Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Representation

The charcters representations are as follows:

Walter Neff is represented as flirty and shows that he likes Ms Dietrichson. This is shown a couple of times; when he goes to her house lookin for her husband and see's her half dressed and when he calls her 'baby' etc. Also it shows that that the lady in the text who is Phillis Dietrichson is in control of Walter Neff and this is shown when she says 'Suppose you let me off with a warning, officer'. She acts like he is the police and shes the culprit. It shows that he can not control her.

Phyllis Dietrichson is represented as sexually objectified and an object of male desire. This is shown because in the beggining of the text its shows how shes half dressed which connotes that its quite seductive. Shes comes across as weak and vulnerable 'he keeps me on a leash so tight I can'y breathe'. Also she is quite flirtacious and this is shown when she comes out to see Neff, she is half dressed and also metions it and her posture when she sits down on the chair. The colour of her clothes change from white to black and she wears low cut blouse which objectified when we see her feet and legs as she comes down the stairs.

Questions

The difference between sex and gender is that sex is biological and gender is socially constructed. This is because in western societies, males are expected to be active, competitive, domineering and authoritative. Women are expected to be passive, co-operative, submissive and caring.

Gender is a way of subordinating women because the mass media promote the ideology that women exist mostly for men to look at, as women are usually over sexualised. There is also an ideology of women having roles of being a housewives, this is seen in advertisements: such as, a women is cooking and she is positioned below the man this therefore suggests that women are alternative and men are dominant.

Gender can have a negative impact on men because the mass media promotes the ideology that men are portrayed to be active, competitive, domineering and authoritative. This therefore stresses men to act and look in a certain way and if they do not behave or look in how a stereotypical man should be than they are pointed at and are therefore not considered as a man.

Ashes to ashes is misogynistic and this is shown a lot of times for example, in the police station there are all males working and there is one female working and they treat her like a servant. Also the part where Gene Hunt sasy 'Blimey, if that skirt was hitched any higher I could see what you had for breakfast'. This shows that he thinks women are sex objects and this is implied frequently throughout the text.

Doghouse represent women in the first half of the film as dominant towards men, as they are treated as sexual objects this therefore encourages men to be portrayed as misogynistic. As Neil (Danny Dyer) is misogynistic in the film as he forgets the names of women he's slept with. This shows that the men treat women as sexual objects and that they are worth nothing- that they come and go. In the second half of the film women are represented as alternative however they take revenge from the men and they are dressed in revealing cloths. This makes the friends afraid that they are going to get killed by the females so they try to run away from the females. This therefore shows that women are seen as alternative as they are not stereotypically portrayed to be stronger than men.

A patriarchal society is a society dominated by males. I don't think we live in a patriarchal society because there are some places where women are dominating men.

Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory argues that audiences look at films in two ways- voyeuristically and fetishistically. Cinema audiences watch a film without being watched by the characters on screen and usually in a darkened cinema so other audience members do not observe them either. Therefore they are almost voyeurs, watching the people on screen. This can lead to two effects:
Objectification of female characters in relation to this controlling (male) gaze
Narcissistic identification with an ideal image seen onscreen
Also Laura Maulvey says that female characters must be glamorous and attractive but are there only in supporting roles (the princess according to prop) and therefore are on screen as ‘eye candy’ to appease the male gaze of the (male audience)

Judith Butler believes that people are able to manipulate gender boundaries. This means that we as individuals can choose what gender we want to be, whether to be traditional (heterosexual) or not. Also she says that gender is not some inner truth but the presence of received meaning. And gender is not fixed but constructed. For example, music artists who often construct complex gender ideologies as part of their image –Modonna has constructed images which are expressly feminine, overtly masculine and less extreme over her career. Also Eddie Izzard and David Beckham both use feminine gender identity at times as part of their image, presenting less conventional ideologies to their audience. To change gender Sigourney Weaver shaved her head completely and was filmed in a far more male.

David Gauntlet believes that the expectations of gender today are flexible (girl power). This means that gender roles are more complex, as he points out that female role models today are often glamorous as well as successful (ally McBeal) in a way that previously they were not. This has all happened because of girl power as identities have been made through music artists such as destiny child as well as contemporary actresses.

Femme fatale is a woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. This type of character was first seen in the film ‘Noir’.

In the TV programme ‘Desperate Housewives’ there is a dominant and alternative ideology presented of females. Bree is a housewife and mother; this makes her to be represented as dominant as females are stereotypically seen to be housewives, as well as mothers. She is damaged, imperfect woman who will stop at nothing to protect her family and friends. This reflects back at her ethnicity being white Christian. Gabby is a beauty queen who wears revealing cloths and is a sexual object for everyone. She knows exactly what she wants in life and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. This represents a dominant ideology of female as they are seen to be beautiful, portrayed as a sex object etc. Gaby's husband Carlos provided her with a luxurious lifestyle as he is a rich business man. This portrays a dominant ideology of men as they are stereotypically seen to be rich businessmen etc.