http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/MM30_reps_war.html
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/team_america.html
In general, the Hip Hop genre has a distinctive image where females in the hip hop videos are represented stereotypically as sex objects wearing skimpy dresses and showcasing flesh for the pleasure of the male gaze. They are further represented as weak and vulnerable while being under the power of men, therefore, they are depicted as the subordinate sex. Meanwhile, men in the Hip Hop videos are depicted as the superior sex and they are represented as aggressive, powerful and dictator's of women. However, the Hip hop video of Eve and Gwen Stefani (Let me blow ya mind) challenges these stereotypical gender roles within Hip Hop video’s in a number of ways to reveal alternative representations of male and female roles in Hip Hop genre.
The video begins with mug shots of Eve and Gwen, which has connotations of crime, trouble and resistance towards authorities that is normally associated with young male rappers, and is a total reversal of gender roles and an alternative representation of women in comparison to other Hip Hop videos. Furthermore, Eve is featured riding a quad bike sitting in a poised posture and wearing a leather jacket with tattoos of tiger paws revelled on her chest which all foreshadows an intimidating masculine gangster image and connotes power and superiority to challenge the male gangster role often featured in Hip Hop videos.
Where usually men are seen as the rappers in Hip Hop genre, the Eve featuring Gwen video challenges this stereotype to show Eve rapping throughout the video taking the male role. Moreover, she is seen riding a quad bike while being accompanied by a gang of female riders impersonating Ruff Ryder’s, a well known group of black male rappers who come across aggressive and as the stereotypical male hip hop rapper.
In the video, Eve and Gwen are shown to gate crash a high society party on their quad bikes causing affray which contrasts the gentle female image in Hip Hop as females are mostly seen as sex objects being caressed and hovering around intimidating dominant male rapper figures. In the video Eve is featured sitting on a bar bench position higher than two male figures on either side of her which shows her position to be higher than the males pictured alongside her and this also challenges the hierarchy of Hip Hop as females are always looked down on to as inferior sex objects.
In some way the video has created an alternative stereotype for females, a countertype. This can be connoted from the use of props, lighting, shots and costumes. The clothing gives the impression of a more male influence with leather jackets which are normally worn by bikers of male gender this connotes change of roles, where the females are more dominant and have equal power to what men are normally given. Also looking at costumes, within the scenes of the ballroom once Eve has enter and started rebelling it shows the females in classy formal clothing where as compared to the stereotypical representation where they are given clothing of short and skin tight clothing such as skirts and bikinis.
The image above is a composition of several clips from the well known Transformers 2 Revenge of the fallen. The subject of the male gaze within the film itself is star Megan Fox who has starred in several other films. Women in film are represented as ‘objects’, images with visual and erotic impact, which also is termed their ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’. Megan Fox has been given the role of playing the male gaze within the movie. This can be seen by the mise en scene, props used, lighting, make up and clothing, types of shots and use of sound.
Firstly looking at the mise en scene of the clips Meagan's surroundings consist of a bike shop which isn't stereotypically connected with females. By placing her in this environment it instantly catches the males attention to why she's there and stereotypically must have the role of being 'eye candy' while the men work. Now considering the props within these clips, they are used as a phallic symbol to help create a sexualised image. The use of a motorbike within this clip has followed the objectification of females although being a bike it represents a male and connotes that Megan rides the male. Also further down the sequence the use of flowers are used in context to angelic whore, as Megan appears in pure white however she strips down in a public area into a short white loose dress which has the symbol of being pure but also promiscuous. Make up and clothing play a big part in creating a male gaze as the set up of these can either make or break a gaze. Considering Megan, she is heavily drowned with make up ranging from her face to her chest and arms, this is to better her appearance and also add a sense of sexiness to look, An example of this is a bright red lipstick which appeal to men and connote she is looking for attention. Now analysing her clothing with the sequence it seems to follow a similar pattern of being revealing and sexualised. Starting of with the first outfit, hot pants and low cut vest which without doubt gets the audiences attention and so much flesh is showing, also fetishisation occurs as the revealing of the buttock and chest appeal to the dominant male audience.
Citroen - " This advert appears to suggest that yes, this is a self-consciously “sexist ad,” feminist critiques of it are deliberately evoked. Feminism is “taken into account,” but only to be shown to be no longer necessary. Why? Because there is no exploitation here, there is nothing remotely naı¨ve about this striptease. She seems to be doing it out of choice, and for her own enjoyment..."
Positive
I believe that this is a positive representation of females as normally within the 60's females wouldn't be associated with business and working in mainstream areas. This image has not subordinated females under men as you can see in the image the female is in power and by using a red coat it connotes that she has power and also considering her mode of address she seems to be elegant.
This image is very derogatory towards woman as it has a sterotypical representation of a female used to within the kitchen for cleaning and food. Where this image is selling clingfilm it is directly aimed as females as in the 60's females were suboridinated and sterotypically classified situated in the kitchen. The image provides a negative representation as the image has a female being subordinated as the male in the image is watching her and has postioned behind her which connotes that he contorls her and has power over.
Intresting
Fairy advertisements 2010.
In this Fairy liquid advertisement women are represented in a negative way. Fairy have done this throughout several codes and conventions. To begin with the advert starts with a clip from the 1950's advertisement of Fairy liquid. This then transits onto another decade and several after until reaching the current time. Within these clips the protagonist within all the decade is a female. Also considering the mise en scene within these clips which consists of a kitchen with a sink and washing appliances around the protagonist. This therefore symbolises a patriarchal point of view from the advertisers that females should be situated within the kitchen and also that times have not developed from the early 90's and the same traditions should still be followed. To add to this point the use of a young child who of gender is female within the same clips also connotes and also subordinates that even from a young age females should be within the kitchen cleaning up after the dominant gender the 'males'.
The protagonist within the clips uses the quote ' I hardly ever by fairy liquid' which in a slight way subordinates females as this connotes that she has no power of what is brought and that it is the males choice upon choosing the Fairy brand. Another point to put across is that the mise en scene of a kitchen is within all the clips, which connotes that even after decades we still have the stereotypical view that a female should be working within the kitchen picking up after the dominant gender the males.
This advert shows that we still live in a patriarchal society as these transitions show no change over the decade. Fairy have sent a message out that no matter how much change occurs in the world, females will still be the responsible on in the kitchen and shall always be firstly classed as a housewife. This negative representation has typical conversions of feminism, when we are supposed to be in a post feminism society.
This advertisement of Adidas has given females a positive representation as it has withdrawn them from the stereotypical role of being subordinate to the dominant gender males. Adidas has done this through several ways. Firstly looking at the advertisement, it has been created to promote the brand and its combination with the women's world cup 2003. This is something new as normally Adidas would follow the dominant gender males story of the world cup. Normally females were not placed within male roles, such as football. However Adidas has broken the trend and allowed females to express their feelings and talent without being subordinated against men. Representation of females has been shown as calm and peaceful, which in previous years has been the complete opposite where they are classified as the subordinate gender.
Adidas has put females as a gender in a whole new context as creating this advertisement it has broken the feminism within advertising and start to give females more power and responsibility within media. This is shown in the advert as there is no presence of males and it has given females the limelight. Also by putting females in the context of football it sends of ideology that what males can do females has the rights and the correct amount of skill to match what they do. Having the actors in straight lines gives of an image of being in the army, also the synchronisation of each actor with each move is very precise. This gives of ideology of being in the army which has always been represented as the males job, although it being a male job it has broken the dominant representation and placed a new role for females within it.