...ICOM101 Major Essay Does Media Discourse Reproduce Social Inequality? Student Name : Pratama Robin Rachel Discourse denotes to the various forms of representation, codes, habits, conventions associated with language are responsible for producing specific culturally and historically located meanings. Media discourse can be described as an interaction through a media platform with the help of verbal or non-verbal communication. It has been found that media can potentially influence the public. The objective of this essay is to find out the role of media discourse in reproducing social inequality. In order to meet this objective, in the following sections the concept of discourse is explained vividly along with its style of operations. A relationship between media discourse and social inequality will be established in this essay. Discourse can be referred to the manner or way of communication between individuals or group. Discourse plays a major role in determining how an individual will understand and interpret a specific thing based upon ideas, thoughts and beliefs. According to Michel Focault, discourse is an entity of sequences, codes and signs in that they are enouncements. Media discourse includes various media outlets such as radio, television, newspaper, magazine, internet etc. The inevitable power of media has been discussed in discourse studies. Many research studies have shown that media plays an important role in influencing the thought process of individuals...
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...MEDIA TEXT OF CALVIN KLEIN (ADVERT) ANALYSED BY NMEZI ONYEDIKACHI UZOZIE 1ST JANUARY, 2014 The use of semiotic and ideological critique, an approach used by R.Gill is attempted in the course of analyzing this media text .Empirical studies of analyzing text principles were also cited and reflected to broaden more knowledge of the gender in media analysis of the Calvin Klein advert. MEDIA TEXT A media text just like the Calvin Klein advert is a message given out by the media allowing the audience, viewers or readers to read meaning into it and understand the message being sent out. The receptivity of the media text is presented based on common peculiarities of encoding and decoding mainstreams. To get the encoding messages, one needs to get a coherent explanation of the message, although we cannot escape the reality in our mind constructively what the meaning is all about. It could only be examined by our mind functioning within objectivity of signs and symbols. However, it is like a musical cords that needs connections to produce meanings. While words are signs of a meaning all the meanings of signs and colours used in this advert attract the minds of the people, the minds of the people are strongly referred to as the consumer audiences. In the advert proper, a visual compelling message is represented, promoted and shared by relationship. Because the media is a social market where you...
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...Discuss the concepts of 'ideology' and 'discourse' in relation to the ways in which representation functions in media texts. You might like to do this in the context of representations of gender, sexuality, 'race', ethnicity, war, refugees or celebrity, for example. Your essay should include your own analysis of a media text that has not been discussed in detail in the lectures, required or additional readings, or in your other assessments. Representation is both the process and the product of media texts, in terms of sexuality in media these representations are shaped by ideologies; the way people think and interpret the word. In turn, different ideologies promote discourse and the discussion of ideas in relation to sexuality. In relation to specific media texts such as True Blood, there are several ideologies in the program, social, political and cultural which show a non-heteronormative view on sexuality. Ideologies are ways of thinking and how we interpret the world around us. It’s through ideology that representation in media text functions to reinforce the view of that particular school of thought. Representation can be through stereotype, strengthening sometimes negative views or typecasting those who are represented. Looking especially True Blood, vampires are being “re-presented” as the gay community which have to struggle and fight for equal rights(Dhaenens, 2013). The concept of Ideology, a way of thinking which impacts how you view and world and interact with people...
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... * * * * * Representation Of Race In Media * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Much of our perceptions of the world are based on narratives and the images that we see in film, television, radio, music, and other media. These are some of the outlets that construct how individuals see their social identities, as well as learn and understand about what it is to be black, white, Native American, Asian, South American, etc. (Dow, Wood, 2006, p. 297). You will get a better understanding of this once you understand the concept of ideologies. Ideologies are what create our perception of the world around us, whether it is political, social, economic, etc. Ideologies are not the product of individual intention or conscious, rather we create our intentions within ideology (Marris, Thornham, 2000, p. 267). These ideologies exist before we are even born; they form the social constructions and conditions that we are born into. But, ideologies are just a practice, and it is produced and reproduced in apparatus of ideological production. The media is a great example of an apparatus of ideological production (Marris, Thornham, 2000, p. 273). It produces social meanings and distributes them throughout society. However, as long as ideologies continue so will social struggles such as racism, which we will discuss in this essay. Media elites represent different races through media based on their ideologies. This has...
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...SEMIOTICS ANALYSIS ESSAY Advertisements are a smart tool and technique used to promote and sell various products. Using mass media, it aims to persuade potential consumers that there is a correlation between the brand and a lifestyle or identity, which is considered enviable.(John Berger, Ways of Seeing) Semiotics, a concept developed by Ferdinand de Saussaure is a useful tool for analysing advertisements. However, Hodge and Kress (year and page number) recommended that semiotic analysis could also be used as a manner of understanding communication, including media texts. The essence of semiotics is ‘the science of signs, or the study of signs and sign systems’ (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, 2009:133). Media images often emphasize hegemonic representations of gender, race and class in the South African context, and in this specific advertisement BIC reinforced an ideology regarding the manner woman should portray themselves. Using semiotics, I will be deconstructing the advertisement and will argue, through drawing on xy’s concept of racial hegemony, that BIC created an advertisement that reinforces gemonic notions of race, class and gender. . ‘The denotative meaning of an advertisement is the most basic component. This is the most obvious meaning of a sign which can be expressed by describing what is directly seen.’ (Gottdiener, 1995:15) In the BIC advertisement, there is a woman that looks approximately 30 years old. Regarding racial classification, this woman is considered...
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...role in society. Furthermore, many times our own self-worth is lavishly filled or enormously plastered by viewing Mac’s propaganda. However, we continue as faithful customers because it is what our society expects from us: to be faithful consumers. Wherefore, the main argument of the proposed essay is that MacCosmetics.com promotes an intangible, vague and an erroneous representation of people in society, specifically in terms of gender roles and self-appraisal. As an active media channel, Mac Beauty Products alludes to selling beauty but in fact their message is one of negativity towards the naturally beautiful. Therefore, the message they denote implicitly is not the same as the one shown explicitly; the characters, the magic of this company, its current status in the market/society, and our own sentiment towards it frame the way we perceive the message and what message we ultimately perceive. This essay will touch on three specifics: Mac’s message on gender roles as portrayed by their advertisements, Mac’s use of implicit visual semiotics to display the message, and Mac’s explicit message, the one heard by all who view their advertisements. Part 1: Mac’s Message on Gender Roles There are several ways we can describe the website and its products. For one, it is beautiful in that colors are positioned in abstract ways, non-traditional forms that allude to interest of the eye as their magnificence is only but to be appreciated. Second,...
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...Judnitch 28 April 2014 Unit 4 Final Argumentative Essay Feminine Beauty vs. Masculine The Other Side of Double Standards: a Normative Critique It’s everywhere. It’s on television, in movies, in magazines, on billboards, in social media. Everywhere a person looks they find the objectification of women, the socially unacceptable unrealistic standards for women, and the so-called “fat-shaming” of the female gender. However, all people know the argument against such sexist conduct. People dispute the issue over Facebook, blog journals, and even scholarly articles. Dove, the huge lotion, body wash, and shampoo conglomerate has their own “Love Your Body Campaign” which features average women in their ads. Now, this is fantastic that females can battle against how they are represented in media, but most people never consider that the same exact thing happens to men. Amanda Marcotte from Slate.com shows how the double standard is prominent with an example from a response to one of her articles about a relationship. Oh, and there’s a new thought: a double standard with the males on the downside? I don’t think many people have really considered or even heard one of those before. A more known topic is the pressuring of children of both genders into traditional gender roles. Many people admonish the pressuring of girls into their roles, but pressuring boys is also a problem. Paul Theroux talks of this in his essay “Being a Man.” Media makes men out to be just as unrealistic as it does...
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...THIS PROPOSAL: ANISA SALAD DATE: 4/8/13 PROFESSOR: CURTIS MALOLEY Mass media plays an important role in the functioning of our society. On top of that gender identities portrayed in television and film send mix messages to their viewers. Although it may seem to be normal in popular culture today, it indirectly produces negative outcomes. We are manipulated by popular culture in accepting their representation of gender roles. In my essay I plan to prove the wrongful depiction of gender identities in the film “Lying to be perfect.” The movie lying to be perfect is based on the novel the Cinderella pact by Sarah Strohmeyers. Although the director is a male, he illustrates the movie in a different and altered version of Sarah’s novel. The characters analyzed are Nola, Alex, Nancy and Deb. The genre of this movie revolves around comedy, drama and romance. The main character Nola is a magazine editor who is neglected due to her being overweight. Nola is shy and concededly writes a book but authors it as Belinda Apple, although as it being her alter-ego. Nola creates a Cinderella pact with her friends for their journey to health. The hidden identity of Belinda Apple comes into question and Nola is pressure into accepting what “beauty” in the modern world comes to believe. I’ve chosen this movie because of its quality to show the ability of how society affects gender roles particularly women, in the way they present themselves to how they should act. ...
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...role in society. Furthermore, many times our own self-worth is lavishly filled or enormously plastered by viewing Mac’s propaganda. However, we continue as faithful customers because it is what our society expects from us: to be faithful consumers. Wherefore, the main argument of the proposed essay is that MacCosmetics.com promotes an intangible, vague and an erroneous representation of people in society, specifically in terms of gender roles and self-appraisal. As an active media channel, Mac Beauty Products alludes to selling beauty but in fact their message is one of negativity towards the naturally beautiful. Therefore, the message they denote implicitly is not the same as the one shown explicitly; the characters, the magic of this company, its current status in the market/society, and our own sentiment towards it frame the way we perceive the message and what message we ultimately perceive. This essay will touch on three specifics: Mac’s message on gender roles as portrayed by their advertisements, Mac’s use of implicit visual semiotics to display the message, and Mac’s explicit message, the one heard by all who view their advertisements. Part 1: Mac’s Message on Gender Roles There are several ways we can describe the website and its products. For one, it is beautiful in that colors are positioned in abstract ways, non-traditional forms that allude to interest of the eye as their magnificence is only but to be appreciated. Second, immediate...
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...show comes from its non-traditional representation of gender and familial structures; from the main character, Steven, being raised primarily by three humanoid, female presenting aliens known as "gems" — Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl — with only occasional interactions with his human father; to a cannon lesbian couple (with another couple being implied but not yet confirmed); to even Steven himself frequently acting in ways that are often coded feminine, such as enjoying dressing up, dancing, and openly crying and becoming emotional in front of others. However, one of the more commonly discussed characters among the fans is Stevonnie. Stevonnie is what is known in the show as a "fusion" of Steven and Connie. In the show, the gems are able to combine with other gems, creating what is known as gem fusions. For example, Garnet is a fusion of two gems, Ruby and Sapphire, who are so in love that they cannot stand being apart. However, Steven is a unique case, as he has a gem mother and a human father. Thus, he is not able to fuse with other gems, but he is able to fuse with humans. In the episode "Alone Together," Steven and Connie accidentally fuse together, and, after being dubbed "Stevonnie" by Amethyst, explore the town together as a fusion. What makes Stevonnie an incredibly unique case in children's media, however, is that their gender is never truly identified in the show. Since Stevonnie is a fusion between a boy and a girl, their gender is something that is left ambiguous...
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...Essay Question 2 Gender has shaped Hip-hop since the very beginning by influencing Hip-hop narratives and redefining gender roles; it comes to no surprise that gender has also influenced MCs and their work. In fact gender identifications have been so impactful they help determine an artist’s success in the music industry. MCing is known to be a male dominated art form and it is very difficult for females to become successful without having to conform to the preconceived notions about women in the music industry. In the Hip-hop world many male artists have created stereotypes for both men and women and their place in the Hip-hop music (NHP 06-11-2012). For some male artists these stereotypes have made success more achievable while, on the other hand, these stereotypes have made it harder for female MCs to rise to success. There’s no denying that Hip-hop stereotypes are an important component of Hip-hop performance (NHP 06-13-2012) in fact many artists today feel the need to utilize these stereotypes in order to get ahead in the game. For example, Big Sean is one talented MC in mainstream Hip-hop that doesn’t refrain from having half naked women dancing around in his music videos. His videos emphasize the most popular stereotypes which refer to women as “hoes”, “bitches” and “gold-diggers” (NHP 06-13-2012). Although these names are degrading and disrespectful to women, it is quite unfortunate that they have become acceptable in the music industry. It is also unfortunate that...
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...Carter, C. (2011) “Sex/Gender and the Media: From Sex Roles to Social Construction and Beyond,” in Ross, K. (ed) The Handbook of Gender, Sex and Media, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN-10: 1444338544; 365-82. ISBN-13: 978-1444338546 Sex/Gender and the Media From Sex Roles to Social Construction and Beyond Cynthia Carter Introduction In the early years of second-wave western feminism, many gender researchers and feminist scholars distinguished between the notion of sex, defined as biological differences between male and female, and ‘sex roles,’ referring to certain behaviors and characteristics attributed to each sex that was a social construction. The resulting media research centered on images of women in the media (much less emphasis was placed on men) in order to draw attention to inequities in their portrayal in relation to men (in quantitative terms as well as in terms of the use of stereotypes). Since the 1970s, however, the scope of social constructionism has greatly expanded in feminist theory. Some suggest that the distinction between the biological and the social has, as a result, eroded to such an extent that it is no longer possible to understand the difference, while others question the need for this distinction. For instance, in queer and transgender theory and feminist cultural studies, theorists have sought to make strange the ‘sex/gender’ distinction. The key argument made is that biology is no less a cultural construct than gender socialization into masculinity...
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...around the world tend to hold positions of lower status and authority and are less likely to be employed in the paid work force (Eagly, 735). Women have historically been constrained by deep-rooted stereotypes that fuel a traditional perception of their place in society. Indeed, gender expectations regarding women’s roles participate in maintaining a majority of them in a subordinate position within the society and within the family - as housekeepers. Generally characterized as intellectually, but more particularly physically weaker than men, women’s agency is diminished by gender prejudices and women have to continuously, and in a larger extent than for their male counterparts, impose themselves to belong to society as full citizens. However, all these conventional images on women’s status are not vain and shore up women’s willpower to fight and be part of politics, culture and history as equal to men. Ironically thus, women stereotypes do have a good impact on women empowerment. Indeed, stereotypes reinforce women’s will to destroy biased ideas sustained by men. Therefore, this paper will first outline an extreme form of gender discrimination with the example of Saudi Arabia where patriarchal gender expectations ultimately infringe on women’s public and privates lives as well as on women’s...
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... When the mass media engage in stereotyping, misleading representations concerning members from diverse cultural groups are confirmed. In this essay, a broad range of texts will be used to examine the ways in which the mass media construct and reinforce social stereotypes around gender, ethnicity and age, as well as how the media shape one's imagination though direct images. It cannot be doubted that the media profoundly influence people's attitudes and outlooks. They convey a whole variety of information which individuals would not otherwise acquire. Newspapers, books, television, radio, films, recorded music and popular magazines (Giddens, 1989, p.79) bring individuals into close contact with experiences of which we 'would otherwise have little awareness' (Giddens, 1989, p. 79). There are very few societies, in current times, even among the more traditional cultures, which remain completely untouched by the mass media. Electronic communication is accessible even to those who are completely illiterate, or in isolated areas of the world. According to Juredini and Poole, gender usually refers to the 'behavioural and attitudinal characteristics' as well as roles that are learned and derived from a 'particular cultural milieu' (2000, p.171). An important source of gender information in a consumer society is television. Despite some notable exceptions, for example 'Sesame Street', most television shows continue to portray males and females in stereotypical gender roles (Sigorelli...
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...their lives. Negative freedom on the other hand is being free from the constraints of society. These are certain aspects in life that higher authority cannot take away from an individual such as religion and expression. However, this is more about than being free, but being able to exercise certain actions and rights in society without being constrained by laws and other forms of higher authority. Richard Valencia’s essay, “The Mexican American Struggle for Equal Education Opportunity in Mendez v. Westminster: Helping Pave the Way for Brown v. Board of Education,” Michael S. Kimmel’s essay, “Masculinity as Homophobia,” and the excerpt of Muller v. Oregon demonstrate how negative and positive freedom correlate with one another to ensure that equity trumps injustice. These documents illustrate the strive for justice in regard to education, labor, and gender. People of color will not let this constraint of biological determinism validate the white man’s actions to violate our freedom to justice in this intersectional society where one’s education, sexuality, and gender is used against them to deny them equity. For one, justice is being able to voice one’s opinion to challenge the power of higher authority and grant the individual community the ability to live the life that they envision for themselves and future generations. Education for minorities within America has always been a constant struggle for equity amongst the white community. Equity is in regard to fairness and before...
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