2. Tofirst understand media we must
remember that media itself is about
production and consumption. Companies
use media to sell their products to
consumers. In turn they also sell ideals to
the population Defransisco and Plczewski
(2007) explain, “Although media contain
conflicting discourses, it is useful to
recognize the existence of culture industries
to draw attention to the way popular culture
mirrors industrial factory processes, creating
standardized goods for consumption,
3. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,
“Although media contain conflicting
discourses, it is useful to recognize the
existence of culture industries to draw
attention to the way popular culture mirrors
industrial factory processes, creating
standardized goods for consumption. The
Media outlets that produce, sponsor, display
and distribute cultural goods services and
are most recently typified by increasing
commercialization and concentration of
ownership” (p. 235-236)
4.
5. Because so few oppositions exist to the
large companies we are left to view the
content they choose for us. Defransisco and
Plczewski (2007) explain,
“ Although no singular message is produced
by culture industries, it is possible to identify
dominant messages as well as ways in which
culture industries co-opt and tame the
opositional messages of such noncommercial
media as zines, indie music, slam poetry and
performance art” (p. 236).
6. The media can be good in some way’s because it can present
contradictions gender stereotypes. For example women warriors such as
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or “Xena,” “Can be rooted in stereotyped
female roles but can simultaneously challenge such images” (Defransisco
and Plczewski, 2007, p. 236).
7. Defransiscoand Plczewski (2007) explain,
“Media scholars believe that just as
relgion, and then science, outlined how
people behave and should be, mass
entertainment now performs a similar
normative role in our media saturated
society by providing myths, or recurrent
story structures, through which human
beings understand who they are and
where they fit in a social order” (p. 237)
8. Allof this means that modern media,
mainly television, is now one of the most
prominent sources of communication.
This leads us to believe that TV is now a
device that educates and socializes us into
our culture. One of the main issues with
this is how the modern media has
distinguished gender, and gender
differences.
9. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,
“Media exert power over how people do
gender. Although it is true that a movie is a
movie and an advertisement is an
advertisement. These media forms also
influence social norms concerning
concerning gender, race, class, nationality, and
al the other ingredients that constitute
identity, for they provide models of what is
to be feminine and encourage people to buy
products that will make them more
so” (p. 239).
10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=o5wGoUxgxtA
Take a look at this breakdown of how this
Miller Lite ad tries to influence how a
man is supposed to look and act. The real
kicker is that the person who continues
to demean the man is a beautiful women
bartender.
11. There are examples of men and women on
television that do not adhere to gender
stereotypes, but that seems to just be a ruse,
as Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,
“The vast majority of characters tend to
abide by traditional gender/sex expectations.
Note also, in these examples, that although
the women may act masculine, they still
meet feminine standards of attractiveness,
and although the men may act feminine they
still meet the masculine standards of
attractivness” (p. 239).
12. Themedia then also only choose to use
unattractive people when they are
characters who are bad or violent. You
can see this through the characteristics of
witches in fairy tales. (Defransisco and
Plczewski, 2007, p. 239).
13. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,
“Criticism of media has focused on their
creation of an unattainable standard of
beauty for women, this beauty norm does
not affect all women identically, and men
are beginning to grapple with similar
pressures for the ideal body” (p. 242).
14. Recently digital adjustments have been
being made to photo’s and videos of men
and women to create an ideal body that is
literally unobtainable without being
digitally enhanced. The next few slides will
contain photo’s of what has been dubbed
as “Airbrushing.”
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. As you can see from the before and after
pictures that the pictures of women were
altered to make them appear to have
absolutely no body fat, and bigger breasts.
The photo of Keira Knightley clear shows
that her breasts have grown in size digitally,
and the photo of Brittney Spears shows
cellulite has been removed from her upper
thighs and rear end. Digital enhancements
will put even more pressure on women to
be perfect, by making beauty actually
unobtainable in less helped by a computer.
21. The ideal body is no longer just a problem for
women but men as well. Even President Obama
had a picture of himself digitally altered to try and
look more younger and handsome. Men are now
supposed to be more muscular, have little to no
body hair, and require far more grooming than
even ten years prior to try and meet the media’s
standard for ideal masculine beauty. The photo of
the man after Obama clear shows that his ab
muscles have been enhanced. Men are being
prompted by the modern media to obtain bigger
and more toned muscles. So digital enhancements
will not only affect women but men as well.
22. When the content of media is analyzed it
is easy to discern that what someone
views ultimately effects their attitudes,
and behaviors. Here is a small clip on how
women have been perceived in the media
and how many are trying to change that
perception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6gkIiV6konY
23. The media has an obvious influence on all of those who partake in viewing
it. If we are to change our society media is definitely the most powerful
medium for doing so. We as viewers must make ourselves aware that what
we view is not necessarily the truth, but instead a truth that a company
wants us to buy into. Women in the modern media are becoming more
and more sexual objects instead of human beings. To change this people
need to be more aware of what themselves and their loved ones are
watching and how what they view might effect them.
The other option of course is refuse to view, but in a society now
dominated by moving images, and advertising it is getting harder and
harder to remove oneself. The real argument is whether the companies
create the content we want, or if the content we watch creates us. It is
most likely a little of both. Education on gender in communication would
ultimately help people to view modern media with a more. We must
remember that when we are viewing media we are not just silent
observers but are part of a very large cultural conversation. Defransisco
and Plczewski (2007) explain it best
24. The other option of course is refuse to view, but in a society
now dominated by moving images, and advertising it is getting
harder and harder to remove oneself. The real argument is
whether the companies create the content we want, or if the
content we watch creates us. It is most likely a little of both.
Education on gender in communication would ultimately help
people to view modern media with a more. We must
remember that when we are viewing media we are not just
silent observers but are part of a very large cultural
conversation. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain it
best, “ The danger is not that people do these things but that
they often do them uncritically. Audiences act as though they
were passive recipients of media, not active participants in
culture. The more one realizes that one can talk back to the
screen, the page, or the picture, the more one realizes that
one is not merely buying into a commodity” (p. 261).
