Women and Men on tv

In the 1950s 1960s and 1970s only 20 to 35 per cent of characters on tv shows were female.

By the mid 1980s there were more women in leading roles but still there were twice as many men on screen.

Men were seen as assertive or aggressive, and women were seen as passive.

Miles (1975) found that there were nearly equal opportunities of men and women in situation comedies although the gender roles could still be traditional and sexist.

A study by McNeil (1975) said that the womens movement had been largely ignorned by television with married housewives being the main female role shown. He also found out that female characters were unlikely to work especially not if they were wives or mothers. If they did work it would not be shown on screen.

Men were more likely to be assertive whilst women were passive. Gunter 1995

In the 1980s Gillian Dyer observed that the number of women in central roles in police and crime series had increased.

Films show female characters in supporting roles

Pluralistic or Hegemonic View

I believe in both the arguements in which can be raised from both the hegemonic view and the pluralistic view. Out of the two I probably feel more strongly for the views and ideologies from a pluralistic side due to the fact that i consider myself more as an active spectator of the media rather than a passive one, as i believe in challenging some of the representations of which the media like to distribute to the audience.
For example some of the representations in which is given of from the media often portray a one sided view of the accounts which the media believe to be truthful therefore advertising to the audience a state of reality for them, picturing an image of what its likes in society today. For example the representation of ethnic minorities in the media such as the representation of young black males in the media are often negative, portraying all black people as being troublemakers. This highlights,however that every representation is always and already a mis representation and is not an accurate account of that social group in society.Although, I do in some way believe in the ideas of the Hegemonic model which is that the media indoctrinate and manipulate the audience with their views and values which may the create a false consciousness.

Points from handout

The formula to achieving a high successful readership within a dominantly male audience reflects and enforces the theory of Laddism and the winning formula has been defined as Beer+Sex+Babes. Gained from titles such as loaded,FHM and Maxim.

Mens lifestyle magazines such as Loaded and FHM are targeted at a media audience stereotyped as Lads. It is referring to men aged between fifteen and twenty five years

Due to the changes both culturally and socially, it is now accepted by society to see fully naked models in such magazines like FHM and loaded

Women are traditionally seen as beautiful, attractive and well groomed. This then puts stress and a burden on women to conform what males think is attractive.

These institutions also present women as the weaker gender and were only made to make men's life more enjoyable and entertaining.

The theory also known as the effects tradition would suggest that mens lifestyles magazines affect attitudes as they imply men to be the more dominant gender over women.

Mens magazines represent women as the prototypical object of sexual desire, presenting the idea that a womens purpose is to look appealing and attractive to male audience thus linking to laura mulveys theory.

Cover Work

At the begining of the film clip the audience are able to gain an insight to the attitude of the characters and the type of lifestlyes they live. This is made evidnet through the fact of the frequent extreme close ups and long shots of the two female chracters higlighting to the audience the genre of the film. The scene which is set at the begining of teh film clip is almost as if we are watching a photoshoot as the audience are given different angles of both of the main characters. The fact that both of them are shown together throughout the opening implies at first a non patriachal society and expresse the closeness of the two characters. The clothes in which they are wearing gives of the impression to the audience that they are stylish and gives more meaning to the fact that the opening scene shows them having thier pictures taken highlighting that the two like to be in the public eye and place a lot of importance in thier appearence. The facial expressions of the characters show that they enoying being in the public eye all the time and enjoy the material things in life.
The diegetic sound used in the begining of the clip is material girls. The fact that this sound is played in the background links well to the opening scene of the film as they are both represented as being material girls and throughout the film this label that they are given is reinforced through the fact that they dont do anything to help out with their fathers business and refuse to take responsiblilty. The editing used constantly throughout the opening are fades in and out showing that the girls are enjoying their lives.
The film is a hybird and teen genre.The narrative of the film and the attitudes of the characters fully justify to the audience why the genre is the way it is.
The social class is a b white females are represented in the opening of the film. To be fair, the representation of the two sisters is a negative one due to the fact that they are blonde and reinforces the fact that they already have a negative label in society this representation it reinforces the stereotype. This could then relate to mediation within the film as the text is constucted to give the audience an accurate view of what people in society are like today.
The ideology and values which are presented to the audience are that these are two young females who enjoy the material things in life which include shopping, dating and going to parties, not being made aware of what is actually happening outside their own world. The film also reinforces the fact about the sterotype of blondes, as they are represented throughout the film. They also are able to create a sense of vaunrabily, as they appear not to be able to look after themselves and also have to rely on other people to ensure that they remain focused on what they have to do in life.
The narrative of the film follows a linear narative and follows in chronological order as it shows at first these two stuck up, young females not having a care in the world about what happens in their lives, even though they are supposed to take responsiblity for helping with the family business. They enjoy going to parties and looking good for the public eye. The film itself creates a sense of forshadowing as its typical for these type of films to open up the film with an equilbrium that sets up the narrative then there becomes a problem and that problem is slowly fixed throughout the film. We could apply levi strauss theory of the binary opposition in the film as it clearly exploits the fact that there are two young female characters tanzie and ava who enjoy the material things in life who in fact compared to fabiella she is a strong independent women who wants to be sucessful.

Links for my study

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/Famous_Feminists_and_the_History_of_Feminism.htm
This website shows the differenrt feminist theoriests and gives a history of feminisism.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/10/07/warner-bros-says-no-more-female-lead-characters/
A website which states that warner bros says they no longer want female characters having the lead roles in film

http://www.anitapuni.blogspot.com/
On this blog this person writes about the representation of teenagers in film

http://www.tulane.edu/~wc/text/newsletter/f96/dietzel.html
This is something which i have to read. Article about feminism.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DsRnApVNDFMC&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=representation+of+females+in+chick+flicks&source=web&ots=ZF_4C-mA2G&sig=AbPnCZpGuj3MYiFYSUHw_rpdn3k&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPP1,M1
A whole book in which i have found online about chick flicks

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1931/is_1_27/ai_n29415748/pg_7
The link above is an article about chick flicks which i could then link to my independent study.

10 Keywords

Appropriately conceptional- This means when texts should be considered in terms of their particular genre. I would use this in my study as I would be comparing other films that have the same genre as my film material girls.

Synoptic- This requires me to show a wide understanding of the media and I would also be able to link my topic to other sources apart from the media which would be useful for my topic

Critical autonomy- I will have to start to apply this more by using my own knowledge and ensure that i am able to research and analyse my text critically and using a number of different sources.

Stereotyping- This would be important to apply to my study as i would be researching if the characteristics of the characters in my film are just used to represent an accurate representation.

Richard Dyer- A film theorist who studied film genre

Inoculation theory- I would be able to use this in my study because often in chick flicks young females have been portrayed in a way which appears to make them seem dim and stupid. This is reinforced in my film material girls as young blondes are represented.

Laura Mulvey- researched that women in film are represented in a way to only fulfill the male gaze.

Binary oppositions- this is a term used by Claude Levi-Strauss. For example good vs evil. I could use this in my independent study as it shows in my film the different representations of the characters.

Bibliography- Throughout my independent study i would have to start recording all the sources i have used throughout my research.

Hypodermic needle- The media are able to manipulate a passive mass audience. Audiences may look at the film and believe that it often shows one view in order to get the audience believing that it is an accurate representation.