Migrain 3 assessment

 MI-GRAIN 3 ASSESSMENT:


1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: 

This is a very solid assessment that with a couple of minor elements added would probably be a grade higher. Well done !

EBI:
There's clearly excellent knowledge of some of the theories and issues but in places you need to explain this further or provide examples/evidence from texts to support you point. This is particularly true in question 2!

2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Write down the number of marks you achieved for the two questions: _/8; _/12. If you didn't achieve full marks in a question, write a bullet point on what you may have missed.

QUESTION 1 - 5/8
QUESTION 2 - 6/12

QUESTION 1 - 

  • The Carolina Herrera fragrance campaign reinforces traditional representations of gender through a combination of factors including images, language and typography.
  • The verbal codes (text) reinforce the gender roles expected in society, supporting Judith Butler’s theory that gender is “a performance” – a pattern of repeated acts or rituals. Here,the expectation that women should be ‘good girls’ while men are allowed to be ‘bad boys’reinforces the restrictive gender roles that are set from childhood. This is then explicitly reinforced in the text ‘The new feminine/masculine fragrance’ – suggesting that people should behave, look and smell a certain way to perform their gender.
  • The choice of typography – serif font, formal white on dark background – reinforces this idea of traditional gender roles and rejects the current move in society and the mass media for a more ‘woke’ approach to gender identity and fluidity. The typeface is old-fashioned, authoritative and extends the idea that men and women should be expected to dress and act in a certain way.
  • The images on the ‘Good girl’ advert also reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. The woman is in a submissive pose on the floor (it appears between an unknown man’s legs). Her costume exposes her leg and extremely high heels are visible. The high heel can also be found in the pack shot of the fragrance bottle which is designed to look like a ludicrously high heel. It could be argued that the whole advert dis-empowers women and suggests that men should be worshipped from a highly submissive position.
  • The woman is heavily made-up and directly addressing the audience with sultry eye-contact, reinforcing the sexualisation of the female character for the benefit of the male audience.
  • The image of the woman reinforces both Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory and Liesbet van Zoonen’s idea that women’s bodies are presented as ‘spectacle’ for the benefit of male audiences.
  • The image on the ‘Bad boy’ advert constructs a range of interesting meanings. It reinforces male dominance with a suit and open-necked shirt connoting power and authority, albeit relaxed. The man is sitting in comparison to the woman kneeling on the floor and has his leg crossed to reinforce his relaxed dominance of the scene. One eye is visible and makes contact with the audience but in a markedly different way to the woman’s gaze.
  • The pack shot in the shape of a lightning bolt also has connotations of power and authority.
  • Finally, the costume of the man perhaps reflects David Gauntlett’s idea that masculinity is evolving due to changing representations in the mass media. The lack of a tie and socks is a more informal, modern interpretation of masculinity compared to traditional representations and perhaps suggests that Carolina Herrara as a brand is not entirely stuck in the past.


QUESTION 2 -

  • The Carolina Herrara advertising campaign reflects a more traditional approach to representation than found in many modern campaigns. This perhaps reflects the recent cultural backlash against ‘woke’ or ‘PC’ (politically correct) causes as evidenced by right-wing political campaigns such as Trump or Brexit.
  • The ‘Good girl’ / ‘Bad boy’ campaign that strongly reinforces classic gender stereotypes contrasts with recent campaigns such as Gillette’s ‘Boys will be boys’ advert that went viral for attempting to challenge toxic masculinity.
  • The Carolina Herrara advertising campaign may be seen as an attempt to reclaim traditional gender roles in response to an increasing tolerance of gender fluidity and non-binary gender identity.
  • The campaign reinforces Judith Butler’s work in Gender Trouble – particularly the idea that gender is culturally and socially constructed – not ‘natural’. The construction of the adverts supports Butler’s idea that we are conditioned to adhere to social norms – both in terms of gender roles and heterosexuality.
  • The Carolina Herrara adverts reinforce Mulvey’s idea of the ‘male gaze’ – that the media is constructed for the pleasure of a male audience. The image in the ‘Good girl’ advert overtly sexualises the female model, placing her in a submissive position at the feet of a man and exposing her leg. The male model in the ‘Bad boy’ advert – although he could arguably be conventionally attractive and therefore attract the ‘female gaze’ – is fully dressed and sat normally, reinforcing male power and control.
  • The Carolina Herrara campaign reinforces Liesbet van Zoonen’s ideas regarding the media and patriarchal dominance. Undoubtedly, the female model is presented as a ‘spectacle’ for male pleasure and the positioning of the models and the use of text (‘good girl’ and ‘bad boy’) establishes a male dominance.
  • The female model arguably provides evidence for each element of van Zoonen’s theory regarding the representation of women. Here, she is clearly objectified, restricted to a secondary role (at the man’s feet), passive, framed to emphasise her sexuality and adhering to white western beauty standards. This could undoubtedly have an impact on media audiences and therefore influence social or cultural norms.
  • David Gauntlett argues that masculinity is constantly evolving and social concerns that masculinity is ‘in crisis’ are exaggerated. However, this campaign does not provide particular evidence for an evolution in representations of men (aside perhaps from a lack of socks and no necktie). Indeed, this campaign reinforces classic masculine stereotypes and therefore perhaps provides evidence against Gauntlett’s theory.

3) For Question 2 on the social and cultural contexts of gender representations, identify three potential points in the mark scheme that you didn't include in your answer.
  • The Carolina Herrara advertising campaign reflects a more traditional approach to representation than found in many modern campaigns. This perhaps reflects the recent cultural backlash against ‘woke’ or ‘PC’ (politically correct) causes as evidenced by right-wing political campaigns such as Trump or Brexit.
  • The ‘Good girl’ / ‘Bad boy’ campaign that strongly reinforces classic gender stereotypes contrasts with recent campaigns such as Gillette’s ‘Boys will be boys’ advert that went viral for attempting to challenge toxic masculinity.
  • The Carolina Herrara advertising campaign may be seen as an attempt to reclaim traditional gender roles in response to an increasing tolerance of gender fluidity and non-binary gender identity.
4) Having read the whole mark scheme, pick out one media theory that you didn't include in this assessment and summarise it briefly here so you can use it confidently in future.

The idea of the "male gaze" by film critic Laura Mulvey refers to the portrayal of women in visual media from a male perspective, objectifying and sexualizing them for the pleasure of male viewers.

5) Based on your experience in this assessment, identify three aspects of Media (e.g. skills/particular theories/examples) that you need to work on for your next assessment.

  • The way I lay out and talk about the question 
  • Need to summaries the point faster
  • List more theorists

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