Dyer, Lovell, and McCrindle (1977) take up the matter of women's viewing of--and representation in--the soap opera, a popular form of entertainment. They make the case that genres specially addressed to a female audience--such as the soap opera--should be examined critically. Their paper has inspired many researchers to study the soap opera as well as female genres more generally and the female audience (quoted in Gray and McGuigan, 1993, p. 2).
SOAP OPERA AND WOMEN
1. Introduction
Critics do not yet believe that the world of women is as important as the world of men, never mind think that the separation of these two worlds ought to be challenged. Until that time, women will have to produce polemical papers about women (p. 35).
2. Our Study
We focus on the only form of television drama that has been defined as drama for women about women and watched by women. We are interested in how this output especially on television defines the experience that it offers its female audience. From a critical feminist perspective, we ask: What are the limits and the possibilities of this dramatic form? We analyze the ways in which representations of women in soap opera reproduce/reinforce the subordination of women in contemporary society. We explore possible strategies for those women directors and women writers who struggle against the prevailing sexism of the media.
Coronation Street has become Granada's nostalgic look at the 1950s; the programme depicts a working-class world characterized by the values of togetherness, community, i.e., before affluence and consumerism corrupted it. Clearly, middle-class television directors, script writers, and producers find it easier to identify with a supposedly sympathetic working-class ...
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...hat is wanted by the consumer, as opposed to the use-value (ideology) that is needed by capitalism. These two obligations may--but need not--overlap. They may--and probably will--come to contradict each other. Characteristically, it may be precisely when capital and the accumulation of capital become the dynamic of cultural production that the ideological functions secured by that production escape social control and become problematic. In conclusion, we can expect greater possibilities within commercial television than within state-controlled television: the BBC.
References
Dyer, Richard, Terry Lovell, and Jean McCrindle. 1977. "Soap Opera and Women. From Edinburgh International Television Festival 1977. Official Programme. Edinburgh: Broadcast.
Gray, Ann, and Jim McGuigan. 1997. Studying Culture: An Introductory Reader. 2nd edn. London: Arnold, pp. 35-41.
In her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey discusses the subject of how female characters, through various methods, are subjected to erotic objectification, by both the characters on screen as well as the spectators within the auditorium. While Mulvey makes an excellent point in acknowledging female’s exposure in cinema, she fails to realize that male characters are just as likely to be subjected to the same kind of objectification, depending on what type of audience the motion picture is directed at. Mulveys claim depends on a generalization of a homogenous audience and characters that only consists of heterosexual men. When transferring Mulveys claim onto homosexual male characters starring in a production that is in first-hand directed towards a gay audience, the erotic objectification of male characters share several similarities with those Mulvey describe women to be exposed to in her essay. Consequently, erotic objectification is governed by different circumstances, in which the audience plays a large role.
Finally I'm going to write about if Christian comedies are "out of touch" or "in touch" and I'll be analysing father Ted and the Vicar of Dibley Firstly the general content of Songs of Praise was hymn singing and interviews with Christian believers not only from a British background
Feminism has tackled gender inequality in the workforce, within politics, education and various institutes. Within the 20th century some of these issues faced in western culture have been completely reformed due to certain feminist movements that have encouraged women to fight for equal rights. (Crofton: 2011: 272-273) The first and second waves of feminism have proven to be successful by increasing equal rights between men and women. (Kaplan: 1992: 7) Despite these successes which include allowing there is still the fact of the matter remains that women are still objectified by their gender. ()The generalization of gender roles, have proven to be challenging within the feminist movement, this is often due to the objectification of women in the media. Also as feminism, is an ideology it has various schools of which have conflicting ideas of the ‘empowerment of women’ making it difficult to clarify on what is not acceptable in establishing women’s rights. (Fraser: 2014)
In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey states that, “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen.” (Mulvey 40). A woman’s role in the narrative is bound to her sexuality or the way she
This essay argues that the film Bridesmaids transcends traditional representations of feminine desire that exhibits women as spectacles of erotic pleasure, through the symbolic reversal of gender identity in cinematic spaces. By discussing feminist perspectives on cinema, along with psychoanalytic theory and ideological narratives of female image, this essay will prove Bridesmaids embodies a new form of feminine desire coded in the space of the comedic film industry.
Benedict, Ruth as quoted in Across Cultures. Gillespie, Sheena and Robert Singleton, editors. Across Cultures MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
Relationship Between Soap Operas and Reality TV Dating Shows Tania Modleski’s “The Search for Tomorrow in Today’s Soap Operas” proposes that the unique appeal and function of soap opera lies in (a) the viewer’s ability to inhabit the text’s prescribed spectatorial position of ‘the good mother’, and (b) using the archetypal ‘villainess’ to displace one’s own repressed anger and powerlessness. It can be argued, using Modleski’s analytical perspectives on the interpellated spectatorial positions of soap operas, that a new genre of television programs (namely the reality dating shows) function in a similar way. An examination of Modleski’s thesis renders these statements more likely. Modleski argues that soap operas are essential in understanding women’s role in culture.
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
When posed with the question “What is woman?” it seems a daunting task to lay an umbrella statement to describe an entire gender. Upon further reflection, however, it seems that this overwhelming inability to answer the question, may in fact, be the answer to the question itself. Within the past two decades Maria Lugones and Elizabeth Spelman, Caroline Whitbeck, Geraldine Finn, and Helene Cixous have addressed the meaning of woman. There is not a concrete answer to “What is woman?” either produced by women or produced through men’s perceptions of women.
This essay will examine my thoughts and those of David Sterrit on the critically acclaimed television show The Honeymooners. First, I will talk about the Honeymooners and it’s setting in postwar America. Secondly, the social and cultural issues the series portrayed. Next, would be the psychological perspective and the aesthetics of the show. Finally, the essay would conclude with my thoughts on how the Honeymooners were impacted by these aspects, but also how the show managed to leave a legacy in television today.
The most trending music genre gets a lot of listeners because of its the discrimination. As the songs and advertisements gain followers, it starts to become realized by the citizens. Pop culture artists sing about drugs, alcohol and women. The portrayal of women by these composers is dreadful because it degrades the significance and importance of their existence. Pop culture has always been a home for gender domination and discrimination. It is becoming increasingly “pornified.” As Valenti quotes, “After all, while billboards and magazines ads may feature a ripped guy from time to time, it’s mostly women who make up what sexy is supposed to be. And it’s not just sexy-it’s straight-up sex” (Valenti, 44). The pornography has been a part of the culture and has been accepted by younger women. Feminists have argued that this has increased the inculcation of “raunch culture” in the lives of younger women who fall into it as they feel it empowers them. However, it is a kind of faux empowerment. This illustrates that the media is promoting and utilizing pop culture to change the social norms in an attempt to instruct women on their role in the society. In essence, pop culture with its propaganda desires to change women’s view on nudity until it can become inherent in American culture, and thus eliminating opposition to benefit pop culture in the long run. Valenti persuades her readers by saying, “ the ‘show’ is everywhere. In magazines like Maxim and Playboy. And in the insanity of Girls Gone Wild, with teens putting on fake lesbian make-out sessions so guys will think they’re hot.” Levy also mentions a character, influenced by raunch culture and a reader of Playboy magazines, named Erin who is piqued her curiosity and provided her with inspiration because of this culture. Erin says, “There’s countless times in my life where I know I’ve turned people on just by showing off (by putting on a
Throughout the texts we have read in English thus far have been feminist issues. Such issues range from how the author published the book to direct, open statements concerning feminist matters. The different ways to present feminist issues is even directly spoken of in one of the essays we read and discussed. The less obvious of these feminist critiques is found buried within the texts, however, and must be read carefully to understand their full meaning- or to even see them.
Thinking traditionally, certain careers women commonly choose come to mind. Curiously enough, the careers of the women on Wisteria Lane entertain those exact jobs. Susan Mayer, a young mother of a school-aged boy, is sporadically employed as an art teacher. When she gets fired from a conservative private school for being too outspoken, her family loses their house and Susan takes up making soft-core porn to supplement her husband’s income. Bree, a divorced and fiercely independent redhead, owns her own catering business. Don’t be fooled by this seeming break in traditional gender roles; writers try to give her more job equality by making her an powerful owner, but the fact that she owns a food business, which is t...
... side; however, her “bitchy” attitude gets in the way. Gabrielle Solis defies her husband and offers Anya (Carlos’s niece), a check if she agrees to keep her legs closed and Bree Van De Kamp continues to be a host to her paralyzed husband but refuses to be a good wife and love him for who he has become. It is easy to say that this television show represents these characters in this way in order to enable the viewers with a quick understanding of their role in forty-five minutes. However, it is true and safe to say that women are stereotyped and represented in this television show and many others as being typically Caucasian, skinny, desperate and submissive to their men in order to present a sometimes false, one-sided, and negative image. By doing this, viewers are able to create opinions about what women should look like and their roles/duties within the society.
Kroeber, A. and C. Klockhohn, Culture: A Critical Review of Concept and Definition New York: Vintage Books, 1989.