Seeing ourselves in media

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Ask yourself before we begin our discussion:
◦ Who has the power?
◦ Who is dominant and who is subordinate?
◦ Are there parallels between how minorities and women are portrayed in media?

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Media often use codes and conventions that represent people in stereotypical ways to suit their needs.
Keep it simple to convey their ideas and actions to the audience better, then showing the real complexities of life
◦ Ex: 30 min sitcoms require that the conflict is resolved before the show ends
Will use stock characters
◦ Over protective mothers, bumbling fathers, and problematic teenagers

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How the media tell our stories says a great deal about our values as well as our hidden desires and fears.
◦ Ex: our concern for law and order is reflected in tv shows that feature lawyers exposing shady deals and injustices. OR Forensic shows give us faith that science will find the answers
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Media also feeds on our love for visual images by showcasing the current hot actors and models who personify the ideal body type

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To be successful, media professionals must know how to please their audiences. (Hence the use of predictable ways of communicating, such as stereotypes and formulas)
BUT, these methods are not foolproof, and producers gauge their success by box office receipts or TV ratings or magazine subscriptions
It is the consumer who ultimately holds the key to the media’s power, and has the influence to change the representations we see.

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Other than for highly publicized events such as the coverage of a world crisis, the
Academy Awards, or the Super Bowl, a single media audience does not exist.
Instead there are dozens of smaller audiences making different media choices all the time. (target audiences)
Target audiences are what advertisers focus on.
On a more personal level, each of us makes sense of media messages in our own ways, influenced by our gender, ethnic background, class, age, and other factors special to each of us.

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We are exposed to gender representations since childhood – in bedtime stories,
Saturday morning cartoons, advertising, and films.
While we are led to believe what we see is the “norm” and accurate, producers are really constructing a product to reflect certain values, styles and ideologies.

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To what degree do media representations help to shape our perceptions of ourselves and others?
Consider how much time we spend with media verses our families who used to be the provider of our values, morals and ideals.

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It is suggested that the goal of advertising is to convince you to buy a product or accept a message, but it also plays a role in shaping attitudes and perceptions about ourselves and the world around us.
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Ultimately we are being shaped into being a consumer of products by big corporations
And/Or we are being shaped to change our values to fit the vision put forward for us by the powerful and rich in society (he who has the money, can influence the most, is not always
true but more often then not it is the case)

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The following are six codes and conventions often used in the portrayal of men and women in advertising:
◦ Superiority and Dominance
◦ Dismemberment
◦ Clowning and Exaggeration
◦ Male Approval
◦ The Voice-Over of Authority
◦ Irrelevant Sexualization of Women and Girls

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See wiki for videos to support todays
PowerPoint lesson
◦ Dove Real beauty video
◦ Missrepresentation trailer
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Can we ever hope to change this?
◦ TED talk
◦ Ellen Bic Pen for women