BFI workshop

1) Type up your notes from the day.

2) Write a one-sentence summary of the ideas of the theorists Matthew Daintrey-Hall covered (you can use your notes from task 1 here if relevant):

bell hooks:

Gender roles are mot normal - being feminine/ masculine

genders are socially constructed- no matter what genitalia you have.

Particularly male dominated society.

particularly in directed toward people from an early age.

"gender becomes a set of connotations" 
Liesbet van Zoonen:

-Nothing has changed over the years- women still objectified. 

Men and woman challenging stereotypical roles.

"liberal feminist" focus on individuals woman political and personal autonomy.

Equality:

-opportunity- education, careers 

-Economy- financial independence 

-representation- challenging stereotypes 

sex role stereotypes- Challenging  challenging sex appropriate behaviour, e.g. slut shaming.  # Appearance= e.g. air brushing fashion models to make them look thinner 

Media male dominated- Makes media aimed only towards men and male pleasures.

Men and woman bodies are sexualised in the media- representation of women sexualised is based on submission and passively of being dis-empowered- Representation of men sexualised  is based on strength, being powerful.

Judith Butler:

Gender is a performance- Series of gestures, actions behavioural and dress codes that construct an imaginary 'man' or 'woman'.

"gender is the repeated stylisation of the body a set of repeated within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal;s overtime to produce the appearance of substance.

I.E.- what we think of a natural masculine or femininity is just a role like an actor that has been played over and over until it seems real. 
Saussure:

Detestation- direct or obvious meaning e.g. man carrying a police badge.

Connotation- something that we can infer.

-meaning are fixed 

-open to interpretation 

-culturally determined if you live is somewhere that has high level of police corruption you may not trust someone.--->our own experience.

Barthes:

suspicious of denotation- suspected there was more ideology involved that people think.

"denetotation is actually just a "dominant connotation""

-meaning is naturalised ' so we accept without question" Barthes.

"bourgeois ideology turns into culture into nature 

Myths are cultural values. 
Stuart Hall:

Authors encode their work with meaning, audiences decode it in often very different ways.

-preferred meaning- audiences understand the intention of the author-n accept the meaning.

Negotiated- audiences accept some elements of the meaning but reject the meaning.

op-positional- audiences understand the intended meaning but decide to re-interpret the text create an alternative. 
Lyotard:

A totalising cultural narrative that organises thought and experiences into a 'grand theory' that makes sense of our lives.

e.g. science, Christianity, socialism

What are some key postmodern ideas?

hyper-reality   -There is no objective 'reality' representation in the media are as real as a actual experience 

intertextuality  -There is no essential 'truth' instead there is a multiplicity of truths, each equally valid.

pastiche        - truth is just a 'discoruage' or ' narrative ' a belief which helps us make brief sense.

bricolage 

niche 

-nothing is original  

-There is no real you the self is fragmented and schizophrenic you are just a sense of experience originated into a narrative of yourself.

Baudrillard:

Imitation that seems more real than the thing it is imitating- mediated experiences.

Intensity and resonance that surpasses creativity for their audiences.

hyperrealtiy is when the audience are hooked in with the series and end up not knowing what the real world is truly like. 

3) Choose one of the films we saw extracts from and watch the whole movie: Captain Fantastic (2016), Pulp Fiction (1994) or Inception (2010). Write a 300 word analysis of your chosen film using theories from the study day (use the exam paragraph structure we were shown on the day - theory introduction, examples from text, why this 'proves' or 'disproves' the theory).

The postmodern theory of hyperreality (developed by John Baudrillard) is the idea that through the media, reality is often skewed together, leaving the viewer to question whats real and whats fictitious. A prime example of this theory being put to use is the 2010 sci-fi action thriller directed by Christopher Nolan, Inception. The entire premise of the movie are the side effects of entering another individuals dreams and the mental toll it can have on the "extractors" (Individuals who enter peoples dreams in order to steal secrets), causing them to often forget what's real and what isn't. The film even gives the extractors a means to determine whats real and what isn't through the introduction of totems, small objects that helps determine whether or not they're in a dream state or currently in reality. Throughout the film there are scenes that have the audience questioning what truly exists, whether or not the main characters accomplished their goal or if they've gotten stuck in limbo (an uncontrolled dream state that leaves the dreamer in an almost permanent state of dreaming). The ending scene of inception plays with this Idea the hardest, ending the film with the main character Cobb; after getting the ending he'd always dreamed of, spinning his totem on a table counter top only to have the credits roll before we get a confirmed answer about his current state of consciousness, evidence of hyperreality can be seen in the aftermath of the ending; literal years of theorising on the true meaning of the ending by fans and critics alike, showing the extent of which they're questioning the end reality of the main characters in Inception 

Magazine Publication

1) Save your finished Photoshop magazine cover as a JPEG image and upload it to your evaluation blogpost.

2) Write an evaluation of your work: have you succeeded in your brief to create a new, original edition of an existing magazine?

I believe that I succeeded in my brief, the new edition of the magazine I choose, 502 Bad Gateway, that I created is quite an accurate and realistic looking edition. 


3) Put your cover alongside a couple of genuine covers of your chosen magazine. How professional is your work alongside genuine examples?

I believe that my edition looks quite professional 


4) What is the strongest aspect of your work?

The sizing and colour work of my magazine 
5) What is the weakest aspect of your Photoshop magazine cover? 

The fonts are not accurate, mainly since I couldn't a font that was similar
6) What would you do differently if you completed this assignment again?

I would try to find a more accurate font 

Advertising- Gauntlett

1) What examples does Gauntlett provide of the "decline of tradition"? How can we link our advertising CSPs (Score hair cream and Maybelline 'That Boss Life') to this idea?

Traditional gender identity used to be an important factor to include in advertising 20-30 years ago, mainly due to the significance of gender and what it meant in society in that time period; as society progresses, as society continues to adopt liberal ideas

2) How does Gauntlett suggest the media influences the way we construct our own identities?

Gauntlett states that the media gives us room to create our identities and that media texts like magazines help to promote and encourage the idea of self-identity by providing information on a range of topics etc  

3) How do the two CSPs reflect the generational differences that Gauntlett discusses? Is it a good thing that the media seems to promote modern liberal values?

The idea of what being masculine means has changed; it went from complete disregard of emotion and to constantly assert dominance to embracing femininity and the normalization of multiple sexualities for men 

4) Why might Manny and Shayla be a good example of the role models that Gauntlett discusses - and also demonstrate how those role models have changed in recent years?

They act as navigation points, people that help to guide others with their own life decisions.

5) Why does the Score hair cream advert provide such a good example of traditional masculinity? How can you link this to Gauntlett's discussion of whether masculinity is in crisis?

The score hair cream plays into typical ideas of toxic masculinity ideas of dominance and over sexualisation of women

6) Gauntlett consistently argues that masculinity is not in crisis. Can the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' advert be used as evidence of this?

The maybelline That Boss Life advert can be seen as evidence to evolution of masculinity, Gauntlett believes that masculinity is not in crisis, instead it's in a process of evolution, the advert shoes that the ideals of what makes a man masculine have changed over time

7) Does advertising still reinforce the "conventionally rugged, super-independent, extra-strong macho man" that Gauntlett discusses? Offer examples for both sides of the argument from the wider advertising industry.

I don't believe it does entirely, I believe it does both by having an advert that stars an actor that meets all the traditional stereotypes that makes a man good looking while also having a meaning/message behind it that supports the idea of being more open and emotional, it does both

8) Gauntlett discusses the idea of 'girl power' and offers examples from music and film. Does advertising provide evidence to support the idea of 'girl power' or is the industry still reinforcing traditional representations of men and women?

Adverts reflect the views of the public, that's how they're seen as relatable, whether or not the public sees if the advert represents them is he determining factor for the adverts success; due to this, not supporting "girl power" would be commercial suicide for most businesses, this shows a changing mentality to gender ideals. 

9) Do you agree with Gauntlett's argument under 'Popular feminism, women and men' where he suggests that younger generations are not threatened by traditional gender roles and are comfortable with social changes? Does advertising (and our CSPs in particular) provide examples either reinforcing or challenging this idea that younger generations are more comfortable with changing gender roles?


I agree with the idea that younger generations are more open to liberal ideas such as popular feminism due to the fact we were raised with these ideas being common, it's not something that we've had to adapt to, instead they're ideas that we grew up with.


10) How do the two advertising CSPs show the changing 'diversity of sexualities' that Gauntlett suggests?

heterosexuality was the only legal route for men and women in 1967, years later, a gay man is front lining the advertising campaign for a large company. That in itself shows that diversity and different sexualualities have become normal, showing the changing mentalities of society

11) What examples from advertising does Gauntlett provide for the changing nature of gender in society (from the section on Judith Butler's Gender trouble)?

His main example was from fragrance companies and their choice of using androgynous models for their advertisements trying to show that the product is for both men and women   

12) How can the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' advert be applied to Judith Butler's work on 'gender trouble'? ("The binary division of 'male' and 'female' identities should be shattered, Butler suggested, and replaced with multiple forms of identity...")

Their use of a male lead for their makeup advertisement shows that Maybelline trying to change and subvert the binary outlook on gender and sexuality, it's slowly destroying social norms, showing the audience that anyone can wear their makeup

13) How can our two advertising CSPs be used to argue that power has shifted from media institutions to audiences? (Clue: how did Manny and Shayler from the Maybelline advert first become famous?)

Manny and Mua are both online personalities with millions of followers and possibly hundreds of thousands accounts of engagement between them both, this along with the fact that they're probably both cheaper to hire than traditional celebrities shows that theyre the future. Mainstream celebrities and media corporations are shifting to social media due to this growing influence it has over the media landscape

14) Why is advertising such a good example of the 'contradictory elements' that Gauntlett discusses with regards to the mass media? In other words, how does advertising continue to both reinforce and challenge gender stereotypes?

Advertisements are constantly changing their marketing methods in order to try and relate to their audience, this can sometimes backfire and contradict itself e.g. an advert could try and subvert stereotypes by showing the women as a the dominant figure, but does so using her sexuality- something that enforces the stereotype that women are sex objects 

15) Finally, Gauntlett makes a clear case that things change and modern identities are increasingly fluid. How do our advertising CSPs demonstrate the changing attitudes towards gender and sexuality in society?

The most apparent example of change are the views on sexuality and gender dominance in society, Score hair cream and maybelliene are two products within the same industry but from two different periods in time. The views on liberal issues are clearly contrasting and thats due to the constant liberal progression within society