MEST 4: Research & Production

Bibliography

2010-04-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Bibliography

- Answers.com - http://www.answers.com/topic/the-beauty-myth

- Arnold, Hodder (1997). The Media Studies Reader.

- BBC – The beauty backlash –www. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5074642.stm .

- Bird, Linda. (2007). Look Gorgeous Always (52 Brilliant Ideas): Find It, Fake It, Flaunt It. Chicago.

- Brown, Bobbi. (2005). Brown Beauty Evolution: A Guide to a Lifetime of Beauty.

- Body image ain advertising - http://womenshealth.suite101.com/article.cfm/body_image_in_advertising

- Calvert/Casey/C. (2007). Television Studies: The Key Concepts. Ibid.

- Girls, women – Media project -http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html.

- Killing us softly and game over -http://webpages.uncc.edu/~atoscano/summer2009/engl3050/july24.html.

- Killing us softly 1, advertising of women-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjt77lBNjwM.

- Killing us softly 3, advertising of women -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE

- LeMoncheck, Linda. (1997) Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A Feminist Philosophy of Sex.

- Mason, Linda. (2003). The Art of Beauty. Ibid.

- Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth – Video-
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm

- Wolf, Naomi (2002), ‘The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women’. Ibid.

- Vogue (1970)
- Vogue (2009)

Work Cited

Books:
- Association, American Psychological. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6 ed. Washington: American Psychological Association (apa), 2009.

- Brown, Bobbi. Bobbi Brown Beauty Evolution: A Guide to a Lifetime of Beauty. London: Collins, 2005.
- Bird, Linda. Look Gorgeous Always (52 Brilliant Ideas): Find It, Fake It, Flaunt It. Chicago: Perigee Trade, 2007.
- Calvert/Casey/C. Television Studies: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides). 2 ed. New York: Routledge, 2007.
- Lemoncheck, Linda. Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A Feminist Philosophy of Sex. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997.

- Mason, Linda. Makeup: The Art of Beauty. London: Watson-Guptill, 2003.
- The Media Studies Reader. London: A Hodder Arnold Publication, 1997.

- Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. 1990. Reprint. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.

Magazines:
- Vogue – 1970

- Vogue – 2009

Internet:
- Answers.com - http://www.answers.com/topic/the-beauty-myth

- BBC – The beauty backlash -http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5074642.stm .

- Body image ain advertising - http://womenshealth.suite101.com/article.cfm/body_image_in_advertising
- Girls, women – Media project -http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html.

- Killing us softly and game over -http://webpages.uncc.edu/~atoscano/summer2009/engl3050/july24.html.

-Killing us softly 1, advertising of women-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjt77lBNjwM.

-Killing us softly 3, advertising of women -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE

- Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth – Video-
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm

Moving Image:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D74rEcE-wiU&feature=related
Beauty Myth.

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjt77lBNjwM
Killing Us Softly (1/5) - Advertising's Image of Women.

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE
Killing Us Softly lecture.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJh8GEU2qik
The Beauty Myth - Excerpt from DVD.

- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5074642.stm
The Beauty Backlash

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knEIM16NuPg&feature=player_embedded
The Evolution of Beauty.

Work Consulted

Books:
- Aihara, Kyoko. Geisha. London: Carlton Books Ltd, 2005.

- Haspiel, James. Marilyn: The Ultimate Look at the Legend. London, England: John Blake Publishing Ltd, 2006.
- Johnson, Lesley, and Justine Lloyd. Sentenced to Everyday Life: Feminism and the Housewife. Paris: Berg Publishers, 2005.

- Laughey, Dan. The Media Studies Guide. Harpenden: Kamera Books, 2009.

- Moulton, Nicola. The New Body Book. 1st ed. Hauppauge, New York: Barron''s Educational Series, 2003.

- Wolf, Naomi. Fire With Fire - The New Female Power And How It Will Change The 21st Century. New York: Random House, 1993.

Websites:
- http://www.homestar.org/bryannan/wolf.html
The Beauty Myth

- http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/trends/n_9437/
The Porn Myth

Media Essay

2010-04-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

''There is a secret "underlife" poisoning our freedom; infused with notions of beauty, it is a dark vein of self-hatred, physical obsessions, terror of aging, and dread of lost control."

Does contemporary advertising still perpetrate, ‘The Beauty Myth’?

This essay will discuss whether contemporary advertising still promotes the so – called ‘Beauty Myth’. Naomi Wolf’s "The Beauty Myth" speaks of women comparing themselves to mere sex objects; it also ‘examines beauty as a demand and as a judgment upon women’ . However, my key texts, The Dove Advert, contradict this view, since they have screened women of all shapes and sizes, not portraying them as sex objects. Although other texts researched all complement Wolf’s “Beauty Myth”. This essay also hypothesizes that ‘The Beauty Myth’ is still used throughout contemporary advertising. “The purpose of advertising is fairly straightforward: to persuade people to buy goods and services in a market economy”; advertisements are primarily produced in order to sell products. However, within the beauty industry they are also responsible for destroying the lives of many women, of all shapes and sizes and different ethnicities: an extreme result of this being serious eating disorders.

The commercial media is there to generate profit therefore it undermines that in order to sell products it needs something a ‘lure’ that most women will want to become their inspirations. The media knows that sex appeal sells to both genders, therefore this is what it has resolved to, and subsequently, it has flourished. Advertising is the foundation of the mass media and not only does it sell products and services it also sells a lot more: ‘values, images, concepts of love, sexuality, romance, success and, perhaps most important, normalcy’.

In some areas women are there for the entertainment and ‘gaze’ of men, therefore having for example, cleavage on show means satisfaction and gratification on the males behalf. This results in women having to maintain sexualized appearances and look more like the models they see in advertisements. This is mainly because men are being redounded to an impossible patriarchal image: woman’s reduction to an instrument of sexual pleasure in the mind of another person, generally assumed to be a man’ . This shows that zeitgeist has been used, as women are being empowered, therefore this declares that women are being controlled by the media to entertain the male audience.

Advertising tells us today that the most important factor for women is to look like the ideal woman: “To a certain extent adverting tells us who we are and what we should be” . Within the increasingly globalized industry advertisers have started to emphasize the importance of women’s images indirectly through the reinforced physical attractiveness on show, in order for them to sell products.

It is important to know that we are increasingly exposed to these images and messages: ‘In the United States – one of the worlds most advertising saturated societies – over 40% of the mail deliveries and over 25% of television time consist of advertisements’ . Because of this female audiences are pacified and adverts make women want to go out and purchase what they think will make them feel better about themselves, in other words promising more confidence and courage, ‘television ads celebrate the greatness of diet pills; energy drinks can speed up your metabolism’ .

Over the years women’s body image has changed in several ways, looking at defining women as ‘beautiful’. Advertising has traditionally relied on the use of stereotypes to put across information in a format that is quickly and easy for the viewer or reader to understand”, in the 1950’s, women in adverts were seen as stereotypical housewives and caring mothers. Some were seen as idols; Marilyn Munroe for example.

Within the 21st century we have girls from the age of 10 suffering from anorexia and being to afraid to eat incase they become fat. This is mainly because of what is perceived to them in the advertising industry.

Skinny size zero model Kate Moss is a prime example of this, she is seen as the new definition of ‘beautiful’, ‘Supermodels or "typical" models are a small percentage of the population but appear as the norm because the type is repeated constantly’ .

Tall, slim, voluptuous breasts, flawless skin no wrinkles or blemishes, this ideal image has become impossibly perfect and has been promoted throughout advertising. What has just been described is not seen as realistic, but as an ‘unrealistic’ image of beauty, either you are born with it or in many women’s cases, you are forced to become it. Researching many images that are shown within advertising clearly shows how even beautiful women such as Keira Knightley will still be airbrushed to look perfect in all ways with no imperfections, “The tall, nearly emaciated mannequins that push the latest miracle cosmetic make even the most confident woman question her appearance.” . This clearly shows that zeitgeist is still be used, as women as being objectified to become unrealistic women.

Because this is leaves only a small percentage of women feeling comfortable within their own skin, "Just 2% of today's women see themselves as beautiful” . Because of this viewers do not realize that technology has now taken over ‘the beauty myth’, Photoshop is used to airbrush away any unperfected paws. This is only so that products are being sold, advertisers know that a woman who is insecure is woman who will force herself to become something else, meaning she will purchase products that the ‘ideal’ woman is seen advertising in. The difference of advertising within historical times and the 21st century, is then women were seen as mere sex objects but advertising as housewives and careers. However, this has changed dramatically as women are now being sold within advertising as sex objects. "Throughout the twentieth century, a decade was rarely defined by only one look” . Taking a look at Vogue magazine’s shows how the image of women is seen in the same way.

Having taken a close look at two Vogue issues, one of which is from the 1970’s and the other from 2009, has allowed me to pin point the similarities and differences of both articles.
The 1970’s issue shows a female on the phone, she is giving a seductive look towards her readers, with a strong bone structure the image is a close up of her face, focusing mainly on her facial expression. Where as the 2009 print features model Natalia Vodianova in nude. The similarities with both texts are both women are seen as beautiful creatures, slim, flawless skin, with perfect bone structures.

You would expect the magazines to change within the vocabulary they have used around the image; however this is not the case with Vogue. Blunt words such as ‘food’ ‘beauty’ and ‘sun’ have been used in the 1970’s issue, could it be that the world now thinks that women’s beauty is seen through the outer rather than the inner? The 2009 issue is also represented through the body, and this is demonstrated through words such as ‘naked’ ‘style’ ‘figures’ and ‘shapes’ , have all been used. “With sex held hostage by “beauty”, the myth is no longer just skin deep, but goes to the core” .

Women are not just mere objects within magazines, who are used to advertise products such as video games. But in fact are misrepresented to perpetrate a misleading image of women. “A study of video games found that the few female characters in those games are often highly sexualized—wearing tight revealing clothing and having unrealistically large breasts and distorted small waists”. This is creating a false image to young boys and girls who play video games; the media is making them believe that if you do not look this way, it means you are not normal.

Within this research I able am to see that the ‘Dove self-esteem fund’ known as the ‘Dove Campaign’ has contradicted what is seen on a regular day of advertising. They have produced short clips indicating how easy it is to produce the ideal women, which in other terms is known as the non existing person, ‘in the space of a minute, the amount of artificial transformations needed to "create" the model of beauty you have sold yourself so easily to’ .

The dove campaign was produced so that women and girls from all ages were able to feel confident in their own skin “beauty is the result of realizing what is special about you” . They are changing the concept of the word ‘beauty’ from being perfectly thin models to letting all females feel positive about themselves. “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted. Every girl deserves to feel beautiful just the way she is” .

The Dove campaign has given a new celebration to beauty; they have used women from all shapes, sizes and ethnicities to create the real term of ‘beauty’. They are making women feel proud to be in their own skin, “The whole point is to make beauty more accessible, as accessible as it can be” . They have had concerns about women wasting their money because the media makes them feel insecure about themselves, because of this women who are seen as beautiful whom advertise skin lotions, beauty products, perfumes and clothing leaves an average women less comfortable the way she is, which increases sales within the beauty industry.

The Dove campaign is one of the first campaigns that have done the opposite of other beauty advertisements, still making over billions in sales they have reached out to women in a positive direction. "We don't want women to give up, we want to tell them; beauty, it's at your reach” . Within this many are resulting to feeling good about themselves, post feminist have argued that women have ‘reached a point in [their] life where [they] feel like its all okay ‘I am who I am’ . It is important that women should have “the choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically” The Dove Campaign brings women together who indulge in courage, love, hope and strength.

In conclusion to this, I think that advertising within the media still have great control over many women and girls lives in society today. Not many advertisements have been produced to promote the natural beauty of a female; more or less they have encouraged the ‘ideal’ image of how women should be looking like. Psychologically women are being brain washed with what they are seeing on screen, where as they do not realize that situations behind the scenes are completely different.

Even ultra thin models are finding it difficult to keep up to their appearances. This shows that the advertising industry has taken over, yet they have taken the wrong path, in promoting a product. Advertisers affect the self being and the health of women and girls of all ages. Consumers (audience) do not realize that there is more to being skinny which is seen as perfect, which most women do not know, ‘these women only make up 5% of the population’ .

Can objectification of women still exist in this zeitgeist era? Women are being objectified as mere sex objects and are there for the entertainment of men, therefore they are not able to promote to women what they are useful of, apart from unrealistic images of beauty.

Furthermore, no one should be forced to become something that is not possible; beauty comes within everyone therefore advertisers should promote in a positive way rather than a negative. Real women are not seen as perfect women, real beauty has imperfections, "each face is a canvas, but not a blank one, each face has features that make it unique" . Contemporary advertising has not changed to promote the inner beauty of one but instead advertisers have taken over by degrading women as sex objects.

“We live in a world where we think about weight, diets, image and food, or more so a lack of it” .

Word Count: 2,024

Bibliography

2010-03-22T04:11:00.000-07:00

Bibliography
- Answers.com - http://www.answers.com/topic/the-beauty-myth

- Arnold, Hodder (1997). The Media Studies Reader.

- BBC – The beauty backlash -http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5074642.stm .

- Bird, Linda. (2007). Look Gorgeous Always (52 Brilliant Ideas): Find It, Fake It, Flaunt It. Chicago.

- Brown, Bobbi. (2005). Brown Beauty Evolution: A Guide to a Lifetime of Beauty.

- Body image ain advertising -
http://womenshealth.suite101.com/article.cfm/body_image_in_advertising

- Calvert/Casey/C. (2007). Television Studies: The Key Concepts. Ibid.

- Girls, women – Media project -http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html.

- Killing us softly and game over -http://webpages.uncc.edu/~atoscano/summer2009/engl3050/july24.html.

- Killing us softly 1, advertising of women-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjt77lBNjwM.

- Killing us softly 3, advertising of women -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE

- LeMoncheck, Linda. (1997) Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A Feminist Philosophy of Sex.

- Mason, Linda. (2003). The Art of Beauty. Ibid.

- Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth – Video-http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm

- Wolf, Naomi (2002), ‘The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women’. Ibid.

- Vogue (1970)

- Vogue (2009)

Work Cited
Books:- Association, American Psychological. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6 ed. Washington: American Psychological Association (apa), 2009.- Brown, Bobbi.

Bobbi Brown Beauty Evolution: A Guide to a Lifetime of Beauty. London: Collins, 2005.

- Bird, Linda. Look Gorgeous Always (52 Brilliant Ideas): Find It, Fake It, Flaunt It. Chicago: Perigee Trade, 2007.

- Calvert/Casey/C. Television Studies: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides). 2 ed. New York: Routledge, 2007.

- Lemoncheck, Linda. Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A Feminist Philosophy of Sex. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997.- Mason, Linda. Makeup: The Art of Beauty. London: Watson-Guptill, 2003.

- The Media Studies Reader. London: A Hodder Arnold Publication, 1997.- Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. 1990. Reprint. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.

Magazines:
- Vogue– 1970
- Vogue – 2009

Internet:-
Answers.com - http://www.answers.com/topic/the-beauty-myth

- BBC – The beauty backlash -http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5074642.stm .

- Body image ain advertising - http://womenshealth.suite101.com/article.cfm/body_image_in_advertising

- Girls, women – Media project -http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html.

- Killing us softly and game over -http://webpages.uncc.edu/~atoscano/summer2009/engl3050/july24.html.

-Killing us softly 1, advertising of women-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjt77lBNjwM.

-Killing us softly 3, advertising of women -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE

- Media Advertising Reality And The Manufactured Beauty Myth – Video-http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm

Moving Image:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D74rEcE-wiU&feature=relatedBeauty Myth.

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjt77lBNjwMKilling Us Softly (1/5) - Advertising's Image of Women.-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE

Killing Us Softly lecture.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJh8GEU2qik

The Beauty Myth - Excerpt from DVD.- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5074642.stm

The Beauty Backlash- http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=knEIM16NuPg&feature=player_embedded
The Evolution of Beauty.

Work Consulted
Books:
- Aihara, Kyoko. Geisha. London: Carlton Books Ltd, 2005.- Haspiel, James. Marilyn: The Ultimate Look at the Legend. London, England: John Blake Publishing Ltd, 2006.

- Johnson, Lesley, and Justine Lloyd. Sentenced to Everyday Life: Feminism and the Housewife. Paris: Berg Publishers, 2005.

- Laughey, Dan. The Media Studies Guide. Harpenden: Kamera Books, 2009.- Moulton, Nicola. The New Body Book. 1st ed. Hauppauge, New York: Barron''s Educational Series, 2003.- Wolf, Naomi. Fire With Fire

- The New Female Power And How It Will Change The 21st Century. New York: Random House, 1993.

Websites:
- http://www.homestar.org/bryannan/wolf.htmlThe Beauty Myth-

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/trends/n_9437/The Porn Myth

Media essay draft -

2010-03-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

''There is a secret "underlife" poisoning our freedom; infused with notions of beauty, it is a dark vein of self-hatred, physical obsessions, terror of aging, and dread of lost control."
Does contemporary advertising still perpetrate, ‘The Beauty Myth’?

This essay will discuss whether contemporary advertising still promotes the so – called ‘Beauty Myth’. Naomi Wolf’s "The Beauty Myth" speaks of women comparing themselves to mere sex objects; it also ‘examines beauty as a demand and as a judgment upon women’. However, my key texts, The Dove Adverts, contradict this view, since they have screened women of all shapes and sizes, not portraying them as sex objects. Although other texts researched all complement Wolf’s “Beauty Myth”. This essay also hypothesizes that ‘The Beauty Myth’ is still used throughout contemporary advertising. “The purpose of advertising is fairly straightforward: to persuade people to buy goods and services in a market economy”; advertisements are primarily produced in order to sell products. However, within the beauty industry they are also responsible for destroying the lives of many women of all shapes and sizes and difference ethnicities: an extreme result of this being serious eating disorders.
The commercial media is there to generate profit therefore it undermines that in order to sell products it needs something a ’lure’ that most women will want to become their inspirations. The media knows that sex appeal sells to both genders, therefore this is what it has resolved to, and subsequently, it has flourished. Advertising is the foundation of the mass media and not only does it sell products but services it also sells a lot more: ‘values, images, concepts of love, sexuality, of romance, success and, perhaps most important, normalcy’

In some areas women are there for the entertainment of and ‘gaze’ of men, therefore having for example, cleavage on show means satisfaction and gratification. This results in women having to maintain sexualized appearances and look more like the models they see in advertisements. This is mainly because men are being redounded to an impossible patriarchal image: woman’s reduction to an instrument of sexual pleasure in the mind of another person, generally assumed to be a man’
Advertising tells us today that the most important factor for women is to look like the ideal woman: “To a certain extent adverting tells us who we are and what we should be”. Within the increasingly globalized industry advertisers have started to emphasize the importance of women’s images indirectly through the reinforced physical attractiveness on show, in order for them to sell products.
It is important to know that we are increasingly exposed to these images and messages: ‘In the United States – one of the worlds most advertising saturated societies – over 40% of the mail deliveries and over 25% of television time consist of advertisements’ . Because of this female audiences are pacified and adverts make women want to go out and purchase what they think will make them feel better about themselves, in other words promising more confidence and courage, ‘television ads celebrate the greatness of diet pills; energy drinks can speed up your metabolism’ .
Over the years women’s body image has changed in several ways, looking at defining women as ‘beautiful’. Advertising has traditionally relied on the use of stereotypes to put across information in a format that is quickly and easy for the viewer or reader to understand”, in the 1950’s, women in adverts were seen as stereotypical housewives and caring mothers. Some were seen as idols; Marilyn Manrow for example.
Within the 21st century we have girls from the age of 10 suffering from anorexia and being to afraid to eat incase they become fat. This is mainly because of what is perceived to them in the advertising industry.
Skinny size zero model Kate Moss is a prime example of this, she is seen as the new definition of ‘beautiful’, ‘Supermodels or "typical" models are a small percentage of the population but appear as the norm because the type is repeated constantly’.
Tall, slim, voluptuous breasts, flawless skin no wrinkles or blemishes, this ideal image has become impossibly perfect and has been promoted throughout advertising. What has just been described is not seen as realistic, but as an ‘unrealistic’ image of beauty, either you are born with it or in many women’s cases, you are forced to become it. Researching many images that are shown within advertising clearly shows how even beautiful women such as Keira Knightley will still be airbrushed to look perfect in all ways with no imperfections, “The tall, nearly emaciated mannequins that push the latest miracle cosmetic make even the most confident woman question her appearance.”
Because this is leaves only a small percentage of women feeling comfortable within their own skin, "Just 2% of today's women see themselves as beautiful” . Because of this viewers do not relies that technology has now taken over ‘the beauty myth’, Photoshop is used to airbrush away any unperfected paws. This is only so that products are being sold, advertisers know that a woman who is insecure is woman who will force herself to become something else, meaning she will purchase products that the ‘ideal’ woman is seen advertising in. The difference of advertising within historical times and the 21st century, is then women were seen as mere sex objects but advertising as housewives and careers. However, this has changed dramatically as women are now being sold within advertising as sex objects. "Throughout the twentieth century, a decade was rarely defined by only one look" . Taking a look at Vogue magazine, shows how the image of women is seen in the same way.
Having taken a close look at two Vogue issues, one of which is from the 1970’s and the other from 2009, has allowed me to pin point the similarities and differences of both articles.
The 1970’s issue shows a female on the phone, she is giving a seductive look towards her readers, with a strong bone structure the image is a close up of her face, focusing mainly on her facial expression. Where as the 2009 print features model Natalia Vodianova in nude. The similarities with both texts are both women are seen as beautiful creatures, slim, flawless skin, and perfect bone structures.
You would expect the magazines to change within the vocabulary they have used around the image. Blunt words such as ‘food’ ‘beauty’ and ‘sun’ have been used in the 1970’s issue, could it be that the world now thinks that women’s beauty is seen through the outer rather then the inner?. The 2009 issue is represented through the body, words such as ‘naked’ ‘style’ ‘figures’ and ‘shapes’ , have all been used. “With sex held hostage by “beauty”, the myth is no longer just skin deep, but goes to the core” .
Women are not only seen as just mere objects within magazines, but advertisings to the lowest such as video games “A study of video games found that the few female characters in those games are often highly sexualized—wearing tight revealing clothing and having unrealistically large breasts and distorted small waists”. This is creating a false image to young boys and girls who play video games; the media is making them believe that if you do not look this way, it means you are not normal.
Within this research I able am to see that the ‘Dove self-esteem fund’ known as the ‘Dove Campaign’ has contradicted what is seen on a regular day of advertising. They have produced short clips indicating how easy it is to produce the ideal women, which in other terms is known as a non existing person, ‘in the space of a minute, the amount of artificial transformations needed to "create" the model of beauty you have sold yourself so easily to’ .

The dove campaign was produced so that women and girls from all ages were able to feel confident in their own skin "beauty is the result of realizing what is special about you” . They are changing the concept of the word ‘beauty’ from being perfectly thin models to letting all females feel positive about themselves. “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted. Every girl deserves to feel beautiful just the way she is” .
The Dove campaign has given a new celebration to beauty; they have used women from all shapes, sizes and ethnicities to create the real term of ‘beauty’. They are making women feel proud to be in their own skin, “The whole point is to make beauty more accessible, as accessible as it can be” . They have had concerns about women wasting their money because the media makes them feel insecure about themselves, because of this women who are seen as beautiful whom advertise skin lotions, beauty products, perfumes and clothing leaves an average women less comfortable the way she is, which increases sales within the beauty industry.
The Dove campaign is one of the first campaigns that have done the opposite of other beauty advertisements, still make over billions in sales they have reached out to women in a positive direction. "We don't want women to give up, we want to tell them; beauty, it's at your reach” . Within this many are resulting to feeling good about themselves, post feminist have argued that women have ‘reached a point in [their] life where [they] feel like its all okay ‘I am who I am’. It is important that women should have “the choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically” The Dove Campaign brings women together who indulge in courage, love, hope and strength.
In conclusion to this, I think that advertising within the media still have great control over many women and girls lives in society today. Not many advertisements have been produced to promote the natural beauty of a female; more or less they have encouraged the ‘ideal’ image of how women should be looking like. Psychologically women are being brain washed with what they are seeing on screen, where as they do not relies that situations behind the scene are completely different.
Even ultra thin models are finding it difficult to keep up to their appearances. This shows that the advertising industry has taken over, yet they have taken the wrong path, in promoting a product. Advertisers affect the self and the health of women and girls of all ages. Consumers (audience) do not realize that there is more to being skinny which is seen as perfect, which most women do not know, ‘these women only make up 5% of the population’ .
No one should be forced to become something that is not possible; beauty comes within everyone therefore advertisers should promote in a positive way rather than a negative. Real women are not seen as perfect women, real beauty has imperfections, "each face is a canvas, but not a blank one, each face has features that make it unique". Contemporary advertising has not changed to promote the inner beauty of one but instead advertisers have taken over by degrading women as sex objects.

“We live in a world where we think about weight, diets, image and food, or more so a lack of it”.

Action Plan. . .

2010-02-21T15:17:00.001-08:00

Week 1:
This Week We Have Sucessfully Compleated Several Very Important Tasks That Were Vitual In Order For Us To Start Our Practical Production.

1) We Have Decided On 3 Different Locations, Two Natural and One Artificial.
2) We Have Decided On The Product We Are Going To Be Selling : MAC
3) We Have Found 3 Models To Sell Our Product. The Three Girls Are All From Different Ethnicitys.

Next Steps To Be Taken:
We Need To Begin Storybording Our Ideas So We Can Start Our Filming.

First - Texts Linked To Production

2010-02-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

The first text that i have chosen is a Revlon advertisment promoting lip gloss. This advert was produced in 1999, i have chosen to look at this text to see what has changed over the last couple fo years. This will help me understand how they have improved and what i can do to produce mine. They have used a range of ethnicities, songs are being played, the females in the advert are seen acting natural. Close ups of the lips are used, effects which dramatize the area around the lips are also used.

Second - Texts Linked To Production

2010-02-04T17:41:00.001-08:00

The second 30 second advertisment i have chosen to use is a L'oreal hair advert. I have chosen to use this mainly because it is different to the facial beauty products that are usually shown on adverts. This advert has features such as using slow motion when zooming in on the model and the hair itself. The second reason to why i have chosen this specific advertisment is the change of ethinicty, they have used Aishwarya Rai an asian actress to promote their hair product. We have taken into consideration that we will be doing the same with our production. As it is important that we target a wide range of females from all ages.

Third - Texts Linked To Production

2010-02-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

I have used a Maybelline Advertisment for foundation, the reason to why i have chosen this is mainly because we have chosent to do three different advertisments beased on beauty products. So i think it is important to see what is used in different areas of beauty cosmetics. Foundation is a prime example of this, I am able to see the female voiceover and the tone she speaks in (suttle), she close ups on the faces. It also shows the posture of the female within the advert, she has a strong bone structure.

Websites

2009-12-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

'The Beauty Myth'
http://www.homestar.org/bryannan/wolf.html

'Girls, Women & Media'
http://www.mediaandwomen.org/problem.html

'The Beauty Myth - Excerpt From DVD'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJh8GEU2qik
- Video from Youtube

'Beauty Myth'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D74rEcE-wiU&feature=related
- Video from Youtube

'Bibliography: Books'

2009-12-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

Goddard, Angela & Patterson Mean, Lindsey (2000): Language and Gender. London: Routledge.
This book explains the relationship between language and others ideas on women, it also looks into great detail about how women as individuals are being represented. It also looks at the stereotypes of both genders and the roles they play. This book also uses a range of text such documentary, advertisements and classical music programmes.

Hess, Thomas B & Baker, Elizabeth C (1973): Art and Sexual Politics - Why have there been no great women artist?. New York: Collier Books.
This books speaks about the way women's actions have caused controversy in all areas, they include with this - education, business, science, politics, professions and arts. thsi book also contains many articles which speak about women from all angels an example of this is - Thomas B. Hess's article on 'Great Women Artists' explains and compares womens acheivements.

Wolf, Naomi (1993): Fire with fire. United Kingdom: Chatto & Windus
Fire with Fire talks about womens upcoming position in the 21st century. It speaks about new power and a new kind of feminism. Naomi Wolf talks about the success of women and how they are afriad to discuss women's issues. It also discusses real equality and how women should be proud.

Wolf, Naomi (1990): The Beauty Myth. London: Chatto & Windus
My overall title is based on the Beauty Myth, therefore it is imporant that I use quotes from this. The book is based on how images of used against women. It also focuses on the way women would change the ways they look to fit in with what they see on television.

Johanson & Lloyd, Lesley & Justine, (2004) : Sentenced to Everyday Life Feminism and The Housewife - Berg Editorial Offices - Oxford (UK)
This book focuses on feminism and women, it all explains how women are represented at home, work and so on.

Haspiel, James, (2002) : Marilyn The Ultimate Look at The Legend - More Publishing - London (UK)

Aihara, Kyoko (2005) : Geisha - Carlton Books Limited - Dubai
The Gesisha book is also seen as a dictionary and a database of information. It speaks about how women dress themselves and so on.

Watson James & Hill Anne (2000): Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies. London: Arnold.
Important words that are related back to media studies, it also covers the three platforms. I have used it to get good definitions on adverting, women, feminism and representation.

Casey Bernadette, Casey Neil, Cailvert Ben, French Liam, Lewis Justin (2002): Television Studies, The Key Concepts. London: Routledge.
It speaks about the study of television, it also covers: Marxism; semiology; feminism. I have used this book as it speaks in great depth about advertising, as i am doing a three series of make up advertising I think it is important to have background information on this.

O'sullivan Tim, Jewhes Vronne (2004): The Media Studies Reader. London: Arnold
The media studies reader speaks about debates on media issues, theres different sections to different topics, in my case i will be using the representation of women, and advertising.

Media Articles

2009-12-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

My Secret Life: Marian Keyes

My parents were ... lovely people. Very much a product of post-independence Ireland; devout, hard-working, very big on their children getting an education.

The house/flat I grew up in ... was a three-bedroom semi in Cork City, where the Dads went out to work and the Mums stayed home and baked Victoria Sponge.

When I was a child I wanted to be ... happy.

A moment that changed me forever ... was having my first drink, aged 14. I was instantly in thrall.

If I could change one thing about myself ... I'd catastrophise a little less often.

You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at ... disentangling delicate gold chains.

You may not know it but I'm no good at ... small talk. I'd rather dig a ditch than go to a dinner party with people I don't know.

At night I dream of ... being back in my old job in an accounts office. Even 13 years later, it feels like I could step right back into it now and it'd be as if I'd never left.

What I see when I look in the mirror ... A short, nondescript woman with nice hair. I don't hate myself as much now as I used to.

My favourite item of clothing ... is a teal hoodie. I like hoodies. They just make me feel safe.

The shop I can't walk past ... I'm fond of them all but I really love a good chemist – I'm especially interested in new forms of Savlon. I'm the only person I know who actually browses in chemists.

I drive ... regrettably, a Mercedes. I used to have a lime-green Beetle; other drivers were always lovely and would let me out of side-turnings and sometimes even give me a cheery wave. Then my husband got a fancy new car and I inherited his old Merc. Now drivers hate me and I spend disproportionate amounts of my time trying to get out of turnings while other drivers sneer and shout.

My home is ... a terraced Georgian house in Dun Laoghaire, a suburb of Dublin, by the sea. It's an old, stone-walled, north-facing place with all kinds of quirky, peculiar-shaped rooms. And it's exceptionally cold, except that it isn't, because I spend a fortune on warming it. Apart from gas bills, I also seem to spend a phenomenal amount on blueberries.

My favourite work of art ... is a big, vibrant oil painting of a vase of flowers, by an Irish artist called Lucy Doyle and I'm lucky enough to own it.

My favourite building ... is St Basil's in Moscow. Who says Moscow is grey? This is psychedelic!

A book that changed me ... was 'The Beauty Myth' by Naomi Wolf.

Movie heaven ... is anything written by the Coen brothers or starring Audrey Hepburn.

The last album I bought ... I'm tempted to lie and say Robert Plant or Leonard Cohen. Actually it's Christina Aguilera. And it's not even a proper album – it's her greatest hits.

My secret crush ... is Claudia Winkleman.

My real-life villain ... I'm not keen on the leaders of most organised religions, but being a recovering Catholic, I'll choose one and go for the Pope.

My greatest regret ... is admitting to a national newspaper that I bought Christina Aguilera's greatest hits.

My five-year plan ... I find it hard enough to get through the day.

My life in six words ... shame/guilt (hey, I'm Irish), defiance, depression, writing, connection, hope.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-marian-keyes-author-46-1832701.html

The Beauty Myth is still relevant

Thinking females in their forties will be aware of Naomi Wolf. Back in 1986, when shoulders were padded and lipstick was bright red, she produced a very good book called The Beauty Myth, which identified the many ways in which women were crimping, cutting, dyeing and starving themselves to fit a tyrannical notion of beauty. Feminism was in eclipse, according to Wolf, because women were too busy agonising about their big bums to worry about empowerment. Society, as a whole, was using the myth of Beauty to keep the sisters under control.

Twenty years on, The Beauty Myth is still relevant (if you doubt it, look at the depressing numbers of girls who think happiness lies in new breasts). Wolf, however, seems to have run out of meaningful things to say to anyone who is not a monied, middle-class American liberal. Her latest outpouring is a good example of what happens to someone who believes she has a message for the planet, and hasn’t yet twigged that nobody gives a hoot.

When you or I see a picturesque country house, we might think something along the lines of, “Damn, I can’t afford a place like that; I wish my life were nicer.” When Wolf found a tumbledown cottage in upstate New York, she realised her life as a political pundit and sound-bite artist was shallow and superficial. She needed a retreat, where she could get in touch with blah-blah-blah, away from her high-profile existence in Manhattan, so she bought the cottage. Fair enough — I’d do the same, given a few quid. But I like to think I would have the sense not to write a book about it, unless I was prepared to invite comparison with Marie Antoinette. Wolf’s daughter, Rosa, fancied a Petit Trianon — sorry, treehouse — and Wolf enlisted her father, who is good at carpentry. In doing so, she saw she had lost touch with his wonderful, unworldly brand of wisdom. So she asked him to dig out his teaching notes (he is a teacher of poetry and creative writing), and has boiled down his aperçus into 12 “lessons” for the benefit of Wolf in particular, and mankind in general. Each lesson has a snappy heading — Be Still and Listen, Destroy the Box, Your Only Wage Will be Joy.

Leonard Wolf (not to be confused with the solemn praying mantis who married Virginia Woolf) is pictured with Naomi on the book’s cover. She describes him as “a wild old visionary poet. He believes that the heart’s creative wisdom has a more important message than anything else”. While learning the creative joy of building something with her own hands, Naomi ponders the distance she has travelled since first she drank at Leonard’s fountain. “I had turned my face away from the grace of the imagination,” she declares, in the hollow, portentous tone that prevails throughout.

Leonard believes “no amount of money or recognition can compensate you if you are not doing your life’s passionate, creative work”. This is perfectly true. We all need to stay in touch with our dreams. We all need the nourishment of silent contemplation, simply to look at clouds or listen to the birds. But this is about as far as it goes, and it is incredibly tedious to read. A writer has to be very brilliant and very important to get away with such Fotherington-Thomas waffle. The Wolfs are not geniuses, and their musings are most unlikely to change any lives. Just like those old French peasants, I get a little tetchy when advised to eat cake.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article787049.ece

British politician attacks Kate Moss for encouraging anorexia

After Moss publicly declared in an interview that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,"Lembit Opik -- a member of the British Parliament -- has lashed out at the topmodel, telling UK paper The Sun this statement was "everything that is wrong with the fashion world."

The model's quote from a recent interview with Women's Wear Daily had been posted as credo on several pro-anorexia sites, causing concern among help organizations such as Beat.

The Sun reported November 20 that Opik was planning on mentioning Moss's statement as part of his parliament address dealing with his Say No To Size Zero campaign, fronted by model Katie Green who got fired from her agency for refusing to loose weight.

"It is madness to have an industry that promotes being dangerously underweight as a positive and eating disorders as a good fashion statement," Opik told the paper.

Kate Moss is widely 'blamed' for starting the 1990s 'waif look,' a grunge-coinciding counterreaction to the healthy-looking supermodels of the era, including Cindy Crawford and Elle Macpherson.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/british-politician-attacks-kate-moss-for-encouraging-anorexia-1825171.html

19 out of 20 young women 'would change bodies'

Girls as young as seven would like to change something about their appearance and half of 16 to 21-year-olds would consider surgery to achieve their perfect body, a study has revealed.

The research, carried out by Girlguiding UK, shows that 95 per cent of 16 to 21-year-olds would change their bodies, with 33 per cent saying they wanted to be thinner and around a quarter of 16 to 21-year-olds said they would consider resorting to cosmetic surgery.

“We all compare ourselves to our peers, whoever they may be and for girls and young women, their peers are usually other young women,” said Dr Kerry O’Brien, a Psychologist at the University of Manchester.

“For them, as with others it is about finding their place in the world and wanting to compare favourably. Unfortunately, considering the approach of the media, that is often not the case.

“Many girls try to measure up to an image which is not a true reflection and can feel that they are coming up short,” he added.

A further 12 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds would consider having a gastric band or plastic surgery and five per cent would think about Botox to achieve the body image they wanted.

Weight is less of an issue for younger girls, with only five per cent of seven to nine-year-olds wanting to get slimmer. But the figure rose to 12 per cent of 10 to 11-year-olds, and 27 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds. Among 7 to 11-year-olds, 72 per cent said they would change something about themselves, the most common complaint being their teeth.

Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, whose party wants to ban airbsrushing pictures, blamed the pressure young girls find themselves under on an “unrealistic idea of what is beautiful means.”

“This report highlights the worrying number of teenage girls who are going on extreme diets or even considering cosmetic surgery because they're unhappy with the way they look,” she said, adding: “Airbrushing means that adverts now contain completely unattainable images that no-one can live up to in real life.

“Girls shouldn't constantly feel the need to measure up to a very narrow range of digitally manipulated images.”

Girguiding UK quizzed 1,109 girls on topics including binge drinking, eating disorders, plastic surgery, sexual health and body image. The study also showed that more than a quarter of girls aged 11 to 16 had drunk so much that they had been sick or lost control.

Chief Guide, Liz Burnley said: “Political debate is constantly grappling for solutions to these issues, under the intense scrutiny of the media spotlight, but the one group whose views are not sought are the young women they affect.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/19-out-of-20-young-women-would-change-bodies-1813551.html

Media Articles

2009-12-03T15:09:00.001-08:00

Women miss out on top advertising jobs

The glass ceiling in the advertising industry is as strong as ever, according to a new study that claims while there are plenty of women working in the sector there is a dearth of females in top jobs.

Women continue to make up approximately half of the workforce but account for only 15.1% of managing directors or chief executives, according to a survey by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising survey of the media buying, advertising and marketing communications sectors.

The percentage of women at the top has more than doubled from 7% in 1998, but increased by only one percentage point since 2004. At a broader management level female representation in the industry was 26.8%.

Women in advertising became a hot issue last year when WPP senior creative Neil French wasforced to resign after reportedly saying there were so few in senior roles because they were"crap".

Mr French's remarks caused a storm of protest and forced the WPP chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, to apologise.

Jim Marshall, the chairman of Starcom MediaVest UK and the IPA Media Futures Group, said the IPA survey showed the industry was changing too slowly.

"Overall it is good news that the industry was in growth mode during 2005, albeit cautiously. The growth is encouraging, as is the broadening of the industry, with more females in senior positions and greater ethnic diversity, although this could be at a faster rate," he said.

The IPA survey reveals that 15,751 people worked in advertising last year, up from 15,190 in 2004.

People working in the advertising and marketing communications industry were likely to under 30, Londoners and "overwhelmingly white", it concludes.

The IPA study found 93.2% of advertising and marketing employees were of white origin, 2.4% Asian, 2.4% black, 1% mixed origin and 1.1% from other backgrounds. The non-white figure of 6.8% compared with 5.1% in 2004 and 6.2% in 2003.

London is increasing its stranglehold on the industry; the survey showed the size of agencies in the capital increased while their regional counterparts got smaller.

The study found 75.5% of the industry's employees worked in London. And the average agency headcount in London increased from 82.8 in 2004 to 87.5 last year, while the average size of regional agencies fell from 41.4 to 37.6 employees.

Advertising and marketing industry workers were 33.4 years old on average, with 48.1% of the workforce under the age of 30.

Young, white and super skinny? We don't buy it, women tell advertisers

The advertising world's perennial reliance on young, white and extremely thin models has long faced criticism from feminists and health campaigners. Now, new research at a leading UK business school suggests it might be doing something else: harming companies' balance sheets.

In what is believed to be the first such global survey of female consumers' attitudes, the research says women respond more favourably to a brand if the models it uses somehow mirror their own identities.

Advertisers cannot, however, simply enlist a few fuller-figured models, says Ben Barry, who is carrying out the research at Cambridge University's Judge business school: "In general, people have a more favourable reaction to brands that show models who represent people's age, size and background.

"It's not necessarily enough to show one component which is similar - people really wanted to see someone who represents them in all three factors."

Such an approach has been used by a handful of brands in recent years, notably the Dove skincare range, which made a deliberate virtue of using older and larger models in its award-winning Campaign for Real Beauty.

But elsewhere, particularly in the fashion and luxury goods industries, the traditional reliance on so-called aspirational advertising has limited change, despite high-profile campaigns against perceived racism and the encouragement of unhealthy female physiques within modelling.

The study, which is still being completed, canvasses the opinions of 2,000 women in the UK, US, China, India, Canada, Brazil, Kenya and Jordan.

Barry commissioned advertising agencies to produce a number of realistic print campaigns for products, including consumer and luxury goods. Half were made using what the study termed"traditionally attractive models" - aged 16 to 24, white and around US size zero, the equivalent of a UK size four - while the remainder pictured "realistically attractive models" of a range of ages, races and shapes.

The findings were marked. Aside from women aged under 25, who were less likely to object to an abundance of young, white, ultra-slim models, and Chinese consumers, who actively preferred them, most of those surveyed felt positive towards the brands that used the more diverse models.

A small number of earlier studies, mainly carried out by psychologists, have suggested that the use of excessively slim models can create a bad impression with female consumers. But Barry's work goes further: as well as looking at the issue from a business and marketing viewpoint, it additionally considers race and age.

The latter is a particular factor for companies to take note of given the relatively high spending power of older women.

The study quotes the reaction of one 50-plus participant to a mocked-up ad for a luxury product using a very youthful model: "It's a slap in the face to show this young woman because she'd never have the money to shop there whereas I do."

Another key finding was that while women preferred to see attainable images of beauty, this did not mean they were against glamour.

"The women wanted models who looked like they were part of the fashion industry but also looked like them," Barry says.

"It made them feel that they, too, were included in the industry and were considered beautiful. It's not just about taking a plain mugshot of a real woman."

Barry, who previously set up an agency for non-traditional models in his native Canada, says businesses needed to take note: "It's clear that in order to unleash new economic potential you need to represent your consumer physically.

"If you're a big fashion retailer and you're going to hire 10 models, you should make sure that each one of them represents a different aspect of your consumers."

While alluring for those who believe the promotion of unrealistic body images is inherently wrong, advertising experts warn that such studies are treated with extreme caution in the commercial world.

"This kind of research may have some interesting insights, but it's insights into the way consumers talk and think about the adverts when you prompt them," said Paddy Barwise, professor of marketing at the London Business School.

"There is a gap between what they say, particularly in the presence of other women, and what they would do actually at the point of sale, and that's a big gap, not a small gap."

But he added: "I think that we will see a trend away from very, very skinny models, because there is a social trend against it."

The new feminists: lipstick and pageants

YES, YOU CAN WEAR LIPSTICK AND BE A FEMINIST. THE F WORD IS BEING REBRANDED

You could be forgiven, reading the headlines and opinion columns of recent weeks, for thinking that you had woken up in 1978. At protests greeting the recent Miss University London beauty pageants, there were screams of moral outrage, pickets at the entrances to nightclubs and yells of “Objectification” ringing out across pavements, as angry young women in duffel coats protested at cute young women in ball gowns. On the one hand, it was cheering to see that feminist activism had not died, but on the other, it might have struck you as looking a bit, well, retro.

For Marie Berry, 27, who started up her own feminist magazine, KnockBack, three years ago, it certainly didn’t advertise a brand of feminism she identifies with. “I thought the protesters looked a bit silly, a bit like a stereotypical idea of what a feminist should be. The slogan was ‘SOAS is for education, not for your ejaculation’, but I don’t think it’s a gender issue. This competition wasn’t about men. It’s for girls.”

A beauty pageant might not be your average woman’s idea of fun, but these contestants were all girls enlisted at top-notch universities, and who all had chosen to be there. Targets ripe for feminist outrage? Not according to the American feminist Katie Roiphe. “I think the proper reaction to a beauty pageant these days is to be bored by it. I would have thought that old version of feminism, which was violently opposed to lipstick and high heels, had died out by now. It’s an extinct image of feminism — that you can’t be both frivolous and serious or care about clothes and read books at the same time. And, in a way, it’s sort of depressing that these same old-fashioned battles keep on being recycled.”

Take heart, sisters, for there is a new breed of feminist out there that is reinventing the ideology. Subscribing to the original feminist theories of equality (equal pay, equal rights and the importance of a right to choose), they pick the fights that mean something to them, ignoring the elements of feminist politics they find irrelevant. For Berry, whose zine is billed as the anti-women’s mags women’s mag (cover lines include ‘The magazine for women who aren’t silly bitches on a diet’), that fight is about how women are represented in the media. “KnockBack started as a spoof women’s magazine,” she says. “We despise Cosmo and Heat. They broadcast a fascination with getting boyfriends, getting married, make-up, appearance and gossip that appeal to the least desirable parts of our emotional spectrum — jealously, gossip and being mean. And that’s not what we care about. Being a girl isn’t like that for us.”

Though that doesn’t mean they can’t take an interest: “As a woman, you can’t not buy shoes and wear dresses. Plus all of that stuff is fun — it doesn’t take away from your power as a woman.”

One fan of KnockBack is Zadie Smith, who wrote to them to say: “Your zine made me feel that the present situation for women is possibly not as absolutely f***ing awful as I had previously felt it to be. It was a little ray of pink and black hope. Keep up the good work, from an old feminist, zx.”

For Dunja Knezevic, 26, and Victoria Keon-Cohen, 21, the target is entirely different. Both models, they are campaigning for fair working conditions in the fashion industry and fighting for the establishment of the first models’ union. Their strand of feminism shuns gender altogether. “For us, it has always been about equality for everybody in our workplace,” says Knezevic. “We are fighting for rights for both male and female models.” And while not branding herself a feminist, she is keen to insist: “I don’t think being a model means that I can’t be one.”

It is impossible to stick to the battle lines that once seemed so clear, but that is also why it is possible to be both a model and a feminist. At the same time as being more emancipated than ever, we have never been more obsessed with youth, thinness and celebrity. Ask any woman if she minds being judged on her looks, and she will say yes. But ask her if she would like to look better, and she will also say yes to that. Beauty is power, and our relationship with it is complicated, as are our ideas on sexuality. On the one hand, we feel empowered; on the other, drooled over. Where to go in between? Jordan may have fashioned herself as a caricature of male fantasy, but she is also an extremely rich and successful working mother — and what is unfeminist about that?

What is different about this new wave is that it is careful to allow these contradictions to play out. According to Ellie Levenson, author of the forthcoming The Noughtie Girl’s Guide to Feminism, it is just this flexibility that identifies it. “In the past, you had to subscribe to a whole set of beliefs to be a feminist, including how you should look and behave. But Noughties women have made it their own. It’s like a pick-and-mix feminism, where you can choose the bits you care about yourself.”

As Jess McCabe, editor of The F Word, an online site for contemporary feminism, says: “The point of feminism isn’t to replace one set of expectations with another. It is to get rid of that whole dynamic. It wouldn’t be healthy to say, ‘You shouldn’t be wearing make-up’, as that is unfeminist in a way.”

Phoebe Frangoul, 27, editor of Pamflet, a self-styled “feminist fashion zine”, is also keen to embrace just such a brand of modern feminism and has campaigned heavily for the right to be both a feminist and glamorous. “I write about the right to wear high heels and still call yourself a feminist. I don’t feel they’re mutually exclusive, and my friends don’t either.” She laments the extreme feminism on show at the LSE and other universities, saying it puts people off the cause. “There are so many people out there who wouldn’t describe themselves as feminists, but they blatantly are in their actions. They’re just scared of the word. If you asked Gwen Stefani if she was a feminist, she would probably say no, although Charlotte Church has said she is. I don’t know if we’re third-wave or post-feminist, but we definitely want to be all things and don’t feel like we can’t be.”

“One of the most unappealing things about the feminist movement right from its inception was its tendency to judge other women,” says Roiphe. And, given the polarising of opinion between old-school feminists and modern young women engaged with popular culture — which, like it or lump it, is obsessed with celebrity, consumption and youth — there is much room for judgment. (See The Guide Association’s new manifesto on the sexualisation of young girls and Germaine Greer’s recent berating of Cheryl Cole as “too thin to be a feminist” as yet more proof.) “I do feel it’s time for those feminists to step aside,” says Frangoul. “It’s like, we’re grateful for what you did, but it’s time for you to hand over. We’ve got a different world-view, and we might have something different to say.”

Book: Sociology Explained [Andy Barnard & Terry Burgess]

2009-12-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

Women are presented in the stereotyped feminine roles - dependent victims, sex objects, having their lives dominated by strong, forcecful men. Print and broadcast media usually focuses on women known as lovers, mothers, and housewives.

Selina Stokes a Diversity Debate That Needs Addressing

2009-11-23T03:57:00.000-08:00

It will come as a surprise to few but a delight to many that Selina Scott is suing Five over ageism in its refusal to hire her for a maternity cover role and choice of younger presenters instead. It is a delight not because Five is worse than anyone else in this respect, but because it stokes a debate which urgently needs to be taken more seriously. Casual sexism, ageism and racism are the collective dirty secret of the vast majority of media institutions, and they represent as much of an industrial challenge as they do a moral one.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's Report on Sex and Power, published last week, drew a depressing picture for women in the workplace. In general the progression of women at the highest level in the workplace is pitiful and the media are no exception: only 13.6% of national newspaper editors (including the Herald and Western Mail) are women; only 10% of media FTSE's 350 companies have women at the helm; and at the BBC, which has often been held as an exemplar of diversity, women make up less than 30% of most senior management positions. It puts into context Jeremy Paxman's deranged rant about the white male in television. Ethnic minority representation is even worse.

A couple of weeks ago Pat Younge, former BBC head of sports programmes and planning who left to work for Discovery in the US, caused a stir at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival by saying that diversity targets should be like financial targets - you don't hit them, you get fired. I have to say that as board champion for diversity at Guardian News and Media I would currently be firing myself and most of the board for some missed targets. But Younge is right - because diversity targets are not just a feelgood add-on, they are vital to the health of any media business. The temptation to hire in one's own image for most managers is as irresistible as it is subliminal - which is why there are a lot of opinionated women working in digital management at the Guardian, and why we all need targets to remind us to look beyond the mirror.

On screen, any number of unconventional-looking ageing blokes (Jeremy Clarkson, Jonathan Ross, Chris Moyles, Alan Sugar, Adrian Chiles, Jeremy Paxman, Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan) are paid at a top rate for the talent they possess beyond their appearance. For women it is an altogether different story - appearance and age are clearly factors in choosing female presenters in a way that they aren't for men.

The media should be deeply concerned about this un-diversity - not because it represents moral turpitude on our part, but because it represents bloody awful business sense. What is happening to the UK population at the moment? It is ethnically diversifying, and it is ageing. It is also the case that it is, as of the 2001 Census, marginally more female than it is male. And we live longer - so older women, and non-white potential audiences are on the rise. In London, the major urban conurbation and key market for so many media brands, the population is around 37% ethnically diverse, yet this is nowhere near reflected in the management structures of media companies. Or indeed in their on-screen or in-paper representation.

How though, can you hope to address audiences for which you have no instinctive feel, and towards which you show casual discrimination? We are all in danger of becoming irrelevant to the changing demographics of our target audience at a time when holding any kind of audience is key to survival. If white men are so good at solving business problems - and given that they represent well over 80% of FTSE 100 directors we can speculate that this is a skill they must possess in measure - then I'm surprised they haven't grasped this one already.

Critical Investigation & Linked Production

2009-11-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

Critical Investigation
Does contemporary advertising still perpeture. The Beauty Myth?

Linked Production
A series of three linked televvision make-up advertisements targeting the 18-24 female demographic.

'The Beauty Myth'

2009-11-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

As most women of a certain age can tell you, men who have The Barbie Syndrome share a common characteristic--interest in young women. By young ... I mean young as in women who are not in their age group, let alone their generation.

JANET, my just-turned-40 Sister-friend, is sipping her second Margarita and talking about the getting-older-thing. Though she has never been age-conscious, suffice it to say that, right now, Girlfriend has a serious attitude.

Janet's less-than-optimal mind-set has a lot to do with a recent blind date she went on. After some promising get-to-know-you chitchat revealed they had numerous common interests, Janet was certain that, not only would there be a second date, but that Boyfriend had real relationship potential. Until, that is, she mentioned her recent birthday. That's when the Brother almost broke a speed record trying to finish his dinner and their date.

"The way he acted, you'd have thought I said I was looking for a man to father my children," Janet says, trying to make light of her date from hell but clearly still stung by being dumped so quickly and cavalierly. "Brother had a bad case of The Barbie Syndrome [TBS]."

As most women of a certain age can tell you, men who have TBS share a common characteristic--interest in young women. By young I don't mean vital and vibrant. I mean young as in women who are not in their age group, let alone their generation. Of course, men involved with younger women is hardly new. But lately it seems the media have made them news. And it's getting on my nerves.

Oh, I know. I shouldn't care about the fawning coverage the media give to men, particularly rich White ones, who are involved in relationships with women half their age. (Think: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. And my personal favorite, Tony Curtis and Jill Vanden Berg, who at age 30, is not only a stunning 45 years younger than Curtis, but a dozen years younger than his daughter Jamie Lee Curtis.)

Information On The Beauty Myth:
A book produced my Naomi Wolf, which examines how beauty is a demand and judgment upon women. Which is known as ‘How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women’.

The beauty myth is sometimes viewed as succeeding The Feminine Mystique, which relegated women to the position of housewife, as the social guard over women.

What She Looks At:
Modern conceptions of women's beauty impact the spheres of employment, culture, religion, sexuality, eating disorders, and cosmetic surgery.

Summary On Audience Theory

2009-10-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

Audience theories can be divided into two different areas these include: passive models, where the audience can be influenced and manipulated by what they are doing and seeing by media content, and active models, where the audience are seen to react to texts in a challenging and engaging way. It is also seen that an active audience do not only use the media for gratification purposes. In an active model the audience usually accept or agree with the meanings of the text, in some ways they refine the text to fit themselves.
It is seen that as a passive audience people are more likely to be influence by what they are watching through the media. Were as an active audience will respond to the text they are watching. It is said that Ruth Mitchell and Mary Taylor have said that speakers and writers can target their communication to speak to a real audience.
In 1965, Robert Zajonc proposed Drive Therory as an explanation of the audience effect.

Class Work

2009-10-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

The Digital Revolution is the change from analog and mechanical electronic technology to digital technology, that has taken place since c. 1980 and continues to the present day. Implicitly, the term also refers to the sweeping changes brought about by computing and communication technology during the latter half of the 20th century. Analogous to the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution marked the beginning of the Information Age.

The information society, once a futuristic scenario, is now a reality. But the digital revolution is just getting started. Because technology is crucial for improving our quality of life and driving growth in the whole economy, technology is where Europe wants to be ahead.

It is perhaps a tribute (though a backhanded one) to the power of the moving image that it should be subject to far greater censorship than any other artistic medium. Current technology makes it effectively impossible to censor the written word, theatre censorship was abolished in 1968, and there has never been any systematic regulation of other art forms - anyone seeking to clamp down on such events must mount a private prosecution, a lengthy and expensive process.

Extra Ideas For Critical Investigation

2009-10-12T01:57:00.000-07:00

Critical Investigation - Typical Convention Of a Thriller Movie
: Even though trailers have been made for this critical investigation in the past, i still personally think that it would be interesting to focus into this area even more. As through reading the mark bands they have stated that the quality should be up to a high standard, therefore this could be a unique way of putting some interesting ideas together.

Practical Production - Opening Sequence & a Poster
: I think by creating a opening sequence for the critical investigation above will be interesting as like i stated before could be interesting. However as it should be up to a high standard this may be difficult to pull of. Another production has been stated with this ; poster, which i think is easier to do for this critical investigation.

Adobe Premier: a non - liner, video- editing computer softewear package used in collages and schools.

Bibliogrpaghy: the section at the end of the media project.

Close Ups: Is an element of a camera shot used when filming.

Cinematography: Camera media and editing, used when making a practical production.

Cultural Imperialism: The dominates of Western, particularly US, cultural values and ideology across the world.

My Personal Review On Bride Wars

2009-09-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

From my personal review i was able to see the things that went well n my presentation. But also the things in which i should improve upon for my next presentation. The reviews i received have been followed on below:

WWW (What Went Well) -
1) Good animation e.g: Text appearing on screen with different sets of information.
2) Some good research
3) Some key concepts - which has also been linked back.
4) Confident presentation - Faced the audience when doing the presentation.

EBI (Even Better If) -
1) Improved on reading from the board.
2) Make presentations longer.
3) Need to make the information more detail instead of short sentences.
4) Always have a conclusion.

Significance: 3
Structure: 3
Simplicity: 3
Rehearsal: 2 Total: 11

From the information that i have gathered i am able to see the areas in which i can improve upon. I was able to see that my structure was well, only because of the way the slides had been presented & another aspect that went well was being confident through out my presentation. I need to make my presentations longer and detailed. As i only gave the basic information i should expand on relevant information. One thing i need to remember is to include a conclusion towards the end of the presentation to finish and conclude on the information i have given through out.

Reviews On // Bride Wars

2009-09-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

The Guardian
Bride Wars is a film about Bloomingdale's, Vera Wang and the Plaza hotel. It is also - at times tangentially - about two former best friends (Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway) who love Bloomingdale's, Vera Wang and the Plaza hotel, but who hate each other on account of booking their respective weddings on the same date at the same place (the Plaza hotel, as luck would have it).

Bride Wars
Production year: 2009
Country: USA
Cert (UK): 12A
Runtime: 89 mins
Directors: Gary Winick
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Bryan Greenberg, Candice Bergen, Chris Pratt, Kate Hudson, Kristen Johnston

"Is there anything better than Vera Wang?" they squeal, although this question is meant rhetorically. Product placements taken care of, director Gary Winick sends the twosome scuttling from boutique to hotel while the jaunty soundtrack reminds us that this is intended as a light, frothy comedy as opposed to, say, the satanic black mass we might otherwise take it for.
Our deepest condolences to Hudson as the ironically named "Liv". Her dead eyes and rouged cheeks suggest she's bypassed the wedding and gone straight to the funeral.

Rotten Tomatoes
13%
Average Rating 3.4/10

Telegraph
There’s a clear outbreak of tit-for-tat hostilities in Bride Wars, a catfight comedy with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway vying for the same Manhattan wedding slot.
The movie makes a ridiculous ass of itself, but as a run-for-the-hills endurance test for straight men everywhere, it’s almost fascinating.

The gals are best friends who have the question simultaneously popped, but neither will cave – it has to be the Plaza Hotel in June.
Witty put-downs aren’t their thing, or the script’s – instead we have Hudson switching her co-star’s spray-on tan to “blood orange”, and in turn having her hair dyed blue.
To be honest, it’s an improvement – with straight blonde tresses this long, Hudson looks like Cousin It from The Addams Family – but it’s never quite clear why they couldn’t just settle on a joint ceremony. They are – did I mention this? – best friends.
It’s almost a joke that the two grooms are irrelevant action figures. It’s almost the point that the demented logistics of wedding planning crowd out any sincere thought for who is marrying whom, and why.
Bride Wars, in another, better, incarnation, would be an out-and-proud satire on nuptial mania, and would end with Hudson and Hathaway getting civilly partnered.
Sadly, what we get is this Bridezilla-vs-Bridezilla dumb show, and the inevitable Candice Bergen cameo expressing a brusque contempt for the whole business.
Rating: **

Bride Wars reviewed by Mark Kermode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao5fW6VUYxo

Eyeweekly.com
Editorial Rating: **/5
“This fighting is so dumb!” cries one of our battling brides near the close of the combat in this formulaic nuptial comedy. It’s hard to disagree after watching former best friends Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) commit various cruelties in a joyless campaign to derail each other’s wedding, which has been accidentally booked for the same day and venue. Most of this frantic business — e.g., acts of sabotage at tanning and hair salons, a covert effort to expand Liv’s “huge ass” via gifts from the “International Butter Club” — plays more bitter than funny. Actually, it’s not much of an exaggeration to claim that Hathaway’s solipsistic-sister routine in Rachel Getting Married generated more laughs. Director Gary Winick’s decision to ground it all in something resembling real emotions backfires badly since Bride Wars feels too brittle to work as lighthearted farce and too facile and contrived to compete with Hathaway’s far worthier wedding-themed flick. Tulle-crazed viewers with a craving for nuptial porn are better off with marathons on TLC.

Bride Wars (2009) // Research Task

2009-09-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4251058201/
Bride Wars
Best friends Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) have dreamed of the "ideal" wedding since they visited New York City's Plaza Hotel as children. Now, at 26, both become engaged to be married and visit wedding planner Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen). Plans are made, and then a glitch is discovered: the Plaza Hotel has only one day in June available for wedding festivities. Neither Emma nor Liv will give up plans for their "perfect" wedding at the Plaza Hotel, and they will not consider dual weddings. Now, the fight is on as each tries to destroy the other's wedding plans.

Media Representation...
Two main characters have been shown through out the movie, these include Kate Hudson & Anne Hathaway. The film portrays friendship and the stress over wedding planning you are able to see how they both deal with big situations, not only are they presenting the personality clashes but you can see the reality of the different situations that occur and how they are being solved.
From the begginging of the film you are able to see how both friends dream about having the perfect wedding and this has been represented through a 'blue hair pin' and being able to get married at 'The Plaza' since the age of seven. The film shows how both characters mature in different ways but neither of their plans change for the future. Once both characters mature and become engadged they soon relize that things are not what they seem to be, it is shown that once the wedding planning starts and they want to have the same things both characters become 'bitchy' to one another. Therefore both characters have been represented as bitchy and so on. Which means you can see that certain things can get in the away of friendships. The way the friends are being represented are letting the audience relate to certain situations through the movie which means reality is also shown through this with the sense of comedy.

Media Languages & Forms...
You are able to see the non verbal text through the clothing and the facial expressions also the environment can be included within this text. As the film is a comedy facial expressions are extremly important. As these will give audiences the sense of when to laugh and what the situation is about. You are able to tell alot from ones expression on their face and this is shown through out the movie. You are able to see the ups and the downs. In some ways you could say without any sound you are still able to understand what is happening through out the film. You can see the happy moments through facial expressions and the body language as both characters will interact with eachother through hugs, smiles days out and so on. You can also see the anger when both become competitive with the wedding plans, you can see how disappointed they are with eachothers actions & lastly you can see the sad emotions that are given when both relize they have lost a long term friendship over wedding plans. The mise en scene has also been shown as both characters show the luxuary through their wedding plans. They want to have the best which means the setting has been set in the best places such as 'The Plaza'. The lighting through out the movie is light as a comedy they have to show the calmness in the movie which makes it different to genres such as horror. The music that has been played is set with what is happening in the surroudings. Such as when a sad moment is shown in the film calm music is being played so the scene is set in the right mood and this is the same with the happy scenes the right type of music is played with the mood of the setting and the scene. Their were many types of camera angles used int he movie. Close ups has been used on the facial expressions of Kate & Anne also long shots were used in most of the movie to show the setting of what had been going through out the movie.

Narrative...
The film starts of by showing how the girls were when they were younger the main part of the film has been based around a 'blue hair pin' in which they disscussed as children how they wanted their weddings to be and were their weddings should be. Both friends have been best friends since childhood days, they were proposed to by their boyfriends on the same day, so they start planning their weddings together. By using the same Marion St. Claire who is one of the best wedding planners. With using her help they plan the wedding at The Plaza, Having her secretarys mistake on her hands both girls wedding has been set for the same date and time. Once they find this out no one wants to change their date so they both become enemies, trying to sabotage the others wedding. You can see how both characters become villans at one stage as they set out to ruin the rivals wedding, but then you can see when they become heros and relise that both should not be doing this as they have been friends since childhood. The whole film is set around weddings, you can see the theme of the movie through this, not only that but the name of the movie also gives this away 'Bride Wars'.

Genre...
The genre of the film is comedy and romance, this is shown through the film with the various settings, body language and so on. You can see the comedy side of the film with the two bestfriends and their actions against one another. Such as the competition that plays a big role in the movie you can also see the slap stick comedy coming through & the romance is shown through the weddings and the love between both characters partners. One thing that has not changed in this romcom is Kate Hudson. She has stared in many comedy films, she has won nominations and sets a great spirt. Even though the film is set to be a romance many critics have asked this question why? this is mainly because they seem to think that not much romance has been shown around the movie at all.
The director of Bride Wars is Gary Winick.
The two main cast were: Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway
The Writers were: Greg Depaul and Casey Wilson

Media Institution...
The production company is Firm Films they have produced films such as Big Momma's house, The Devil's Reject and The Exorcism of Emily Rose & so on. The distriubtors of the film are 20th century fox & they have distributed many films. Because of this the audince are able to see that the film was made on a high budget therefore they are reassured that the film will be at a high standard so its worth watching.

Media Audiences...
The film is seen to target all ages as in the UK it has been given a certificate of PG. This is mainly because the comedy has slapstick which means the younger audience will enjoy it aswell as the older audeince. Who will enjoy most of as to the story line. I was drawn to this movie mainly because of the genre i enjoy watching comedy films and these type of films do appeal to me. I would relate this movie to films such as 27dresses, pretty women, my best friends wedding and many more. These are films i was viewed which have similarities to Bride Wars.

Additional Information On 'Bride Wars'...
Release Date - 9th Jan 2009
Tagline - Even bestfriends can't share the same wedding day.
Award - One win & Six nominations.
Trivia - Several wives and girlfriends of current Red Sox players were extras in the wedding shower scene.
Soundtrack - Lively Scherzo