Group 8
Nichole
Ashley
Krystal
Jackie
Jessica
Chris
Proposal
Our Topic is pop-culture. We are going to focus on the representation of women from present day dating back until the 50’s. We have divided this project up into roughly 4 groups. Chris will do our literature review. Jackie and Krystal will work together to look at historical movements that have been influential in the representation of women and the censorship that coincides with that. Nichole and Jessica will be looking at different media outlets. That has been split up so that Nichole will look at sitcoms and magazines while Jessica will focus on movies and music. Finally Ashley will be taking on the responsibility of doing surveys and conducting interviews. This is our basic outline everyone has individually outlined his or her methods and specific proposals below.
Lit Review
For the Lit Review section of the project, it is my job to find articles based on how women were being perceived through gender and gendered stereotypes in the media. My goal is to be able to keep all articles within a fifteen-year span, meaning 1994 or later, so I can look at trends of study within the area of women being perceived through mass media. Below is a small list of the articles I will be reading up on. I have given the name of the article, author, journal publisher, year of publication, and a link so you can find and read the article yourself.
The World in Dress: Anthropological Perspectives on Clothing, Fashion, and Culture, Karen Tranberg Hansen, Annual Review, 2004
Contested Images of Femininity: An Analysis of Cultural Gatekeepers' Struggles with the "Real Girl" Critique, Melissa A. Milkie, The Gendered Reader, 2008
THE VISIBLE EVIDENCE OF CULTURAL PRODUCERS, Maureen Mahon, Annual Review, 2000
HISTORIES OF FEMINIST ETHNOGRAPHY, Kamala Visweswaran, Annual Review, 1997
The Body Beautiful: Symbolism and Agency in the Social World, Erica Reischer, Annual Review, 2004
-Chris
Pop Media
Approach – I will be looking at magazine covers and advertisements as well as sitcoms. My data will range from the 50’s until present day. I will be looking at these media outlets searching to find the way that women are represented and portrayed in these images and sitcoms.
The magazines I will be looking at are Rolling Stone, Life, Playboy, and several others that I have yet to determine. The way I choose my magazines first had to do with a popularity factor. The second determining factor was availability. I originally wanted to do the sears catalogue but could not find them on either the web or in the library. The Sears Catalogue is only available for collectors. I am also deciding if I should do Victoria secret but I have not been able to find any past magazine archives. The other magazines that I am planning to incorporate are Cosmo and FHM. If in my research I find other relevant magazines that pertain to either the past or present I will add them accordingly.
I did an Internet search of top sitcoms of all time and then a search based on era. I then looked up what resources were available to me to do research on. I have picked a few and will determine what is a fair amount of viewing time for each. Most of these shows aired for several seasons with several episodes in each season. The main three shows that I have picked this far to watch and research are from three time periods. The first is the 50’s-60’s, which is when, “Leave it to Beaver” aired (1957-1963). The second is the 70’s -80’s, which is when, “Happy Days” aired (1974-1984). The third is the 90’s -2000’s, which is when, “Everybody Loves Raymond” aired (1996-2005). I may incorporate other sitcoms in my research but seeing as how most episodes are anywhere from 30-45 minutes it is a time consuming endeavor.
-nichole
Pop Media Part 2
I will be looking at popular movies and music from the 1950’s to the present. I will be looking at the differences and similarities in music and movies to show how women have been represented and if there has been change in women’s representation throughout the years.
I chose movies and songs based on popularity and representation given to women. All songs chosen were number one hits on the billboard chart. Songs I am considering are:
50’s and 60’s
Will you still love me tomorrow –The Shirelles
Stuck on you –Elvis Presley
Pretty woman- Roy Orbison
These boots are made for walking- Nancy Sinatra
Runaround sue-Dion
respect- Aretha Franklin
70’s and 80’s
Venus- Shocking Blue
American woman- the guess who
lets get it on – Marvin Gaye
I will survive- Gloria Gaynor
At seventeen – Janis Ian
When Will I Be Loved- by Linda Ronstadt
Like a virgin- Madona
90’s and 200’s
Hit me baby one more time- Britney Spears
Independent women- Destiny’s child
Promiscuous girl- Nelly Furtado
Genie in a bottle- Christina Aguilera
Always on time- Ja Rule and Ashanti
Unpretty- TLC
Baby got back – sir mix a lot
Gold digger- Kanye West
Movies:
50’s and 60’s
Sleeping beauty(1959)
70’s and 80’s
Pretty in Pink (1986)
90’s and 2000’s
Pretty woman (1990)
Mean girls(2004)
Censorship
So the main group question to recap is the representation of women in the media since the 1950’s. I’ll be looking at censorship within magazines and political cartoons or with what I have researched so far, probably also discussing, the non censorship the media practices when representing women. I’ll be looking at it by eras: the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s. I’ll be working backwards, starting with the 00’s. So to kick it off, here are two political cartoons from the 2000 era. All right, here is the first link http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=5918 . This political cartoon basically puts out there how the daily mom states about how hard it is to be a mom, balancing her kids and her career as well as worrying if the day care is affecting her children. She is being represented as the normal woman in society, balancing her career and children, however, still displaying her emotions of being a caring woman. While the woman continues speaking of her worries, the lazy husband in the background doesn’t seem to care and lets the woman take on all the responsibilities. In this cartoon, the attitudes and worries of women are stereotyped and classified, which is obviously overplayed by the media. What I find even more troublesome, is when the husband obviously confirms he isn’t listening to her, the cartoon ends. Not allowing the woman to say anything back or let him have a piece of her mind. Here, the media still represents, the man being the head of the household although he doesn’t do much, as well as the figure with no emotions and listening ability. The media still represents in this one cartoon, that woman are still belittled by men and by ending the cartoon, making it seem like woman aren’t to speak back to men, as if they are on some kind of throne. The second cartoon link is this, http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=17107 . In this cartoon, it has the height of two adult women. One regular adult woman is average size, while the other adult woman is super short. The adult woman that is super short is said to be the size of a woman in the eyes of the Supreme Court. Obviously, here the media is flat out saying that women still have no say or seen as a person with no say that matters in the Supreme Court. So, overall the two political cartoons display that the media still represents women to be subject to men and their opinions with no say in the subject matter. Obviously, the censorship issue in these cartoons is the fact that the women’s rights are present today and their opinions do matter and not all women are subject to keeping their mouths quiet when it comes to men.
~Krystale
For the surveys I plan to have them with 10-15 basic questions that are easy to answer and quick in nature. They'll make it easier to track quantitative research and make up our stats for our project. I'll be sending them out via email, the survey website, and any and all social media I can find.
For the interviews I plan to have only 5-8 open ended questions that help me get to know the real perspective of the people. I'll make them easy to engage the speaker into conversation to form some really good qualitative research. I plan to interview three different groups of people, including grandparents, parents, and peers to get a full spectrum of opinions.
I also plan to do some work on facebook by sending out images and videos and seeing the reaction. I'll post on image of big celebrity women and see what the reaction and comments are. Maybe even send out a picture of Britney Spears next to Marilyn Monroe and ask people what the difference is. I'll also be sending out videos from TMZ and celebrity gossip sites and seeing how people react to those as well.
Overall I feel these three avenues will help me get a good grasp on the public perspective on how the representation of women has changed and hopefully I'll be able to draw some really good conclusions!
-Ashley Loera
Survey Questions
1. Male/Female
2. Age
3.Do you watch TMZ?
4.Do you listen to KISS FM and AMP Radio?
5. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being most, how much do you follow celebrity gossip?
6. On a scale from 1-5, 5 being most, how much do you think the media focuses on what most people would consider personal family issues, when it has to do with celebrities?
7. Who's the sexiest woman in Hollywood right now?
8. What body type of woman do you consider to be most beautiful, a Vogue model, a Victoria secret model, or a Target model?
9. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most, how desirable do you find women in rap videos?
10. What's the sexiest thing about a woman's body?
12. Two candidates have worked for a corporate office for 10 years, both have had upstanding careers in every aspect and are up for a raise that only one will receive. The candidates are the same in every aspect, except that one is a male and one is a female, which would you expect to receive the raise?
13. Do you feel that women now have an equal opportunity to receive the same salary as a man?
13. Do you think men and women are equal?
Interview questions
1. How do you think women are portrayed now through our mass media?
2. Do you think it's different from how they were portrayed in the 50's and 70's?
3. Do you believe that our society has become so obsessed with a woman’s image of sex appeal, can you give examples to support your answer?
4. The words "bitch" and "hoe" are big in rap songs. Why do you think women accept these songs with no offense taken?
5. Do you think men and women are equal? Why or why not?
Historical
My main focus will be the representation of women in the women’s movement. I will be touching upon topics such as equal pay, voting rights, women in the workplace, and women’s role during the world wars. I will be discussing the equal pay act of 1970, the nineteenth amendment and how it came to be, how equal opportunity came to be in the workplace and Rosie the riveter. I will place these events in a time line so it’s easier to follow. Once I am done talking about the historical context, I will analyze the roles of women in present time and make connections with the past. So far the information that I have gathered is completely web based, but I will be going in to the library to pick out documentaries. I am sure that the documentaries will give me information that will help my research.
-Jackie
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