Essay Summary of Representation of Women in Mens Magazines

The first point is wht the overall essay is about, the ssay states that men's magazines such as, Maxim, Loaded and FHM contain images of women which states the presence of the male gaze, these mages are simliar to the images in playboy mamgzines.

The second important point relate sto my study, the essay talks about masculinity, and that the target audience of these magazines are masucline men used by a quote which is previosuly posted on my blog.

Another point is that, the essay states, that mens magazines purely sell by the women in the magagznes, if women where to be posted in the magzgines as purely natural without make up and no enhanced clevages, the magazine wouldn't sell, this shows that the women theselves are the unique selling point.

The four point is about how the essay talks about the blokelash and the regaining of male dominance, which i have quoted in my blog peviously, the essay states that womens magazines are a form of way to put women back into their place after femininism.

The last point is about the selling of the magazine's FHM, Loaded and Maxim. These magazines sell millions of copies each year. This si because they are in touch with what their repective audience want as wella s employing a clever marketing technique in which the insituitions sell soft porn.

Media Language

The key point to rekate to in media language in this scene is how the cinematography is used. The caera work is amazingly done using zoom in and zoom out shots with slow motions shots to emphasise the bloody gory scene.

Mise-en-scene

The props used within the scene are mainly weapons such as swords and spears. These weapons areb use to chop and slice enimies up, thetype of shots als relates to how the weapon is used, for example when a sword is weild the shot is zoomed in and is in slow motion to emapshies the body being chopped or sliced.

Lighting

The type of lighting used throughout the scene is mainly low key lighting, this gives is a dark and thriiling feel.

Editing

The editing is another type of media language used to produce tension upon the auidence. Some scence for exmaple the fighting scene conatin no editing such as cuts and fade, it is one straigjht shot with zoom in's and out and slow motion effects.

Insituition

My text is a hollywood text which makes it a mainstream text.

There was many pubicity fir this text, for example on youtube there are many differnt cuts if the film trailer and also their are differnt verson of scene that people personaly had editing themselves using home software.

Genre

The type of genre is a hybrid genre made up of action and adventure.

The adventure is made up by the story of 300 spartans going on a conquest to ave their city.

The action is made up by the props and the iconography of weilding swords ans spears, with the blood and gore splattering.

The film does contain elements of Film Noir, this sia film which is purposly eiting in very low key lighting like sin city, 300 does this as the film i low key lighting but the blood and gore is in bright red colour so it can be noticed.

Represetation

Gender

The film contains a paitriarchal society of a male dominated film screening, but in some sections, the new man can be recognised, so the sex within the fim is male but the genders can be masculinity and femininity which si the presence of the new man, but the majority of the text shows masculinity.

Women are also shown iwthin the text but they are much inferior towards men, within the trailer their is no presence of women at all.

The representations of men within the film is shown positivily as they are all maculine men, but the negative views can be said that the Female Gaze is presnet as the men are half naked.

Below is a comment left on this video clip

lekurde01

300 is awesome no doubt about it, but i dont know theres is something...gay.maybe its the fact that 300 dudes are fighting...half-naked^^

Audience

The type of auince that woud want to watch this scene would aminly be males, this is because they would see all the fighting scene's as a scene where they would want to put themselves in, which is all masucline and male dominant, they would see all the 300 spartans as a role model.

The gender of the audience would only be masulcine males, as the testostorone witin the film is extremely high. he age group would be around 14-30, this is shown through the fact that young men would want to attact women through their masuclinity, this also could traget young single men, who see the charcters as role models with their six packs and built bodies, the audience would want this type of body to attract the opposite sex, through the survival of the fittest.

Quotes to use

'Selfish, Loutish and inconsiderate... He likes drinking, football and fucking, and in that order of peference ... he is that most ghastly of configuration, defensively working class ... defensively masculine'.

(Edwards, 1997)
Edwards, T . men in the mirror: Men's Fashion, Masculinity and Consumer Society (London, 1997)


'Gender is like fluid and can change within different contexts and over time'

Foucault, M. The History of Sexuality (1981)


Stevenson states - 'Blokelash Against Feminism'

Stevenson, N. Masulinity: A Risky path to take? (london 2000)


Lacey states - 'Regaining ale dominance due to a diminishing in men's power'

Lacey, N. Loaded lads and lasses (1996)

(this shows that the film 300 made in 2006 shows masculinity for the blokelash to regain male dominance. as the new man is shown as weak)

Troy film trailer analysis

The film conatins less of the female gaze, as most of the solider cover themselves woth body armor, there are some scene, which contain with topless men which can invoke the female gaze.

Parts of the film show some presence of the new man. This is shown through the costumens and the type of characteristics of the charcater for example, Ickelies (Brad Pit) has long hair which connotes women features, his man be a violent man as he has the power of not being killed.

But his main social life tends to be seen with women, although he is in war ith troy, he falls in love with the enemy, showing his inner man by caringa and loving.

What women want in a man

Women's lives are usually described in terms of motherhood, while men's lives are usually characterized as heads of household or wage- earners. Men's role as fathers tend to be vague. Yet, men's commitment to their children is key to the quality of family life and the prospects of the next generation.

The "traditional family" structure -- in which mothers are the caregivers and fathers the income earners -- has become, to a large extent, a myth. It is, however, a myth that is upheld by social and economic policy. On the domestic front, while women have taken on an increasing role in providing income to their families, men have not taken up their share of responsibility in family life. Responsibility for children, in particular, is still seen as belonging to the mother.

• Fathers spend about a third as much time as mothers in providing direct child care.

The above states that wmoen want men to care and take more of a responsibility in family roles for example caring for ther children more. As women now have taken new roels ahead, men havn't. ' men have not taken up their share of responsibility in family life ', this shows that according to this, they say that the new man does not yet exist.

Laura Mulvey's Theory

Her theory states that the practice of the camera lingering on women's bodies, is evidence that women were being viewed as sex objects for the gratfication of men.

Using her theory and females views on men, i intend to find out 'What is it that women want, a new man or a mascline man to gaze upon'.

My text show scene’s of the 'male gaze', but looking at the Spartans themselves, with their physic and their topless bodies showing their six packs, this is in contrast to the 'male gaze', concluding to the ‘Female Gaze'.

Books to relate to when collecting quotes from libaries

1. Threadgold, Terry & Anne Cranny-Francis (Eds) Feminine, Masculine and Representation. Sydney: Allen & Unwin

This book contains information about masuclinity and femininity in society, by looking at ideologies put across and the history of gender.

2. August, Eugene R. (1994). The New Men’s Studies: A Selected and Annotated Interdisciplinary Bibliography. 2nd ed. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

This book focuses on looking ath the new men in societ and how they have chnaged over time.

3. Goldberg, Herb. (1980). The New Male. New York: Signet.

This book outlines the new man beggining in new york. It contaisn infromation of changing roles and new inner fiminity within men.

4. Goldberg, Herb. (1987). The Inner Male: Overcoming Blocks to Intimacy. New York: New American Library

This books give an utline in theinner man and how people believe why men have changed according to the new roles they gain.

5. Goldberg, Herb. (year?). The New Male-Female Relationship

This books gives an outline on the new man and female and their relationships in society.

Delicious Tags

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/289778.stm

This site relates to the new man using exmaples of celebrities and also relate to the male backlash 'New Laddism' whereas males are against the feminism.

2. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html

This site what types of representations there are in the media. This site is also very useful as in contains book references.

3. http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.htm

This website is about what feminism is about, this relates to the historical part of the acronym of SHEP.

4. http://womensissues.about.com/od/feminismequalrights/Feminist_Movement_Equal_Rights.htm

This site includes information about the women's movement from the 1st to thrid wave.

5. http://www.backlash.com/book/sexism.html

What Everyone Should Know about Feminist Issues The Male-Positive Perspective
This site is very useful to see what women think about mens roles and aggression.

6. http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/mensrights.html

A site which shows whta books i can get a hold of for the mens rights in society, i had found some books on the new man,

7. http://www.unfpa.org/intercenter/role4men/

This site shows womesns view on the new roles for men and how it effects their lives. this relates to my study as it may resemble my text in the new roles males have consumed.

8. http://www.300spartanwarriors.com/

This website contains information about the new version and the old version in 1962 of 300 spartans.

9. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055719/

This site contains reviews about the original version in comparision to the new version. I can look at the male roles in the original version to see if the masculinity still exists.

10. http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/GenderMedia/index.html

This site contains representation information which can be useful towards the representations within 300.

New Ladism

A Term applied to the male backlash against feminism and gil power, as exemplified by the values represented in magazines such as LOADED, FHM and MAXIM.

10 Key Words

Binary Opposition - theory used by Levi Strauss which states his argument that narative structures conatin a binary opposition of god vs evil. - this relates to my text as good vs evil is a important part within my text.

Connotations - when a image or scene has a meaning beyond its obvious denotational level - this relates to my text as my film contains alot of props which connotes masculinity.

Fade - A type of shot when the scene gradually changes to a white or white image - this is used alot within the film to increase tension within the audience.

Gender - a type of sex which can be reffered to masculinity or feminity aquired from socialism. - this relats to my text as i am researching on the new man which is a male but with feminity socialism.

Hero - a character whom is identified by the audience with positive strong ideologies. - the hero is the main charcter which i will be analysing in contrast to the villian who has new man ideologies.

Ideology - a set of attitudes, beliefs and values held in common by a group of people. - This relates o my study as i am looking at ideologies of he new man.

Male Gaze - a thoery by Laura Mulvey which relates to the representations of females as sex objects. - this relates to my study as their is also a 'Female Gaze' which i intend to research upon.

Marxist Feminism - a feminist perspective which sees capitalism as the principal source of gender inequalities. - This relates to my study as i will be looking at how womens roles have changed and how women act upon the changing roles of men and the 'Male Backlash'.

Media Language - a key concept in media which looks at many aspects of a text from camera shots, sound etc. - this relates to my study as camera shots within the film invoke the representations of male dominance and masculinity.

New Man - a term to describe a new type of masculinity identified and developed by advertising media n the 1980's. - this relates to my study as i am rsreaching to see if the new man is no longer around in particular reference to 300.