Study Task 3 - Essay Plan

I was supposed to do this task before our first major crit, but I was struggling with the direction I wanted to head in and how I would construct all the ideas I had into a coherent essay.

However, after the crit I had a lot more insight and ideas for direction, and came up with this plan:

STUDY TASK 3 – PLANNING & STRUCTURING AN ESSAY

Suggested Research Question. This can be a topic or theme, but please try to be as precise as possible.

'To what extent does advertising construct our idea of gender?' ·         'to what extent' basically means 'do you agree?' ·         Look at traditional gender stereotypes and how adverts portray (or don't) them. ·         Sex and sexualisation/objectification of people (women in particular)

Which Academic Sources will you reference? Include a Harvard Referenced bibliography of at least 5 sources.

·         Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing, London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books ·         Crewe, B. (2003) Representing Men: Cultural Production and Producers in the Men's Magazine Market, London: Berg ·         Jackson, P., Stevenson, N. and Brooks, K. 2005 Making Sense of Men's Magazines, Cambridge: Polity Press ·         Macdonald, M. (2003) Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in the Popular Media, New York: Oxford University Press ·         Rogers, M. F. (1999) Barbie Culture, London: SAGE Publications ·         Sivulka, J. (2012) Soap, Sex and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising, Boston: Wadsworth Publishing ·         Wolf, N. 1991 The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women, London: Vintage

What Images Illustrations will you analyse? Include at least one piece of Graphic Design to analyse in depth (but no more than three)

The first one is an American Apparel advert. They have numerous misogynistic adverts to choose from but I chose this one because of the similarity of the woman's body position to the second one (an advert for organ donation from P Magazine, a Belgian men's magazine) as well as the viewpoint (male). The last one is Dolce and Gabbana, and from a quick skim through of The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf (which I had already had a skim through when I chose it for the book cover brief in Visual Skills), she claims that rape is the current advertising metaphor, which I think is prominently portrayed in this image!

Essay Map Using the Study Task Handout, construct an essay map outlining the FOUR main points of your argument. This essay map should include a sentence which states your thesis, and how it will be addressed. It should also include FOUR sentences, each outlining a different element of your central argument. You should also refer to how this essay map links to the key sources that you have highlighted and the example(s) of Illustration practice.  My essay will focus primarily on the sexualisation and objectification of women in advertising. My main points will be that advertising continues to advocate the following myths in terms of constructing our ideas of gender: 1.     Women are sexual objects - their only purpose is to please men sexually and be visually appealing. 2.     Men must be traditionally masculine; unfeeling, strong, muscular etc., and in control of women. 3.     Men are dominant and women are submissive, in all areas of life. 4.     'Sex sells' and sometimes rape too. Violence against women is okay. I will analyse each image based on things like their audience, context, history, aesthetic qualities etc. and then based on brief analyses start to incorporate quotes I find in my sources. I find, from having studied a lot of essay subjects at school, that I work best by keeping things separate at the beginning and then bringing it all together coherently. For example, here I'll analyse the images, then gather quotes from sources that I think could be useful for my arguments (since I know the themes I'm looking at in the essay), and then bring them together to form paragraphs. My conclusion is basically going to be my own opinion (in third person!!) on how advertising continues to advocate traditional gender stereotypes, but things are beginning to change. Some adverts don't portray traditional gender roles or even subvert them, and although a lot of them do use sex (naked women) to sell products, there's been a lot of backlash for this in recent years. I actually find that writing my introduction and conclusion first really helps. Writing the end first may seem a bit weird, but from my research I kind of know what I'm working towards and where I stand. I write a basic conclusion and then add in specifics relating to my essay body once I've finished it. Quite a few of my initial sources relate to magazines, where adverts often appear, and there are a couple on advertising specifically, but also feminist books on beauty and body image, which I've found useful quotes relating to general portrayal of women in the media or in real life.

First major crit!

I'll admit up to this point I hadn't done as much as I think I should have done. While I had a vague plan for my essay and the sort of direction I wanted to take the question in, I'd not thought too much about the specific content or points I would make, and had only briefly skimmed a couple of books and articles online.

However! After this crit I found a bit more direction.

2 of the people in my group didn't show up so it was just me, Bronte and Pete for the feedback sesh. Bronte has the same question as me, and although she wants to take it in a different direction, her feedback was still helpful.

I hadn't really spent that much time on Study Task 3 - the essay plan - mainly because I didn't really have that much idea how I would focus my essay or which points I would elaborate on! I also haven't spent much time researching yet or properly reading books and articles to back up my points. I also hadn't picked my 3 images to analyse (because there are SO MANY misogynistic adverts to choose from). I thought this session would help me narrow down the many directions I could take my arguments in, if I could just get some feedback and discuss my ideas (and it has).

The main helpful points Pete and Bronte gave me:

• I should pick one main image and two others which relate to it to back up my analysis and points relating to that one.
• As I'd already looked at Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' for Study Task 2, we all decided that it should be one of my primary sources to back up my points and image analysis.
• I definitely need to start reading some books over the Christmas break - I've already made a few trips to the library to make note of some books I could get out, for example: The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf.
• Maybe look at the male POV as well, or how men are portrayed in advertising and not just women.

From looking at my visual journal and some of the adverts I'd collected as possible contenders, I decided on these three:

I've decided to use the Dolce and Gabbana one as my main image, as it's very well known, and definitely portrays the submissive female/dominant male roles that are seen in a lot of media. The other two definitely portray the women as sexual objects and I can also use Berger's theories in my essay to analyse these. Although none of these images appear immediately to suggest male roles, they do all assume and suggest that men should be dominant and possessive of women, which is damaging to boys and men who grow up to see these roles portrayed for them, not only because of they way they are shown they should treat women, but also that if they are anything other than traditionally masculine (i.e. if they cry), they aren't real men.

Hey! I'm already getting some analysis done!

Points that I may make:

• Even female products are marketed at men - women are marketed at men, women are products/objects
• Adverts sell your values to you - i.e. 'I'm like that, I'll buy that!'

Bronte's crit sheet of my essay plans:

I appreciated her insight, but one point I don't think I'll elaborate on is the exploration of motherhood as a role for women presented in advertising. While it is sexist, I think I can write 3000 words exclusively on the sexual portrayal of women as objects, and that may be going off on a tangent too much.

Notes I made whilst listening:

Study Task 2 - Reading and Understanding a Text

For this task I chose John Berger's Ways of Seeing in relation to the question about gender and advertising.

Tone of voice:

Berger makes some good points throughout the piece about women being present as objects for the visual pleasure of men, but seems to suggest through his writing that women can't think for themselves and realise this. The tone of voice is quite patronising and there's an air of 'wannabe-knight-in-shining-armour', in that he assumes by telling women this he is freeing them from their fate. We must consider his authority on writing about this subject as a man himself, and also the context - being written in 1972, women are still in the early stages of liberation.

5 key points:

• Women are conditioned to objectify themselves and view themselves as men see them.
• Women in nude portraits are painted by men, for men, and are never shown enjoying their own nakedness because their sexuality is not for them to enjoy and embrace.
• Non-European art is not so sexist - women are as active as men in depictions of love and sex.
• Nakedness and nudity are different - a naked body has to be objectified to become a nude. Nudity equals a display.
• Photos in porn magazines represent these paintings too - their expressions are aimed at a male viewer, seductive yet not pleasured.

5 key quotes:

• "From earliest childhood, she has been taught and persuaded to survey herself continually."
• "Men act and women appear. Men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at."
• "You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure."
• To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude."
• "The 'ideal' spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him."

In Berger's (1972) analysis of classical European painting, he suggests that women are conditioned from a young age to "watch themselves being looked at" and view themselves as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. This can be translated to much of modern media today, particularly the use of women's bodies in advertising. Berger suggests that the depiction of women in these paintings as nude is solely for men, the "ideal spectator", and therefore ideal consumer, as they are never shown through body language or facial expression to be enjoying their own nakedness. He also points out that there is a difference between nudity and nakedness, as a naked body must be objectified and dehumanised in order to become a 'nude'. This is evident across many advertisements in the last 30 years, as advertisers pander to male wants and needs by using images of naked female bodies depicted for their pleasure in order to entice them into buying products. Although Berger's theories can be applied even now, forty years on, and in particular to modern media including advertisements and pornography, we must consider the context of the time in which he was writing. Female liberation was (and by some accounts, still is) in its early stages and there is a patronising air to his writing, that insinuates a 'hero complex', by which Berger believes his writing will 'save' women from their destiny to be sexual objects and visual pleasures to men.

(I'm not entirely sure if I've done this task right? It said to summarise the 5 points and quotes but I've tried to link it to my own essay in order to gain some starting ground!)

Study Task 1 Image Analysis

The first image is an 1876 advertisement for an American cooking range, while the second image, a diptych, is a 1930 advertisement for new transport links in East Africa.

The first thing I noted when comparing the two images is that they both resemble propaganda, rather than advertising. They are both very biased to Western values - the only difference being the overly patriotic theme to the 'Uncle Sam range' advert, while the transport advert focuses more on general Western (white) values. The reason I point this out is that in the first image, there is a small black boy taking food out of the range, who I can only assume is a slave, and similarly in the second image, the native African people are represented as angry and savage. Also notably in the second half of the diptych, the white man is stood tall in the foreground while black 'workers' (slaves) are hunched over and visually represented as being lower than the white man.

Both images promote new technology, as both are adverts for it, being different kinds of technology. The first image promotes new technology as progress, if we note the dates on the clock (1776-1876). 1776 is when the American Declaration of Independence was signed, and 1876 being the present date at the time, but interestingly the American civil war (largely about slave ownership rights) took place during this time. This advert therefore encourages a sense of unity, particularly by having 'Uncle Sam' (America), 'West', 'Dixie' (South America) and 'England' sat around the table together.

That brings me on to my next point about the propaganda style. Both images are aimed at a middle class audience, to suggest that if they buy or invest in these products their lives will be improved. In the first image, it is suggested that buying the range will make you more patriotic (the wallpaper/curtains etc. are all in the American flag colours), or even unpatriotic if you don't buy it, and don't they want to be like the happy family in the illustration? The second image also suggest this, as going back to my earlier point, wouldn't they rather be like the white man than the 'dirty, savage' natives?

The adverts are both very patriarchal, as society still was at these points in history. The first image shows the male personification of America handling the finances at the head of the table, while what we can assume is his wife is serving food in the background. At this point women wouldn't have done the cooking in an upper class family, as it would have been handled by slaves or other workers. Similarly in the second image, there are no women in the second half of the diptych, and the only ones in the first half are the native women. The advert suggests that women wouldn't want to come to a place where there are such people, even if there are great transport links.

These images are still relevant today, as advertisers still aim their products at similar markets, although now are less racist and sexist (although these are not extinct), and we in the West still believe we are improving the lives of people in other countries by imposing our values and way of life onto them, even though they may not always see it that way.

OUIL401 Preparatory Task

Historical
Definition: Of or concerning history or past events. 
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." - Edmund Burke 

People have been drawing since the beginning, to communicate ideas and with each other. Art has always been a huge part of any society, whether people realise it or not.

Considering this happened a century ago, there still exists a lot of sexism in the world today, even in 'first-world' societies like England. History can and does repeat itself.





Social
Definition: Relating to society or its organisation. 
"In a society that has destroyed all adventure, the only adventure left is to destroy that society." - Unknown

Social media is actually anti-social. No-one connects face-to-face anymore. Society is becoming digitized.

It's awful that poverty is still so common today, especially in our society which is considered one of the best in the world. Why is this happening? We are conditioned to ignore it - to look away.





Political
Definition: Of or relating to the government or public affairs of a country. 
"Diapers and politicians should be changed often, and for the same reason." - Mark Twain

I think this image pretty much speaks for itself.

 This photo was taken in 2011 at protests against education reform in Colombia. It shows the effect of politics on both sides of the line; police and civilians. People still have humanity even though politicians repeatedly try to crush it.





Cultural
Definition: Relating to the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a society. 
"Culture is the intersection of people and life itself. It's how we deal with life, love, death, birth, disappointment... all of that is expressed in culture." - Wendell Pierce

Pop culture, consumerism, capitalism. Everyone is obsessed with things and owning brand names etc.



 

On one hand, I like selfie culture because anyone can take a picture of the sky and there'll bethousands of pictures that look the same, whereas only you can document your memories and your friends and those pictures will never be the same as anyone else's. However, a more cynical view is that nowadays everyone is only connected by social media and face-to-face communication barely exists anymore - social media is actually anti-social. Similar to technology/society.

Technological
Definition: Something that's based in science and applied to every-day life to solve problems.
"Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master." - Christian Lous Lange

Similarly to my perception of culture and society, this image shows how plugged in to technology we are and how reliant on it we are. Is it dangerous to be so attached?