TO WHAT EXTENT HAS THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY HOLLYWOOD FILMS CHANGED FOR THE BETTER, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO‘ THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA’?
No matter the methods, in this celebrity-worshipping, media-saturated age, concentration-camp chic is getting seared into our consciousness like an ahi tuna salad, hold the dressing and the fish.
A 1991 study found 42 percent of first-to third-grade girls wanted to be thinner, while 81 percent of 10-year-olds were afraid of being fat. The data is 15 years old, said Lynn Grefe, executive director of the National Eating Disorders Association, but the aversion to fat has likely only gotten more exaggerated.
''Everybody has been brainwashed. I grew up with me mother talking about Marilyn Monroe, and I thought it was ok to be shapely and curvy,'' Grefe said. ''Young people now are scared of ay fat''
The Devil Wears Prada promotes the issue of the size 0 as Andy the protagonist is the average size and is still considered as being fat. Furthermore the character of Emile who is slim is on the mission of losing more weight for the fashion event being held in Paris and all she eats is salads and lo fat food. However and the end Andy is the one that gets to go on the trip instead of Emile this could suggest that the film is promoting the idea that you don’t need to be a size 0 to achieve success passing the idea onto the audience suggesting that they don’t need to be a size 0 to look great or appealing.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA star Anne Hathaway has slammed Hollywood executives for encouraging the size zero culture, insisting actresses should not be forced to slim down for roles.
The 24-year-old, who is completely satisfied with her curvaceous figure, has turned down acting parts in the past because she objects to directors putting pressure on her to lose weight.
She says, "It's completely understandable as a teenager to fret about your body. It's scary because you don't know how it's going to wind up. But I'm not a teenager any more; my body's chosen its shape.
"I'd rather be strong than skinny for most roles. I'm not a size zero, and I've had directors say to me, 'You're the best actress for the role, but you've put on weight recently.' If people can't understand you've put on five pounds (2.27 kilograms), I don't want to deal with them."
1920s This period bought in change in the social reform of women in the United States. Women were legislated the right to vote due to the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution. This led to women’s suffrage movement helping women to escape from the out dated way of living. These changes didn’t only give women new rights but it also gave a new sense of freedom. During this time in the media women’s new role was portrayed in movies particularly by a new industry called motion pictures. “The motion picture industry not only depicted what as going on in the lives of women at the time; it also trained women in new fashions and social roles that were being promoted at the time” (Women, Film and the 1920s).
"Movies during the 1920s depicted what a new “modern” woman should be and served as an instructional manual for young women of the time” (Women, Film and the 1920s). Young women of the 1920s looked, dressed, and acted different than their conservative Victorian mothers after viewing popular movie stars of their era (Women, Film and the 1920s). Women began to move away from classic long hair and conservatively dressed appearance. Short “bobs” became a popular hairstyle with women along with wearing make up to appear more attractive (Women, Film and the 1920s). Women began to dress more revealing by shortening their skirts and dresses. One actress, Gloria Swanson, was a strong influence on this fashion change. She appears in several movies wearing a skirt cut just above the knee, a look that she helped make popular during this period. Movie stars, like Swanson, became the idols of many women, causing them to copy their style. Along with Gloria Swanson, actresses such as Clara Bow, also had short hair and wore heavy make up. “Women now sought to use cosmetics to recreate the faces of the celebrities of the films”(Women, Film and the 1920s). Because movies were so popular amongst women in the 1920s, they were the ones being directly targeted. “A Photoplay article in 1924 suggests that 75 percent of the audiences were women, and in 1927 Moving Pictures World stated that 83 percent of the audiences were women” (Studlar). The movies portrayed these women as glamorous beauties with newly formed fashions and lifestyles. The photos of the two actresses give off the idea that these women are independent, attractive, and stylish.
Women in the movies of the 1920s demonstrated how a modern woman should behave. Women in the movies were seen as progressive individuals with far more independence. This behaviour impacted women of the 1920s, and they wanted to be like their favourite movie stars. This was true even before talking films were made. For example, the movies depicted new freedoms for women such as drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes in public, dancing more provocatively, and going into the workforce (Women, Film and the 1920s). These new carefree women were often refereed to as “Flappers.” You would find images of Flappers in the silent films of the 1920s. Notice the woman has shorter hair and a shorter dress for this period. We can see from the images seen in movies from the 1920s that the Flappers were smoking and drinking in public to prove that they no longer had to be proper; they were challenging traditional moral standards, just like the movie stars. New dances were also invented to better suit the progressive women. Women in the movies performed these dances, such as the Charleston, and the women viewers quickly jumped on board. Women in the 1920s were also portrayed in movies as moving into the workforce. Actresses were seen playing roles such as secretaries, sales clerks, and typists. “The American Film Institute Catalog lists 49 sale clerks, 28 stenographers, and no less than 114 secretaries who appeared on the screen between 1921 and 1930. These films tended to glorify these professions…” (Women, Film and the 1920s). Women who saw these movies were influenced; they found new confidence to seek careers of their own and gained financial independence. The movie, "Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl" (1926), demonstrated just this. In the movie the woman worked her way up from having a factory job, to being a telephone operator, to becoming a model and lastly become a fashion designer. From a historical perspective this was a positive influence of movies in the 1920s because they encouraged women to become independent and successful for themselves. This era of movies was one that brought women into a new light, portraying them as independent, unique individuals, and inspiring them to become more independent and glamorous.
1940s This era brought a closing to World War II. Men were returning home to their wives, and starting families. “After four years of wartime instability, both women and men seemed to want to return to a patriarchal order, with women in the home” (Banner 137). During the 40’s and 50’s, women stayed at home with the family while men in most cases were the wage earners. This stereotypical image was also presented by the media, in particular the movies. “The women who were featured were limited to family roles. Women were shown doing housework and men were the beneficiaries of their work. On the other hand, men were employed, had careers, and were doing something outside the home” (Stupor). For example, the movie "Picnic" made in 1956 involves a schoolteacher who is desperate for marriage so that she can feel secure with a man. The female in the film is portrayed as weak because it is implied that she is not capable of being independent and needs a man to allow her to feel secure with herself. Many women of that time felt just like the woman in the film. The media and movie influence was that marriage should be a priority, and that caring for the family came along with the marriage.
1950s “Many have claimed that pictures in the 1950s reaffirmed male dominance and female subservience, that women's roles were confined to sex role stereotypes of pretty, amusing or child-like” (Rose). Male dominance in movies reinforced male dominance in real life. For example, in the movie, "The African Queen", a woman missionary, played by Katherine Hepburn, in Africa during WWI is force to leave her base after her village is destroyed. She runs into a male Canadian supplier, played by Humphrey Bogart, who offers to guide her to civilization, but she wants to travel down the river to sink a German cruiser instead (Reel Classics). The male is the dominant character, and refuses to let her go through with such a dangerous procedure. This movie sends the message that women should not be independent, should not lead, and cannot be successful without the help of a man.
As you can see, there is obvious danger in the background while the man is rescuing the beautiful woman. This example of male dominance was common in the movies and imitated by society during this era. As a result, women during this time were mainly housewives and lacked motivation to go into the workforce. The media, especially movies, reinforced the message to women that they should be highly dependent on the male. During this era, it seems that the depiction of women in the movies slowed the pace of progress and returned them to a more conservative role.
Present In the era we live in today with the increasing popularity of movies and availability of movies at home, the way that women are portrayed in the media and movies continue to have a significant impact on roles, fashion, and behavior. Women today are generally portrayed in a variety of roles ranging from “sex objects” to dominators, often in the same movie. Additionally, women today are being portrayed as serious professional women. For example, in the movie "Tomb Raider", Angelina Jolie is on a mission to retrieve an ancient metallic triangle that found in a tomb chamber, the typical action movie. However, the plot synopsis, when describing Jolie’s character, says otherwise.
“She is everything you could wish her to be – cool, but oh so hot and totally in control, ready to save the universe. Her soft whimsical sighs reinforce her femininity and vulnerability. She is her own woman: sexy, confident, a dare devil and a tomboy but still a lady, in essence as well as name. And Angelina Jolie embodies the cartoon-like character with curvaceous abandon and extraordinary grace, athleticism, style and charisma. She is fabulous to watch – sexy, sassy and without question, all woman” (IMDb).
The media is unveiling the message to the viewers that the woman in this movie is sexually appealing, and therefore will get more viewers. Women, who see the movie or read the synopsis, get the impression that they must be “sexy” and “feminine” regardless of any circumstance.
In opposition of this claim, in our era there are also movies that show women as real people, not sex objects. For example, in the movie "The Silence of the Lambs", the main female character, Clarice Starling, is portrayed very differently from the Angelina Jolie’s character in "Tomb Raider." “She is intelligent, independent, career-oriented, and has an engaging personality. Furthermore, the film lacks a conventional romantic subplot even though it establishes the expectation of one when Starling is assigned to work with an older male agent” (229). In the movie, she rejects any male passes, wears conservative apparel, and is very successful in her career. A movie such as this one sends women the message that it is acceptable to be a serious professional focused on your work without having to be glamorous or sexy to achieve their goals.
One issue with today’s movies is the increasing pressure on women to be thin, because most female movie stars appear that way. It is very rare that we see women in the movies appear as “normal size.” This may be why the majority of women who compare themselves to the thin movie stars they see in the movies are not happy with their body image. Actresses such as Jennifer Aniston and Mischa Barton are prime examples. Because of this, eating disorders have become common in young women today. “Research suggests that about one percent (1%) of female adolescents have anorexia. That means that about one out of every one hundred young women between ten and twenty are starving themselves, sometimes to death” (ANRED). This has in my opinion had an extremely negative impact on young women of today. Movies in the present era have shown women to be both progressive and independent, yet still in a sense, inferior to men.
There are 39 film festivals solely dedicated to showing the work of women directors throughout the world. -Women in the Director's Chair
Twenty one percent (21%) of the top 250 domestic grossing films released in 2007 employed no women directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, or editors—a 2% increase since 2006. None of these films failed to employ a man in at least one of these roles. -Celluloid Ceiling 2007 Report
Women accounted for 6% of directors of the top 250 domestic grossing films released in 2007, a decline of 1% since 2006. This figure is approximately half the percentage of women directors working in 2000 when women accounted for 11% of all directors. -Celluloid Ceiling 2007 Report
A historical comparison of women’s employment on the top 250 films in 2007 and 1998 reveals that the percentage of women in all behind-the-scenes roles (directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors and cinematagraphers) has declined. -Celluloid Ceiling 2007 Report
Women accounted for 10% of writers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2007. Eighty two percent (82%) of the films had no female writers. -Celluloid Ceiling 2007 Report
In Academy Award history, only three female filmmakers have been nominated for best director award (Lina Wertmuller in 1977, Jane Campion in 1994, and Sofia Coppola in 2004), but none have won. -Women's E-News
Men write 70% and women 30% of all film reviews published in the nation’s top newspapers. -Thumbs Down Report
Forty seven percent (47%) of the nation’s top newspapers do not include film reviews written by women, whereas only 12% do not include film reviews written by men. -Thumbs Down Report
On average, films employing at least one woman as director, executive producer, producer, or writer earned slightly higher opening weekend U.S. box office grosses ($27.1 vs. 24.6 million) than films with only men in these roles.
On average, films employing at least one woman as director, executive producer, producer, or writer grossed approximately the same at domestic box offices ($82.1 vs. $81.9 million) as films with only men in these roles. Facts About Women Make Movies
WMM has more than 500 films in its collection, representing more than 400 filmmakers from nearly 30 countries around the globe.
In the last decade, WMM has worked with dozens of local women’s organizations in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to support new International Women’s Film Festivals.
Projects that WMM has supported and distributed have been nominated for and won all of the most prestigious media awards, including the Academy Award, Emmy Award, Peabody Award, and the duPont-Columbia University Broadcast Award, among others.
WMM now sponsors more than 200 projects in its renowned Production Assistance Program, and has helped filmmakers raise close to $4 million in funding over the last 5 years.
WMM has returned more than $1.5 million in royalties to women filmmakers over the last three years.
WMM serves as an advisor to pioneering projects around the world including: the Gender Montage Project which trains filmmakers in the former Soviet Republics; and a groundbreaking program developed to promote filmmaking in Iraq.
WMM films have been aired by major broadcasters around the world, including HBO/Cinemax, PBS, Sundance Channel, IFC and international broadcasters such as ZDF, Arte, KBS Korea and TV Globo Brazil.
Male Gaze- term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay ‘Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema’ (1975) to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience. Mulvey viewed the practice of the camera lingering on women’s bodies as evidence that women were being viewed as sex objects for the gratification of men. She argued that the central active characters in the film are male and that the male audience identifies with them in their viewing of the passive females. Women in the audience are also positioned by the narrative to identify with the male gaze and see the world through male eyes. The term Male gaze could be used in my essay because the character of Andy in the film is objectified and there is a camera shot used in the film that pan up and down the protagonist showing that she is being objectified.
Feminism- Political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social constructions and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women and favour men. The movement emerged from the liberation culture of the 1960s, although individual feminist argued for women’s rights from a much earlier time. Feminism has provided an important perspective for the critique of media products, especially from the standpoint of representation, and has sought to challenge dominant ideologies which reinforce patriarchal values. The Devil Wears Prada includes aspects which disadvantage women and favour men as Andy has to choose from her career or her boyfriend.
Protagonist- the leading character or hero in a film with whom the audience can identify and from whose point of view the action is positioned often set in binary opposition against the antagonist. The film has Andy as the protagonist whom we being the audience can identify with.
Binary Oppositions- a term used by Claude Levi-Strauss as part of his argument that narratives are structured around oppositional elements in human culture, for example, good and evil, life and death, night and day, raw and cooked. There is also binary opposition used in the film where Miranda Priestly is in a superior position and Andy is in a inferior position.
Mise en scène- the arrangement by a film maker of everything that is to be included in a shot or frame. Including props, lighting, actors, characters, poisoning and other technical elements which contribute to the look of the scene and create its distinctive quality and unity. The mise en scène used in the film could be analysed and be linked to the representation of women an example could be that Andy wearing designer clothes show that she needs to look sexy in order to appeal to men.
Active Audience Theory- any of various theories of audience behaviour that see the audience as active participants in the process of decoding and making sense of media texts. A proportion of the audience would not take the representation as being the reality and would know that the film has been mediated.
Representation- the process whereby the media construct versions of people, places and events in images, words or sound for transmission though media texts to an audience. Representations provide models of how we see gender, social groups, individuals and aspects of the world we all inhabit. They are ideological in that they are constructed within a framework of values and beliefs. Representations are therefore mediated and reflect the value systems of their sources. No representation is ever real, only a version of the real. I will be discussing the representation of women in the film, how it has changed throughout the years and how it links to the modern society.
Stereotype- the social classification of a group of people by identifying common characteristics and universally applying them in an often oversimplified and generalised way, such that the classification represents value judgements and assumptions about the group concerned. The stereotype of women should be concentrating of their family life rather than their career is reinforced in the film.
Hypodermic Needle Theory- early attempt in the 1930s and 1940s to explain the effects media texts have on audiences. Based on the assumed ‘passive’ nature of a mass audience, the theory argues that consumption of media texts is like the injection of a drug and that the audiences’ behaviour and opinions are therefore directly affected. Another proportion of the audience inject what they are seeing in the film and take it to be the reality not thinking that the film has been mediated.
Narrative Theory- a type of thinking that seeks to explain narrative structures and their relationship to wider cultural and genre-related factors. I will be looking at this because I will be including the different narrative theories.
Definition: Representation is the mediated versions of people, in this case woman, in the form of a re-presentation.
Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the 'cage' of identity) - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the text but also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities are also differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. Consider, for instance, the issue of 'the gaze'. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?
Feminism is the response to society’s assumptions that women should be subservient to men. Until the emergence of feminism, women were treated almost as objects, passive agents in the male world (PATRIACHAL WORLD)
Media Representations ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is a film that is most famous for the representation of women in the film and also the representation of the fashion industry. There are different types of representations when talking about the representation of women in the film. We have women represented as strong and superior like as Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) however this is how she is seen from the outside where as she is actually quite weak and feeble as we later discover in the film. On the other hand we see the presentation of Andy (Anne Hathaway) who is seen to be helpless and vulnerable later adapting herself to the expectations that are attached to her showing the strength she has in the inside which she brings out later when she was provoked to do so.
The generalisation that could be made about the portrayal of women in the film is that no matter how much career orientated women become there will always be a point in life where they have to decide to pursue their career or their personal life. Miranda in the film makes comment that could be applied to women in general and make them think ‘people think that success just happens to you… it doesn’t… want this life (success)… the decision is yours’.The issue of the glass ceiling is raised in this film and this subject is presented accurately as in many cases this idea of the glass ceiling have been raised in real life situations for many women. Andy in the film can’t balance both her personal and professional life one always becomes an obstacle for another ‘my personal life is hanging by a threat’ Nigel her colleague replies to this comment by saying ‘that’s what happens when you start doing well at work…I mean all your life starts going up in smoke… It means that there is time for a promotion’ the meaning that is being picked out of the film is quite literally being said that when women have problems in their personal life it is due to them doing well at work. He also adds that when your life goes up in smoke it means that it is time for a promotion suggesting that you need to destroy your personal life in order to pursue your professional life.
There is also a representation of the fashion industry as being ruthless and mainly accepting women who are a size 0 however taking on Andy in Miranda’s runway was an exception because she was seen as a strong and ambitious women as Miranda says ‘I thought take a chance... hire the smart fat girl’. However she was looked down on because of her appearance as Nigel says ‘who’s that sad little person’ which shows that the fashion industry thinks that appearance is the primary factor in women.
Genre The Genre which ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ belongs to is the Comedy and Drama genre, the conventions of this genre would be to provide momentary escape from day to day life and this film tends to do that and they usually end with a happy ending which this film does as she goes with her boyfriend although she has sacrificed her career to be with her boyfriend. The character of Andy is generically determined she may not be there to give the film a comic relief but she may be seen as the character that does that by her personality but before she changes her appearance. Miranda Priestley is a character which the audience can laugh at because of the sarcastic comments she implies. For example there is a really bad storm and her fight home is cancelled leading to no flights flying out and expects to get home no matter what happens she also calls the heavy storms ‘drizzling’.
Media Values and Ideology The main values that are presented in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ are that personal life is valued the most. When thinking about the values presented of the fashion industry in the film then all that is important is being a size 0 and having to be wearing the latest clothes.
Patriarchal ideology is being submitted in the film although the film portrays a strong woman fulfilling her dreams and the end she has to give up her career in order to be with her boyfriend, this shows the victory of the man which means it is the victory of patriarchy.
Positive Feminist ideology is another form which is used in the film this is shown when Andy has got a job in the most famous fashion magazine whilst her boyfriend is working as a chef at a restaurant showing the different job status with Andy having a better job.
Heterosexual ideology is conveyed in the film as the film only include opposite gender couple romancing and making love.
Media Audiences The primary target audience for the film is young women who are 20-30 years old who are career orientated because they can associate themselves and see themselves in Andy’s situation with their busy lives. The secondary target audience for the film would be a much younger audience aged 12-19 years who watch the film to gain escapism and be inspired to pursue a life like Andy’s.
Furthermore the film is generally aimed at women because the main focus of the film is on Andy as she is vulnerable to situations that only women can relate to because many women experience similar restrictions in work life which enables the audience to personally identify with the protagonist.
Men would possibly also watch the film and most of them who have a patriarchal view would be pleased to see that women are still prioritising their personal lives over their profession, people who like to view things in this view would be seen as traditionalists who want things to stay the same and don’t want women to come up. Men with a patriarchal perspective would see women who want to give women more importance and opportunities as rebels who wish to re-make the world in their image when they are innovators who wish to make their mark.
Feminism has been a recognised social philosophy for more than thirty years, and the changes that have occurred in women's roles in western. Yet media representations of women remain worryingly constant. Does this reflect that the status of women has not really changed or that the male-dominated media does not want to accept it has changed? Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:
beauty (within narrow conventions)
size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
sexuality (as expressed by the above)
emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)
The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to society’s expectations, and characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant.
Discussions of women's representation in the media tend to revolve around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other values, the lack of powerful female role models, and the extremely artificial nature of such portrayals, which bear little or no relation to the reality experience by women across the planet.
The problem is not that these women work in fashion - it's that they work, full stop. And this is what movies about the fashion industry always do: they make fun of or punish - or both - women devoted to a job they enjoy.
But besides the unacceptable idea of women working, there is the added crime that they work in an industry run, very successfully, by other women. Hence, fashion journalists in movies are depicted as childish, sniping about one another's weight and clothes. But fashion journalism is a multimillion-dollar industry and one that would be very hard to keep afloat if the editors sat around all day fretting about whether they're a size six or four.
Women are being underrepresented in the media
as sex objects
as subordinate to men reinforcing a patriarchal society.
Positive stereotypes:
Women being more independent
Women try harder at education than men
Negative stereotypes:
Women belonging in the home
Housewives
Femme fatale
Only men could do physical jobs such as mechanics
Changing stereotypes
Women becoming more independent, active and self reliant
Women no longer stereotyped as housewives
Women playing as well and as much as men in sports such as football
The feminist revolution The women’s movements didn’t suddenly arrive. Since the days of the suffragettes an increasing number of women had seen the need for equality with men.
Representation and stereotyping of women in the media Feminist believe that the media is a contributory factor in perpetuating a narrow range of stereotyped images of women. For instance, women are always based in the home, they are inferior to men, they like men who are violent.
Film was one area of the media that could become a battlefield for the women’s movement. Film would be used as an ideological tool, which would counteract the stereotyped images of women presented by the male dominated media and raise women’s awareness of their inferior position in patriarchal society.
History of women in the media In the late nineteenth century women were excluded from the film making process, during this time women did work in non technical areas such as being the make-up artist or production assistants. The early women film makers were in France and America and were none in Britain. The first women director was Alice Guy Blanchè from France who made her first one minute short film programs called The Good Fairy in the Cabbage Patch in 1896 after working 11 years in France she moved to America and found that there were greater opportunities in America.
Kaplan (1983) - She comes up with an answer that opens a door for readings. She shows that women are not necessarily portrayed as an object of gaze; it is men who act on the desiring gaze. Both men and women can adopt dominant and submissive roles. She then goes on to explain ‘understanding our socialisation in patriarchy’. Women are constructed cinematically and this reading refuses to accept the naturalising process of patriarchal socialisation.
Linda Williams (1984) - ‘when the women looks’ (when the women became dominant) she usually pays for it often with her life. The Women’s Gaze is punished by narrative a process that transforms curiosity and desire into masochistic fantasy. So this ability to switch roles is not necessarily fortunate, it is potentially dangerous.
Thelma and Louise (1991) – was seen as a feminist film. Although a more cynical analysis of the film reveals that the women are filmed quite conventionally as objects of ‘the look’.
Patriarchy – ideas that support and justify male dominance Laura Mulvey- Mulvey claims that there are two ways in which the audience looks at films and that is:
Voyeuristically
Fetishistically
Audiences who watch people on screen are voyeurs. This can lead to two effects: -Objectification- female characters controlling male gaze and human characteristics being taken from them. -Narcissistic identification-having an ideal image on screen
Gauntlett- argues that the media reflects the difficulty experienced in modern society and that is that gender roles are more complex. The female’s role models today are often glamorous as well as successful. He argues that this is due to the ‘rise in girl power’The reason women are represented poorly is due to lack of females in higher positions. Media is male dominated as a result woman are represented from their point of view.Film in particular sees women in an active role however they are being shown as eye candy and objectified.
Naomie Harris “Film is such a male dominated industry”
Men are in every level making it harder for women to get their feet in the door
The way of working makes it difficult for women to succeed in the business.
The responsibly of caring for a child and working in the media could be a lot of work to handle.
Women are better organisers (producers) and males are more creative (directors)
The role of a director is equivalent to raising a family
Films have expensive and advanced equipment and so males understanding how and when to use it
Being charge of 10 to 150 large men with heavy equipment is best carried out by a male
When women just has a child, its easy for them to go back to being a producer, however its harder if you’re a director
Gunter (1995)-In the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, only 20% to 35% of characters were female. By mid 1980’s, women were in more leading roles but still there were twice as many men that women on television.
Gunter (1970’s)-Found that marriage, parenthood and domesticity were shown on television to be more important for women.
McNeil (1975)-Women’s movement had been largely ignored by television with married housewives being the main female role.He also found men to be dominant characters and the decision makers on TV. Men were more assertive (aggressive) and women more passive.
Gaye Tuchman (1978)-He argued that women were underrepresented in media fictional life. A term he sued to describe this was symbolically annihilated.
Gillian Dyer (1987)-Television was increasingly taken women seriously and there are a number of programmes that feature women in a more central role.
Rosen (1973)-The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction
89% of adverts used a male voiceover
Men were twice more likely than women to appear in adverts for non-domestic products.
Housewife images began to decline slowly after the 1950’s
Greer (1999)-Much more pressure was put on women to impress with make up, high heels and wonder bras.
Walter (1998)-Attractive people earn more than their plain colleagues.
As Jonathan Schroeder notes, 'Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view'. The concept derives from a seminal article called ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ by Laura Mulvey, a feminist film theorist.
Media Language: · The red colour of the shoe connotes danger and hell like and the pitchfork on the heel suggests that when women go shopping they are like devils and they go wild. · The contrast between the white background and red shoe shows the two opposites the white background shows innocence and the red shoe shows corruption it also gives a hint to the narrative of the film suggesting that a character would be transformed from being innocent to corrupted because the white is the background showing the past and the red shoe is in the front showing the present.
Institution: · 20th Century Fox is a well known American film studios and is one of the six major studios in America suggesting that it has been distributed well as it is part of a very big distributing studio shows that the audience that it is targeted to is a broad audience and it aims to target a wide variety of audiences.
Genre: · The genre of the film is Comedy and Drama
Representation: · Representation of women as prioritising their career before anything else. · Modern society is being presented where there is equality however there are situations where people expect the girl to conform to the traditional role of women.
Audience: · Primary audience is young women aged 16-30 years. Who is ambitious, comes into the B, C1, and C2 social class and tends to be innovators. · Secondary audience is women from other social class D, E who aspire to be a stronger personality and make a name for them.
Ideology: · Liberal Feminist · Heterosexual · Patriarchy
Narrative: · Linear Narrative shows that it is very focused · Binary opposition between innocence and corruption, Good vs Evil
The film is shot in the hectic and busy location of New York, the narrative of the film is based around a young girl Andrea who is very dedicated and aspires to undertake her career as a journalist she gets a job in the fashion industry through a magazine publishing company called Runway however her experiences at this job isn’t very pleasant she experiences stress and pressure to keep up with her cruel, ruthless and cunning boss Miranda Priestley’s expectations. The members of the company are very critical towards Andrea’s physical appearance. Andrea changes her appearance just to appeal to the people around her she transforms from being a very simple girl who is not so conscience to a very appearance conscience and alters her look completely in order to appeal to the fashion industry, this allows Miranda Priestly to depend on her, trust her and she starts to become fond of Andrea. This change in her look and her dedication to her job brings up problems to her personal life; she starts to lose her friends, family and live-in boyfriend and as she sets off for Paris with Miranda and faces all of the glamour that could be hers, she is forced to make decisions of where she wants to be in her life where she has opportunities coming her way and she has to choose whether she wants to go back in being the simple women she was or go further in life and achieve more success.
Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, Tracie Thoms, Rich Sommer, and Simon Baker
GENRE(S): Comedy Drama WRITTEN BY: Aline Brosh McKenna Lauren Weisberger (novel) DIRECTED BY: David Frankel RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 12, 2006 Theatrical: June 30, 2006 RUNNING TIME: 106 minutes, Color ORIGIN: USA
Aspects of real life are often reflected in the media and one the most common representation is the representation of women in the media. This representation have changed a lot over the years in society women are now seen almost equal to men giving them better opportunities and better life chances. Films represent women differently from how they used to represent women from being a traditional housewife to the modern career based women. The Devil Wears Prada is a film which represents women who is career dedicated and who prioritise their career first.
