Representation of gender

Representation of gender:
















The representation of women in Adbusters is consistently subverted.
This is illustrated on the front cover where the cover model is shown to be shouting and screaming. Which subverts the role of a man as they are stereotypically meant to be the one in charge who is calm and in control.



The representation of women in Adbusters is consistently subverted. In every case in Adbusters the genre norms are being subverted, it goes against hegemonic ideas of genre.
For example in the advert there is a female models legs but then her top half has been replaced by a cage of african people- migrants. The image lacks anchorage. Adbusters frequently use the technique culture jamming which is shown in this advert. These two images form what Levi Strauss would call a binary opposition, creating conflict. The image one the bottom is in colour which connotes wealth, health and joy. However the image on the top in black and white connotes poverty, gloom and struggle. The female legs connote the fashion industry. Lizbet van Zoonen theorised that women are only products to look at.
Adbusters take away the audiences response to the model.








-Representation is a way of manipulating the audience.

-One ideology of adbusters is to criticise and attack adverts- Capitalism- based around money- Adbusters are anti capitalist 

Marxism- research task

Marxism:

-Is about conflict between working class and ruling class (people who own businesses)

-Working class are exploited by the ruling class- to control them and keep them in their place

-Supported communism 

-Believed commodity fetishism is another way of keeping people in their place 




Stereotypical-relating to a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

Conform- comply with rules, standards, or laws.

Subverts- undermine the power and authority of (an established system or institution)

Objectification- the action of degrading someone to the status of a mere object.

Sexualization is linked to sexual objectification.

Hegemony- leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.

Patriarchal hegemony- society ruled by men within society 

Challenges- a call to someone to participate in a competitive situation or fight to decide who is superior in terms of ability or strength.

Fetishisation- Being irrationally devoted to a item 

Symbolic annihilation is a term first used by George Gerbner in 1976 to describe the absence of representation, or underreprese  ntation, of some group of people in the media (often based on their race, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, etc.), 

Scopophilia/ Voyeurism- the practice of gaining sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity.

Theorists revised

media language:
-roland barthes- semiotics/codes 
-claude levi strauss- binary oppositions 
-tzvetan todoov- equilibrium theory   
-steve neale- genre theories 

representation:
-david gauntlet- theories of identity 
-bell hooks- feminism
-stuart hall- theories of representation 
-lizbet van zoonen- feminist theory 
-judith butler 

audience:
-david gauntlet- theories of identity (pick and mix theory)
-stuart hall- reception theory 
-george gerbner- cultivation theory

industry:
-curran and seaton 
-sonya livingston and peter lunt- regulation of the media industry 
-curran and seaton- profit and power theory 
-albert bandura- media affects theory 
-david hesmondhalgh- cultural theory 

'Kill your self' article

Double page water adverts

Gives the tap a personality and a sex

Personification of "him"

binary oppositions between the two images 

High angle shot connotes venerability 

Empty hands however have water droplets on them with wrinkly hands showing she's just had a bath 

Saying we should appreciate water  

The tap is the fetish  

Water has been commodified and glamourised 

 

Adbusters are protected by the fair use policy 

"Red soles are always in season"-Adbusters advert

Advert of Loubouton shoes:

• Similar topics as a result controversial as African people in pain is very offensive 
• Pun of 'red soles' because the bottles would make uncomfortable shoes and make their actual feet red
• Conventions of a fashion advert with a photograph of the 'product' 
• Little language
• No anchorage
• Images lack anchorage 
• Little lexis  
• Binary opposition of rich and poor 
• Could link to the way that some people find material items important however it is now saying how other things are more important
• Christian Loubouton are designer shoes which start at around £800
• The dominant ideology of the producer is to make the audience feel guilty for spending money on expensive shoes instead of giving money to charity
• The dirt background suggests this is of someone from Africa- intertextuality 
• Referential/symbolic code "red soles are always in season"
• Dark humour is used
• White background connotes purity and innocent- binary opposition making the smaller image stand out
• 
  

•  Unconvetual use of mid-shot 
• Image is not anchored
• Binary opposition of the imprisonment and then the model
• There is frustration from the man
• Black and white image connotes sadness which is a proairetic code which could imply a fight going to start
• The two images are completely different- binary oppositions, wealth and poverty, colour and no colour, cramped and spacious, struggle between life and death and a comfortable life
• Loubouton logo juxtaposed wth image of a black persons feet in shoes/flip flops made from two squashed plastic bottles tied together with bits of ragged material to communicate an anti-consumerist ideology
• Not wearing shoes break hegemonic rules 
• You get Cultural capital from wearing these shoes  

Commodity fetishism:

- Giving significant value to an object  

- representation is far more important than other things 

Marxism:

-Is about conflict between working class and ruling class (people who own businesses)

-Working class are exploited by the ruling class- to control them and keep them in their place

-Supported communism 

-Believed commodity fetishism is another way of keeping people in their place 

Exam question/ Structure

 "Genre conventions in magazines are completely informed by the social and historical context to which they are made" - Michael Collins
Evaluate this statement which reference to Adbusters. Make reference to genre hybridity. 

• genre conventions- things which makes magazines a magazine - there are different genres such as culture jamming, women's lifestyle 
• Adbusters purposely doesn't easily fit into a genre 
• Wide spread terrorism, brexit, the American election- shows a large shift in society 
• Opinion quote-don't have to agree with the theorist- use your own opinions too
• There are many other things which make up the genre... such as producers ideology , when it was made, politcal viewpoints
• Make references to genre hybridity- importance of it 
• Financial reasons 

How to structure an essay:

• READ and annotate the question- underline key terms 
• Gut reaction- what's your opinion? What argument will you make? Agree mainly point some other things out 
• PLAN- on the answer paper- bullet point- sentence starters repeating the question within the answer
• Aim for 3-6 paragraphs 
• Introduction:
• Context- whats going on in society, actually magazines themselves(history) Adbusters first published 1989 - Adbusters media foundation     
• Definition- the words that are underlined in the question- Genre> why it is important? Clear conventions                                                                                                          
• Argument- That in general, Collins is right to list social and historical factors as essential to informing genre. However, political ideologies and genre hybridity also play a massive role.
• Paragraphs:
• Point- "The social context which the magazine is made in is essential to constructing genre"                                                                                                         
• Evidence- " Central image looks like a typical terrorist- confusion-lacks cover lines- spray paint over masthead
• Argument- Steve Neal- repetition and difference- subverts genre conventions deliberately to attract attention 
• Conclusion: Opinion needs to come through- no new information- repetition 

Adbusters

Detournement- means highjacking or re-routing (culture jamming)]

'Culture jamming'- The practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global bands.

Commodity fetishism:

- Giving significant value to an object  

- representation is far more important than other things 

Marxism:

-Is about conflict between working class and ruling class (people who own businesses)

-Working class are exploited by the ruling class- to control them and keep them in their place

-Supported communism 

-Believed commodity fetishism is another way of keeping 
people in their place

 ADBUSTERS:
Published by monthly by Adbusters media foundation, 1989- present
Price: £10.99
Circulation: 120,000 readership
Set edition: May/June 2016
Genre (from website): independent/ campaigning/ culture jamming
Not for profit magazine 

Potential Genres:

• Black humour- satire 
• Genre is not immediately clear- each cover is different with no indications on the front about what is inside the magazine   
• Parody- an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
• Political 

Brand identity:

• Simple
• Informal mode of adress
• All different building a specific target audience
• Mainly images 
• Short, straight forward mastheads
• Different layout- varies design 

DOES NOT FEATURE PAID ADVERTS

Front cover:

• simple layout
• mid shot 
• 'post west' 
• hermeneutic code - with the title 
• proairetic code is presented here within the man's pose and camouflage vest 
• masthead- covered in dirt/sand- distorted would of been done via the spray paint tool
• self vandalism- they don;t care what others think about them 
• political 
• Typography and font is basic and simple, as though they are trying to get a message across to their audience 
• it is being critical of our culture and how we are obsessed with war
• bold front cover- Don't know what you would be getting if you brought this magazine
• NOT a conventual magazine 
• Subverts conventions of magazines and advertising 
• Plain white mast head which has been sprayed over 
• Black background- different from normal white backgrounds
• social political message- life as we know it has changed - 'post truth'
• front cover is not fully anchored 
• front cover lacks any other conventions such as a barcode, cover lines and prices- subversive nature of the magazine 
• Front cover is being vandalised 
• Change the masthead with every issue 
• Main image of male in camouflage jacket, angry expression, clenched fist, image partially pasted over- subverts codes of consumer/lifestyle magazine 
• Makes the meaning of the magazine unclear
• Main image is an example of the hermeneutic code 
• Cover line 'post-west' in same white font as the masthead, dominantly positioned in the lower third of the cover
• Social/political message- image linked to article 'time for a radical rethink of what is considered a normal life in the decadent west'. Also suggesting a link to 'post-truth'
• Intertextuality within the front cover/magazine

Regulation

Regulation theory- Sonia Livingstone and Peter Hunt

•  The increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.

Regulation- The rules and restrictions that media products have to follow 

How are magazines regulated in the UK?

Ipso- Independent press standards organisation 
They regulate magazines and newspapers 


ASA regulate print advertisements 

IPSO

About the Editors' Code

• The Editors’ Code of Practice sets out the rules that newspapers and magazines regulated by IPSO have agreed to follow. 
• The Code is written and administered by the Editors’ Code Committee and enforced by IPSO.
• The latest version of the Editors’ Code of Practice came into effect on 1 January 2018. Download the previous version here.

The Code

The Code – including this preamble and the public interest exceptions below – sets the framework for the highest professional standards that members of the press subscribing to the Independent Press Standards Organisation have undertaken to maintain. It is the cornerstone of the system of voluntary self-regulation to which they have made a binding contractual commitment. It balances both the rights of the individual and   the public's right to know.

To achieve that balance, it is essential that an agreed Code be honoured not only to the letter, but in the full spirit. It should be interpreted neither so narrowly as to compromise its commitment to respect the rights of the individual, nor so broadly that it infringes the fundamental right to freedom of expression – such as to inform, to be partisan, to challenge, shock, be satirical and to entertain – or prevents publication in the public interest.

It is the responsibility of editors and publishers to apply the Code to editorial material in both printed and online versions of their publications. They should take care to ensure it is observed rigorously by all editorial staff and external contributors, including non-journalists.

Editors must maintain in-house procedures to resolve complaints swiftly and, where required to do so, co- operate with IPSO. A publication subject to an adverse adjudication must publish it in full and with due prominence, as required by IPSO.

1. Accuracy

i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.

ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and — where appropriate — an apology published. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be as required by the regulator. 

iii) A fair opportunity to reply to significant inaccuracies should be given, when reasonably called for.

iv) The Press, while free to editorialise and campaign, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.

v) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has been a party, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or an agreed statement is published.

2. *Privacy

i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.

ii) Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. In considering an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy, account will be taken of the complainant's own public disclosures of information and the extent to which the material complained about is already in the public domain or will become so.

iii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent, in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

3. *Harassment

i) Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.

ii) They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on property when asked to leave and must not follow them. If requested, they must identify themselves and whom they represent.

iii)  Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take care not to use non-compliant material from other sources.

4. Intrusion into grief or shock

In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. These provisions should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.

5. *Reporting Suicide

When reporting suicide, to prevent simulative acts care should be taken to avoid excessive detail of the method used, while taking into account the media's right to report legal proceedings.

6. *Children

i) All pupils should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.

ii) They must not be approached or photographed at school without permission of the school authorities.

iii) Children under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child’s welfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.

iv) Children under 16 must not be paid for material involving their welfare, nor parents or guardians for material about their children or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interest.

v) Editors must not use the fame, notoriety or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child's private life.

7. *Children in sex cases

The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences.

In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child -

i) The child must not be identified.

ii) The adult may be identified.

iii) The word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified.

iv)  Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the accused and the child.

8. *Hospitals

i) Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue enquiries.

ii) The restrictions on intruding into privacy are particularly relevant to enquiries about individuals in hospitals or similar institutions.

9. *Reporting of Crime

i) Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story.

ii) Particular regard should be paid to the potentially vulnerable position of children under the age of 18 who witness, or are victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.

iii) Editors should generally avoid naming children under the age of 18 after arrest for a criminal offence but before they appear in a youth court unless they can show that the individual’s name is already in the public domain, or that the individual (or, if they are under 16, a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult) has given their consent. This does not restrict the right to name juveniles who appear in a crown court, or whose anonymity is lifted.

10. *Clandestine devices and subterfuge

i) The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails; or by the unauthorised removal of documents or photographs; or by accessing digitally-held information without consent.

ii) Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means.

11. Victims of sexual assault

The press must not identify or publish material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.

12. Discrimination

i) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's, race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.

ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.

13. Financial journalism

i) Even where the law does not prohibit it, journalists must not use for their own profit financial information they receive in advance of its general publication, nor should they pass such information to others.

ii) They must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that they or their close families have a significant financial interest without disclosing the interest to the editor or financial editor.

iii) They must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, shares or securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future.

14. Confidential sources

Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.

15. Witness payments in criminal trials

i) No payment or offer of payment to a witness – or any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness – should be made in any case once proceedings are active as defined by the Contempt of Court Act 1981. This prohibition lasts until the suspect has been freed unconditionally by police without charge or bail or the proceedings are otherwise discontinued; or has entered a guilty plea to the court; or, in the event of a not guilty plea, the court has announced its verdict.

*ii) Where proceedings are not yet active but are likely and foreseeable, editors must not make or offer payment to any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness, unless the information concerned ought demonstrably to be published in the public interest and there is an over-riding need to   make or promise payment for this to be done; and all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure  no financial dealings influence the evidence those witnesses give. In no circumstances should such payment be conditional on the outcome of a trial.

*iii) Any payment or offer of payment made to a person later cited to give evidence in proceedings must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence. The witness must be advised of this requirement.

16. *Payment to criminals

i) Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise crime in general, must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates – who may include family, friends and colleagues.

ii) Editors invoking the public interest to justify payment or offers would need to demonstrate that there was good reason to believe the public interest would be served. If, despite payment, no public interest emerged, then the material should not be published.

The Public Interest

There may be exceptions to the clauses marked * where they can be demonstrated to be in the public interest.

1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to:

• Detecting or exposing crime, or the threat of crime, or serious impropriety.
• Protecting public health or safety.
• Protecting the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.
• Disclosing a person or organisation’s failure or likely failure to comply with any obligation to which they are subject.
• Disclosing a miscarriage of justice.
• Raising or contributing to a matter of public debate, including serious cases of impropriety, unethical conduct or incompetence concerning the public.
• Disclosing concealment, or likely concealment, of any of the above.

2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself.

3. The regulator will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain or will become so.

4. Editors invoking the public interest will need to demonstrate that they reasonably believed publication - or journalistic activity taken with a view to publication – would both serve, and be proportionate to, the public interest and explain how they reached that decision at the time.

5. An exceptional public interest would need to be demonstrated to over-ride the normally paramount interests of children under 16.