that's right."

Representation of Gender - A* Points to use

See revisionworld.com for some really good revision points, especially if you want to gain a Level 4 in this section of the exam.

Media representations of gender

KEY POINT - Almy et al. (1984) argue that media representations of gender are important because they enter the collective social conscience and reinforce culturally dominant (hegemonic) ideas about gender which represent males as dominant and females as subordinate. Sociologists argue that media representations not only stereotype masculinity and femininity into fairly limited forms of behaviour, but also provide gender role models that males and females are encouraged to aspire to.

However, Gauntlett (2008) points out that sociological analysis of media representations needs to be cautious, because of the sheer diversity of media in Britain.

Traditional media representations of femininity

• Women are generally represented in a narrow range of social roles by various types of media, whilst men are shown performing a full range of social and occupational roles. Tunstall (2000) argues that media representations emphasise women’s domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media generally ignore the fact that a majority of British women go out to work. Men, on the other hand, are seldom presented nude or defined by their marital or family status.
• Working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive, possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. It is often implied that working mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of the emotional neglect of their children.
• Tuchman et al. (1978) used the term symbolic annihilation to describe the way in which women’s achievements are often not reported, or are condemned or trivialised by the mass media. Often their achievements are presented as less important than their looks and sex appeal. Newbold’s research (2002) into television sport presentation shows that what little coverage of women’s sport there is tends to sexualise, trivialise and devalue women’s sporting accomplishments.
• Research into women’s magazines suggests that they strongly encourage women to conform to ideological patriarchal ideals that confirm their subordinate position compared with men. Ferguson(1983) conducted a content analysis of women’s magazines from between 1949 and 1974, and 1979 and 1980. She notes that such magazines are organised around a cult of femininity, which promotes a traditional ideal where excellence is achieved through caring for others, the family, marriage and appearance. However, Ferguson’s ideas were challenged by Winship (1987), who argued that women’s magazines generally play a supportive and positive role in the lives of women. Winship argues that such magazines present women with a broader range of options than ever before and that they tackle problems that have been largely ignored by the male-dominated media, such as domestic violence and child abuse.
• Wolf (1990) suggests that the images of women used by the media present women as sex objects to be consumed by what Mulvey calls the male gaze. According to Kilbourne (1995), this media representation presents women as mannequins: tall and thin, often US size zero, with very long legs, perfect teeth and hair, and skin without a blemish in sight. Wolf notes that the media encourage women to view their bodies as a project in constant need of improvement.
• Content analysis of teenage magazines in Britain indicates that almost 70% of the content and images focus on beauty and fashion, compared with only 12% focused on education or careers. Many encourage the idea that slimness=happiness and consequently Orbach (1991) suggests that such media imagery creates the potential for eating disorders.

The media as empowering women

KEY POINT
Sociologists have noted the increasing number of positive female roles emerging, especially in television drama and films. It is argued that these reflect the social and cultural changes that females have experienced in the last 25 years, especially the feminisation of the economy, which has meant that women are now more likely to have aspirational attitudes, a positive attitude towards education, careers and an independent income. Westwoodclaims that we are now seeing more transgressive (i.e. going beyond gendered expectations) female roles on British television as a result.

Gill (2008) argues that the depiction of women in advertising has changed from women as passive objects of the male gaze, to active, independent and sexually powerful agents. Gauntlett (2008) argues that magazines aimed at young women emphasise that women must do their own thing and be themselves, whilst female pop stars, like Lady Gaga, sing about financial and emotional independence. This set of media messages from a range of sources suggest that women can be tough and independent whilst being ‘sexy’.