By: Adam Guiou 12/9/12

  To first understand media we must remember that media itself is about production and consumption. Companies use media to sell their products to consumers. In turn they also sell ideals to the population Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain, “Although media contain conflicting discourses, it is useful to recognize the existence of culture industries to draw attention to the way popular culture mirrors industrial factory processes, creating standardized goods for consumption,

 Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain, “Although media contain conflicting

discourses, it is useful to recognize the existence of culture industries to draw

attention to the way popular culture mirrors industrial factory processes, creating

standardized goods for consumption. The Media outlets that produce, sponsor, display and distribute cultural goods services and are most recently typified by increasing

commercialization and concentration of ownership” (p. 235-236)

  Because so few oppositions exist to the large companies we are left to view the content they choose for us. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,

  “ Although no singular message is produced by culture industries, it is possible to identify dominant messages as well as ways in which

culture industries co-opt and tame the opositional messages of such noncommercial media as zines, indie music, slam poetry and

performance art” (p. 236).

  The media can be good in some way’s because it can present contradictions gender stereotypes. For example women warriors such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or “Xena,” “Can be rooted in stereotyped female roles but can simultaneously challenge such images” (Defransisco and Plczewski, 2007, p. 236).

 Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,   “Media scholars believe that just as relgion, and then science, outlined how

people behave and should be, mass entertainment now performs a similar normative role in our media saturated

society by providing myths, or recurrent story structures, through which human beings understand who they are and

where they fit in a social order” (p. 237)

 All of this means that modern media, mainly television, is now one of the most prominent sources of communication. This leads us to believe that TV is now a device that educates and socializes us into our culture. One of the main issues with this is how the modern media has distinguished gender, and gender differences.

 Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,   “Media exert power over how people do gender. Although it is true that a movie is a

movie and an advertisement is an advertisement. These media forms also

influence social norms concerning concerning gender, race, class, nationality, and

al the other ingredients that constitute identity, for they provide models of what is

to be feminine and encourage people to buy products that will make them more

so” (p. 239).

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5wGoUxgxtA

 Take a look at this breakdown of how this Miller Lite ad tries to influence how a man is supposed to look and act. The real kicker is that the person who continues to demean the man is a beautiful women bartender.

  There are examples of men and women on television that do not adhere to gender stereotypes, but that seems to just be a ruse, as Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain,

  “The vast majority of characters tend to abide by traditional gender/sex expectations. Note also, in these examples, that although the women may act masculine, they still meet feminine standards of attractiveness, and although the men may act feminine they still meet the masculine standards of attractivness” (p. 239).

 The media then also only choose to use unattractive people when they are characters who are bad or violent. You can see this through the characteristics of witches in fairy tales. (Defransisco and Plczewski, 2007, p. 239).

 Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain, “Criticism of media has focused on their creation of an unattainable standard of beauty for women, this beauty norm does not affect all women identically, and men are beginning to grapple with similar pressures for the ideal body” (p. 242).

 Recently digital adjustments have been being made to photo’s and videos of men and women to create an ideal body that is literally unobtainable without being digitally enhanced. The next few slides will contain photo’s of what has been dubbed as “Airbrushing.”

 As you can see from the before and after pictures that the pictures of women were altered to make them appear to have absolutely no body fat, and bigger breasts. The photo of Keira Knightley clear shows that her breasts have grown in size digitally, and the photo of Brittney Spears shows cellulite has been removed from her upper thighs and rear end. Digital enhancements will put even more pressure on women to be perfect, by making beauty actually unobtainable in less helped by a computer.

  The ideal body is no longer just a problem for women but men as well. Even President Obama had a picture of himself digitally altered to try and look more younger and handsome. Men are now supposed to be more muscular, have little to no body hair, and require far more grooming than even ten years prior to try and meet the media’s standard for ideal masculine beauty. The photo of the man after Obama clear shows that his ab muscles have been enhanced. Men are being prompted by the modern media to obtain bigger and more toned muscles. So digital enhancements will not only affect women but men as well.

 When the content of media is analyzed it is easy to discern that what someone views ultimately effects their attitudes, and behaviors. Here is a small clip on how women have been perceived in the media and how many are trying to change that perception

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY

  The media has an obvious influence on all of those who partake in viewing it. If we are to change our society media is definitely the most powerful medium for doing so. We as viewers must make ourselves aware that what we view is not necessarily the truth, but instead a truth that a company wants us to buy into. Women in the modern media are becoming more and more sexual objects instead of human beings. To change this people need to be more aware of what themselves and their loved ones are watching and how what they view might effect them.

  The other option of course is refuse to view, but in a society now dominated by moving images, and advertising it is getting harder and harder to remove oneself. The real argument is whether the companies create the content we want, or if the content we watch creates us. It is most likely a little of both. Education on gender in communication would ultimately help people to view modern media with a more. We must remember that when we are viewing media we are not just silent observers but are part of a very large cultural conversation. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain it best

  The other option of course is refuse to view, but in a society now dominated by moving images, and advertising it is getting harder and harder to remove oneself. The real argument is whether the companies create the content we want, or if the content we watch creates us. It is most likely a little of both. Education on gender in communication would ultimately help people to view modern media with a more. We must remember that when we are viewing media we are not just silent observers but are part of a very large cultural conversation. Defransisco and Plczewski (2007) explain it best, “ The danger is not that people do these things but that they often do them uncritically. Audiences act as though they were passive recipients of media, not active participants in culture. The more one realizes that one can talk back to the screen, the page, or the picture, the more one realizes that one is not merely buying into a commodity” (p. 261).