Representation of

Females

By Millie, Jenny,

Olivia and Katy

Laura Mulvey’s Theory

Laura Mulvey’s theory based on the fact that women are objectified

and viewed through the eyes of a heterosexual male. This male

would be seen as active, which would be looking and the woman

would be passive, meaning she is being looked at.

This theory can be applied to our production because by

creating a fashion advertisement, and considering the target

audience being around the similar age to ourselves, the whole

idea of genre is female fashion, therefore the models we use

would be in the male gaze, considering that the male would be

watching the advert and seeing the females showing their

clothes off.

Janice Winship’s TheoryThis theory states that the female is complicit in creating the ideal

version of herself for a male audience, because of the gratification she

will receive.

This does not necessarily apply to our production because the models

will not be creating an ideal version of themselves for a male audience,

as that is not what our product is aiming to achieve. However, the

gratification they receive will come naturally the better they look, as it is

attracting more and better jobs for themselves. It could then therefore be

argued that the models may want to create an ideal version of

themselves, so that they so attract that gratification.

David Gauntlett’s TheoryGauntlett’s theory can be applied to our production. this is because this

theory states that women are in control of their sexuality, however their

sexuality isn’t for men, it’s for themselves. This is because the models are

showing off their sexuality for themselves, to attract promotions and

better jobs for themselves. This can be applied to Gauntlett’s empowered

female idea.

Judith Butler’s TheoryButler argues we are born a certain sex, but gender is

performance. A man is not inherently masculine or a female

inherently feminine. We perform aspects of different genders.

Gender does not exist outside of these performances. For

example, the act of wearing make up defines a person’s gender,

rather than their gender defining the act.

This does not apply to our production. This is because regarding

the fact that gender is performed, in relation to our production,

the act of a model showing off the clothes they are wearing in

order to persuade people to buy them can not be described as

performance, as the idea of getting dressed up and wanting to

look good is very stereotypically popular for our initial target

audience of 16-26 year old females. Having said that, for

example the act of wearing make up, as previously mentioned,

defines a persons gender, rather than the gender defining the

act could be applied here as there can be a number of models

who are very unstereotypical regarding their interests and the

way they act, for example.

Representations of females in advertising is very

broad, as there are a lot of aspects to consider.

We think that for our particular production,

Mulvey’s theory is the most convincing because

of the passive nature of the model advertising

the clothes. This is what we want to aim to

achieve, not for our models to be in the male

gaze, but reach out to our target audience. In

order to do this the theory of the passive female

must be applied, with the audience’s active

nature of being persuaded, and looking into

what the model is doing whilst wearing our

clothes.