7. Computers
• The Internet
Social Media
Blogs
News Stories
Ads
• Blu-Ray
• DVDs
• CDs
“As of 2012, 76.7% of households had at least one
computer.” (p.227)
8. “Mass entertainment now performs a
similar normative role in our media-
saturated society.” p.(227)
9. How individuals dress
How they interact with one another
What is socially acceptable
How individuals understand
• Themselves
• Each other
• Society
• world
10. Adorno/Frankfurt School: media" 'churn[s] out
products which keep the audience blandly
entertained, but passive, helping to maintain the
status quo by encouraging conformity and
diminishing the scope of resistance” (229).
• Media creates a false consciousness
Audience members believe they choose what they view
Audience member believe their opinions about what they view
are products or their own cogitation, not media influence.
Fiske: audiences engage with media “actively and
creatively…” (229).
11. Hegemony: “one way the predominant
social group can make its beliefs appear to
be common sense is through media
representations that shape the cognitive
structure through which people perceive
and evaluate social reality.”
12. In order for
hegemony to
successfully
“respond to and
overcome the forms
that oppose it”
messages must be:
Message
Made
Message
Maintained
Message
Repeated
Message
Reinforced
Message
Modified
13. Hegemonic messages about gender are
maintained even as additional messages that
“create gaps and fissures in representations of
gender” are introduced.
Vs.
14. Polysemous:
• media messages are “open to a range of different
interpretations at different times.
• Meaning is determined by individual audience
members, not media.
15. Polyvalence: occurs “when audience
members share understanding of the
denotations of a text but disagree about
the valuation of these denotations to such
a degree that they produce notable
different interpretations” (p. 229).
Polyvalence: when audience members share an
understanding of the message, but disagree of the
messages importance.
16. Ex: A commercial for skin cream that
claims to banish a woman’s fine lines as
she ages reinforces the notion that to
remain physically attractive women must
maintain a youthful appearance.
Audience members may disagree on the importance of
women maintain a youthful appearance as they age.
17. Media is structured around the male
perspective
• Diminishes the perspectives of women and
transgender individuals
Oppositional Gaze: critically examines the
messages proliferated from the male-
dominant gaze
• Ex: critically examining the world from through the
experiences of a female rather than those of a man.
18. Developing an oppositional gaze:
• Embrace an oppositional perspective
Understand how you view the world
• Identity the extent to which you participate in culture
Examine how you consume, produce, and reinforce media
messages
• Critique and transform messages
Understand media messages, as well as providing
alternatives the convey opposing meanings.
• Remain cognizant of commodification
19. Commodification: “the selling of cultural,
sexual, or gender difference in a way that
supports institutionalized discrimination” (p.
237).
Ex:
Situated in the backseat
with her male companion
looming over her from
behind the closed door, the
sexuality of the female is
not only referenced, but is
objectified from the imagery,
to the text, to the tone of the
message. The ad implies
that the car provides more
than extra space to just
stretch one’s legs, but
serves as an arena for male
pleasure.
20.
21. Underrepresentation of
women in media
• Male Characters are
dominant in:
• Children’s Books
• News
• Television
• Film
• Video Games
Underrepresentation of
people of color
22. Types of Sexualization
• Individuals value comes solely from their sexual
appeal or behavior
• An individual’s physical attractiveness is equated with
“being sexy” (242.)
• Objectification
Person becomes an object for sexual gratification rather than
an actively engaging human being
• “Sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person”
(242).
23. Factors of Sexualization
• Sexualization of society stems from increased
portrayals of sexuality on TV.
• Male Gaze
Women are objects for pleasure, not individual entities
• Societal Values
“A woman’s self-worth is influenced by her look, clothes, and
accessories” (243).
• Men’s Magazines
Normalize extreme sexual behavior towards women.
24. “Masculinity is a social construction, not a cultural
given”(p.247).
U.S Hegemonic Masculinity:
• Power mean physical force and control
• Professional Achievement
• Family Patriarchy
Male acts as primary provider
• Embodies frontiersman/outdoorsmen archetype
Handy and resourceful
• Heterosexual
25. Although the media presents consumers with images and
messages about the social construction in which they live, it is
imperative that viewers develop a critical lens through which the
latent meanings of such messages can be identified, examined, and
countered. Consumers of media must become producers of media
so that they can define media, rather than being defined by it.
