Representation of gender - female
Case study 1 - Cinderella (2015)
Disney princess formula 1) Young and soon to be princess
2) Little friends
3) prince
4) Destiny assistant (fairy godmother)
5) Villian
6) evil henchmen / minions
movie formula
4 stages = 'once upon a time' , 'plot thickens' , 'clock strikes 12' and 'happily ever after'
Always includes a spell / enchantment or a curse.
Disney mission statement
"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world."
In Cinderella (2016) she is shown to be domesticated, this is due to the fact for a lot of the film she spends her time cooking, cleaning and looking after her step mother and step sisters. All though she doesn't choose to do this for her set mother / sisters she is shown at the start of the film helping her own cookers and cleaners by getting eggs for them. This shows her as a common representation of women by the fact she enjoys doing these certain tasks, most of which women are stereotypically shown to preform.
In the film we also see a view of women that is often stereotyped, such as the fact she is a young character who is very pretty, extremely slim and blonde, a view we often have of women. This also links to the Laura Mulvey male gaze theory as the audience watching even though they are only children they are exposed to the thin ideal that the media uses, Therefore this may lead to body dissfatisfaction in young girls which continues through out their lives which can make them feel as though women are just sex objects by the way the are ho in the media and represented in films such as this Cinderella.
An other way Cinderella is represented is by being the Damsel in Distress this is due to the fact she isn't very strong. She doesn't leave her 'family' behind instead a man / the prince comes to save her. This is an extremely dominant representation of women as they are often viewed as the weaker gender. It represents women as having to have the desire to grow up and get married to a 'prince' in order to have any power at all. Another way she is shown as being reliant on others is by the fact the fairy godmother gets her dressed up and sends her to the ball instead of her actually going herself, she has to have someone there to go to the ball instead of making the decision herself.
One of the more dominate representations of women of women is that they are emotional therefore Cinderella is presented to the audience to be emotional and at times let her emotions get the better if her. In the scene where her step mother and step sisters give her the nickname 'Cinderella' it leads her to leave the home on house back just to get away, even though this lead her to the love interest of the story she is presented as being very emotional as even though unintended she breaks a plate.
Cinderella is also very stereotypical just by being a disney princess. She follows the exact formula that it takes to be a disney princess this being the fact she if young, she has little friends as they are only mice, destiny assistant, a villain =, evil henchmen and finally they all have to have a prince to come and save them. All of these things are used in the story to present her as a stereotypical, emotional damsel in distress waiting for a man to save her.
Case study 2 - Beyonce Formation music video.
Beyonce's Formation music video is used to make women to feel empowered. It represents women as being both sexualised as taking control and being dominate. Away it represents women as being dominant if often through the lyrics e.g. "Okay, ladies, now lets get in formation' which suggest that they are getting ready to perhaps fight as the word formation has connotations of battle and getting in line. However saying "ladies lets get in formation' also suggests that women can depend on each other during tough times, that they have each others backs rather then depending on a man to help / save them. This presents women as being caring but also powerful and independent. This goes against the stereotypes that women are only here for a mans attention.
The most common representation in the music video 'formation' is women being in power, a way they are shown as empowered is when beyonce is sat up on a police car. This is showed by a long shot of her on top of the car after everything had been flooded. This presents her as being untouchable as after all this happened she is on top. This goes against the stereotypes of women as they are not usually shown as being in control, this is an extremely alternative representation. But with the recent changes in society women are being viewed in this way more and more often.
Although the video empowers women is also shows them as being very sexualised by showing them in leotards and corsets and example of this is when Beyonce and the other dancers are together wearing leotards and socks. This shows them as sexualised because having a woman with her legs out of often seen provocative. This means that the video can appeal to both a male and female audience due to the different representations of being powerful and sexualised. The clothing also fits into the Laura Mulvey male gaze theory that women are objects of visual pleasure The long shot not only sexualises them but presents these women as being body confident where as women are often stereotyped to not being confident as seeing themselves as 'fat'. However this also offers a grain of truth just like what Tessa Perkins Stereotype theory says as everyone has insecurities but this part of the music video represents women as not caring and being confident in who they are.Beyonce also goes against stereotypes by saying "I see it, I want it" which suggest that she goes after what she wants, a trait we would often see in men. We would often expect women to stand back and not keep pushing for what they want or being to controlling, therefore this represents women as being very hardworking and slightly selfish by not caring about what other people might want.This subverts the stereotypes that women always put others before themselves.
Case study 3 - 1 million intense
In the 1 million intense advert we see that it is a male fragrance but also represents women in a very objectified way. We see that she gets fragmented so we focus a lot on her waist, face, hands and part of her legs. This adds to the objectification because we rarely see her as a whole, it dehumanizes her and makes the audience see her as more of a sex object. The advert also gives exposure to the thin ideal and that women must look this way in order to get attention of someone.
The advert fits into the Laura Mulvey male gaze theory which says women are turned into objects of sex by the way they are shot in the media. While looking at the mise-en-scene we see the use of costume or little of. The women has a short dress on at the start and eventually ends up wearing no clothes. She is there to be looked at, she is not seen for being clever or having any special talents, she is only there to be sexualised.
The first time we actually see this female is when the man walks into the room where she is waiting for him to return. This is a very dominant stereotypical representation of women where they only exist in the media in relation to a male. If it wasn't for him she wouldn't be there. She is presented as being reliant on the male as though she cant do nothing for herself, she is presented as only being visually pleasing.
