The key theme that I have chosen to write my essay about is power and hegemony. Within this I will reference the academic article of Couldry ‘power’ as well as the reading of Lewis ‘Hegemony’, and Althusser’s ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’, I will also reference the philosopher Foucault. I have chosen this as my theme as power and hegemony interlinks with the other themes as well as giving me an opportunity to challenge myself. The main case study that I would like to write about is: the works of Felicity Jones, specifically one of the films she stared in called ‘On the basis of sex’ as it links the most with the theme that I have chosen to write this essay about (however I will also reference other films that she has worked in as well). This film shows the struggles of power and also plays of the dominant ideology or hegemony of women being overemotional and stupid and then presents it in a way that eventually shows the main character changing the power dynamics within the film, I will also talk about different types of power and hegemony as well as what they are/include, along with other keywords.
Paramount Pictures. (2017, February 13). Ghost In The Shell (2017) – Official Trailer – Paramount Pictures. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRkb1X9ovI4
Within most modern day countries we rely heavily on technology, such as phones and the internet, so much so that we don’t consider it as much of a luxury or privilege anymore but we see all of these as more of an essential thing within our everyday life. As technology has been expanding and developing more rapidly within the last 25 year, especially communicative aspects of technology, so has media platforms and the type of people who consume media. Henry Jenkins defines ‘Convergence culture’ as a merging between new and traditional varieties of media and describes the term as a consent shift between the media and its audience.
Within society convergence culture is highly relevant as there is a major development within media and there has been a massive growth in different media platforms especially on the digital era such as streaming services, social medias and films.
This theory or the term ‘Convergence culture’ was created by Henry Jenkins and this will link to the case study or film called Ghost In The Shell which demonstrates the there is a blurred line between the consumer and the company of technology as this shows how technology and the media can consume a person and brings in to question of how far you can push technology before you’re not human anymore. This links into how Jenkins explains that ‘convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways.’(Jenkins, 2006, p2)This part of the topic connects to the film as it shows that new media can develop to the point where the consumer can become the product.
As interactive media is constantly developing and has changed drastically Jenkins observed this and how other theorists he describes the consistent progress and blurring of content creator and consumer as part of ‘convergence culture’ and Jenkin describes this as ‘the flow of content across multiple media platforms’ (Jenkins, 2006, p2-3) which shows us that the media is consistently progressing whether it’s a new piece of technology or a brand new content being released.
Jenkins is making his audience aware that media has developed and that as it increases the line separating the consumer and the creator starts too get smaller. As according to Jenkins convergence is demonstrating a two-way street between the media company and the active consumer.
The convergence culture nearly goes completely against the Frankfurt school as the Frankfurt school as Theodor Adorno states that the media and the ideologies within the media is corrupting us whereas ‘…produced mass culture that habituated individuals to conform to the dominant patterns of thought and behaviour.’ (Adorno,1991 , p2). This shows that due to the different time periods and different morals these two theorists see media in a different way to one another.
Due to the constant shift in the media and technology advances there are more developments that are constantly happening within shift between creator and consumer for example the robotics industry is growing rapidly so therefore there will be more opportunities for media to develop even further than people could participate and will society will become so dependant on these advances, especially as we as a society already consume so much media as it is today. People become so absorbed with social media and their devices, whether that’s due to boredom or work, this need for having social media has become so normalised and natural for our society. Theorists have stated that ‘there are a variety of different arguments have been put forward in an attempt to define what exactly is coming together’(Grant and Wilkinson,2009).
Jenkins describes these rapid enhancements in communicative technology as leading to an effortless way to interact across the entire globe and he defines this development in technological advances a positive change, ‘Understanding these changes and participating in the debates that will shape the future of media.’ (Jenkins,H.2004), Which shows that accepting these changes can lead to improvements for a greater and constant consumption of media platforms.
Other people embrace the idea that the media has good development as people are consuming it more everyday within society. ‘rather than serving as an equalizing force, media diffusion could reinforce and potentially even increase inequalities by leading to higher status individuals digesting additional information faster’ (Zillien,N & Hargittai,E. 2009).
The media could develop to the point that it become one of the most essential things in or everyday life as we become more and more dependent on media products and media/technology will become more ingrained into every day society as well as cities and culture. As society goes on and develops so will how we see technology developments especially within humanity as media cold develop to the point where we see it everywhere.
The particular case that I think could demonstrate this topic would be the film ‘Ghost in the shell’ which centres around a women who still has the brain of a human but got experimented on by having her brain transplanted into a robots body. This shows a more futuristic society where technology and media has developed to the point where it has over run cities, however we are still shown the more run down elements of a city and the more corrupt parts of humanity has in everyday cities. This brings in the aspect that old parts of humanity can still be shown in this more futuristic society. This relates to Jenkins convergence culture as it has shown how a continuous progression of media as well as showing how far a media company will go to sell a product to a consumer.
In this case the company owner wanted to experiment with how far they could go with turning a human into a robot without completely destroying their humanity ad in order to do this they got homeless civilians that were against or outcasted by society to experiment with transplanting their brain into a robot version of their body. As the main idea of convergence culture is a constant progression and as we are so consumed and fascinated with the media and the content that created within the media it is interesting to see how media could develop so much and go so far the it would be so embedded into society.
Jenkins stated ‘Fandom, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn’t fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it’ (Jenkins, 2006) which demonstrates to us that if media was not as fascinating as it was and if it was not worth consuming and engaging with then society would not have developed media as much and there would not be as much content and different aspects of the media to be seen. This would link into Ghost in the Shell as this film clearly shows that it relies on society developing enough with technology and media to create massive developments with technology. This film demonstrates that as it shows that technology and media is no longer a luxury but is an everyday requirement and is almost seen as unnatural if you didn’t have some form of technology on you.
Jenkins convergence culture would have been more relevant for this film as well as within the society it is set in it shows off a large development of a media system as well as robotics as most of the characters that are within this have some sort of adjustment that has been done to their body. This brings to the question of how far humanity can be pushed and whether immortality is a possibility, this would also bring to light of how much has media developed to get it to the point to where society wouldn’t need it anymore or here it’s just a natural aspect of society.
To conclude and sum up this Convergence Culture shows off that there is going to be a constant development of media with society and the line between creator and consumer could gradually get slimmer as time develops. Jenkins theory might even become more developed and relevant as time goes on and media and technology evolves. Along with this the idea that society cold become so dependant on media is a high possibility as we continue to engage with media platforms as it will continue to fascinate the human mind and keep our interests going.
Gender within todays society can be split between being an established old societal construct that is a system that is embedded so heavily in everyday life that mainly benefits cis-people more specifically cis-men. Gender is ‘not something we are born with, and not something we have, but something we do’ (Eckert, P & McConnell Ginet, S. (2006)p1) However, gender can also involve identity which helps break down these constructs and shows that gender is scientifically classed as a completely different thing to sex, such as people identifying as transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid or gender non-conforming.
Feminism can come in different forms and people can be feminists in different ways, for example it is said that there are four different types of feminist: ‘radical, Marxist, liberal and what Sylvia Walby (1990) calls dual-systems theory’(Storey, J. (2018)P1) which demonstrates that people take feminism in different ways and face feminism in whatever way that they practice/are taught it. to one another. However, feminism is to form an equality so that everyone can be equal. Feminism is still an on-going movement to get equality between all sexes, this involves equal pay to taking down misogyny. These two can link heavily to one another as feminism is to create equality and that could include between any gender.
Films show off feminism in subtle and interesting ways. A film that shows a unique representation if Mulan, more specifically 2020 live action version of Disney’s Mulan, as it shows a lot of older Asian cultured traditions that involve a lot of specific gender roles that have been placed upon people by their sex an example of this how straight at the start the audience is made aware that women can not be warriors which is a gender role that is clearly going to be broken within the film.
Mulan fights gender roles in subtle ways and one of the ways that they have done this is having a main protagonist and having one of the main antagonists to be powerful and intellectual women, however they still show a hierarchy where a man is leading warriors which could suggest at the start that women cannot be leaders.
Even though this film has high representation of Asian culture and race as well as the traditional parts of their culture, for example women serving their husbands, within this film if they break this tradition its classed as an humiliation which shows that Mulan is aware of this and starts to take the first step to breaking down these gender roles. With Mulan being the protagonist I think there are very good moments where her character is brave for breaking these gender roles set by this cultural society and due to this bravery it shows the audience that there shouldn’t be these gendered issues within society.
Mulan also shows a slight representation of the trans community and a lot of transgender/gender nonconforming people grew up with Mulan being one of the only slight representation that they have. As it shows a woman that is born at birth can pass as male and this giving hope and representation to young trans people who fighting for their rights. But it also shows the some of the fear of getting caught and how people could treat you very different to what your gender identity is. Sex is biological; it is physiologically what prompts us to be assigned as male or female. As transgender people are trying to break these stereotypes and be themselves, ‘Gender is socially constructed; it consists of the ideas we have about masculinity and femininity’ (Trier-Bieniek, A & Leavy.(2014) p2) which shows that society has constructed this idea that one gender has to more masculine than others. This is highly demonstrated through toxic masculinity and men needing to be stronger than another gender as a lot of the men within the film are very traditional and controlling which hold a lot of what in our society still has. ‘The concern with differences includes the socially constructed categories sex and gender, as well as sexuality and social class’ (Radtke,H,L.(2017).p1) this quote suggests due to gender being an imbedded system from birth that people have build up these stereotypes that need to be broken.
Mulan shows that women are powerful and when given the same treatment as men can do anything they can if not even better. That strength can come from perseverance and practice and skill not gender/sex. This is done a lot throughout the film but one of the times it is prevalent would be when Mulan rides into battle with her hair down and shows people her strength. Not only that but she shows that she has wit and intelligence with her motives breaks the stereotype of women being fragile, weak and only here to serve men as well as only being shown as objects. Mulan’s journey within the film beats the concept that only men can do successful and therefore she begins the movement that women can be warriors.
Walt Disney Studios. (2019a). Disney’s Mulan – Official Teaser. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ON04GCwKs
Even though Mulan does feminism and gender representation some justice, media in general still has a long way to go to break the more damaging stereotypes and gender roles that they are still placing on people to this day.
References (APA List):
Eckert, P & McConnell Ginet, S. (2006). Language and Gender, Second Edition; Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. Pg1-3. Chap1 (stanford.edu)
Storey, J. (2018). Gender and sexuality, Women at the cinema; Routledge. P1-2. someTitle (aula.education)
Trier-Bieniek, A & Leavy.(2014). P. Gender & Pop Culture; Sense Publishers. P2-3. someTitle (aula.education)
Assignment Task:
Students will need to choose an appropriate media artefact, research its origins and purpose and write a 500-word response, critically reflecting the appropriateness, successes and failings of the selected artefact. [500 words]
Steven Kings ‘IT’ trailer created to entice the target audience, which for this film the target would be horror fans and young adults from the age of around 15-20, into going to watch the film IT. The trailer does a fantastic job of capturing the audience’s attention straight away as it immediately starts building tension through the eerie music.
The trailer has a slow build up to horror tropes to not reveal to the audience the entire plot making this an effective trailer as shows off some striking scenery and horror conventions to entice the audience into seeing the entire film. An example of this right from the start of the trailer producer has used conventions such as colour and non-diegetic music to build up the tension of the beginning of the trailer immediately attracting the target audience’s attention.
The director laid this trailer out in a suspenseful way that allowed the audience, who watch for entertainment value, to get hooked while the trailer drops hints of what’s going to happen coming up in following scenes. As the beginning of the trailer starts of light with just dark colours, close up shots and tense music to hint to the audience that something is going to happen and this continues to build the tension within the trailer as the character of Georgie goes outside and we begin to gain some diegetic sounds such as rain and thunder along with the character wearing a yellow raincoat, yellow often being used as to make the audience subconsciously feel tense as it indicates as a warning or danger towards this character, with the camera tracking and following Georgie switching from a birds eye long shot to a close up mid shot allows the audience to feel as though they are following Georgie creating a suspenseful atmosphere.
The trailer continues this throughout using colour as a strong signifier to the audience to indicate danger the main example of this is the red balloon that appears almost throughout the trailer and along with this the (non-diegetic) music picks up and fades and picks up again creating this sinister feeling for the audience. Along with this the trailer although shows off a hints of clown that is the main part to this film the audience does not get to see the full experience of chilling experience which would allure the audience into going to experience this film.
Along with this the trailer plays a lot on horror conventions as it uses a lot of suspenseful music, a creepy child and a murderous clown which are some typical horror tropes that are seen within the genre but is also a major part of attracting the indented audience as these are elements that make the trailer terrifying making the audience attracted to go and see the whole product, along with this they used the sinister slogan ‘you’ll float too’ and also mentioned the famous Steven King which would draw the audience in more making this an affective and enticeful trailer.
A website that informs about: Audience theory, Hypodermic Needle Theory, Uses and gratification (Blumler and Katz) and codes and conventions.
Extra Information:
Within the future when I develop my skills in analysis further I will come back to this trailer, or to the film as a whole, and re-analysis it as an actual analysis and not just a reflection.
Luara Mulvey : Visual Pleasure and narrative cinema (1975). According to Mulvey’s argument, cinema operates as an embodiment of the experience for the spectator as male subject of the mirror stage and the perpetuation of phallocentric
The male spectator as male subject thus identify with the active male protagonist
women are threatening to men and need to be put in there place and symbolically or literally get married or die – Mulvey
Cinema does not reflect reality but an ideological view of it.
3 looks that happen at the exact same time: camera (2nd), the character (3rd) and the spectator.(1st) – very different- the typology of looks in film. Using phscoanalyical approaches of how we view reality – the psyche ( according to sigman froude and jack laican) – the imaginary.
Lacanian systems as the symbolic order and the phallic function into a psychoanalytic approach to to the cinema – learns the power of men.
‘the phallus is the signifier of this desire brought forward through language where
Hollywood as an institution – in order to fill the gap created by this desire – signified by the phallus in order to draw the attention and recognition from the other.
other = women
Mulvey states – Muscular men on screen are designed for male desire eg Chris Evens in passenger- male power- male leading characters are surrounding the male phallocentric are made for men.
Mulvey – ego ideals are provided for male spectator on screen (representing the mirror) via a male hero – men wanting to see other men as their ideas
the protagonist is situated as the ego ideal
the men have to be the center of attention for any female character e.g James Bond – desirable for women and men – through how he looks and holds himself.
phallocentric symbols in James Bond such as cars, gadgets, guns, etc
The imaginary the symbolic and the real.
The imaginary situates the screen image as that which is internalised as an ideal within the spectator – constructed image representing desire. – we start to create in our head, when we can run through sernarios and create a version of yourself in your head.
The symbolic, in this case, are the various representation and codes that structure film apparatus. – when mother starts saying no, teach children shame. Lacan (2-5/6) points out that this time is the most traumatic time due to us not being aware.
The real may be considered as the very internal unconscious of the subject/spectator as she/he interacts with the imaginary and the symbolic. – eg a baby.
what happens when theres an absent of a mother or father or both?
Mulveys looks connecting with these structures:
the 1st look = the real
2nd look = the symbolic
3rd look = the imaginary
Cinema is structured similar to our minds. We don’t see the difference between these in our everyday life. Only time we are aware of this is when one part of this isn’t working correctly.
Everything you see on screen such as lighting and such is symbolic.
= Male Gaze
Is there a 4th look? Can we break down these looks when looking into film?
Carrie (1976) – Opening scene
socially its taboo – women having period – turning women into ‘monsters’.
camera (symbolic) starts high and slowly moves in. – active women without sexualising them. and moves into focusing on Carrie – mid shot. immediately off guard.
it gives you the male gaze- vouyristic camera drifting through the womens changing room – going into a slow motion of this male fantasy of women walking around naked – camera moving in – mist – no realtion to reality – audio cue into carries shower scene. – soft feminine music
phellious is above her – shower – cutting the women into pieces eg shots of her chest, legs, etc – unrealistic – cut her into pieces again – meant to be unrealistic but postions the audience as the male spectator.
drops soap – music goes – no longer in slow motion – can hear the shower – goes to her reaction of her period.
mist is gone cuts to women in changing room, no long gliding the camera literally walks behind her, women being aggressive and unsupportive rarely seen in film. who are you within this scene? This protagonist is aware, its manipulation,
confronts the audience. different for different people, deliberately provotes you, makes you uncomfortable.
THE 4TH look – discomfort, that feeling when watching this film. pulled the rug from under you, it tricks you. characters look at you… demands you engage and interact with it. makes you reflect on your position as an audience. (willemen)
The most watched form of film, pornography, but nobody watches it. although it uses IMR. nobody looks at it or analysis it due to the 4th look – it requires the forth look for it to be effective. For you to get visual pleasure out of it, porn completely relies on this. Due to shame.
makes the audience to need to engage. dependant on the audience. When the 4th look happens the first look is highly important. its not about breaking the 4th wall.
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