Videogame Paper

Content Analysis: Representation of race and masculinity

Miroslava Illasova

University of Wisconsin-Parkside

            Videogames are spread around the world and are used as an entertainment outlet through which a player can interact with not only the game itself, but also other individuals or players. Videogames, just like any other media outlet or product, carry cultural messages in their content. Key messages such as the portrayal of masculinity, femininity as well as the idea of power and control are often incorporated in videogames continuously exposing the player to ideas that are part of the culture’s societal norms. We know that female characters in videogames are usually portrayed as weak, in need of men and need to be rescued. What I wanted to find out was how are men being portrayed and how does the portrayal of men connect to the societal norms of masculinity and to everyday behavior in men? In this paper I will conduct textual analysis of videogame ads in order to obtain a better understanding about the gender and racial roles in the world of video games.

            The first example is an ad for the Metal Gear Solid videogame featuring a character called “Vamp”. This ad is portraying the picture of a very dominant, powerful masculine figure. The character itself is very muscular, hairy and you can see the characters veins all over his body. This not only communicates power but also control over situation as well as sings of aggression and violence.

The character’s facial expressions are hard and focused, which cannot only be translated into the signs of dominance but also the intentions of seeming fearless. The body posture of the character also communicates dominance as well as confidence. This is a typical example of the masculine representation of white male in videogames. But how does this translate into the social norms of gender and race in our everyday lives? It is evident that the characters in videogames have some relevance to what being masculine means to our society. Men are still considered to be the breadwinners and supporters of the family. Masculine men in the society are those that are in control of their lives. The idea of masculinity is the same in real life as well as videogames. The separation between the real life and videogames in terms of masculinity is in what it means to be in control. In the world of videogames to be in control you have to be able to kill anything and anybody that threatens you. In other words violence gets you where you want to be. In real life I would argue that being in control means to have access to money, resources of any type and be the one that can make decisions with cool head. Men are supposed to be the supporters of the family. It is of course a different kind of support than that which we expect from women.

            In comparison I looked at an ad featuring a character from minority. This particular example was pulled from the “Call of Duty” videogame clearly portraying men of non-white descent in a different way. The man leaning over its victim is less muscular and although still portrays a person in control seems to be put in so-called “snitch” position.  He seems to be able to overpower his victim only by being sneaky and going behind the victim’s back instead of confronting him from the front. Even though there is an evident difference in the way men of different races and backgrounds are portrayed the idea of masculinity is still present.

The men are still trying to get what they want by being violent. The portrayal of masculinity in videogames can be seen easily through the ads I chose. The gender is playing a dominant role in the games and is depicting the perfect example of what it means to be a man. Masculinity is portrayed as the sign of control, power as well as the sign of violence and fear. Not only the body proportions in these videogames are exaggerated when it comes down to the muscle proportions, but also creates an unrealistic picture of what a man should look like in order to be respected and powerful.

The portrayal of race in the videogames is also perpetuating stereotypes and creating this idea of white men being ‘normal’ compared to the men of different race being portrayed as very ‘exotic’ creature with almost animal-like behavior. By looking at the content and analyzing the messages that it carries we can clearly see who is the person behind creating the videogames. It is the white male bringing their ideas of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a white male versus a black or Hispanic male. This is therefore not only creating a poor representation of race but also creates a fiction-like idea of what masculine behavior looks like. This can be particularly troubling, as many people believe that videogames are not influential. It is true that by playing videogames you might not start acting and doing the same thing in real life, however playing videogames is a part of our experience and the experiences we gain throughout our life create and influence who we are as a person. Therefore I wonder who is the influencer and who is getting influenced. Are we as a society influencing how masculinity is going to be portrayed in the videogames? Or are videogames also part of the media outlets that shape our society and plant ideas of masculinity into our society? I believe that it is both. I believe that we as a society out shaped by what we are exposed to, and in return we are going to be exposed to what we believe is appropriate and fitting into our societal norms.

           

References

           

Brookey, R. (2009). Sex lives in second life. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (571-581). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage           

Huntemann, N. (Producers). (2000). Game Over: gender, race and violence in videogames [DVD]. United States: Media education Foundation.

Nakamura, L. (2009). Don’t hate the player, hate the game. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (563-569). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Williams, D., Martins, N., Consalvo, M., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games. New Media & Society, 11(5), 815-834. doi:10.1177/

Wohn, D. (2011). Gender and Race Representation in Casual Games. Sex Roles, 65(3/4), 198-207. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-0007-4

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My Pornography paper

Content Analysis: Pornography

Miroslava Illasova

University of Wisconsin-Parkside

            Pornography is the portrayal of sexual acts for the purpose of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction. Pornography and the industry of pornography have been around for hundreds of years shaping the material into different forms and portraying different ideas of ideal beauty. What is however one of the most important parts of pornography is the way it fits into the society that created it and what message it is sending to its audience. The pornographic industry has grown drastically making more profits each year. Knowing that this industry is mainly controlled and driven by men I started wondering if there is a difference in content between male and female directed pornographic material. In this paper I will look closely at how the gender of the director affects the content of the material.

            Looking at the content and not knowing the director’s gender I believed there would be a significant difference in the content of the pornographic material. I started looking at the comparisons in aggression, the type of aggression and other scene variables. Once I summed up all of the information I found many shocking facts about the pornographic industry and the role that directors and their gender plays in the pornographic content. In this paper I will conduct textual analysis of pornographic materials and how it connects to the creators of the content.

 Aggression

            Aggression is the most common component in the pornographic material.  According to Chyng, Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer and Liberman there are two types of aggression identified: physical and verbal (Dines & Humez, 2011). In male directed pornographic material the verbal aggression is present 49.2% of the time. Looking closely at the different types of verbal aggression we can see that name-calling is the most common taking up 49.2% of time. The threat of physical harm and coercive language are both present 1.6% of the time. Comparing this information to female directed porn I found that verbal aggression is present 50.8% of the time. Name calling being the main factor of verbal abuse as well represented by 50.8%. It is however shocking to find that the threat of physical harm is present 3.3% of the time. That is 1.7% difference between the content of male and female directed pornography (Chyng, Bridges, Scharrer, Wosnitzer & Liberman, 2008).

            Physical aggression is a little more complicated as it has multiple components within. Looking at the components presented in the pornographic material I found that the spank, gag, open hand slap and pull hair are the most common. Spanking being at the top is present 70.5% of time in male directed porn and 72.1% in female directed porn. Another fascinating factor was looking at the percentage comparison in the act of gag, which to me is one of the most violent aspects of porn. The act of gag was present 54.1% of the time in male directed pornographic material and 59.0% of the time in female directed porn. Bondage was among the variables of physical aggression, but was not that common. However it caught my attention, as female directors use this act drastically more than male directors. In female directed porn the act of bondage was present 14.8% of the time while in the male directed porn it was present 4.9% of the time. (Chyng, Bridges, Scharrer, Wosnitzer & Liberman, 2008)

            These results are not only shocking but also might explain the way women and men see the world of pornography. Looking at the comparisons in verbal aggression I could speculate that women are more verbal and therefore the presents of verbal insults was more frequent. It also showed that men directors use more physical aggression in their porn. Even though there are differences in the variables and their frequencies in the pornographic material directed by two different genders I do not find them drastically distinct or different.

Scene Categorical Variables

            According to Chyng, Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer and Liberman the most common scene categorical variable is the ejaculation position. Mouth being the main target in both male and female, I found that it is present 62.3% of the time in male directed pornography and 47.5% of the time in female directed material. What is however very interesting about the ejaculation position variable is the distinct difference in content in the following sub-variables. The sub-variables are face, breasts, stomach, buttocks and internal. Male directed porn had scenes with ejaculations in one of these areas 19.6% of the time. The female directed porn did not have any such scenes.

            Looking at these differences I could not find a correlation between any of the variables and the gender of the director. I also believe that the director influences some of the content in the pornographic industry subconsciously. It is however necessary for the director to know what the consumer is looking for. I also believe that besides having the consumer in mind while creating the pornographic content, the director is aware that the consumer can adapt to what is being provided. It is after all a circle where the pornographic industry shapes the needs and wants of the consumer and the consumer influencing the content of the material by consuming certain types of porn.

            Another scene categorical variable are the sex acts. The most common sub-variable in this category is the female-to-male oral act being present 93.4% of the time in male directed porn compared to 67.2% in the female directed porn. Another common sub-variables found in this category are the following scenes: male-to-female-oral, vaginal penetration with penis, anal penetration with penis and ass-to-mouth sequence. These acts are common in both male and female directed porn. They are all present close to 50.0% of the time. There is however one sub-variable drastically different in male and female directed material. The woman-to-woman act is present 14.8% of the time in male directed porn and present 41.0% of the time in female directed porn. This significant difference could point us to the answer why the difference exists. I believe that this difference tells us about the audience that is trying to be targeted. The director knows what scenes to include for certain audience. For example the woman-to-woman oral might target the lesbian audience. (Chyng, Bridges, Scharrer, Wosnitzer & Liberman, 2008)

            The pornographic industry is mainly controlled by men and therefore there is not much space for women to be able to change drastically change the content being present almost in all of the porn material studied. In this paper I looked closely at how the gender of the director affects the content of the material. I found that the content was not dramatically different and did not indicate any dramatic shifts from one type of sexual scene to another.

            Overall I believe that gender of the director creating the pornographic material does not play such a big role in the content of porn. I believe that my expectations of female-directed porn being distinctively different were not met for couple of reasons. Men largely dominate the business of pornography and therefore there is a lot of pressure for anybody creating pornographic material to conform to the norms that were established prior to their entrance of the business. It would therefore be very hard for women to shift away from what is being viewed as standard content for a pornographic material. Even if the women wanted to change the world of pornography the political economic structure is restraining them from doing so. It is the profit and the proven way to profit that must not be broken and you as a director should conform to that in order to be successful and profitable. I also believe that the audience’s needs and wants as well as target groups are the main concern of the director. Besides slight differences in the content between the male and female directed pornography, I could not find a distinct example that would indicate the gender of director to be a powerful variable in the content of the material.

It is the fact that a change in the content would be a hard one without the support of the audience and it is the fact that a change in the needs of audience are to appear without the change in the pornographic content. The political economic production is one of the variables that would have to contribute to the change, as it is the profit that runs this business.

References

           

Attwood, F. (2007). No money shot?. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (283-292). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Caputi, J. (2004). The pornography of everyday life. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (307-320). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Chyng, S., Bridges, A., Wosnitzer, R., Scharrer, E., & Liberman, R. (2008). A comparison of male and female directors in popular pornography: What happens when women are at the helm?. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32(3), 312-325. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 15, 2011.

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage           

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2010). Adolescents' use of sexually explicit Internet material and sexual uncertainty: The role of involvement and gender. Communication Monographs, 77(3), 357-375. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 15, 2011.

FInal wrap-up

    As it is getting closer to the end of the semester I would like to sum up everything that I have learn in this course. I believe that this course was not only relevant to what is going on in today's society but also helped me understand the world of media on a different level. 

    The essential role of gender, race and class in the media not only shapes the environment we live in but also often perpetuates old stereotypes. Throughout the course of this semester we were supposed to relate each and every topic to three different aspects. According to Kellner, in order to understand the culture and the way certain ideas affect us we need to look at them from the political economy perspective, text analysis as well as audience reception. All of these play a role in how we perceive and understand a certain message. 

    The issue of gender in the media touches not only at the presence of femininity and masculinity but also at the LGBTQ community in the media. All of these shape the way we think about others as well as us. They show us what we are as an individual of a certain group within the society. I not only learned that women are often viewed as subjects and sexual objects but also that the unrealistic looks of women are present. This ultimately creates pressure on young girls trying to fit the picture that they see on the screen. 

     When it comes down to race and its representation in the media it has a lot in common with the representation of gender in the media. The presence of race in the media is still till this day slanted and perpetuates stereotypes in one way or another. The members of minorities are mostly pictured unrealistically and often de-humanized by being presented as a clown or a criminal.

     Class plays also a very important role in the way people relate to the media. Everybody sees themselves as a part of certain class and therefore looks at the television and tries to find an answer of what it actually means to be a part of a certain class. Not only the television pictures unrealistic ideas of what people can afford being members of a certain class but also represents an unrealistic lifestyle in general. 

     Overall I have learned that gender, race, class and many other factors shape who we are. The environment around us shapes who we are as well as we influence people around us based on who we perceive ourselves to be. Each culture has certain ideas or ideology about what it means to belong to a certain gender, class or race and by this we adapt to our environments and create our own view of the world around us.

References

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage            

Sexual Orientation in the Media

  
     I really enjoyed our discussion in class and really appreaciated the input from our guests. When listening what the guests speakers had to say I realized that I have heard many of the things before as I have many friends that belong to the LGBTQ association.
  
 Looking at the media and the portrayal of gay or lesbian characters I see that the representation of them has not only changed dramatically but became a part of our everyday television experience. While watching the movie called "Further off the straight and narrow" one statement really caught my attention. It said that "You are not real unless you are on TV" and therefore not a long time ago the absence of gay people created this feeling that they in fact do not exist. It therefore would have been harder for the members of the LGBTQ community to realize that they are not alone and that there is people like them.
  
It was in fact the introduction of gay and lesbian people on TV that made the "idea" of gay people real. Although this might be true the representation of gay and lesbian people on TV presented them in light that was trying to create acceptance rather then breaking the taboo. In other words the characters needed to conform to the social and sexual norms in order to be perceived as "a good queer". The "good queer" was a person that conformed to the middle class norms of respectability.

The problem with this is that you never see the "less acceptable" gays, such as working class gays.
I feel like the representation of gays on television is a huge step forward in the sense of including them and not ignoring them, but the representation of gays is still not as free as it seems. They still need to conform to the social norms. I wonder what kind of a reaction would people give if they were represented in a different way. What do you think would be a true and the best way to represent the LGBTQ community members on television?

References

Farrell, K. (2006). HIV on TV. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (399-407). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Is Mr.McGinniss on to something? (Social class)

Ooh the scandals and controversy associated with the former Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin.  Who has not heard the media talking about the life of this politician that has been running for the Vice President in the presidential elections in 2008 with Senator John McCain?

Yet, it is not my intention or goal to be talking about politics this time. It is the former governor’s relationship with the media that strikes me.  Sarah Palin has been the attention of the media not only because of her political input but also because of her personal life that is very much talked about publicly.

Joe McGinniss, a best-selling author recently wrote a book “The Rogue” where he targets Sarah Palin and talks about her personal life but of course not leaving out any political connections.

Now to be clear Mr. McGinniss decided that the best way to be able to write a book as such, he should probably move next door to the Palin’s residence, which he certainly did.  In an interview for MSNBC he stated that Sarah Palin is “An absolute and utter fraud”. Mr.McGinniss interviewed many people in Wasilla, the hometown of Sarah Palin, where he said he found that “the people that know her the most like her the least.”

I am not a Sarah Palin supporter and I certainly do understand that celebrities or such people as Palin are in the public’s eye and went into this career knowing that they are going to be exposed. I understand that public personalities are into some extend not protected by the law when it comes down to privacy and they all are after all stepping into this knowingly. However, my question is if the book ”The Rogue” is in fact a credible, useful and critical source for us to read?

Is it in fact crucial for somebody to read in order to understand Sarah Palin’s political views or are you just going to learn bunch of rumors that Mr. McGinniss heard from that guy or that girl? After all would a non-biased person who is trying to look at FACTS critically call another person a fraud?

 I wonder what it says about the author of the book. I believe that the author either went there with the intentions to find the negative and the “garbage” about Sarah Palin.  We all are well aware that no matter who you are somebody out there has something bad to say about you. If the author of the book wanted the reader to take his book seriously he would have provided us with more useful information and not just a word of mouth rumors. And if he would in fact decide to focus on such topic he should have provided the reader with both the negative as well as the positive outlooks from people that know her to some extent. 

I guess my final question is what is in today’s society really newsworthy? In my opinion this book is not a news piece worth looking at.  But what is your take on this?

You can watch the author’s interview for MSNBC here:  MSNBC "The Rogue" author interview

One other question that I constantly have in the back of my mind is how much does the fact that Sarah Palin is a WOMAN that is strongly politically active affect the media and the coverage they take on her. I cannot help but see a little bit of bias being there.  Instead of focusing on her campaigns most of the time I hear something that has nothing to do with her political career or life.

Besides seeing the bias being present I wonder how much can we really stand behind Sarah Palin being dragged on the news for non-sense media coverage. After all wasn’t it the former governor’s idea to start her own reality show? I wonder what was she thinking? Reality show is exactly what people do when they want the whole world to see their personal lives and the way they live. Isn’t that a personal invite for the media to discuss it then? I believe we are walking on a thin ice when it comes down to this issue. 

What do you think she was hoping to change with her reality show? Was it just a way to gain attention for the upcoming elections?

All in all it is interesting to see what lines people are capable of crossing in order to gain attention or publicity.  With that being said I am interested to see how well the book is going to do on the market. I guess that will give us an idea on what people really consider to be newsworthy and why are such topics being covered by the media.

Another great link you can check out to see what do media really think about the book is here: 

 'Lamestream media' defends Palin 

Another think that strikes me about the Sarah Palin's reality show is the way she is trying to represent herself and her family. In my opinion she does not belong to the working class but yet is trying to present herself as a working class mother who is in its own way a so called "tomboy". How does this help her relate to the viewers? Any ideas?

References

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage           

Butsch, R. (2007). Ralph, Fred, Archie, Homer, and the King of Queens. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (101-109). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Is Blockbuster getting a hang of it?? (Video games)

I could not help by think of Blockbuster when we had a discussion about video games in class. Blockbuster is now providing customers with video games directly shipped to their house. But what is it about video games that attracts people? I believe it is the fact that you can become somebody else and do things that you could not in real life. It is however the question of influence of these games that might be troubling. How much do games really affect us? Can they really lead people to violence? I believe that video games are a part of our experience and that even though they might not result in violence they do ultimately add to who we are as a person. According to the movie "Game Over" the video games are a part of our environment and our environment shapes who we are. Now to get deeper on the issue with Blockbuster:

What really caught my attention this week is the controversy surrounding the Netflix Company. Not only Netflix decided to split the company into two parts that will provide two different types of service that used to be under one bundle they also decided to raise the prices not only to the new customers but also to the already existing members. What was the result of such actions? Millions of dollars and customers lost due to poor public relations solutions.

Although I am talking about Netflix it is not my main target. I am looking at the overall market when it comes down to the streaming and DVD services. We now know that blockbuster has been ALMOST out of the business, but it looks like they are not ready to give up yet. Blockbuster has not only created a DVD rental service, online streaming service so called “Total Access” but now is also became a part of Dish Network. This video streaming service is limited to the subscribers of the Dish Network provider.

So not only we have Netflix and RedBox, now we also have Blockbuster pushing the competitors to move ahead. All this makes me wonder what is going to happen since Netflix is facing big issue regarding their prices as well as the service that is not really convenient to the customers.

Could Blockbuster come back by trying to come back by targeting the customers through different types of service?

Here is an interesting video:Netflix vs. Blockbuster: Tips from Consumer Reports - YouTube

 I believe that it is all a question of the price as well as the inventory. Who has the biggest and the up-to-date movies? Besides the prices being the problem with Netflix I believe they have created somewhat of a bad reputation that was created by their “apology” letter to the customers that was after all not as much an apology.

Who do you think is going to be able to target the market and the audience successfully? What do you think is going to be the biggest a challenge for Blockbuster compared to Netflix?

For some reason I am a big fan of RedBox. I think their prices are great and I can rent as many DVDs as I can. I can return them easily and the new movies are available pretty quickly. What is your opinion? Is RedBox even comparable to the Netflix and Blockbuster service? What do you think do customers prefer and why?

You can find some additional info here: Blockbuster Movie Pass bundles Dish with streaming video - Sep. 23, 2011

Works Cited

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage            

Game Over. movie

          Pepitone, J., (September 23, 2011). Blockbuster launches Netflix streaming rival -- sort of.CNNMoney. Retrieved on September 24, 2011 from http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/23/technology/blockbuster_streaming/index.htm

The portrayal of race in the media (Race & TV)

     Last week the class was supposed to discuss a documentary about the race and the portrayal of race in the media. It was obvious that most of the students were uneasy about this topic. It is interesting that people are still this reserved when it comes down to the discussion about race and racial issues. I also have to reference one section in the book where Rosenberg ties violence to the issues of race. He believes that violence is caused by people causing pain to others and the others believing that they have to punish such act. I was trying to think of how exactly it translates to the race and the issue with it.

It is the relationships between people that have been in the past that are here till this day affecting the way we sometimes act. It is of course the fact that there have been violence involved in the past, however what interests me is that these issues are not much talked about. I cannot really remember a serious talk about the racial issues and how it affects our everyday life in the media. Before watching the documentary I did not really realize what a difference there is in the portrayal of minorities in the media.

It shocked me to see the chain of actions and behaviors being linked to a certain racial group. It was especially the black people being represented as only the comic and funny people. This is what creates problems. It is when we see certain group of people as one instead of seeing them as one culture full of individuals. I believe that the media was in fact trying to help ease up the situation in the past by breaking the habbit of not having people of different race on TV. I however do think that they did not realize the way they were portraying them and therefore making the situation much worse. I also believe that they were creating this image of people of difference race on TV because of the way they viewed them. It was mostly white people directing and creating the content of a certain show. Their views and ideas about a certain racial group are of course present in the content of each and every show they created.

I was trying to see if there is a pattern of racial group being portrayed in a certain way in today's society. I agree with what we said in the class. It is not as apparent but there still is the same message being send. People of minorities are usually portrayed as criminals or people without much education. I am hoping that this pattern will change. However I do not know what it is going to take in order for it to change. Any thoughts?

References

Hall, S. (1981). The whites of their eyes. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (81-84). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Facebook vs. Reality (Masculinity)

In order to help you out with the reading you should check out this video. Its humorous and informational: Facebook vs. Reality

I could not help but think of a video and the concept of reality vs. Facebook while reading the article written by Marshall McLuhan again this week. The article talks about how media shape our perception of things and the world around us. This ultimately changes the environment around us as well as we change by adapting to the media. What surprised me was what the author considered to be the media. Media in his opinion is anything and everything that creates an extension of man’s abilities and anything that alters our natural self and the natural environment around us.

            Looking at this concept I wanted to bring attention to the video made to point out the difference between the two worlds of reality and Facebook. Ultimately the online or virtual world of Facebook is nothing like the reality that we live in. Although the question is what is reality? Is Facebook now our reality as it altered the way we communicate with each other as well as it changed relationships. We no longer have to know somebody well in order to add them on Facebook and be able to see what is going on in their personal life. Facebook ultimately changed the meaning of friends as well as the issue of privacy.

             I have to agree with McLuhan when it comes down to the innovations or inventions changing us and the world we live in. Facebook not only changed the way people interact but changed the whole concept of reality. People now pay special attention to what is posted on their profile page rather than spending a real time with their friends online.

            What do else do you think was influenced and ultimately altered by Facebook? Can you see any connections between Facebook and the interaction of people in real life?

            One other thing that stood up in my mind is the difference in how people act on Facebook and how they are in real life. The world of Facebook and Internet in general provides people with this “invisible shield” where nobody can see you and therefore you can make yourself to be anybody.  Can this affect the way we then act when we are not on Facebook but rather talking with somebody face-to-face?
           To make sure we connect this issue to what we talked about in class I also thought about how Facebook shapes the way men connect with women and how men portray their "manhood" on Facebook. I believe that man are definitely affected by Facebook. Not only they can see what women talk about they also seem to get "more talkative". Men also post pictures of themselves and look for an approval of women. For some reason this behavior is portrayed by women as well. Does this mean that Facebook brings men and women closer ? What do you think? How do you think Facebook affects the way men behave and interact with the world around them?

References

Dines, G. (2007). The white man's burden. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (275-282). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

How does hegemony affect the portrayal of women in the media (Everyday pornography)

     What really got my attention while watching the video about the portrayal of women in the media was mainly the reoccurring pattern in which women were represented. It is shocking to see that we are exposed to these types of messages on everyday basis but do not realize how to content can alter our own thoughts and meanings.

            While looking at the ads in the magazines or in the newspaper I could not help but think about music videos and the portrayal of women on the screen. It is particularly the rap music videos I am talking about where women are mainly seen as objects not capable of rational thought and their only desire is men or sex with men. It is also portrayed, as women are lonely and not capable of living without men. It is shocking to see how acceptable those messages are among people. Women are also often being portrayed around money. It is mostly in the context of women wanting men with money and power and for that money they would do anything.  Another very striking idea that is being sent to us through these videos is the behavior of women. I am now specifically referring to the submissive behavior women have as they often have to wait their turn to get to the men. To be more specific, there is usually many women in the video surrounding the man. It is necessary for the women to know their “place” and wait there turn to get to the man. So in other words they share everything. I cannot help but think of pimps while seeing this type of a behavior. It is exactly what they do. One man has power over these women.

            So how is it possible for people not seeing this pattern until it is pointed at? I believe that we are already so saturated with the media and constant advertising that we do not read much into these types of messages. We also may just see it as pure hegemony. Or in other words something that is “normal” in our culture and it is normal to have music videos such as I described earlier. It is sad but obvious that at this point it would take a lot to change all this. It is not only the responsibility of the media but also the women who choose to be seen and portrayed in certain ways in the media. Most likely I do not think women realize this until it is pointed to them.

References

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage           

Caputi, J. (2007). The pornography of everyday life. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (311-320). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Pornography of Everyday Life (2006). movie

The un-common portrayal of women in the media (Femininity & Advertising)

            This is something that caught my attention as we talked in class about men and the contemporary represantation of masculinity in the media. Masculinity and femininity both have a certain image or idea that is reprresented in the media. People do not realize it but it affects us and the way we perceive ourself and others on everyday basis. Men are often pictured as tall, strong and very mascular without any desire to be emotional or show their inner self. They are supposed to be the cold and not very talkative supporters of the family.
            Women on the other hand are mostly portrayed as very skinny, sexual and object-like. The idealistic beuaty is in fact represented as skinny, long hair and not very professional. These of course are western-society ideals.
            It was because of these that this particular add caught my attention. It was not only because of the model and her looks but also the stroy behind it. This particular model is 60 years old, does not color her hair and says the less make-up the better. This I believe is a big step especially in our society where youth is celebrated and wanted by every women. It is almost as only the young without any skin wrinklers are perceived as beautiful.
          This story is therefore a challenge to the otherwise youth-oriented society. I wonder how many women look at this and wonder if they are in fact supposed to celebrate their age and be proud of what they look like. This add celebrates age and Cindy Joseph, the model is trying to support women to feel comfortable with themselves and their skin.
You can find the add here: http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-cindy-joseph-26992874
Also do you think we can find any parts in this add that reinforce our norms or ideas about femininity and beautiful women? Or is this in fact really a challenge to those adds celebrating and pushing women into thinking that they need to look young in order to look beautiful?

References

Jhally, S. (1990). Image-based culture. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (199203). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage           

How the media affect public opinion (Cultural Studies & Kellner's Multiperspectival approach)

Media and the influence they have on public

      Kellner's multiperspectival approach talks about the three factors that influence cultures and the way people within cultures perceive thing and create ideas. To understand a culture we should look at it from the three perspectives: political economy, text analysis, and audience reception. This idea ultimately brought me into analyzing how the media can influence the public's opinion. The different media outlets among different cultures broadcast message in different ways, in ways that fit the communication style in the particular culture.
      I could not help but think of our class while reading and following a recent coverage on Amanda Knox trial in Italy. Although the trial might be interesting it is not my intention to be talking about who did what and why. What I really find interesting and very recent when it comes down to our class is the way media covers and handles this case as it is followed internationally.
            This case involves natives of three different countries while this case itself took place in a country by itself. So how does the media cover it? Of course they are going to take sides depending on what country they are from and what the person involved did. In this case the media portrays the young American as an innocent girl who just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. How does the American public react to this? Very recently there was another case that is somewhat similar when it comes down to the media attention. The Casey Anthony trial was aired live and people were able to watch everything that was said in the courtroom. The question I have to ask is if people are going to get influenced by what the media says or if they have already made up their mind before even paying attention to the trial itself.
            Besides a young American woman involved, it is the victim who was from England. Here we can see the difference. The media in England are in general opposed to Amanda Knox and refer to her as another Casey Anthony. I guess my question is how much of the opinion of people is influenced by media? Is most of the opinion based on the media as people assume that the media probably know what they are talking about? Or are people influenced more by what country they belong to as it plays a big role in this particular case?
            To be honest I see it from a little different perspective. I believe that media are standing behind their opinion and picked a particular side because they know that no matter what the case looks like nationality and the feeling of belonging to a certain country is a very powerful emotion. That is why they do not have to repeat twice that Amanda Know is in fact a cruel American woman who did do whatever she is accused of. The same is happening here in America. The media know very well what people are going to feel like since the young woman “belong” to this country. It is not that they pay close attention to the trial and believe she is innocent it is the powerful feelings that are the main drive behind this.
So as we can see bias is all around us and it is not possible to deliver a message without influencing its content a little bit.
            How do you think the media portrays the case and Amanda Knox in Italy? Do you think that the local media is probably a little less biased? How do you think people perceive this case in Italy or in a country that is not involved?
You can follow the trial here: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2095586,00.html

Renfrences

Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.) (2008) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Third Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage        

Kellner, D. (2007). Cultural studies, multiculturalism, and media culture. In Dines, G. & Humez, J. (Eds.), Gender, Race and Class in Media (7-18). Location: Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

            Burleigh, N. (2011, September 30). Why there will always be three Amanda Knoxes.                                   TimeWorld. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2095586,00.html

Gender Roles in the context of Hegemony (Overview of Gender/Race/Class)

     So what does Hegemony actually mean? It is the explanation for why people consent to and are complicit in their own subordination. So why do people consent? It is because the dominant system of oppression or customs in our culture are perceived and viewed as "the standard" or as "normal", natural, unchangeable. These gender roles have been present ever since we were born and are pressed into our minds since day one. Gender roles are something like boundaries or walls that put us in certain categories and upon those categories we receive massages through which we understand they way we are supposed to view the world and relate to the people around us.
     No matter what culture you are born into you are shaped into an individual depending on what customs are associated with the sex you are born with. It is however challenging for me to call it normal or natural. In my terms natural is something that is shaped and present inside your DNA and that even without the cultural influence you would "practice" it. Since gender is so deeply rooted in the way we perceive our surroundings as well as what we are influence by what we are told, gender is somewhat of a question when it comes down to natural instincts.
    This video will be helpful to clarify my statements: Interviews with Kids (Gender Roles)
To get to the main point I decided to write about my early experience with gender roles. Ever since I was a little girl I have never played with Barbies or dolls in general. The same goes for my sister. She was more of an "extreme" as she loved to play with cars and instead of dolls she would get cars for presents. It was our grandma that would always remind us that the neighborhood girls do what girls are supposed to. Play with barbies, be quiet, sit still and most importantly don't get dirty or get in trouble. Of course it was me and my sister that would run around the whole day with our dog, yelling and hiking in the woods nearby. Although it would not be enough. What would really get my grandma talking about our gender roles would be the climbing on trees. She would always say that we are not boys to be doing such things.
    Looking back at this I can  say that she had the idea of gender roles deeply rooted in and had an idea of what girls are supposed to do. My sister and I were not meeting the criteria and we were reminded of that. Not only that but I was aware of our behavior. I knew that we are not acting like girls. I knew the gender criteria and the behavior criteria. The problem was that it was boring for us to play "like girls". So the gender stereotype was already present in my head it was however our choice to not act upon it. So we were aware of the "normal" behavior we were supposed to portray in relation to hegemony.
     Overall the gender, race and class in the media are interactive and send certain types of messages to the viewers. On the other hand the viewers understand the message depending on their gender, race and class that they were or are exposed to. The world around us is ultimately shaped by our gender, sex, race, class and many other factors.

Resources:

Dines, G. & Humes, J. (Eds.) (2003) Gender, Race, Class and Media (Second Edition) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

GoldenHSCsac (2008). Gender Roles-Interviews with Kids [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWc1e3Nbc2g