Sunday, 12 June 2011
Roseanne on institutional sexism of TV
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Bond (as) girl + some theory
This strikes me as viral marketing for a troubled franchise, with the next Bond movie stalled while the studio MGM continues to teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, and a somewhat ironic source ... but its undeniably thought-provoking and worth 2 mins...
If you deconstruct the, ahem, Danielle Craig, you get a handy list of common signifiers of the stereotyped sexy female: killer high heels (built for discomfort and potential long-term injury); seductive black tights; tight, short(ish) dress (red a better choice for what seems the preferred reading?); bust/cleavage/decolletage prominently displayed; blonde - B(l)ond indeed. Short hair remains part of the common lesbian stereotype (seen to signify masculinity - look around your classmates and you'll note the general lack of long hair amongst the chaps, and preponderance of long hair amongst the ladies; its human nature to seek to fit in, conform and avoid grief for 'transgressing' common codes, even though we don't see these little details as conscious decisions) ... so Craig sports a long-haired wig.
[Notice how we start discussing gender but veer off into sexuality? We could also bring up age, plus social class/status - signified by the pearl necklace. In the exam you focus on the topic given, but should utilise useful explanation/analysis/argument drawing upon some of the 6 other identities; they generally interlink]
Judith Butler, 'queer' theorist, would recognise this: she argues that we learn to perform gender, a concept that exists in culture but not nature.
There's a lot more provocative material to be found at http://www.weareequals.org/ (producers of this vid). You can also make links between these issues and our exam work (useful for coursework too) on British cinema: there are several extensive posts on women's roles in the film industry. Here's one of the many resources cited/discussed/linked through the BritCinema blog:
If you deconstruct the, ahem, Danielle Craig, you get a handy list of common signifiers of the stereotyped sexy female: killer high heels (built for discomfort and potential long-term injury); seductive black tights; tight, short(ish) dress (red a better choice for what seems the preferred reading?); bust/cleavage/decolletage prominently displayed; blonde - B(l)ond indeed. Short hair remains part of the common lesbian stereotype (seen to signify masculinity - look around your classmates and you'll note the general lack of long hair amongst the chaps, and preponderance of long hair amongst the ladies; its human nature to seek to fit in, conform and avoid grief for 'transgressing' common codes, even though we don't see these little details as conscious decisions) ... so Craig sports a long-haired wig.
[Notice how we start discussing gender but veer off into sexuality? We could also bring up age, plus social class/status - signified by the pearl necklace. In the exam you focus on the topic given, but should utilise useful explanation/analysis/argument drawing upon some of the 6 other identities; they generally interlink]
Judith Butler, 'queer' theorist, would recognise this: she argues that we learn to perform gender, a concept that exists in culture but not nature.
There's a lot more provocative material to be found at http://www.weareequals.org/ (producers of this vid). You can also make links between these issues and our exam work (useful for coursework too) on British cinema: there are several extensive posts on women's roles in the film industry. Here's one of the many resources cited/discussed/linked through the BritCinema blog:
Monday, 7 March 2011
Monday, 24 January 2011
Androgyny as fashion statement?
This is a humorous, flippant article, but raises the useful concept of androgyny: purposefully rendering one's gender identity as polysemic; stripping out all the usual anchorage, perhaps combining binary opposite signifiers (all eg's of trying to squeeze in some semiotic terms too):http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/23/androgyny-tomboy-transgender-models
From David Bowie to Suede to (arguably) Lady Gaga, androgyny has been a potent, enduringly controversial part of the pop industry - and still a useful idea to help grasp complex ideas (such as Judith Butler's 'queer' theory that gender doesn't exist, it is something we perform [she writes of the 'performativity of gender'])...
Sunday, 9 January 2011
The 'man up' discourse
Well argued article from the commentisfree section of The Guardian, focussed on how the discourse (language) of machismo has grown in US politics, with a link made to the shooting of a female Congresswoman in January 2011:
SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/09/giffords-shooting-palin-guns-gender
The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords highlights the 'man-up' culture in US politics
SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/09/giffords-shooting-palin-guns-gender
The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords highlights the 'man-up' culture in US politics
In a country that sees violent masculinity as the ideal, it's no wonder this rhetoric resonates
This is not the kind of history we want to be making. US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the youngest woman to be elected to Congress, is in a medically induced coma after being shot in the head. She is believed to be the first female politician in America to be the subject of an assassination attempt. It remains unclear why 22-year-old Jared Loughner targeted Giffords, though reports of his mental instability and possible political beliefs are slowly pouring in.
Without obvious answers at the ready, Americans are focusing on the culture of increasing vitriol in US politics. Even Arizona's Pima county sheriff Clarence Dupnik couldn't hold his lip at a press conference on Saturday, saying: "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous.
"People tend to pooh-pooh this business about all the vitriol that we hear inflaming the American people by people who make a living off doing that. That may be free speech, but it's not without consequences."
What's not being discussed, however, is that a fair amount of this violent language and imagery is coming from female politicians on the right. Giffords was a "target" on a map created by Sarah Palin's political action committee – Giffords's district was marked with an image of gun cross hairs. In a March interview that would prove eerily prescient, the congresswoman criticised the image, telling MSNBC: "When people do that, they've gotta realise there's consequences to that action."
In June, Nevada politician and former Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle suggested that if Congress "keeps going the way it is", people would turn toward "second amendment remedies". (The second amendment of the US constitution outlines the right of Americans to bear arms.) And in an interview with a local Nevada paper, Angle said: "The nation is arming … If we don't win at the ballot box, what will be the next step?"
Stephen Ducat, author of The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity, says that masculine and violent language is often used in elections and campaigns – especially by men on the right – because of a fear of being perceived as feminine. In a sexist society, what could be worse than being called a girl? So it doesn't seem unlikely that conservative female politicians feel the need to peddle their ideas in gendered and violent language in order to fit in with the masculinised right.
After all, the phrase – and sentiment – "man up" was one of the most popular in the 2010 elections. In the Colorado Senate primary, Republican Jane Norton accused her opponent of not being "man enough"; in the Delaware Senate primary, Republican Christine O'Donnell said that her opponent was "unmanly"; Angle told Harry Reid to "man up"; and Palin praised Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer as having "the cojones that our president does not have" to enforce immigration laws.
In a country that sees masculinity – especially violent masculinity – as the ideal, it's no wonder that this type of language resonates. But it's a sad state of affairs when women in politics have to resort to using the same gendered stereotypes that kept all women out of public service for so long.
Palin staffers now say that their target list wasn't an allusion to guns. Spokesperson Rebecca Mansour told a radio host that they were meant to be "cross hairs that you would see on a map" and that there was "nothing irresponsible about our graphic". Yet the same day that Palin posted the image to her Facebook page she tweeted: "Commonsense Conservatives and lovers of America: "Don't Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!" Pls see my Facebook page." The target map was the only image posted to her account that day.
Nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green was one of the six people killed in Saturday's shooting. The young girl – born on 9/11 – was at the "Congress on your Corner" event because she had just been elected to the student council and a neighbour thought she would enjoy seeing politics in action. Christina's uncle told the Arizona Republic that she loved activities "from ballet to baseball".
This is not the kind of history we want to be making.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
MERLIN MOCK EXAM - VIEW CLIP HERE
[clip update: blocked, so see http://www.220.ro/emisiuni-tv/Merlin-Season-1-Episode-2-Part-2-Of-5/c35gmxwI7b/ and http://www.220.ro/emisiuni-tv/Merlin-Season-1-Episode-2-Part-1-Of-5/kiGglys0UY/]
You'll be analysing a clip from Season 1 Episode 2 of the BBC series Merlin, which you can find at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdq3SsoumAU (from 09:04) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyFSue4ezMY&feature=related (to approx 4:08) [10:15 to 15:17 on my DVD]
Your Representation focus is: GENDER
You will be tasked with analysing each of the 4 technical areas in turn (sound, editing, camerawork, mise-en-scene), drawing in related points on gender as you go. When you've done this, we will be using the same clip for a mock exam, for which you will not be able to use any notes. We will move on then to consider some examples using sexuality as the focus, and getting further into studying Working Title, and the marketing of films.
Remember, however, that when exploring one area of Representation you will often find it useful to make some points about some of the 6 other possible areas of Representation (eg when discussing a male you can denote as having several stereotypical feminine characteristics, a common cultural stereotype would make many viewers connote that this character is gay, just as a short-haired, physically strong and muscular female will often be viewed as lesbian, applying a common stereotype)
______________________________________________________
Its been a bit of a nightmare, a voyage of discovering what a pain it can be when one multinational conglomerate buys another, but I've eventually been able to upload to the clip in question:
You'll be analysing a clip from Season 1 Episode 2 of the BBC series Merlin, which you can find at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdq3SsoumAU (from 09:04) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyFSue4ezMY&feature=related (to approx 4:08) [10:15 to 15:17 on my DVD]
Your Representation focus is: GENDER
You will be tasked with analysing each of the 4 technical areas in turn (sound, editing, camerawork, mise-en-scene), drawing in related points on gender as you go. When you've done this, we will be using the same clip for a mock exam, for which you will not be able to use any notes. We will move on then to consider some examples using sexuality as the focus, and getting further into studying Working Title, and the marketing of films.
Remember, however, that when exploring one area of Representation you will often find it useful to make some points about some of the 6 other possible areas of Representation (eg when discussing a male you can denote as having several stereotypical feminine characteristics, a common cultural stereotype would make many viewers connote that this character is gay, just as a short-haired, physically strong and muscular female will often be viewed as lesbian, applying a common stereotype)
______________________________________________________
Its been a bit of a nightmare, a voyage of discovering what a pain it can be when one multinational conglomerate buys another, but I've eventually been able to upload to the clip in question:
Monday, 10 May 2010
David Gauntlett resources
DG has written (2 editions of) a great book on gender (Media, Gender, and Identity). Several chunks of it are available free online, eg at http://www.theoryhead.com/gender/discuss.htm
See also http://www.theoryhead.com/gender/more.htm
See also http://www.theoryhead.com/gender/more.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)