Unit 3 Gender & Media Flashcards
1
Q
Importance of media for gender?
A
- First & only exposure to ways of life that is not their own
- Disseminates norms (constant representation of a specific type of life)
- Opportunity to see different ways but also can be a constraint (can police oppressive/specific norms)
2
Q
Social science paradigm
A
- Can fall short as reality does not equal stereotypes
- One reality will not be universal
- Does not delve in meanings of meaningful topics
- Audience effects, stereotypes, “inoculation” of “dupes” (idea that audience is just absorbing information)
3
Q
Critical-cultural approach
A
- Encoding & decoding, discourse analysis, complex processes and the potential for subversive readings
4
Q
Encoding
A
- A baby room decorated in pink (a girl)
- Creating media (who writes, produces & creates -> who creates/adds meaning)
5
Q
Decoding
A
- Resistance reading
- Audience sees a different meaning decoding differently than encoded
6
Q
Postfeminism
A
- Tricky (mixed meanings)
- Cultural sociologists look at tension between progression & regression of elements in media
- “Double entanglement” of progressive and regressive elements (seeing some elements that are pushing boundaries, but still overarching theme of regression (free woman wanting to find a man)
- Feminist, but also not
- Independence, agency, sex, pleasure, consumption; not-so-traditional traditional gender roles
- Freedom is flaunted, losing critical edge that feminism is aiming to address, postfeminism is interacting with racial identity
7
Q
Diverse representation?
A
All bodies are equal & beautiful, grrl power, diversity, but still framed in ways that are different/other/bad
8
Q
Golden Girls
A
- The material body, a billboard for norms
- Shame, denial, and “bad” aging representation (gossip, asexual spinster, battle-axe, silly, decline, dependent)
9
Q
The 3rd Age
A
- Celebrating glamorous, fit (celebrity) aging (spa procedures
- Doing aging well vs wrong
- Celebrating the physiological exception
10
Q
Masking Ageing
A
- Is it secret& Is it safe?
- Ageist theme even if idea is that it’s okay to grow old, it’s still ageist
- Ageing femininity is portrayed as not serious, inappropriate but also her fem evaluated by a man’s desire
- Denial and shame angle
11
Q
Losing Femininity
A
- Associated with getting married, having kids, menopause
- The wisdom of ageing paralleled to the naivety of youth
12
Q
The Lab of Masculinities (Jackass Laboratory)
A
- Extreme stunt reality TV: party, fight, vandalize, get hurt, provoke, disgust
- A context of threatened/destabilized/lost masculinity
- Debate between whether Jackass represents a hegemonic vs subordinate masculinity relationship or fluid gendered subjectivities (a more transformative and messy approach)
- Are we seeing a reproduction or a resistance to a certain masculinity?
13
Q
8 Categories of experiments and dare-deviling
A
(bodily & social risks)
1) Bodily experimentation
2) Sports experimentation
3) Social experimentation
4) The enjoyment of risk taking
5) Laughter
6) Animal domination
7) Phallocentrism
8) Symbolic annihilation of subordinate masculinity
14
Q
The Masculinity Experiment
A
- Presentation/preparation, the performance, the results
- Big themes of masochistic pleasure (stretching, exploring & hurting the body)
- Celebrating the phallus and rejecting the “sissies”
- A masculinity seen as either reaffirmed, contested or ambivalent (performing a lack or ridiculing masculinity itself, as well as blurring boundaries to achieve/enhance solidarity/homosociality)
15
Q
Progressive areas of Jackass
A
- It’s contradictions must be understood in terms of a dialectical process of transformation, rather than of clear-cut power or subversion
- Maybe a messy, complex back & forth showing smth bigger is at play
- Neither an aggressive reaffirmation of hegemonic masc, nor a ritual rebellion against it; it is rather about change, negotiation and transgression of gender stereotypes
- There are also incorporations of addiction & substance abuse, more supportive portrayals of masculine relationships in newer seasons
- However, women portrayal still iffy: men are still in positions of power as well as recipients and even tho women still do badass activities, still jokes around consent and body
