Why is studying the representation of women important?

Studying the representation of women in the media is important because we need to know and understand that the representation of women is not real, everything has been constructed and put through mediation, to negatively portray women. The negativity of women has become a dominate ideology as the majority believe this, the cultivation theory (George Gerbner) also links to this as generally society have just excepted that women are represented in a negative may. The way women are represented negatively also supports the hegemony theory as because the media is made by men they will portray other people, such as women, other races, working classes ect negatively so they can keep their group in power of the media. It is also important to learn about the way women are represented because in the Tv programme 'I want to marry Harry' the 12 women are shown to only be interested in finding love and their prince (Disney, isn't real) within the first 7 seconds, it doesn't speak about them having an education or say anything they are good at, it just portrays them as the stereotypical women wanting a husband, being there for the men. Linking to the fact that women are represented in the media to be there for the men and for male pleasure, this is known as Male Gaze- "made for men, by men" as the media is also made by men. Women are also shown as sex objects for men in music videos, films, photos and a number of other media platforms, women being shown in this way objectifies them as its only showing parts of their body. 

Theorists:
Richard Dyer- How we see determinds the way we treat people. This is shown in the representation of women through blurred lines as they are portrayed to be sex objects, men in real life believe thats how women should be treated. 

Brief encounter

Throughout the whole of the film the main women is represented to be very emotional and weak, this is shown through her body language and her facial expressions. Also during the film there is a narration of the women speaking & telling her own story of her secret affair, this allows the audience to connect with her thoughts and feelings, also supporting the representation that women are weak and emotional. 

There are many stereotypes used In the film to show the representation of women. One being caring about their appearance, a number of times the women character is shown to be powdering her nose, looking in the mirror and doing her hair. Another stereotype used is the motherly role, the women is represented to have two children and is a house wife, she does the weekly shopping every Thursday and is a stay at home mum/ house wife, this is a common stereotype as the mother stays at home looking after the children while the father works to provide for the family. The father also says to the mother "I want my dinner" this shows that within the relationship the man is in control, another stenotype of women. 

The women character is very well dressed, smart and tidy. This shows that she is quite wealthy, this is also supported because the women is well spoken and quite posh, she also has a nice house. Meaning she is represented to have a stable/wealthy income. However this women character is shown to be smoking which challenges the stenotype of the women that would be shown smoking as in today's society you wouldn't associate a posh, wealthy women to be smoking, it would be a lower class women's stereotype. On the other hand during the time period of the film, smoking may have been a stereotype for women.

During the film another women character is shown to be the owner of the coffee shop, she is cleaning which is another stereotype of women, also a man character comes into the shop and slaps the women's bum, this supports the representation that women are sex objects for men. Two other men then come into the shop a little later and ask for alcohol, the women says no and the men are shown to be rude and aggressive, this again shows that the men have control of the relationship. 

The main women character towards the end of the film is shown to be very vulnerable, again another stereotype of women, she cannot cope with the lies and the affair that she is having, this is supported when the women says she feels like a criminal. Ones her secret partner has to leave for a new job, the women becomes very unhappy and is shown to want to kill herself, she nearly jumps I front of a train, showing a gain she is ashamed apof what she has done and cannot cope with the guilt. 

Theorists:
Gerbner- The Cultivation theory links to brief encounter because society have excepted that women are weak and venerable.
Roland Barthes- The belief that representation is a myth. This links to brief encounter because it is a myth that the affair between the two will ever work out, which is shown through the women's feelings as deep down she isn't really happy. 

Stereotypes of Women

Stereotypes of women from sophbennett1234

Representation of women- introduction

Key words:

• Mediation- The process of taking a reality, interpreting it and then re-presenting it to the audience. 
• Denotation- What you see.
• Connotation- What you infer. 
• Stereotypes- A way in which people are grouped together.
• Representation- The re-presenting of a reality to an audience by a producer.
• Male-Gaze- Media is made by men, for men.
• self representation
• Ideology- Are messages or values that are embedded into media (influence of peoples ideas, beliefs and actions). 
• Dominant Ideology- Most common Ideology thats accepted by the majority.
• Hegemony- The ruling class(media people) maintains their power through the control of ideas and culture rather than force.

Theorist:

• George Gerbner started the Cultivation Theory. Theorists argued that media has long term effects, Cultivation theory helps us to understand the importance of the media, making an immediate effect to a slower more accumulative effect.
• Jean Baudrillard introduced the idea of Hyperreality, with blurred boundaries between the real and the fictional, for example Disney world exists in the real world yet is based on a fictional make.
• Roland Barthes believed that the representations are Mythic/Myths, representations are problematic and simulations of realities which don't exist. A blurring between what is real and what is not, for example celebrity images.
• Richard Dyer said that how we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them & how we view them comes from representation.
• David Chandler representation always involves the construction of reality. 
• Anthony Giddens believes ideology refers to the influence of ideas on peoples beliefs and actions.
• Henry Jenkins believed in Cultural Convergence, meaning when consumers are empowered to edit, annotate and create content. For example social networks.

Representation of women in Sket

At the very first part of the clip the representation of women goes against the stereotypical women as stereotypically women would be sweet, innocent, girly, care about their appearance ect. Therefore this is challenging the stereotypes.

 In this scene a relationship is shown between the two boys and the girl, during this relationship the boys have the power over the girl as she is represented to be weak and scared, meaning the boys are more dominant, which is a stereotype of men in a relationship.

This scene also follows the stereotypes because the older women character is represented to play the motherly role of the younger character. 

Representation of women in Blurred lines

In the start of Blurred Lines the representation of women is shown through the women being objectified for the pleasure of men. As the women are shown to be dancing around the men as they watch them it shows them as sex objects.

In this scene the man is represented to have power over the women as he is shown to be smoking in her face and she is letting it happen, meaning she has no control, which is a stereotype of women.

Towards the end of Blurred Lines one of the men is represented to be looking at the women while she dances for him, this supports the meaning of male-gaze as the media is made by men and for men.

Theorists- Richard dyers theory of how we see people represented in the media determines how we treat people is shown in the video of blurred lines. This is because women are shown to be there for men's pleasure and shown as sex objects this links to Richards theory as women can be treated like sex objects in real life.

Self representation

This allows prosumers to make their own media and challenge how they are portrayed through the media.

The blurred lines music video has been self represented, meaning people have made their own remake of the video. In the self represented blurred lines video the story line has completely flipped and the stereotypes are challenged of both women and men. For example in the original video the women are shown to be there for the men to look at, they are portrayed as sex objects, which is a common media approach, "media is made by men, for men. On the other hand in the self represented video the men are on dog leads, being controlled by the women. This challenges stereotypes of men because stereotypically the men are in power in a relationship between a man and a women, also challenging stereotypes of women because stereotypically they are portrayed to be weak, this is the opposite in the self represented blurred lines video.

Representation of Chandelier

• During the first 24 hours of the music video being released the video has 1 million views.

At the start of the music video for Chandelier the 11 year old girl is wearing a flesh coloured leotard and in some scenes it seems that she is wearing nothing and comes across as she is naked. This challenges the stereotypes of girls her age as they would no stereotypically be wearing leotards, making them look naked.

The fact that the subject of the song is about suicide and alcoholism and the girl in the video is only 11 years old it challenges stereotypes as 11 year olds would not be involved in suicide or alcoholism.

During the whole of the video the girl is represented doing very strange, unknown dance moves, young girls would not normally be shown dancing like this. Therefore again challenging the stereotypes of young girls.

Theorists- Roland Barthes theory links to the music video of chandelier because the theme of the song being about suicide and alcohol and then the girl in the video only being 11 years old is a myth, which is what Roland believes, the representation of the young girl in the video is a myth because it is not real, a young girl would not be associated with suicide and alcohol.