Transcript Lesson 1: Sociological Constructs and Theories

Lesson: Gender,
Popular Culture and
the Media
SOC 86
Popular Culture
Robert Wonser
Gender and the Media
• According to the reflection hypothesis the
media only give the pubic what it expects,
wants, or demands.
• In other words, the media content
mirrors the behaviors and relationships,
and values and norms most prevalent in
society.
Is the
media’s
reflection
more like
this or this?
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• However, far from passively reflecting
culture, the media actively shape and
create culture.
• Ex: the nightly news – how much news can
fit into 22 minutes?  they set the agenda
for public opinion. “The way the media
choose themes, structure the dialogue, and
control the debate—a process which
involves crucial omissions—is a major
aspect of their influence.”
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The Role of the Media
• In addition to their role as definers of the
important, the media are also the chief
sources of information for most people, as
well as the focus of their leisure activity.
• Evidence indicates many media consumers
(esp. heavy TV viewers) tend to uncritically
accept media content as fact.
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Symbolic Annihilation
• Although there’s always intervening variables
(e.g. kinds of shows, and behavior of real-life
role models), the media do influence our
worldview, including personal aspirations and
expectations for achievements, as well as our
perceptions of others.
• Symbolic annihilation refers to the media’s
traditional ignoring, trivializing or
condemning of women.
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The Male Gaze
• The Male Gaze is the idea that women are
portrayed in art, in advertising, and on screen
from a man’s point of view, as objects to be
looked at.
• Fetishism of commodities
takes on a whole
new meaning
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The Smurfette Principle
The tendency for works of fiction to have
exactly one female amongst an ensemble of
male characters, in spite of the fact that
roughly one half of the population is female.
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Speaking of Smurfette…
What do all
of these
Smurfs
have in
common
except
one?
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Should this be surprising
when…
The word
‘bacon’ is used
more often
than sexism
and sexist?
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
• The Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) is a stock
character type in films. Film critic Nathan Rabin, who
coined the term after seeing Kirsten Dunst in
Elizabethtown (2005), describes the MPDG as "that
bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely
in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writerdirectors to teach broodingly soulful young men to
embrace life and its infinite mysteries and
adventures."
• MPDGs are said to help their men without pursuing
their own happiness, and such characters never
grow up, thus their men never grow up.
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Manic Pixie Dream Girl
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
MPDG
The Bechdel Test
Passes the test if:
2 or more women in it
who have names
they have to talk to each
other
about something besides a
man
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Prominent Messages in TV
Women are less important than men.
Fewer women than men on prime-time TV (39%
of all major characters)
Characters played by women tend to be younger and
less mature than male characters and therefore less
authoritative.
65% of female prime-time characters are in their
twenties and thirites12% are in their forties and
22% of male primetime characters are in their
forties.
Young female characters are typically thin and
physically attractive.
In general males are given more leeway in their
appearance. 46% of women on TV compared with
just 16% of men are thin or very thin.
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
Leading Men
Age, But
Their Love
Interests
Don’t
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
• Notice any
pattern?
Gender Messages on TV
• There have been important changes in the
portrayal of men and women in recent years.
• Female: more likely (than before) to work
outside the home, be strong and independent
women who rely on themselves to solve
problems. Shown interacting with other
characters in an honest and direct way.
• males: more likely to be shown as ideal
husbands and do their share of housework.
Even though they’re less likely to be shown
doing it vs women (1-3% compared to 20-27%).
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Portrayals of Women
• Gender stereotypes still persist: Preoccupied
with romantic relationships, shown on the
job or not, defined by marital status or
occupation, using romantic charm or force to
get what they want.
• Since the 1970s: the incorporation of
women’s rights and gender equality themes,
often presented from what could be
considered a feminist perspective.
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Women in TV and Family Films
• A study, lead by sociologist Stacy L. Smith,
analyzed 11,927 speaking roles on primetime television programs aired in spring 2012,
children's TV shows aired in 2011 and family
films (rated G, PG, or PG-13) released
between 2006 and 2011. Smith's team looked
at female characters' occupations, attire,
body size and whether they spoke or not.
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The Results?
• The team's data showed that on prime-time
television, 44.3 percent of females were
gainfully employed -- compared with 54.5
percent of males.
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Women in TV and Family Films
• Women across the board were more likely to
be shown wearing sexy attire or exposing
some skin, and body size trends were
apparent: "Across both prime time and family
films, teenaged females are the most likely to
be depicted thin,“
• The ratio of men to women in STEM fields
was 14.25 to 1 in family films and 5.4 to 1 on
prime time TV.
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• Perhaps most telling are the percentages of
speaking female characters in each media
form: only 28.3 percent of characters in
family films, 30.8 percent of characters in
children's shows, and 38.9 percent of
characters on prime time television were
women.
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What About Behind the
Scenes?
• Women comprised just 15 percent of all
directors, executive producers, producers,
writers, cinematographers and editors
working on the top 250 domestic grossing
films in 2007. A shocking 21 percent of films
released in 2007 employed NO women in any
of these roles. Zero films failed to employ a
man in at least one of these roles.
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Behind the Scenes
• Women made up 26 percent of the creators,
executive producers, producers, writers,
directors, editors and directors of
photography during the 2007-08 television
primetime season.
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Why are
these
statistics as
they are?
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What Girls and Boys See in
Children’s Media
• In television for kids, male characters appear
at about twice the rate of female characters.
• Animated programs in particular are more
likely to portray male characters.
• Females are almost four times as likely to be
presented in sexy attire and twice as likely to
be shown with a diminutive waist.
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Children’s Media
• In a study of G-rated films from 1990-2005,
only 28 percent of the speaking characters
(both live and animated) were female.
• More than four out of five of the narrators
were male.
• Eighty-five percent of the characters were
white.
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Prominent Messages in
Advertising: Body Clowning
• Goffman: The ritualization of subordination in
which women are portrayed in clowning and
costume-like characters.
• “the use of entire body as a playful
gesticulative device, a sort of body clowning”
is commonly used in advertisements to
indicate lack of seriousness struck by a
childlike pose (p. 50).
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Clowning Then…
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Clowning Now…
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Charcot used the clowning to delegitimate
so-called hysterical women, and Goffman saw
such representations for what they are, a way
to portray women as inferior, emotionally
childlike, unserious.
Over 100 years later, images of clowning
women are still used to reinforce gender
discrimination and position females as
inferior.
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Lesson: Gender, Popular Culture
and the Media
• Because, why not?
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Women Laughing Alone with
Salad
Photoshop
The beauty
secret used
by all the top
models?
Fotoshop, by
Adobe.
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And What about Advertising?
The ad on the
left was the
original ad.
Complaints
were made. The
response? The
ad on the right.
Not quite sure
they get it…
Killing Us Softly 4 trailer
Video about this
ad
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