Wednesday 16 October 2019

Feminist apporoaches to media studies

James Bond, Die another Day clip

The audience is positioned with James Bond. This is made clear by the pov shot through his binoculars, furthermore, there is a shot of the woman walking towards the camera as she her way to Bond. The focal point of this scene is the woman's figure, the audience gets to be a voyeur and take pleasure in her sexuality. This overall positions the audience as heterosexual males- the target audience.

The Male Gaze

This theory states that all media products are constructed exclusively for heterosexual men. Meaning that in texts the sole function of women is to be appealing to heterosexual men.

In the poster the woman is stripped down completely to her sexual appeal. Her face is completely invisible meaning the only part of her she can be represented by is her naked body and the word 'witch'. Diluting her personality immediately apart from the lexis 'the soul of a witch.' This represents women as people with intolerable personalities who should be ranked by their sexual appeal- this is visually represented by the view of her the audience is given.

The women on the poster is given power by the knife, however it is stated that this is a 'an Adult picture.' This suggests that when a women is given any form of power it is purely to be sexualised and appease heterosexual men. The audience is positioned behind the witch, with her walking away wielding a knife- barely covered by a tree. This makes her look extremely exposed and incapable of being a threat as she is walking in the direction away from her prey. This re-enforces the male gaze theory as she's not serving any purpose as a scare factor.


John Berger- 'Men act women appear.'

The intradiegetic gaze is where one character looks at another character.
The extradiegetic gaze is where the audience looks at a character.

Both gazes are potentially voyeuristic.

Key Theory 8- Feminist theory, Liesbet Van Zoonen.

Men's and women's bodies are encoded in completely different ways in media products and constructed through media language in completely different ways. Women's bodies are used as a spectacle to sell media products. Therefore the audience is assumed to always be a heterosexual man.

Objectification is the process of turning a human into an object.
Sexualisation is the process of seeing an individual in only sexual ways.

Hegemony is where one group wields power over another. Not through domination but through coercion and consent.

Hegemonic power
Restaurant rules
Hotel rules
School system
Going to someone's house
Being polite
Societal rules
Religion

Women in the media can be hegemonically attractive- what a women should strereotypically like.

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