This song is aimed at discussing the media and its influence on the public as well as suggesting celebrities can become more famous by taking their clothes off. She namedrops papers like The Sun and The Mirror as well as highlighting the stereotype that women should be skinny.
Lyrics:
I want to be
rich and I want lots of money
I don't care
about clever I don't care about funny
I want loads
of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds
I heard
people die while they are trying to find them
And I'll take
my clothes off and it will be shameless
'Cause
everyone knows that's how you get famous.
[Chorus:]
I'll look at
the sun and I'll look in the mirror
I'm on the
right track, yeah I'm on to a winner.
I don't know
what's right and what's real anymore
And I don't
know how I'm meant to feel anymore
And when do
you think it will all become clear?
'Cause I'm
being taking over by The Fear
Life's about
film stars and less about mothers
It's all
about fast cars and cussing each other
But it
doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic
And that's
what makes my life so fucking fantastic
And I am a
weapon of massive consumption
And it's not
my fault it's how I'm programmed to function
[Chorus]
Forget about
guns and forget ammunition
'Cause I'm
killing them all on my own little mission
Now I'm not a
saint but I'm not a sinner
Now
everything's cool as long as I'm getting thinner
Hard Out Here is a feminist song aimed at highlighting the objectification of women in the media and the pressure to look attractive by fitting into stereotypes. In the video Lily Allen uses a recent event where she went to a surgeon about liposuction but was told she should reshape her entire body. This video also shows her mocking Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines by creating phrases with balloons and dancing in front of them to mock Robin doing the same in his video.
Links:
"Nobody's
immune to the pressure to look thin," she tells Observer Magazine. Shortly
after giving birth to her first child, Allen, 28, visited a Harley Street
surgeon for advice on liposuction, but was advised that she should reshape her
entire body – thighs, belly, ankles, knees and back. "I walked out with
lines drawn all over me," she recalls.
Both the video and the song's lyrics take aim at misogyny and sexism in modern pop culture. She takes a satirical swipe at Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' video, in which a woman dances in front of the words 'Robin Thicke has a big dick', by dancing in front of inflatables spelling out 'Lily Allen has a baggy pussy'.
1. Which Particular form of inequality are Marxists interested in? Give two examples of how this inequality might be seen in our society.
Marxists are particularly interested in the economic and social inequality that is shown in our society. This main inequality is shown between the different classes presented in our culture and the roles played by each class. For example the higher class, who generally own the means of production, have the power to exploit lower classes as they can hire cheap labour to make the products sold to the western society. These big production companies can gain a large profit for their products by hiring lower class people to create them in factories at minimum wage. Another example of social inequality is production companies and richer people being able to get away with not paying taxes. Arctic Monkeys, for example, don't have to pay their taxes due to their fame which shows an unequal balance between the different classes in our society.
2. How does Marxist thought divide society? (Think of the two terms they use.) Give a definition of each of these terms.
Marixsts have divided society into two separate groups of people: the bourgeoisie who own the means of production, and the proletariat who have to sell their labour in order to make a living. This shows a clear split between the opportunities presented to each group as the proletariat play a secondary role in contributing to society despite them creating all the consumer products presented to us. The bourgeoisie are the owners of the companies that provide these services, and as a result they make the profit from the products sold to our society. A clear divide in society is shown through these titles as one group recieves a large profit for selling products created through cheap labour, while the other have to create the consumer products for a low profit.
3. Give an example of how Marxist thought sees people as being exploited.
From a marxist perspective, the workers are clearly exploited by the owners of production companies by being made to work long hours for a small profit. An example of exploitation would be companies such as Apple and Facebook 'allowing' women to freeze their eggs in order to prevent them from having to take time off work to have children. This limits the freedom of the women working as they are fed false beliefs that they should put off having children while they maintain a stable career in order to ensure they keep working as many hours as possible. Work has been put above fair treatment in today's society and as we are all living in a state of false consciousness, a lot of us don't realise that the ending of workers being exploited is an achievable goal, not a utopian ideal.
4. In what ways does Marxist thought suggest that we are suffering from false consciousness? Try to give two examples.
Marxists suggest we are living in a state of false consciousness as we are forced into believing that consumer products will have a positive effect on our life and are necessary in order to be happy. For example, products that affect the way you look such as hair dye and makeup are promoted to women with the ideology that it will improve their life by making them more appealing to the male audience. A large amount of companies can sell the same products sold in cheap drugstores for double the price by putting a different brand on it and claiming it will change their identity. Consumers are exploited by these companies as they are convinced these products will make them feel better by allowing them to mould their identity, for example men's hair dye adverts always promote men looking younger and they would want to achieve this as their is an ideology that younger men are more likely to get hired.
Another example of false consciousness would be companies feeding us the idea that we need a certain product such as iphones. A phone's main function used to be to make calls but in a modern society the technology in a iphone is considered essential to function in our daily life. The iphones get updated slightly every year and re-released, making last year's model worth less and less appealing to the public, despite there only being a miniscule change between the two phones. For example, one of the only changes between the Iphone 5 and 6 is the size of the screen, but society is convinced that we need this new update as we live in a throwaway culture where we always need to be up-to-date with the newest products. Some members of the public queued up for 15 days to get the newest Iphone with no excuse why they needed it other than it was the newest one.
5. What benefits might a market liberal (capitalist) system bring to the population? Try to give three, with examples.
There are a few aspects of market liberalism that capitalists believe is beneficial to the population. These may be:
Escaping Poverty - Capitalists believe that they are doing a favour to society as their companies provide jobs to people in poverty so they can earn a living and provide for their families. A lot of companies pay people the minimum wage for their country so they believe they are giving poorer people a living by getting them to create consumer products.
Providing society with labour saving devices - Consumer products are believed to make the lives of the public easier as labour saving devices such as dishwashers and washing machines allow people to have the work done for them. This is helpful for people with little time who may have a family to look after or a job with long hours, as they won't have to complete time consuming tasks such as washing up or hand washing their clothes.
Providing society with choice - Consumers are constantly provided with updated goods and the newest technology, giving them luxuries that can be used in everyday life. This may also be seen by capitalists as an encouragement to consumers to work harder as they will gain financial reward and be able to afford more expensive goods as a result of this. The wide choice of different cultural products allows the public to earn their money and spend it on things they prefer.
6. How are false needs reinforced, according to Marxist thought? (Think of particular agents of socialisation.) Give two ways, with examples.
False needs are largely reinforced in our society as we are advertised products with the idea that we need to have them, despite them not being important for our basic needs. Food and water are basic items we actually need in our day to day life, but products such as expensive hair and skincare are promoted by encouraging us that we require them in order to create our identity. Iphones are one of the main false needs, as we could live without them but many are convince they need their iphone and some even hold it above their religious beliefs in terms of importance. These phones are advertised in a way that convinces us that we need them to be happy and as a result of this we all believe they are essential to us. With the latest iphone 6 some people queued up for 15 days to buy it and this is a good example of how our false needs affect us.
7. Illustrate Bauman's ideas about 'the perpetual non-satisfaction' of consumers.
Bauman makes the suggestion that without consumers constantly desiring new products the economoy would run out of ways to sell us new things. For example, with items such as games consoles and phones they are constantly being updated and advertised to us with new features which makes us convince ourselves that we need the latest model. A lot of the newest products only have small adjustments such as a change in screen size or colours, but the media persuades us that it's essential that we have the latest products. Because of this, our desire to have the newest products is never fulfilled and we will continue to spend our money on them.
8. Explain why we might pay more for a product than we think it is actually worth (think of use and exchange value).
The way products are advertised can have a massive impact on how much we are willing to pay for them and although we might not think the use value is good enough to spend that much money, it can be easily sold to us through promotion. An example of this would be market advertising as we can be easily tempted into buying expensive products due to it being on offer and the shop convincing us it's worth our money. Some products sell at a 'buy two for £__' rate and despite us knowing we don't have any use for two of the same product, the offer will convince us that it's a good deal and worth paying the extra money. From a logical perspective, buying one product would be considerably cheaper than buying two just to get a slight 'discount' on them, but the way it is marketed makes us believe we're getting more for our money by buying two of a product we only need one of.
9. What do critics of late capitalism such as Paul Moore and Bill Gates suggest is needed to make late capitalism more acceptable?
Paul Moore thinks we are required to act unethically as a result of capitalism and it would be made more acceptable through ways such as a redistribution of wealth. Providing more ethical conditions would benefit business and make capitalism more acceptable and Paul Moore also says 'we need a new way of being'.
10. What does market liberalist thought suggest when it criticises marxism as promoting a 'utopian ideal'? (Think of what Milt Friedman said about angels...)
Market liberalists criticise marxism as they believe that what they want is promoting a utopian ideal which would be unachievable in our society. They think the way things are being run now allows a sense of control as well as encouraging freedoms. As Milt Friedman suggests, all societies run on greed, and there are no 'angels' that would run society for a reason other than their greed.
These two statements are arguing the two contrasting points that culture is either being infantised or sacrificing childhood. While the first argument states we are living in an 'infantised culture' and people aren't taking responsibility, the second believes we are making the children of today grow up too fast. These two arguments both have valid points, but I agree with Argument B as it believes we're raising the younger generation too quickly and forcing adult practices on them, which I believe to be true. From a post colonial perspective, modern culture is raising young people with adult beliefs and the media is used to force certain standards of appearance, especially on young girls. Westernisation plays a part in this as growing up the media tries to raise us to 'convert to the customs and practices of Western civilization'. For example,girls are encouraged to play with barbies from a young age as this doll fits the American conventions of the 'perfect' woman. Our culture places a lot of value on us all being similar, and media uses their power to influence the way young girls 'should' look. This tied in with Barber's theory that we're living in a 'sterile American monoculture' as we're all taught to fit in to the norms of American culture. Barbie is a stereotypically 'perfect' girl - she has a small waist, blonde hair etc. She is portrayed as having a perfect life so when girls play with the dolls they aspire to be like her and it creates unrealistic expectations for these girls. In this commercialised culture young girls are having social expectations forced upon them, meaning they have to learn to grow up faster. Living in a patriarchal society means women are seen as the inferior gender and certain stereotypes are placed upon them in order to make them suitable for men. They are objectified in adverts and music videos and are portrayed as sexual objects, and this representation in the media influences young girls' beliefs about their purpose. It is believed women's role is to take care of the cleaning, cooking and looking after the children so if young girls are being fed these beliefs they may have to start growing up from a younger age as they'll be expected to help out with responsibilities. Andrea Dworkin examines the roles of women in fairy tales and she suggests that the women in the stories always have to be saved by men and only live to find a husband. These expectations are being shown to children through the Disney franchise and a lot of young girls call Disney princesses their role models. This means their views on their role in society will be adapted from a young age and they will start trying to grow up in order to be desirable to men.
-jokes about rape/ portray women in a derogatory way
-Germaine Greer
-'How to be a woman' Caitlin Moran
-'technology has made it worse for women' - Germaine Greer
-have men always thought women were second class citizens
-sense of resentment at growing female power
-man telling feminists to man up
-some say feminism has done it's job
-sexually explicit culture -music, TV, film
-American apparel adverts promoting anorexia
-Photoshop models to look younger
-'Has it become okay to be sexually offensive to women'
-'anything goes' culture
-Stirling university banned blurred lines from being played
-hockey team chanting offensive songs
-'In 2014, it seems to be worse for women' - Germaine Greer
-we live in a patriarchal society - run by men, for men
-'new man'
-britpop started magazines in popular culture such as Loaded
-defying battle in terms of class - working class men reject the notion of equality and the 'new man'
-all about profits - changed male view in media to make it acceptable for men to care about appearance
-'Loaded never set out to be sexist'
-women were objects/sales devices - 'we love women'
-sex sells
-normalised soft porn in the music industry
-'where do you draw the line in a world of post modern irony?'
-2012 dubbed year of the rape joke
-laughing at sexist jokes is encouraging sexist people to continue with sexist behaviours
-their viewpoint is empowered by sexist jokes
-internet has allowed sexism to ''run rampant'
-Mary Beard faced sexist abuse on twitter
-question if any woman can be in the public eye without being at risk of sexual abuse
-''I don't think it's a gender problem, I think it's a political and class problem'
-GTA V - can kill prostitutes for money
-girl gamer faces sexual questions and abuse when she plays video games with other people
-sex ed lessons in schools need to be taught more often
-porn gives males false ideas about sex as it makes them believe they can be dominant over women
-video of a girl being raped was put on the internet and she got victim blamed
-females who face abuse on twitter just get told to 'turn the computer off'
This video highlights that women aren't given power and the media focuses on their bodies rather than their brains. They include news video clips focusing on whether females have had plastic surgery or not rather than if they're doing their job well. It explains how men are derogatory to even the most powerful women in the country and how our gender is all brought up to be insecure. They use examples such as how girls spend a large amount of time at school reapplying makeup even though they're fundamentally at school to learn not to look attractive. Experiments are used in this video, for example it's stated that 50% of young children of both genders want to be President when they're growing up, but if you ask both genders when they're older there is an evident gap between the amount of boys and girls raising their hands. The phrase 'you can't be what you can't see' is used and this suggests that girls can't grow up wanting to be independent and focus on getting good careers when the media is raising them to care more about their appearance and being second best to men.
This article is talking about the objectification of women in the media and how nudity scenes always need to be used for either sexual or comedic purposes. For example if a conventionally attractive woman is used in a naked scene it's generally in a sexual context, whereas if it's someone older or someone who doesn't fit the stereotype they're ridiculed or used as a joke. It mentions a naked scene in a film where the woman's body isn't conventionally attractive and how it sparked a discussion among viewers about what it represents. The argument that it shouldn't have to represent anything is brought up, as if it was a tanned, skinny woman we wouldn't question the nudity but if it's someone with a more natural body we would assume it has to have an underlying meaning.
In this video Naomi Wolf is discussing third wave feminism and the way these feminists differ from second wave feminists. She mentions how they have different views on personal expression and fashion choices, as well as sexuality. As well as this, she says they're more alert to class and race issues, and they're more willing to use media and consumer practices to reach their outcomes. She discusses the wearing of headscarves and how one woman claimed that wearing more modest clothing made her feel more free in Western culture due to her getting less sexual harrassment and objectification.
This video shows a debate about whether playing princess as a child is positive or negative. One mother says its positive as it is promoting being polite and kind to others, whereas Peggy Orenstein believes the opposite. She suggests that because it has become such a big industry, media is suggesting that children should aim to be a princess every day and all of the time.
This clip is from the Simpsons and shows a Malibu Stacey doll being used by Lisa. In this short clip the doll says 'don't ask me, I'm a girl' when asked if she has anything relevant to say. It shows a sexist view against women as it suggests that females don't have anything relevant to contribute and the doll plays up to the 'dumb blonde' stereotype.
This is an advert for Power Rangers which is stereotypically targeted at a male audience. It is clear that this is aimed at males as the topic centers around battles and weapons. Despite there being female characters it is centered around male conventions as there is clear themes of violence and one of the selling points to the audience is they they get to choose their own weapons.
This advert is aiming to sell Bratz 'Funky Fashion Makeover' dolls to young girls and it fits the conventions of a typical girls advert due to the colours and themes running throughout. The doll is essentially something to practice makeup on and in the background there are young girls imitating the makeup application by putting on blusher and lipgloss. This is an example of our culture raising girls to be adult-like and be self conscious from a young age by putting ideas in their head that they need to wear makeup to be beautiful. Although it is portrayed in the advert as a fun activity, it's still giving young girls the idea that wearing makeup is something they should be doing if they want to be stereotypically attractive. Running themes of pink, glitter and makeup are shown in this advert and they fit feminine conventions.
Colonialism is the practice of a power showing control over weaker people or areas
Post-colonial perspective - considering race, nationality, being the 'other' race
Multicultural society - road signs in other languages, classes that teach different languages
Benedict Anderson says physical appearance, religious beliefs, language and history are factors of similarity
Liberty means freedom but America are launching missiles
Pursuit of happiness only seems okay for white americans
County Borders - Some borders changed to change peoples political views e.g. Warwick became own county
Thomas Friedman - Culture can be expressed through food people eat
Pork was eaten as a clear sign of being christian - sign that they weren't jews or muslims
Subway Halal Meat - only sold in certain areas to make more profit, caused problems with people complaining that certain religions were trying to take over
Sending Scottish soldiers to a war they don't agree with
UKIP are above lib dems despite having racist views
Avoiding Korea and going for places like Syria because they have oil and it will make more profit
Torture people for vital information - waterboarding, forcefed during ramadan
Expectations that Public Enemy should be positive role models even though they're only popstars
Western Superiority - Only reported that British people were affected in accidents, other cultures were ignored
America - globalisation of the world
Every high street has been taken over by American chains - mcdonalds, Nike, KFC
Films all American/British, tell stories from Western Perspective
Globalised market
Globalisation is countries that sell products internationally e.g. Nike, Mcdonalds
Westernisation - Selling product but promoting Western ideologies, 'west is best', sell products to promote capitalism - Mcdonalds in budapest promotes American Dream
promote English being main language, speak to people in other countries like they're dumber for not speaking english, we should respect someone elses culture if we're in their country
Idea that we'll all turn into some kind of america
In this video Russell Brand highlights the impact of media on our 'need' to buy products that we don't actually need and is using the new apple watch as an example of this. He brings up the fact that Apple claims to care about people's health and wellbeing but still use cheap labour to make their products, as well as pointing out that Apple have enough money to end world poverty.
-People were learning black history from popular culture rather than it being taught in schools
-Public enemy upset the media & government with songs
-Studied at uni - goes against stereotype that they're bad people/they don't try hard to work
-Got written off as criminal troublemakers
-They played at community centres
-Political fire drives their songs
-Civil rights policies were being cut
-Drugs were allowed to keep the black population down
-Developers would buy houses and move black people out to sell for a higher price
-Popular culture provided an outlet
-Martin Luther King was a peaceful protestor but methods didn't work so they tried to convey the protest through music
-Music filled the lack of politicians
-'Who is Malcolm the 10th?' Talking about Malcolm X, shows the lack of education given about black history
-Aimed to spark curiosity to learn that black people should be respected
-Public enemy introduced people to Malcolm X as schools didn't teach it
-Their songs highlighted that no black heroes are celebrated
-Lyrics contained political content
-Most didn't smoke, drink or do drugs
-Made white people aware of problems with racism
-White supremists didn't want to see black and white people together, their songs were banned on some radio stations
-It was claimed that they didn't come to mainstream attention until one member made controversial comments about Jews, only brought to media when they are shown in a bad light
-tackled issues that African Americans face
-'Anti nigga machine'
-Their message is more important than media coverage
-'The purpose of rap music or any kind of music is to raise dialogue'
-Hip hop has gone from raising dialogue to mass consumerism
-Major labels wouldn't fund them so they had to create their own label
-First group to make internet only album
-Public enemy politicised a new generation in America
-One of the greatest musical entities but they are never heard on the radio
This is a wikipedia page explaining the term racism and discussing the various issues surrounding this topic. Statistics about the number of black people under attack from racism are shown on this page.
In this video the stand up comedian Dave Chappelle pokes fun at the use of racism in various regions and highlights the ridiculous nature of some white peoples' views towards black people. He mentions various stereotypes associated with his skin colour as well as questioning the use of the word 'nigger'.
This video is a protest song dedicated to ending racial violence. Throughout the song they mention that they are entitled to freedom of speech and in the video they have gathered a crowd of protestersholding up signs and pictures. The pictures they are holding in the video show black people they would consider to be heroes. In the song they use lyrics like 'Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me you see, straight up racist that sucker was' as an example of the fact that most of the celebrities publicised as being heroes were white men.
Bob Marley's song No War No More Trouble is a song about ending the trouble and suggesting that we need to focus more on love than starting wars. The song may be seen as going against racial stereotypes as black people are often stereotyped as 'troublemakers' and this song is dedicated to ensuring there is less trouble. Love and peace are they key themes running throughout this song as he uses lyrics such as 'We don't need no trouble, what we need is love'.
This video is explaining that skin bleaching has had a rise in popularity in Jamaica and it shows different peoples' views towards the idea. The process of skin bleaching suggests that the paler you are the more likely you are to have a good sense of identity which is suggesting that being paler is superior to being black. Our society is highlighting being paler as a better skin colour which is making people with darker skin want to adapt their tone in order to gain a better social status. In one part of the video someone states 'black skin is associated with social disadvantage, while brown skin is believed to be more beautiful'. The mentality that brown is beautiful while black isn't has encouraged Jamaicans to bleach their skin and this epidemic is shown in this video.
This page discusses the term cricket test and how British politician Norman Tebbit doesn't believe immigrants to be loyal. The phrase was created in 1990 making it a fairly modern phrase which suggests that racism is still a rising issue. He suggests that immigrants are still sticking to their old culture despite them moving to Britain as well as claiming they are 'dangerous'. This narrow minded view highlights the fact immigrants are discrimated against as a whole purely for coming from different cultures.
The Byzantium trailer fits into some of the conventions surrounding vampires as it maintains similar imagery to what we would imagine in a vampire film. For example throughout the trailer the main colour scheme is black and red, and these are the colours generally associated with this genre. In one scene, the mother bathes in blood and blood is an image associated with vampires due to them sucking blood from peoples' necks and being generally violent. Another scene involves one of the characters being surrounded by bats which is one of the main images that we consider to be associated with vampires. The film does challenge certain conventions but in terms of imagery they use most of the main images. One change which they do make in the film is the way the vampires feed on their prey. The women in the film, rather than having fangs, both have long, pointed nails which they use as a way of cutting the necks of their prey and they feed with their hands rather than sucking the blood from their neck. Despite this being a subtle detail in the trailer this challenges one of the main conventions associated with vampires and also makes the film seem more female based as long nails are linked to women more than men.
Light and darkness is a main theme in the trailer and these both challenge and fit into conventions. At the very start of the trailer, the girl and her mother are walking through a field in the day time. Although the weather is musky they are surviving in daylight, something that stereotypical vampires can't do. The daughter goes to school with humans meaning she would have to be at school during the day and she can do this without any negative effects, so this convention is challenged. Despite this darkness is a main theme used throughout the trailer as they have ensured the colours are generally dull.
The location of this film has aspects of fitting into the conventions but it also goes against them. There are multiple settings in the trailer such as a beach, city and a cave, which wouldn't usually be considered as places suited for vampires. The cave fits some conventions as caves are isolated places and aren't lived in by humans so the mysterious or lonely feel of them ties in with the settings that vampires usually live in. Vampires would generally be considered to live somewhere historical like a castle, or an isolated place like forests or dungeons so caves are similar to these but less likely to be associated with vampires. The beach is an unusual setting as it is a very open place and would generally be considered a positive setting due to them being related to holidays and sun. The beach in this film looks duskier and more isolated which ties in with the connotations of vampire settings, but as a general place it is considered unusual for vampires to stay there. Cities are urban so they are usually busy and this is an unlikely place for vampires to live.
Women are the dominant gender in this trailer which goes against conventions as when people think of vampires they think of males more than females. In the film the mother is fighting to be accepted into the group of male vampires and one states that they are a brotherhood and there are no women there. The film challenges the idea that women are the inferior gender but also fits some gender stereotypes as the mother is very sexualised. While her daughter wears baggy clothes and tries to cover up, the mother is shown to be dressed in tighter and more revealing clothes. She also acts seductively around male prey which suggests she uses her sexual appeal to hunt her prey. Her clothes are fairly aristocratic but are still revealing so she has the historical look that vampires have without losing her sexualised look. Themes of desire run throughout the film as the scenes in the trailer suggest the mother gets pleasure from feasting and the sexualised nature of the women highlight this theme.
Another theme that is generally considered to be seen in vampire films is the idea of mystery and secrets. This theme is used as the daughter is shown writing about her mother then throwing the pages into the wind so as to stop people reading them.
Communication - The way different information is shared either verbally or non-verbally Culture - Certain ways of life in different places or classes Context - The situation behind communication, how it will be read, the audience, purpose etc Representation - Value - The importance of something Identity - How we are/how we represent ourselves Power - How much influence somebody has over others Code - A practice or rule that is created by a culture
This video is set in a conventionally British Looking home and the colours he is wearing are representative of Britain due to them being red, blue and white. The arbitrary logo in the corner of the screen is decorated with the colours of the british flag also which suggests this video is centered around British pride. These colours are a symbol as our culture has given them connotations of British pride but to people not part of this culture they may not have any hidden meaning. Nick Griffin may have negative views towards him due to him being part of the BNP and this political party is known for attempting to stop immigration for good. hence the running theme of British pride. Despite a lot of people viewing this British pride as a hate for other countries, he may be trying to show his audience how important British culture is. Cooking is a cultural practice in most places but he is trying to suggest that Britain is the proudest country when it comes to cooking as he is using all British ingredients and placing constant emphasis on the fact that everything comes from Britain.
The sender of this message is a group on facebook named “Beautiful
and Bald Barbie”. Not much information is given about the sender but the name
suggests this group is aiming to raise awareness of the fact that people
suffering from certain illnesses which may result in hair loss should still be
considered beautiful.
The powerful message is shown through a central image which
is the main focus of this poster, and a few bits of text to support the picture
and make it clear what the intended message is. The words “bald” and “beautiful”
are used frequently in the text and this suggests the main message is that
girls can still be beautiful despite being bald. It states it is for “girls
coping with hair loss” due to various illnesses and this is supported by the
main image as the picture doesn’t fit into conventions associated with the
barbies usually seen in shops. It breaks from the norm as Barbie is usually
considered to be beautiful because of her long hair and ‘perfect’ figure, but
the figure is hidden here and all of the main focus is placed on her head,
where she has lost her hair. Barbie is a conventionally beautiful doll and
well-known by everyone so that is likely to be the reason that this particular
brand of doll is used. Negative opinions about the social norm of beauty in our
culture is represented in this text as they are breaking away from conventions
and producing a doll which would not normally be shown in media. This gives a
suggestion that the sender believes norms of beauty are giving society negative
views towards people who don’t fit into these norms and this should be changed
by allowing everyone to see that bald is still beautiful.
The main audience is people who have joined the facebook
page but it is likely to be seen by a large audience due to people sharing it
over the internet. It was created to make people think so it would most likely
be shared around to others to ensure that it creates an impression. The implied
audience is girls as the colour theme is pink and yellow which are
stereotypical girl colours. A Barbie is used as the main theme which is
generally considered a girls toy and the word “beautiful” is also
stereotypically associated with females. It can be assumed that this is more
aimed at younger people to boost their self-esteem as media generally doesn’t
show cancer patients in magazines/TV shows about beauty. This may make them
feel bad about themselves as they may think they don’t fit into society’s norms
and body image is usually a more important problem for girls and teenagers.
Semiotic Approach:
The Barbie picture is an index as although it’s clear that
the picture is a Barbie it has connotations like unconventional beauty surrounding
it and it has a deeper meaning due to it being placed there to provoke a
response. The yellow ribbon is a symbol which a lot of people know is associated
with cancer, but may be unrecognisable to people who have never come across
this image before. It is arbitrary to some due to it not having any meaning
just by itself. Our culture has attached meaning to it over time and we now
place value in it because it shows support for people trying to overcome
cancer.
I'm exploring the statement that our self concept relies heavily on the feedback we receive from others. self-concept is a combination of the way we feel about and see ourselves, and a big part of boosting our self-concept is getting compliments from others. For example, if somebody changed their hairstyle and it received compliments from friends they would feel confident about themselves, whereas if it got negative feedback the person would most likely regret the decision depending on how high their self concept already is. if we receive negative feedback for showing our core self, the gap between our core and public self will increase and there is more chance we will adapt our public self to make us more appealing to others.
Dimbleby and Burton have a theory that we rely on the actions of, compare ourselves to, and identify with others. This ties in with the statement as we value other people highly and the reactions we receive from others can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when we are told something so much that we start to believe it and act it out. When this happens it means other people have influenced the way we act and this shows that we rely heavily on other people's opinions. As well as this, Cooley's Looking Glass Theory (1992) states that other people validate our behaviour and how we feel about ourselves depends entirely on the reactions of others. This is a similar theory to Dimbleby and Burton as both of theories support the idea that the opinions of others are important to us. A good example of this is that teenagers generally tend to dress similarly to the way their friends dress or copy popular styles and this suggests that they are doing this to fit in and be liked, rather than because they just like the style.
The Johari window is a model of identity, and shows the different versions of ourself and who sees them. There are 4 sections: open, blind, hidden and unknown, and these are all either known or unknown by us and others. Our open self is seen by everybody and our hidden self is aspects of our personality that we hide from others. This means we change the way we are depending on who we're with as we all have things that we want to keep private and we want to show ourselves in a good light when with others so we only reveal certain parts of our personality. For example, I change the way I act with different people as I want people to like me and accept me into their groups. This theory is good evidence that we rely on others opinions as we make changes to our identity to gain acceptance.
Another theory which supports this idea is the dissonance theory. It states that we have to try and protect ourselves from the opinions of others so we don't damage our self-concept. This is direct evidence that people affect what we think about ourselves. We disclose different amounts of information to different people and adapt the things we say in order to get approval from them. When I talk to people who are interested in pop music I would discuss the pop music I liked as I know it will get good feedback, whereas if I was talking to someone who liked rock music I would disclose different information and only discuss the rock music I liked.
When we receive negative feedback it affects our self-concept so we adopt different methods to prevent this. These are called "self-maintenance strategies" and these were discovered by Gergen and Gergen. We use methods such as commenting on our appearance in order to provoke a positive response and changing our behaviour to conform to the norms of society. This shows that we highly value what others think of us and will do certain actions to fit in with groups and be valued.
Body modification is all to do with altering our bodies to get closer to reaching our ideal self. People of all ages have an idea of what they aspire to be and what their ideal self looks like, meaning that we all go through various procedures to reach our goal of being our version of 'perfect'. It is especially important to teenagers and young adults as this seems to be the time when most people get a clear idea of who they want to be and what they are willing to go through. I think with younger people body modifications (such as makeup for girls) are a way for them to try and be in control of ourselves. This is because at a young age we abide by our parents beliefs so once we have reached the age where we develop our own we want to break away from our parents and show independence. Each person has their own ideologies but as teenagers there are usually more generalised groups that we want to fit in to and theses all have specific styles. There are aspects of independence associated with body modifications as well as aspects of fitting in and being accepted.
I think a lot of teenagers modify their bodies for themselves to raise their self-esteem and make them feel more confident within themselves, but the ideal self they have created usually stems from our subconscious need to fit in with others. I personally tell myself the way my style is all for personal reasons and I'm doing it for myself not others, but there is also an aspect of society giving me ideas about how 'perfect' women should be which influences my choices subconsciously. I take a lot of my inspiration about how I want to look from people around me and the opinions of my peers rather than media. For me personally, I value my figure as one of the things that I want to become 'perfect' so working on reaching my ideal body is one my more important forms of body modification.
For others piercings and tattoos are a more obvious form of body modification. It is generally suggested, especially by older people, that people only get these as a sign of rebellion but I think it is more personal to each person rather than a way of rebelling. Teenagers can form groups because of these modifications as there are some subcultures that are more likely to get tattoos or piercings, but nowadays they're more popular with everybody so I think it is a personal decision. I personally would like to get tattoos as they are a way of representing different aspects of myself and showing off my identity, but someone like my mum hates them and doesn't see the reason people would get them so I think it all comes down to personal choice. I don't want to get tattoos to rebel against my mum's beliefs so the idea that they're all for rebellion is wrong in my opinion. I think they are more about representation as tattoos are specific to each person who gets them and they usually have meaning behind them.
"Perhaps I'm getting too old to understand but it seems to me that most young people today go out of their way to look ridiculous. Perhaps they just don't like themselves. How else can you explain the tattoos and body piercings? Why else would they dress in the style of convicts, hardened criminals or extras from a horror film? As for music, the most popular types seem to celebrate negative or anti-social behaviour: violence, drug abuse, suicide, self harm and anti-materialism. Is it all the fault of the older generation for bringing up youths who just reject society's values"
This quote is showing a negative approach towards youth culture and the subcultures which have become popular. I'd assume the writer of this comment is an adult as they are talking about how they don't understand the trends that 'young people' follow which would suggest that they're older. They state that people go out of their way to look ridiculous which shows a negative view towards the culture but I think this statement can be true for any style, not just youth culture. For example there were a range of subcultures around in previous decades that aren't present now and all of these had styles that could be considered ridiculous so it isn't just youth culture that is responsible for this. They begin to question why teenagers
