Negative Representation of Women

To start off, the fact that the women are puppets in the advert, just starts off presenting them in a negative way. As we associate puppets as objects therefore objectifying the female gender, and also these objects are controlled by humans which in this case are the males, therefore categorising the men in the dominant group and the women in the subordinates. As the main subject sees more work on her desk, she slams her fists in rage, suggesting that women cannot not do paper work, and are weak, again presenting women in a negative light. Then we go on to see that her eyes ‘lighten’ up when she sees DIET coke. The fact that it is diet coke, can infer that women should be image conscious and in fact are image conscious, also even though she needs a break, she still needs to maintain her look, creates a male dominating atmosphere around the advert.

Then all the girl puppets line up and dance towards the drink machine, inferring that all the women are the same and they should all just drink Diet coke, which in some sense is quite misogynistic, because the women are objectified, then categorised as one, and on top of that they are shown “the right way”. When the subject pushes her button, she uses her heel which I think is suggesting that women have to use accessories, or charms to gain power, and physically there is nothing powerful about them. The slogan saying “if you love it light” is put next to a can of diet coke, held up by string. Throughout the advert the puppets are also held up from strings, this is trying to promote a negative message that women should ‘light’ in weight and therefore need to be image conscious and drink something that will make them ‘light’ in hopes that someday a man may love them. In this sense we are opened up to a patriarchy society, and the message of the advert is that women are controlled by men and they must do all that the men expect from them, including looking just right.

Another very interesting thing about this advert was the soundtrack they used, “Maniac” by Michael Sembello. The key lyric from this soundtrack which is played upon the advert is “She’s a maniac, maniac on the floor, and she’s dancing like she’s never danced before”. With these lyrics in mind, and watching the advert, we can infer that the women are represented as mad (subordinate) women, who are crazy about losing weight, as the puppets dancing like they’ve never danced before to get the diet coke (this can also betaken as a misogynitic element).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1mkS0X6gJ8 (Link to the advert)

Positive representation of Women

The advert begins with the subject in a complete black outfit, which would stereotypically be a skirt and a short top, however here this stereotype is challenged, and we see the female in clothes we associate with the dominant sex (male). Her hair is tied black in a sleek pony tail, and she wears no jewellery, which again does not conform to the stereotype of women wearing earrings or necklaces to promote their femininity. We see in the background, images of eyes, which connotes all the attention on her, however rather than gaining the attention through the male gaze (Mulvey), by objectifying her, we see that she gains this attention as she challenges the male dominancy. As she scratches the floor with her heel, everyone turns to see her, and she is clearly in control, as all eyes are on her. Though she gains the attention through her powerful actions, we can still say that she somewhat conforms to the stereotypical female attitude, as she uses her heel to gain attention which is a very feminine iconography. Also she wears a very bright Pink lipstick and she squints her eyes to give a cat like affect, therefore connoting that women are sly, and very sexual, as we commonly now see how cats in specific are extremely sexualised in adverts.

She reaches for the perfume bottle which in this case if represented as a phallic symbol, as she lets out an orgasmic sound as she pulls it out from her pocket. This specific shot can both portray her in a positive and negative way. In one way we can infer that she is shown as an independent woman, who can please herself without having a male figure there (this can also represent her as the femme fatale), or it can show, that regardless of how powerful the woman is, she always needs a phallic symbol to please herself. When she starts spraying the perfume everywhere, the soundtrack kicks in, and we see shots of lights turning on, this can suggest power, and show that now that she has the perfume is in control, and therefore does not need a man. She starts to jump about, and in the end we see her in a very masculine stance, as she spells out “Elle” with her perfume, which means girl in French. This can suggest that though she is a female she can always have the control she wants as long as she has the perfume, which then represents her in a negative light as we can understand that a woman can get nowhere without her charm.

We are given a very feministic view on women in this advert. The subjects costume is very masculine, and we get a shot where she jumps and you have a high angle shot, and is looks as if she’s not even wearing a bra, which all lot of women decided not to wear after World War 2 as they wanted to be as equal as men.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTWmUItM01c (Link to the advert)

Media Guardian 100

1. The Media Guardian 100 is a list which is released annually, stating the most powerful people of the Media Industry and focuses on the economic, political and cultural influence the media texts have on the people of the U.K. Panellists include:
· Peter Barron (News night editor)
· Peter Bennett Jones (chairman of Tiger Aspect Group and talent agency PBJ Management)
· Brent Hoberman (founder and executive chairman of online interiors website mydeco)
· Tessa Jowell (minister for the Olympics and London with direct responsibility for the delivery of the government's programme for the 2012 games)
· Siobhan Kenny (director of communications at publisher Harper Collins UK)
· Andrew Neil (publisher of the Barclay brothers' Press Holdings Group, owners of the Spectator, Spectator Business and Apollo magazines)
· Trevor Phillips (chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the independent statutory body created to eliminate discrimination and reduce equality)
· Chris Powell (chairman of Nesta, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, a publicly and privately funded body to encourage innovation in the UK)
· Janine Gibson (executive editor of guardian.co.uk and editor-in-chief of Media Guardian)
· Jane Martinson (editor of Media Guardian)
2. Only 18 women in the whole of the list.
3. Top ten women job list and name:
· Jay Hunt: Controller for BBC1
· Rebekah Brooks: Chief executive for news international
· Elisabeth Murdoch: Chairman and chief executive for shine group
· Helen Boaden: director at BBC1
· Dame Majorie Scardino: Chief executive for Pearson
· Tessa Ross: Controller of film and Drama at Channel 4
· Dame Gail Rebuck: Chairman and chief executive of Random house
· Roisin Donnelly: corporate marketing director and head of marketing, Procter & Gamble UK and Ireland
· Jana Bennett: director of vision for the BBC
· Cilla Snowball: chairman and chief executive, AMV Group; chairman, AMV BBDO
4. 18% of the 100 are Women.
5. Clearly the status quo is stuck to, the men who are supposed to be dominant are, with a mammoth 82% of the 100 being men. There are no truthful answers to why women are not so politically influential, however the only thing that could justify this is that women are of the subordinate group, and therefore, though only 18% are female, the little percentage is now a norm. Or the other reason can be that the guys have come up with better ideas to become influential.

Angelina Jolie

Though the character of femme fatale is no longer as prominent as it used to be, we still see some very successful and powerful female characters who we can label as femme fatales. Angelina Jolie for instance plays a very seductive and dangerous character in movies such as Mr. And Mrs. Smith and salt. In Mr. and Mrs. Smith we mostly see a relationship where both the male and female are equal. Botch Jolie and Pitt play the characters of undercover spies, and well, spies are mostly associated with the male gender ever since the introduction of detectives (Sherlock Holmes). With Jolie being a spy, shows that she is challenging the stereotypes. Throughout the movie, she wears a lot of black, which we can also see in the clip. In the beginning of the clip, we see her crying, which presents her as a vulnerable individual, but by the end of it she triumphs by causing chaos. She’s also portrayed in a sexual way, when he drops down, and we see Brad Pitt smirking, implying something that is not even happening. When she takes out her gun, we she a shot of her full leg, again reinforcing her sexuality and charm of being a woman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63gwW-QG5EI

Ava Gardner

Ava Gardner is well known for her part in The Killers, The Bribe and Whistle Stop. Like Bennett, Gardner also had a very interesting personal life, especially when she married Frank Sinatra. However unlike Joan’s witty personality in movies, Gardner, had more of a sexy and mysterious look which kept the boys running after her. In the clip below we can see this look being portrayed to the viewers. Before we see Gardner, she is in darkness, which connotes mystery and danger, and then when she lights her cigarette (which makes her seem sexual as she holds the phallic symbol), we are exposed to her revealing costume. She slowly walks across the room as she softly sings, and we see that the dominant male character is very interested in her. She seems untouchable when a guy tries to touch her hand and she walks away, she has no contact with anyone in the room and as the song ends, she disappears from the room, leaving not only the viewers but also the male character in mystery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zah8GVnvMJk

One of the fatale phenomena’s is Joan Bennett, best known for her seductive and manipulative character in films such as Scarlet Street, Woman in The Window and The Woman on The Beach. What made Joan such a significant femme fatale was not only her acting career but also her personal life. She got married twice and was also a part of a shooting scandal, with so much drama in her life, viewers couldn’t help but watch her glamorous Hollywood movies. In the clip below, you can see classic acting of a femme fatale. Joan sits back like a guy, with her arms over the chair, presenting herself in a more masculine light, however she intends to seduce him by speaking in a soft voice at points, and lighting her cigarette which of course is a key iconography of the femme fatale as it is a phallic symbol. Towards the end of the clip, you see the male character chasing after Joan’s character, as he asks her when he’ll see her next and broadly smiles as he watches her walk in. Shots like these show a reversal of power, as Joan walks in very casually as she bluntly speaks to him with her back towards him. There are shots were we prominently see her open her eyes wider, and somewhat flutter her eyelashes, which has always been known a way in which women get what they want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUco_NaUN2w

Femme Fatale.

The rise of the femme fatale broke through around the time of the Second World War, mostly after the end of the war because of the rise of feminism. This is because around this time, the women’s right movement was starting, due to the war, many husband/fathers had to be sent abroad to fight, leaving the women to become the breadwinners, and when the men came back, the women began to demand more rights and become equal to men. This is why the Femme Fatale was welcomed so positively, because she was this controversial character that had the power which previously the male heroes possessed, which in reality is exactly what the women were asking for. The femme fatale however, still had to use her charm, sexuality and damsel in distress look to lure the males in to a trap, so she was still shown as an inferior character, however it was a step up from how women were previously portrayed as.