Mulvey categorizes Sherman’s usage of femininity in her artwork as an appearance in which the insistent sexualization of woman is integrated into a style of respectability. One of Sherman’s works that Mulvey writes about, that I found very interesting and displayed this style of femininity and emotion was her series Untitled Film Stills. It was in this series that Mulvey states how Sherman developed her photographs in black and white to portray the 1950’s neo-realism ideas. What was interesting about this series by Sherman, was that she used herself as the model for all of her photographs, while also coming up with the wardrobe, setting, and props for her photograph. This is something that is both fascinating and impressive, about Sherman’s work that Mulvey really focuses on.
Conflict Perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in term of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services and political representation. (Schaefer, 2013).In this case, feminist would note how much pressure they have received from society. These days, movies casting for actress does not only require their acting experiences, but also based on their look. It is clear for us to see that most of our actresses in movies look quite pretty. It might be called entertainment standard to serve audience's pleasure.
More runway designers are showcasing plus-size models in their shows and designing clothes for bigger-sized women. There is a new-found conception that ‘real women have curves.’ Though I do believe that women with curves are beautiful and that they should prize their body shapes, I do not believe that all real women should have curves. In the midst of the movement to build self-esteem for plus-size women, we often forget that we might be demeaning women who are naturally thin or have size-zero bodies. While the world has become more body-positive, the movement to help bolster self-worth can sometimes inadvertently happen at the expense of someone or something else. In the light of body-acceptance and fighting the body ideal, it is a myth that thin women have it easy.
HISTORY AND THEORY OF FEMINISM The term feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women's rights and interests. Although the terms "feminism" and "feminist" did not gain widespread use until the 1970s, they were already being used in the public parlance much earlier; for instance, Katherine Hepburn speaks of the "feminist movement" in the 1942 film Woman of the Year. According to Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first feminist wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present.
In today’s world, media heavily affects the way we perceive ourselves. The ideal body image that most people perceive nowadays is no longer based on an average but based on how media and society promotes it and that is a body that is highly unattainable for most women. Media promotes size 0 as the ideal body image causing many women judge themselves based on the beauty industry’s standards. Mass media defines the ideal body image by promoting it through the various platforms such as magazines, advertisements, and television and that is extremely immature. One example to prove my point is that the girls on magazine covers are mostly photo shopped to perfection.
The New Moon film poster main goal is to advertise and promote the film itself. The images used and colour combination intrigue an audience into the wider connotations and subliminal messages it sends to an audience. Unlike a majority of film posters this specific uses multiple actors to promote the film. This could come down to the fact that twilight is still relatively new to the population and they use multiple actors because non of them were that big in the celebrity world before twilight was released therefore they have used multiple actors to cover a wider audience. It could also be a result of the fact that some people have formed the ‘Team Jacob’ versus ‘Team Edward’ so they are catering to both sides of the fans.
Once agreed upon, these meanings become our social reality. Individual women have attached the adjectives "beautiful" or "perfect" to the women in the pictures they have seen in the magazines or on television and so over the course of time it has become the social reality that these women are the standard of beauty for society. There are however deviants, those who do not fit the societal standard of beauty, and there is inequality and discrimination due to beauty standards as well. Research using qualitative methods could be implemented to study the effects of beauty on society. Symbolic interactionists define society as the "network of interactions between people"(Rohall et al.
Is this sexual revolution simply women wanting the same sexual freedom as men? Then I thought maybe these artists are just using sex to sell records? I’d like to look at that perspective, as well as the objectification of women in pop videos. America’s modern sexual revolution can be traced back to 1930’s, but the 1960’s is the period I’d like to focus on. The ‘60s was a time of societal change on many fronts, from the feminist movement, to gay and civil rights issues.
Do women prove stereotypes as incorrect? Although one might argue that women have made many advances in society, today in the media, women still often play lesser roles than those of men. They are usually represented as sexual objects or secondary characters that the male lead must either save or win over in the movie. In contrast, in the television series Alias, the female lead Sydney Bristow was depicted as being strong both physically and emotionally. She had to deal with the considerable emotional trauma she had experienced over the years and the changes involved in being a spy on a daily basis.
Today we will examine the influence the media (TV, print, the Internet, and advertising) has on the American female’s feelings toward her place in society, as well as her sexuality, self-esteem and body image, and physical health. The media is a pervasive and ever present entity in the lives of Americans. It has a strong influence on females and seems to bring meaning to their everyday lives. Social Comparison Theory posits that “people will (at some point in their lives) compare themselves and significant others to people and images whom they perceive to represent realistic goals to attain” (2005). We look to the media to help us explain the world around us.