Society is greatly influenced by the media as it holds great power and it is dominant in western society and culture. We see many different forms of media everyday and it can easily impact the way we view things without us even realising.
Film is the most powerful form of media from the topic of ‘Images in motion’, it is the most powerful mainly because of the large amounts of money that the film industry creates and how it has the impact to reach a big global audience. To gain a large audience and produce such large amounts of money it means that most commercial films need to have a large target audience. This means that these big blockbuster hits should generally fit into society’s ideologies, which is why representation and the function of power are important and relevant to ‘Images in motion’. Films usually stick to general stereotypes that are set by society but also ones that are also commonly shown with other forms of media. The most commonly enforced stereotype used is with gender and gender stereotyping is something that is shown across all genres of film enforcing the stereotype to many different audience demographics across the world.
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However, the male gaze theory could be turned around as the male leads within this film which is include Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr, the male leads are considered to be well known “sex icons” with women it does give the appeal to women so therefore it would be unfair to say that the idea of “sex sells” only goes one way. However, it is much less degrading as the men are shown to still have more power as well as intelligence whereas the it portrays women as only having their looks to reply on and not their brains. Ultimately this film has used “sex” as a way to get people to watch this film, even though it is a 12A film it is not explicit but it is subtly there for the
An example of the media degrading and objectifying women is Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory. In Laura Mulvey’s essay ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema’; she discusses the term ‘Male gaze’. In film, the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man, for example, a scene may focus with specific conventions such as slow motion or deliberate camera movements on a sexual aspect of a woman’s body, forcibly putting you as the viewer in the eyes of a male. This theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, manipulating them to the standard of manifest objects to be appreciated solely for their physical appearance. The theory implies women can more often than not only watch a film from
By focusing on the production of Absent through the lens of a feminist spectator it is possible to clarify the effect of immersive spectatorship on the male gaze. Feminist spectatorship entails readership of a performance against the dominant ideology to exhibit how a performance address the ideal white, straight male spectator. Typically, performances will “employ culturally determined gender codes that reinforce cultural conditioning.” These representations encourage the male spectator to identify with a male hero, while both women in the production and as spectators are passive. For example, the Duchess has no agency in her story. Every news articles refers to her not as her own person, but as an ex-wife. Every aspect of her narrative is
Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact it can have on America's perceptions leads to generalizations, assumptions, and stigmas. Media influence is not always negative, however. In most cases, it has beneficial and positive aspects.
In our modern day society, it would be fair to say that media has largely influenced our perception of ourselves and others. This global medium has for years showcased idealistic qualities and values and moulded the way in which the public functions, whether it is through print media, television, radio or film. With an estimated ---- hours spent watching movies a ----, it is hardly surprising that the film industry is one of the largest today, bringing in 9? million annually in the UK alone, and therefore playing the leading role in the unbalanced and unfair portrayal of women today. Apart from their dominance on screen, men also comprised 76% of all directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and editors in 2014-2015 indicating that there must be a link between stereotyped gender roles and the heavy male creative team. Therefore, understanding whether female directors challenge these gender roles by creating multidimensional, independent female characters can help conclude whether more females in the industry can fully eradicate these stereotypes.
For several years, films have been the medium for our nation to express ideas, such as societal norms, social justice movements, and politics. They have been a method to change perspectives and revolutionize the times and minds of viewers. As time changes, so does the average citizen, filmmakers, and the society. Due to the impact that films have, it does not come as a surprise that ideals about women have been expressed through films. Such should be noted, that sexism was very alive during these times, as films demonstrated women as submissive, needy, and swooning over men.
Mass media is a form of communication; it plays an important role in modern culture, it influences our lifestyles choices, ways of thinking and idealization towards aspects that play part in society. The representation of social groups portrayed in media has taken a turn for the worst in particular aspects; race and ethnicity alongside culture are constantly modified in the media. It influences how people receive the information of social groups; they base their ideas by what they are feed on. Terms such as the Spicy Latina, harlot and domestic have been around since the beginning of the Mexican-American war that took place back in 1984, the triumph that came alongside the American victory was stained with manipulation and racist ideology. It unleashed in its path the awaking of serotypes towards the Hispanics - consequently affecting all Latinx.
“Nakedness reveals itself, Nudity is placed on display, the nude is condemned to never being naked, Nudity is a form of dress” (Berger, 1973, p.54). What is the ‘Male Gaze’? All throughout history the general viewer of the arts were men. The term ‘male gaze’ is a term according to Laura Mulvey ’s essay ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ 1975” when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a man”.
British Feminist Film theorist Laura Mulvey uses psychoanalysis to show the pre-existing “patterns of fascinations” (Mulvey) with the sexual differences in society that is portrayed through film. She says in her paper “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, that there is a structured film form that feeds a patriarchal order because of social patterns based on the fascinated subject-women. Drawing from Freud’s Three Essays on Sexuality, Mulvey states that cinema allows for a lot of pleasures, and one of these pleasures is scopophilia, or the love of looking, because there is pleasure in looking as well as being looked at. Film allows for an amazing outlet for this scopophilia because it gives one the pleasure of looking at something pleasurable on screen as well as scopophilia is a narcissistic aspect because the audience will identify with a character on screen. With the patriarchal structural form in place as well as the scopophilia present in films, it leads to the main idea of Mulvey’s paper; that Hollywood films use women to create a pleasurable experience for men. In the films the Mulvey studied, the women are just objects to be looked at never the main driver of the plot. Budd Boetticher put it best when he said, “What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance.” (Mulvey)
Media also influences the thinking of people and society in general through entertainment as well as advertising and marketing campaigns. It is the creative ideas and boost to the imagination that people get once they watch a television show, movie, commercial or listen to a certain song. The impact any of these forms of media can have on an individual’s thinking can change in that most of them view the various stars in the movies, TV or the music industry as role models and as a result, they start imitating them. This type of influence oftentimes will influence the way someone views a political
The media is everywhere and takes up a great deal of people’s everyday lives. People depend on the media to provide them with information that would otherwise be hard to get. The people of society also use the media to communicate with friends, family, and people from all around the world. Also, the media serves as a means for entertainment. Businesses use the media as a way to advertise their products. The media affects society in many different ways; such as, businesses use the media to promote their products, the media effects communication, and the media affects body image and behavior of people in society.
Feminism is a movement that supports women equality within society. In relation to film, feminism is what pushes the equal representation of females in mainstream films. Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist that is famous for touching on this particular issue of how men and women are represented in movies. Through her studies, she discovered that many films were portraying men and women very differently from reality. She came up with a theory that best described why there is such as huge misrepresentation of the social status quos of male and female characters. She believed that mainstream film is used to maintain the status quo and prevent the realization of gender equality. This is why films are continuously following the old tradition that males are dominant and females are submissive. This is the ideology that is always present when we watch a movie. This is evident in the films from the past but also currently. It is as if the film industry is still catering to the male viewers of each generation in the same way. Laura Mulvey points out that women are constantly being seen as sexual objects, whether it is the outfits they wear or do not wear or the way they behave, or secondary characters with no symbolic cause. She states that, “in traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote it-be-looked-at-ness.”(Mulvey pg. 715). Thus, women are nevertheless displayed as nothing more than passive objects for the viewing pleasure of the audience. Mulvey also points out through her research that in every mainstream movie, there is ...
The definition of mass media is “a means of communication that reaches large numbers of people in a short time, this can consist of the use of television, newspapers, magazine, and radio”, and within the last decade the internet as well. (HarperCollins) The media can actually be a minor or major effect on individuals depending on how or what their view is on the particular subject or matter. The effects it plays on individuals and societies will depend on the exposure to the subject matter at the time, but it effects all ages from young to old.
Mass society theory have few assumptions that media directly influence the minds of average people and transform their views about the society in which they live. Media influence cause severe consequences individually or socially, and in mass society media controlled by elites and they use it for their own benefits. Mostly media promote high culture instead of giving representation to real society art or image.
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.