Gender Stereotypes

566 Words2 Pages

Through Liam Benson’s photographic video, we become familiar with the many layers and ideas he is trying to express to his auidence. One clear message that we can gain is the idea towards Australian male identity, and how he has cleverly chosen to capture this message through his artwork. One way he has challenged this idea is through the use of particular clothing, dressing the upper half of the body in a modern day blouse, and the lower half dress in a historical colonial female skirt. Through this, we are exposed to the idea of the modern day and the present, showing how through time the views on men have changed to form a very stereotypical expectation. The expectation as been redefined when we see the controversial character that Liam …show more content…

When viewing this image we are instantly drawn to the abundant use of brightly coloured yellow and green flowers. The flowers are a representation of Australia, highlighting the familiar green and gold colours. As well as this, it can be concluded that flowers are stereotypically know to be feminine. I think that through Liam Benson surrounding himself with feminine flowers, coloured that of the Australia flag is sharing a deep and meaningful message about male identity, but more importantly expressing the idea of gender equality. This proves that flowers should not only be subject to females. This is significant because it shows the auidence a side to our world that would be filled with equality, consisting of equal judgements for both genders. In plate 5, we also see the australian code of arms, highlighted by the rich, dark colour of Liam Benson’s hair. The australian code of arms is one that is mostly used to represent authority and property of the australian government. This once again leads us to the idea of men having their stereotype of power and bravery. We also see the kangaroo and the emu, which are believed the symbolise a nation moving forward. Through the eyes of Liam Benson this could relate back to his idea of male identity, proving how through his empowering artworks he is able to express to an audience his vision to slowly remove male australians of their stereotypes that australia has

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