J'adore Advert

J'adore

This is a j'adore advert advertising perfume. The on screen character is being portrayed as a high class woman. She is beautiful which supports the theory of Scheibe (1979). This is a new advert of the 21st century which clearly shows how females now have the leading roles but they are still chosen based upon their looks and what they can offer on screen.

Diet Coke "Hunk"

Contempary adverts (Diet Coke)

In this advert the women are seen as independant. This is shown through as when the man comes down the lift instead of the male gaze their is the 'female gaze' as the women are gazing upon the men. However the use of the pepsi can suggest that it is a phallic symbol to the women. The women are dressed in smart clothes which also proves that they are independant as they have their own job and don't have to rely on the man.

Cadbury's Flake advert

Cadbury Flake

Chocolate is something which is widely associated with women and what women stereotypically like and the first scene in the clip is a woman who is eating the flake chocolate, but in this case its not a product that is associated with domestic things.

The use of a female character will attract the male audience as she is represented as a sexual figure while eating the chocolate.

Shake and Vac Advert

Shake and Vac

Having a woman starring in a advert about cleaning is one issue but the other notable thing is that the voiceover is done by a woman as well, which makes it seem as if no men at all are interested in housing or cleaning, the things that women are most concerned about.

The shake and vac advert is a typical example of an advert which objectifies women not sexually but domestically, which is one of the main features that women are associated with, historically and in modern times.

Flash Advert

Historical Adverts (FLASH)

The advert shows the women quite happy when she is cleaning letting the audience know that women are happy doing cleaning (it’s like their hobby). The women is seen as a typical housewife who’s role is to look after the house especially when the husband has probably gone to work and the kids at school she is kind of seen as a free women who can do whatever she wants and that is to clean up the house.

5 female Directors

Elaine May

Elaine May is a two-time Academy Award nominated film director, screenwriter and actress. She achieved her greatest fame, in the 1950s, from her improvisational comedy routines in partnership with Mike Nichols.

Sofia Coppola

Sofia Carmina Coppola (born May 14, 1971) is an American film director, actress, producer and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is the third female director, and only American woman, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing, the other two being Lina Wertmüller and Jane Campion.

Lina Wertmuller

Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with Seven Beauties.

Rosanna Arquette

Rosanna Lauren Arquette is an American actress, film director, and film producer.Filmography as director/producer:Searching For Debra Winger (2002)All We Are Saying (2005).

Gurinder Chada

Gurinder Chada is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the UK. She is most famous for the hit films Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008).

3 ways the number of female directors could be improved

• Have more courses for women to do directing.
• Female directors can try and do joint directing with males, to gain knowledge in the field.
• When most women have become mature they stop acting in film therefore after they have stopped acting they should be encouraged to direct films.

5 reasons why women directors are such a rare sight

• It is harder for women to enter this industry as it is male dominated.
• Men are more likely to be preferred then women to do the job.
• Because mostly jobs that women prefer are quiet stereotypical they would either want to be a teacher, secretary, nurse or remain a housewife.
• Another reason is that after women get pregnant it is seen less likely that they would carry on with their profession as they now have a family to look after.
• Women could be discouraged because of the lack of women in that profession.

Exploitation of women in advertisment

"Women projected as bodies only". This is the attitude of all feminists towards how women in the media are being represented and it is a growing way of looking at the representation of women througout the media world. The fact that the background to the text is black, shows the darkness behind the quotation.

Most of the scenes in this clip are of women being objectified as sex objects with them showing different adverts where women are being dressed up in skimpy clothes and showing them to be enjoying it, which is presenting the men as being passive to the treatment that they are recieving, also showing evidence of a patriachal society.

At the end of the advert, there is a change in the way that women are being presented and it comes in the form of them being shown as having some power and achieving major achievments, which is one of the things that men were said to be most concerned about in their minds, for example the woman with the medal and the woman who is a politician, shows wmen as having alot of power within their professions.

The representation of women in commercials

The men in the advertisment are seen as having fun, which is what is said about the male gender, that the only things that men are concerned about achievements and having fun, in the case of this advert having fun is top of the conerns for the men.

The woman who walks into the house has a bag of shopping in her hand, again the stereotypes coming into light with the woman being concerned about family and domesticated things, but then another concept is shown in the text, the concept is that of a patriachal society with the woman being dominated by the male askin for pizza.

In the rest of the clip, various products are being shown as on different adverts, but the most notable thing to take note of is the fact that only women are being shown in the adverts, especially when the cleaning is being shown it is the woman who is doing the cleaning, which again matches with the stereotypes.

Gender in Advertising

Gunter

From the year 1995 Gunter is a theorist who discusses how women in particular are represented in magazines and how the representation has changed over the years. He states that women in magazine adverts prior to the 70's were hardly shown in paid work and if they were shown in paid work then they would be in jobs that would usually be associated with the female gender, for example a secretary or a hairdresser. From his study he also concludes that the 'housewife' image began to decline after the 50's but was still quite common in the 60's and 70's. In the 1970’s content analysis of advertising on television found strong evidence of women being stereotyped in house wife roles whereas men had roles with authority.

Cumberbatch

By the start of the 1990’s, Cumberbatch did a study of 500 prime- time TV ads in the UK and discovered that advertisers had seemingly become wary of showing women doing housework, which was seen in 7% of the ad's, but also it was shown for the first time that men were shown in the kitchen doing the cooking more often than women. This role reversal could have taken place due to the changing mind set of the society which started to accept women in more dominant roles.

Scheibe

In a study of TV ads Scheibe (1979) included an assessment of what male and female characters were shown to be concerned about. He drew conclusions to women in ads being only concerned about beauty, cleanliness, family and pleasing others, whereas men were only more concerned about achievements and having fun and even if both gender groups were shown in unusual places or settings, these characteristics were seen to be shining through their role at the moment. This shows that once a group in media is stereotyped that label stays with them throughout.

Macdonald

Macdonald (1995) took an oppositional view on the concept that gender representations in ad's were normally confirming their old stereotypes similar to those in other forms of the media and he stated that "advertisers generally lagged behind women's magazines in the cultivation of new modes of address, even when the evidence suggested that commercial advantages could be gained from modernising their approach", MacDonald argued that advertisers were doing nothing to update and modernise women’s stereotypes and how they were shown and the conclusion can be drawn that advertisers were the group of people who carried on with the stereotypes given to the women.

Greer

Greer (1999) tells us that there is much more pressure on women to impress with their make-up, high heels and wonder bras. This quotation suggests that in order for women to be successful they have to look good to an extent. "Every woman knows that she is a failure if she is not beautiful", this is one of the more noticeable quotations from Greer as he sums up the representation of women both modernised and stereotypical. "Thirty years ago it was enough to look beautiful now a woman has to have a tight, toned body, including her buttocks and thighs, so that she is in good touch all over", this is another quote which suggests that it is more important for women to look good now than ever before.

Walter

Natasha Walter (1998) in the new Feminism she quotes that “today’s women are more-or-less happy with how they look, whereas a vast majority of men felt unsatisfied with their own appearance” this quotation suggests that men are increasingly becoming more concerned about their image. "If only 4% of men think that they are attractive, we should not be too quick to argue that only women feel cast down by the pressures of beautiful ideals" (1998). However, there have been statistics who disagree with Walter as it was concluded from a survey that women are ten times more likely to be more unhappy with their body image than men.

Cortese

Anthony Cortese wrote a book called ‘Provocateur’ which argued that men and women are made to look provocative through the editing, make-up and clothing. " Displays youth, good looks, sexual seductiveness and [beauty] perfection", and this is very illustrative of how various companies make women look for any type of commercial or TV advert and this is a common factor, for example in the 'male gaze' theory.

Representation of Gender today

1. During the 1990's and into the new century, gender roles on television became increasingly equal and non- stereotyped - within some limits - although the majority of lead characters were still male.
2. 1992-1993- 18% of the female characters took the major role and more than two thirds were the stars of domestic situation comedies. 1995-1996 43% of major characters were female, although still less than half.
3. 1990s to a certain extent, programme makers arrived at a comfortable, not particularly- offensive modes of masculinity and femininity, which majority of the public seemed to think were acceptable.
4. In prime- time TV shows, 1992-1993, men took 61 per cent of the total number of speaking roles, with women having the other 39 per cent. A few years later 1995-1996 the figures changed slightly as men took 63% with women only having 37%.
5. The 1992-1993 study found that only 3 per cent of women were represented as housewives as their main occupation - a massive decrease from 1970's.

Friends (1994)

3 Men (Ross, Chandler & Joey) fit easily with convectional models of masculinity, but given some characteristics of sensitivity and gentleness, and male bonding to make things refreshing. Similarly 3 women (Rachel, Monica and Phoebe) are clearly feminine, whilst being sufficiently intelligent and non housewifely to seem like acceptable characters of the 1990s. They were all Friends so it was a refreshing modern replacement for the traditional family. Not long of course before they spoilt this by having Ross and Rachel then Monica and Chandler fall in love.

Men in Hollywood films today tend to be the seamlessly macho heroes which we saw in the 1980s; they more often combine the toughness required of an action hero with a more sensitive, thoughtful or caring side.

Hollywood culture is offering in place of bold spectacle of male masculinity and violence, is a self effacing man, one who now, learns to live instead of fighting.

Charlie's Angles

Michael Thomson of BBC online- 'Women's glamour and pouting', saying that the film's message was 'by all means be feisty, but never forget to be feminine'.
Charlies Angels has an effervescent 'girl power' zing which had not been seen since the Spice Girls.

The film does knowingly showcase the women's physical attractiveness, but their success comes from their brains, and their fighting skills.

Representation of gender in the past

Gunter and Elamer(Women and Men on TV)

1. In the mid-1970s, Miles (1975) found that there were nearly equal proportions of men and women in situation comedies.
2. Gunter study in 1970s consistently found that marriage, parenthood and domesticity were shown on television to be more important for women than men.
3. Only 15 Per cent of the leading characters were women, a decade later a 1987 study found female characters to be the most common in comedy programmes (43per cent), but outnumbered two to one in dramas, and in action-adventures shows women had almost doubled their showing to a still low 29 per cent of characters(Davis,1990)
4. 1970s found men to be the dominant characters and the decision makers on TV.
5. Tuchman asserts that those women who were shown to be working were portrayed at 'incompetents and inferiors' as victims or having 'trival' interests, emotional and practical problems or women with little value in the TV world.