Gender Roles and Media - Essay Example

Gender Roles and Media Introduction The media has a very crucial role in shaping the ideas and agenda of various issues in the society. Even though some media are based on fiction, such as television shows and films, they do have a bearing on the reality of life for most people. Media and especially mass media such as television and magazines have a way of portraying the two genders and their perceived roles. They set the agenda and the way people think about gender (Bordwell & Thompson, 20014). In the following article, entertainment magazines and films are analyzed in the various ways in which they depict gender and gender roles. The reason for choosing entertainment magazines is that they are mostly read by people who may not look at the content in a critical way and so they take whatever information (explicit of sublime messages) as is without thinking too much about it. Film is also very important and many people get their ideas of reality with regard to gender roles from films. These two mass media have a deed and important roles in shaping the ways in which people perceive gender roles. Magazines Magazines and especially entertainment magazines are very important in shaping people’s ideas among their audiences. They are read by many people to whom they are targeted and that has an effect on the way the audiences are affected by the messages in the media. The most important messages are the sublime ones that come in various ways. Cover page The cover page in any magazines is a very good source of sublime messages. While it does not offer a lot of open information, the cover page is likely to offer clues and information that determines how the readers are going to think about the issues. A god way to look at this is the way some magazines use cover page photos for men and for women. For instance, when a magazine decides to feature a female athlete, they are likely to depict her in her most feminine presentation and they may not even use her photo while she is a in her sporting gear. Instead, she may be asked to wear a feminine dress that will depict her as a female, and thus emphasizing her gender as opposed to emphasizing her profession. This is the not the same for males. When a male athlete is featured in a cover of a magazine, he is likely to be portrayed in his professional presentation and the gender will not be the main theme o he cover photo. This variance in the way the magazines use the cover page photo of the two genders has a sublime message in it. The message is that for a woman, what matters is her looks, her femininity and her personality, as opposed to her athletic ability. The meaning of this is that for a woman, regardless of how successful they are in their careers (especially athletes) their gender or feminist will always shroud their achievements. For men, the subliminal message is that their careers are more mourn at and so if they can excel in what they do, they can be able to shroud their looks, their masculinity and personality to the point that what matters to other people of that they do. Headlines The way magazines depict the different genders can also be seen in the headlines for the various stories. Headings are likely to emphasize on femininity when carrying a story about a woman. However, while the story is about a male, the headline may focus on the other aspects such as his achievement and professional professionals. This variance is for both athletes and other areas such as business. The headlines for stories that are talking about the women may talk about the feminine issues while talking about a female but focus on achieving when talking about a male. It is not just the headings, but also the contents of the articles in a magazine. For instance, if the article is an interview with a celebrity, athlete, or even a successful businesswoman, she is likely to be asked about how she is able to juggle between family and work. However, if it is about a man, he is likely to only be asked questions that relate to his work and the issue of how he juggles between family and work is rarely posed. This is a depiction of females as people who belong to the domestic sphere, thus creating the impression that for any woman, the home is her place and anything else that she does comes as an appendage to her role as a home maker. For TV TV is also very powerful in creating the ideas and amenders that the public has on issues. TV also makes a lot of important contributing to the way people receive and interpret information. It is the delivery channel for many sources of information starting from entertainment TV programs to films to general news. In film for example there are a number of things that come up. Costume and make up There is a variance in the way the costumes and makeup that the two genders are assigned. Women are depicted in costumes and make up that mostly define or depict the females as a fragile object. With regard to dressing for instance, the woman may be depicted in the most feminine, or at least the most fragile way. Characters The biggest variation in the way males need female are depicted in film and TV can be seen in film characters (Monaco, 2009). This is where the different gender roles are depicted in the most vivid and clear way. In film and TV, females are depicted as the weaker gender and in most cases it is likely that the TV will have two lead actors. One is always a female and the other will be a male and this is where the different gender roles are depicted in the clearest way. In most story lines in any film, the female actor is in a weaker position and requiring the help of the male in order for her to escape the situation. The male will be the one in a position of power and he is the one who will deliver the female from the bad situation. If for instance the two lead characters are a husband and a wife, the wife is most likely to be a housewife who waits for the husband to make a living as she takes care of domestic issues. In most films, the female character may even be depicted towards the end of the film as a gift given to the male due to his heroism. A good examples in James Bond films where in most of his films James Bond is depicted as a heroic character who always wins the hearts of many women due to his heroic actions. In most of the films, he ends up with the most beautiful woman, thus the woman playing the role of a trophy given to the best man. It is therefore rarely ever the case that the woman will be the one who will be in a position of advantage and the male in a situation where he needs the help or support of the female. Significant dialogue With regard to dialogue, the females are likely to be given the less time. If it is an argument between a male and a female character, the female is likely to be given the part of the dialogue that is less assertive and her dialogue is more likely to be more as an offer of suggestion as opposed to be a firm point of view on matters. This is also another way to depict the female gender as passive and submissive as the male gender as active and aggressive. Body physique The other crucial aspect of gender roles depiction is with regard to body physique of the characters in film. This comes in two main ways. One, the body physique of the character will always depict women as smaller, shorter and weaker than their male counterparts. This is also geared towards making the female gender to look smaller and weaker, probably submissive (Monaco, 2009). The female is always depicted to be shorter than the male. Whether the characters are supposed to depict a couple who are in a relationship, or it is just two people who probably work together, the female is in most cases depicted by a smaller and weaker female while the man is depicted to be bigger than the female. This also is one of the stereotypes of female as the weaker gender that has to depend on the stronger gender (males). TV especially has been the biggest culprit where this differentiation of the gender roles is concerned. Analysis As has been seen, the media depicts women as weaker and inferior to men. Although this has been seen to change over the last few years where the modern film and TV programs care seen to try an break way from this traditions of depicting the female gender as the weaker gender, it still persists in most films and TV series. As a result, the gender representations in the media are still biased and still depict the male gender as the superior gender (Bordwell & Thompson, 2004). It is however not easy to establish whether the depiction of the gender roles in the media is a reflection of the reality in society or the reality in the society informs the depiction in media. The most important question to answer with regard to this issue is which affects the other. For example, can it be argued that the media affects the way gender roles are perceived by the public? Or can it be argued that the way the media perceives, presents and depicts gender roles is affected an informed by reality? The truth is that they both affect each other. The way it works is that the media tries to present the gender roles based on is actually happening in the society, but gives a little emphasis in order to make it more interesting. The media depends on perfection and so, it is likely to heighten the differences in gender role. A good example is a situation where a film is about a family. In such an instance, the film is likely to paint a picture of a perfect family with the father being the head and he woman being the submissive assistant to the head. Although this may not be real in that not all families stick to this kind of perfect family, it still has a great amount of reality to it. As a result, it can be said that reality informs the fiction in the films and also in other types of media like magazines. Another way to indicate that some other gender roles and gender representation that are depicted in the media are to a greater extent affected be reality is the issue of the body physique. Naturally, women are usually smaller than men on average. As a result, depicting the female characters in a film as smaller than the males is somehow realistic. However, even though women are generally shorter and smaller-bodied than males, this is not the case in all situations. In other words, it is not to say that every woman in any society is always shorter and smaller than any man, or that any man is always bigger and taller than any woman. As a result, the media can be said to represent the perfectionist view of society while ignoring that perfection does not exist in the realty (Bordwell & Thompson, 2004). However, at the same time, the depiction of the gender roles in films also apart from it having its roots from some aspects of reality, also acts to inform the way people in society perceive these gender roles in reality. Conclusion The relationship between reality and the depiction of gender roles in media is a back and forth feedback-loop where the reality informs fiction and then the fiction also informs reality. The screenwriters or magazine article writers may create biased depiction of gender roles, but they get most of their ideas from what is happening in reality. At the same time, what happens in the reality may not be exactly what happens in films and magazines, but is still tries to remain the depiction in the film and magazines. References: Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2004). Film Art: An Introduction. New York, NY: A.A. Knopf. Monaco, J. (2009). How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Read More