representation of women in the media

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Media essay – Representation of females
The representation of females in the media today is very complex. In some media texts such as the “asda Christmas advert” the dominant ideology of women being happily married and domesticated is reinforced. , whereas in other media texts such as “Miranda” the dominant ideology of women is challenged as they are trying to break the stereotypes people have of women
“Miranda” is a TV programme created by the BBC, one of the world’s largest public service broadcaster who aim to inform, educate and entertain. The BBC have to reflect the female audience and they have done through “Miranda” which is broadening the ideology of women. Miranda is a profile of a thirty four year old woman whose mode of address is informal and she represents herself as laid back through her casual sense of clothing. The dominant ideology is challenged through Miranda’s beliefs of having fun and being interested in the opposite sex rather than marriage and babies. During the episode there are several long-shot camera angles of Miranda and Stevie to enhance the binary opposition (Levi Strauss) of Miranda being more boyish whereas Stevie is more petite and girly as shown in the clothes she wears which are skirts, compared to Miranda who wears sweaters and jeans. The BBC has used removal of the fourth wall in order for Miranda to communicate with the audience especially during the awkward moments. The hegemonic value of “Miranda” may be that relationships and fun are more important, which would actually be challenging the hegemonic value of the female form. The polysemic readings could be that the audience might admire Miranda for being confident and keeping away from the norm, however another way the audience can take i...

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...e families and children are very happy and the woman can be seen as a role model for other mums. However some of the audience may see it as fake as the advert is full of happy faces and Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year. The contextualization of this advert is that it is still the dominant ideology of women. Asda have chosen to represent women like this to remind society that women are in charge of the household.
In conclusion, my opinion is that the media still represents women as being self conscious and caring about beauty more. In many TV shows and movies and adverts the women used are very pretty and are exposed and sometimes the women are shown to be dependent on men too much. Although there are some rare media texts where the woman is shown to be independent and happy by herself without giving in to society.

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levi strauss

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