DISCUSS THE REPRESENTATION OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

Discuss the representation of men and women in the media

Men and women are both represented differently in the media these days. Ironically it was even represented differently in the title of this essay. Men came before women! I am writing an essay to explain how men and women are represented in the media. I will show you my understanding of how in the past women were marginalised in the media and how men were shown as powerful figures. I will use the following sources in my essay: Kenzo perfume for women advert (4.2a), Yves Saint Laurent perfume for men advert (4.2b), IBM global services (4.14a), Lanvin (4.14b). I will analyse these sources in my main body.

In the past fifty years women have been marginalised and were represented as the weaker sex. The woman in the Kenzo advert is represented stereotypically as a weak human. For example this can be seen when the woman is bare footed, full of laughter, innocence and leaning on an object. The woman leaning on the object signifies that the woman cannot live without this perfume. This also could signify that she is weak or is nothing without the perfume. Being full of laughter and looking innocent signifies that this is stereotypically feminine in terms of gender. Another example is how the woman is represented standing sideways, wearing a white dress and is not standing straight. Her not standing straight signifies how weak and feeble she is. Not being able to stand straight signifies that the woman is not complete. Wearing white dresses signifies that the woman is a virgin, this is stereotypically feminine. Most people used to see women as innocent virgins. Another example is how the picture was shot (Long shot). The woman is on the left of the picture. As we all know that the right hand side tends to be important side. People who were important to Kings were called right hand men. So this signifies that the perfume is more powerful than the woman. Also in the advert the perfume object looks bigger in size than the woman, that also signifies that the perfume has more power than the woman. So as you can see from the information that in some adverts women are stereotypically represented as the weaker sex.

This is a preview of the whole essay

In the past men were always stereotypically represented as the most powerful sex. For example in the Yves Saint Laurent advert the man is stereotypically represented as a powerful figure in front of the perfume. This signifies that the man is powerful and unstoppable. Let us not forget that this is an advert, so the producers of this work are trying to sell their product. What the producers are saying is that this man is powerful with KOUROS. For example the man is represented standing in a straight posture slightly sideways looking just above us. That signifies that the man is superior and is full of pride. This is also signifies that he is more superior than us, because he is not looking at us, while we are looking at him. This is a perfect example of gender stereotypes. Men are stereotypically seen as the most powerful sex and this advert supports that. The man signifies even more power by standing in front of the perfume. If we compare this to the Kenzo advert you would see that the man is represented as a more powerful figure. This is because the man is in the centre of the advert while the women is on the left. Also the name of the perfume “KOUROS” signifies an important Greek warrior. This also signifies empowerment.

So these two adverts stereotypically represent the different sexes. These are perfect example of gender stereotypes. However the world is changing and adverts are changing as well.

In some adverts today gender stereotypes have been ignored. For example if we look at the IBM advert, there is a woman in a suit! This is a shock to some people. The woman is represented with a managerial status. This proves that the world is changing, because twenty or thirty years ago this would have been unacceptable. The woman is represented as being a powerful figure. You can tell that because she is looking directly into the camera, not laughing. Usually in the past women would not look directly at the audience with a straight face. The woman is also represented as a powerful character by having a straight posture with no make-up. This signifies how gender stereotypes were ignored. It also signifies the power of the woman. The women is represented with superiority because of the camera shot. She is on the right of the picture which signifies power and superiority. Also the use of focus shows her power as well. The use of the selective focus shows her importance. The producers blurred everything except the woman. So this is a perfect example of how gender representations have changed over the years.

Gender stereotypes have changed since the past. For example if we look at the Lanvin advert you will see the man holding a baby. This is a major change in terms of how life used to work. Usually in the past women were given the job of taking care of the house and the children. However as you can see this advert contradicts this belief. The man is smiling while holding the baby. If this was published twenty years ago, people would see this man as ‘Gay’ simply because of gender stereotypes. Smiling is also a shock to the representation of men. If we compare the Lanvin advert to the KOUROS advert we will see a major difference. The man in the Lanvin advert is smiling looking at the same level we are looking at. This signifies the equality. So the lanvin advert contradicts the gender stereotypes.

As you can see the world is built on stereotypes. I conclude that in the past women were used as an aid to sell products. This was very stereotypical. Women are still used to sell objects. People still find this more appealing, they like to see women exposing their bodies. So producers tend to use women more in their productions and adverts. Stereotypes play a big role in the world today, as producers rely heavily on gender stereotypes. It could be a positive because gender stereotypes allows the audience to decode the code instantly.

However people can debate that the world is changing and that gender stereotypes are being ignored as I proved in the last two adverts. On the other hand I still believe that the media still use gender stereotypes. It is a big negative, to me because I love girls and I don’t like seeing them used.

So I believe that gender stereotypes should not be used, because it could be damaging to some people.