Feminist Perspective on the Media

In Van Zonnen’s  article “Feminist Perspective on the Media” she introduces three kinds of feminist viewpoints: Socialist, Radical, and Liberal. Each deals with a different way of examining the representation of women in media, but all three are focused on the way that Media represents the female person and the idea that gender depictions in media cause the audience to assume the norms of gender roles in society. There is no question that media influences the masses, but I believe the “brainwashing” is not as direct as a two step process from media to audience.

In the first place while many programs follow a stereotypical depiction of gender roles in media, many attract their audiences by the fact that they do not follow assumed gender roles. A notable example is the television show Maude starring Bea Arthur that aired from 1972-1978. The program focused on Maude Findlay a upper-middle class, liberal activist, and her appliance salesman [fourth] husband, Walter. Maude’s divorced daughter lived with them with her child out of wedlock and provided another generation’s representations of the same feminist activism of Maude. It tackled timely and typically taboo topics around the lives of women specifically in the first season where an episode centers on Maude deciding to and undergoing an abortion operation (the episode aired two weeks before the Roe vs. Wade supreme court decision).  The program not only addressed gender-role issues directly, but also tackled social issues through the actions of Maude. For example one episode was in direct response to new marijuana possession legislation and centered on women in Queens banding together to fight the unfair regulations

On one hand the show seems like the answer to all feminist outcries for non-stereotypical representation, but after becoming intimate with this show I have noticed some very interesting qualities that perpetuate the female myth. For example Maude herself, being married four times, still takes the last name of her newest husband, Walter Findlay. However small the namesake may be, it is still a grand gesture to lose a piece of your identity in marriage. Also, the divorced single parent daughter, though with agency of her own, cannot support herself and must live in her mother’s house to maintain her life. Another example is the fact that Maude hires a female African American maid, Florida. While the issue of racial equality is addressed directly since Maude makes a big deal about hiring the maid- insisting they were “equals” and that she use the front door to the house. In this example, Florida’s race is addressed, but not her gender. It is assumed that a maid should be a female; and while two other maids replace Florida, they are also both female, post-middle-age women.

The show did great things for the roles of women in the media and household there is no question about that, but  it was being broadcast on a national network and trying to maintain  a widespread audience. I’m sure that some sacrifices were made so that the program would not be seen as a radical feminist piece so that it could be consumed by audiences just enjoying a situation comedy as well.

Racism and the American Way of Media

     In “Racism and the American Way of Media,” Ash Corea uses television as a platform for an examination of the depiction of African Americans in American media culture. In an effort to illuminate the topic, Corea expands on how statistics in the media industry show a lack of African American representation both on camera as well as on the production side of things. While the argument may be a dated one, the principle of the matter is definitely one to be considered. Do minorities by nature of being minorities, have less representation in media due to sheer numbers of minorities in the workforce or is there some “glass ceiling” being perpetuated in the corporate world of media that stifles their presence in mainstream culture.

     I wanted to find an example that broke the barrier and I stumbled upon director/producer Paris Barclay. Barclay started his career in music videos in the early 90’s by directing for recording artist LL Cool J. He was subsequently offered the directorial position for some predominantly African American films such as “House Pary” and “White Men Can’t Jump.”  After these films he began a venture into television directing and focused on primetime dramas. He directed regularly for ER and NYPD Blue, eventually becoming a producer the latter. He went on to create the series City of Angels which was a medical drama with a primarily African American cast (it received to NAACP awards). In his recent career, Barclay has directed episodes of Weeds, Glee, Smash, The Goodwife, and Sons Of Anarchy (producer and lead director).

     Barclay success is a rare occurrence for any director, but specifically for an African American director. He has managed to direct both media focused primarily on African American audiences as well as mainstream media for huge broadcasting companies. There is still a disparity between African American and white Americans in the media workforce, but there are signals that indicate things are changing and blending together for the future.

Genre Analysis

     Jason Mittell explores genre analysis in American television culture in his text Genre and Television. Within his examples he touches on four specific elements in genre analysis: Defintional, Interpretive, Historical, and Psychological. These are four distinct lenses one can use when analyzing a text of media. Since media and art have blurred boundaries there is always room for an artistic approach in classifying genre. In another class I am taking on the Performing arts in Western Civilization we are focusing on an eclectic method of analysis where when approaching any art piece (visual, musical, or otherwise) one must employ an arsenal of gazes to really determine the art. In this same way I think Mittell’s four prongs of genre analysis are best served to work together.

        I have chosen to examine the film Grey Gardens in an Eclectic/Mittell style. Historically, this film was made in 1975. It has since been distributed by the Criterion Collection which prides itself on distributing select “important classic and contermporary films” and in 2010 the film was selected by the Library of Congress to be entered into the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historicall, or aesthetically significant.”

        Through an Interpretive lens, this film examines several topics. Obviously, there is the enigmatic relationship between the mother and daughter where Little Edie remains at the home to take care of her mother even though her mother is the main source of her psychosis. Additionally the relationship the women have with men and marriage opens up an entire discussion on “old-school” society in an era when family defined social status and marriage defined women. Their fall from high-soceity American royalty to neighborhood nuisance is extremely thought provoking as well potentially a comment on the loss of respect for the nuclear families of the American 50’s.

     Definitionally this piece is a documentary. It was self pro-claimed and was screened at film festivals as documentary. While it has a film crew and direction, the film is considered in the style of direct cinema or cinéma vérité which uses objectivity to let the subject of the film dictate the content, aside from editing the physical film has virtually no distortion and the meaning is open to interpretation.

       Psychologically this film has extremely varied affects on it’s audiences.  It began with a cult following in the film industry and throughout the past forty years has been referenced in media for those “in-the-know” who are savvy enough to know the text. It has also gained a large following in the homosexual community. One theory is that the resilience of Little Edie to live her life no matter the condition of it appealed to the community, another explores the idea that it is simply the outlandish nature of the piece that made it a gay-cult hit. Either way, the piece has an audience and has continued to have an audience for forty years.

Production Constraints

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In chapter two of Nina Leibman’s Living Room Lectures: The Fifties Family in Film and Television, she explores the relationship between the production of media and the content of media. She is focused mainly on the nuclear family as portrayed in television shows such as My Three Sons and Leave it To Beaver and how the formant of television dictated the content of the shows. The episodic nature of television made the plot lines digestible and soft, but it also gave the characters within the show a more full and round representation (unlike film where character development occurs strictly within the time frame of one film). Additionally budget constraints on television shows, especially the early forms, created challenges and affected the product. For example using a laugh track is easier than managing and housing a studio audience- it is less of a risk of re-shooting a scene.  To distill these into one clear image I will reference the example from class where we mentioned that wardrobe pieces are cheaper to buy in sample sizes so actors are usually smaller people which in turn causes the message in media to be that all people are “model size.”

Keeping this in mind I thought to examine the film institution of James Bond pictures. This example is something of an anomaly in the film industry.  Whereas most films with sequels become progressively contrived and less and less main-stream, the James Bond series has presented itself as just that: a series. In production and execution James Bond is very similar to a television show, the movies are self contained plots with a cast of recurring characters, they center on the action and leave the character development to be developed as the series progresses.  Most importantly, more similar to a television show than a movie, the james bond series functions under production constraints. Continuing the films for a half a century means many changes. The most obivious of those changes is the cast.

Six different men have played the character of James Bond and the changes in casting are met with no more than a sideways glance. At one point George Lazenby’s wife is killed (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and in the next film Sean Connery returns as Bond to avenge her death (You Only Live Twice). Distinctively, these changes are usually due to the age of the actors rather than contract negotiations in television.

What intrigues me most about the institution of James Bond is that, aside from the more indie cult of Woody Allen, it stands unparalleled in longevity. Even compared to Woody Allen films there is a huge disparity in budget and profits as almost each James Bond film is a financial success and the most recent, Skyfall,  broke the box offices records in it’s first week in the UK. What is this series doing right to continue producing with popular and financially stable successes?

Emergent & Residual Cultures

In Raymond William's article "Base and Superstructure" he introduces the ideas of emergent and residual cultures. His theory is that within a dominant culture there are emergent and residual cultures present. Emergent being new ideas and cultural values forming in tandem with the dominant culture. Residual being a relic of a past culture that continues to rear it's head in the current culture. After our class discussion on this topic, I began to wonder how I would define the current Opera scene in our dominant culture.

This type of musical entertainment has long since seen it's height of popularity and now functions as a sub-culture (mostly for the bourgeois class) that I imagine could be classified as a residual culture. Since the dominant culture is moving further toward electronically enhanced music and Opera is the quintessential acoustic experience I found it a prime example.

However; recently (and I believe it was briefly brought up in class as well) there has been a new opera composed by John Adams. This modern opera was a radical idea thrown into the nostalgic world of global opera, but much to everyone's surprise it has been accepted by the opera community and joined the ranks of Verdi and Mozart in the operatic cannon.

The question I pose is how can a non-dominant, residual culture, accept something with such clear influence from the dominant culture into it's own value system without being considered part of the dominant culture. Is this some example where an entity can function as both emergent and residual? Even if Opera were a residual culture, it is such a solid institution that there is no chance of it's residue being wiped up completely. It has almost been preserved like a museum exhibit- except for the fact that it is constantly being innovated. For example Julie Taymor (original director of THE LION KING and SPIDERMAN on broadway) recently helmed a production of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE and created an entirely new puppet-driven production with cutting-edge production value, but "residual" music.

Where is the line (if there is one)?

Semiotics

         Today I was reminded of Bignell when the text of the "Cheers" logo appeared on my television screen. As I settled down to watch some vintage television I wondered if the experience would now be changed due to a current hyper-awareness of the constant bombardment of semiotics. This new found way of examining media also brought a new question to mind: How does time affect the intended coding of media?

It's obvious when something feels dated in media, whether through outdated semantics in language, varying audio/visual qualities, or blatant reference to cultures past. (Which made me think of how long it takes a culture to evolve... I submit that small pieces of the cultural mindset change and eventually a new cultural landscape is created rather than rapid whole shifts)

Bignell references how there are warmer colors (like red and yellow) and colder colors (darker colors like black and blue). These colors are said to contain particular information for an audience with regard to the mood of the media, however I am skeptical as to when it was decided that these colors have their said codings. Was it a scientific discovery? Is it culturally specific?