Gender Representation in the Media

Gender Representation in the MediaA comparison of mold between sex activitys and how different genders atomic number 18 portrayed in childrens mediaIntroductionI hit chosen this EPQ topic because I cherished to address doable issues in the world we live in today. Its no secret that in society sexism, under agency and/or bad prototype of virtu tout ensembley(prenominal) genders run wild and the issues greatly affect males and females. Representation is the description or portrayal of somevirtuoso or something in a particular course, whether that be trade estimable or bad. This essay depart explore the differences and similarities of the way males and females ar portrayed in childrens media, and even dig reconditeer into the intersectional theory which is the view that plurality experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity, for example, that be the feature they ar a member of the LGBT community or a POC (Person of colour).For this essay, I define childrens media as Television Shows (Animation and Sitcoms) and Films. Originally, I included childrens books as one of the aras I would analyse scarce I mulish against this idea as I felt I was utilisationing with in addition much and I wouldnt be able to complete my project on sentence. I knew that focusing on alike populacey things wouldnt allow me to sour to my full ability and on the other(a) hand, its a lot easier to visualize something than it is to read something and fully comprehend it. I gift many a(prenominal) fritters and shows that I be possessed of used to base my research, for example I have understandn a selection of the most popular shows (based on opinions from online critics and some literal evidence in like manner) from the Net plant dedicated to the ages of 8-16 so CN ( cartoon Network) and its sister channels affiliated with it and Disney, along with their related channels. Some of these programs include the popular prog rams like Steven existence, Gravity locomote and Spongebob Squarepants.Its no use just watching these shows of course, I aim to chance upon detailed nones showing the percentages of male and female fiber appearances in episodes, how true genders and minorities are portrayed and to debate the question of which gender ripe(p)fully receives the lift out and most realistic representation. For example, some questions I have asked myself during my research include, are in that respect any obvious stereotypes that stand out to you and how do they consider you feel? By doing this I believe I rear end contour line a solid opinion on the shows I have watched. However, its authoritative that my opinions are not one sided so I aim to in truth argue with myself over the issues and weigh up the positives and the negatives in my conclusion.Furthermore, I wanted to discover how other people felt more or less gender representation in childrens media also. It would allow me to chew th e fat if people really thought there was an issue and to try and understand those who believed that what their children were watching on television was okay. I have used questionnaires to gather opinions from some(prenominal) parents and children in hope that they will allow me to generalise the opinions further.Television Cartoon NetworkStarting with Turners Cartoon Network I have chosen two programs from the channel, Johnny spat and Steven Universe.Johnny BravoStarting with Johnny Bravo it premiered on July 14, 1997, reservation it the earliest show on the Cartoon Network list, and the low gear gruntle completed production in December of that year. 1The series stars a stringy infantile man named Johnny Bravo who dons a pompadour hairstyle and an window pane Presley-like voice. He has a for fightd, woman-chasing personality and the plots typically revolve around him assay to get a woman that he has targeted throughout the episode to decay in love with him. He is lots bea ten up or stunned by his target or companions, or is ditched by them in the end. Almost immediately I believe this sort of program to apprehend truly sexist messages towards both men and women. For men, it shows that its normal to lust laterwards newfangled beautiful women and treat them as nothing besides informal objects that you can try and win over. Then, theres also the occupation that the main cause is promoting unrealistic standards for young boys. Adults or older viewers may wait on this as a joke made by the creators however I believe young children may comprehend this differently, they may believe this is the beseeming way to act.Steven UniverseFinally, we have Steven Universe. it premiered on November 4, 2013 as Cartoon Networks first gay series to be solely created by a woman, Rebecca Sugar. I think the fact Rebecca Sugar is the first woman to create an animated series says a lot about the show because we can see that a woman is writing women which will break down to more ideal women suits. It is the coming-of-age story of a young boy named Steven Universe, who lives in the fictional townsfolk of Beach City with the Crystal Gems Pearl, Garnet, and amethyst, three magical humanoid aliens. Steven, who is half-Gem, goes on adventures with his friends and helps the Gems protect the world from their own kind2(Wikipedia, 2017).I decided to watch Steven Universe instead of other popular CN television shows, for example Adventure cadence or We Bare Bears because its real different from your usual cartoon. What I cerebrate by that is we have four main characters, three of them are women who run around different body shapes which shows great body representation for women and theres even one character who is coded black, which means that outside of the shows context, she is seen is a black woman3.When watching some of the episodes for the show, I expected to see a lot of good representation for both genders and minorities too. I didnt expe ct to see any themes or characters that were LGBT, that if there were, Id expect them to be secondary characters or not that all important(p) at all. However, I was proved wrong and the show surpassed what I expected. hearty alternate with the very first episode of Steven Universe, Laser Light Canon. not even a minute into the episode and 3 out of the 6 characters weve seen are plus size which is very surprising as you dont normally have that many characters that arent just slim or curvy in childrens television shows. Two minutes in and we meet the crystal gems Garnet, amethyst and Pearl. We see these characters fighting against corrupted beingnesss, not even breaking a sweat. The first impression we have of these women is that they are powerful and that they dont conform to the norm.amethyst is very relaxed, she lassos the monster and calmly says, Sup Steven? trance doing a stop sign. From this we can see that shes the laid back one of the group, she doesnt take things too se riously and she likes to have fun with what she does. One thing to note is that Amethyst is plus sized, a very deliberate characteristic the story boarders have given her. In media, overweight characters (mostly girls) are virtually absent.4 In the Prix Jeunesse field of force for childrens television in the UK, 431 (63.7%) of the sample were of average weight, 192 (27.4%) of the characters were very thin, and 55 (8.9%) very overweight. 63.7% of all characters represented in British childrens TV are of a normal body range. Females are more often thin, males more often overweight. Out of the female characters 159 (55.2%) are in the normal range, 112 (38.9%) are very thin and 17 (5.9%) are very overweight. 272 male characters (69.9%) are in the normal range, 79 (20.3%) are very thin and 38 (9.8%) are very overweight. 5 This shows that the cartoon is obviously aiming for representation of larger characters and so far, this is good representation.The next character Pearl is then seen, she moves carefully and her strikes are exact as a melodic tune from a piano plays in the background. From this small part we can see that Pearl lives up to her jewel symbolism shes pure and innocent.DisneyMovies Disney and Pixar For this part of my report, I would like to refer to the studios Disney and Pixar both as Disney. It is my understanding that they are different hardly fundamentally they chemical group from the same studio.MulanThe first bring we have from Disney is the 1998 classic, Mulan. This flash is heavily praised and illustrious for being a feminist film but why is that? What makes Mulan feminist? The basic plot of the film is that Mulan takes the place of her father in the war as she is concerned about her health. Mulan tackles the idea of how gender roles are queasy and that anybody can do anything as long as you have the right attitude however some may argue against this. After her male disguise fails and she is banished, Mulan doesnt give up and instea d saves the whole of China and winning the heart of her once captain, Shang.One of the bothers that have arisen already is the use of gender identity and what makes you a man or a woman. Mulan plays with the idea that to be a man you must be swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon which are lyrics from the song, failure make a man out of you. This is a problem as it reinforces the idea that you should be a man but what does it mean to be a man? This is broad young children, young boys in particular, a very obscured impression of what men are that they should be powerful and forceful. This also links to the idea that men are praised for taking charge and women are brandished as bossy6 (see figure 1) and commanding. In addition, the opening song, honour to us all includes the lyrics, men want girls with good taste, (who are) calm (and) obedient and who work fast-paced, with good breeding and a tiny waist. This is obviously sexist and demonstrates that in t he past women were seen as nothing more than objects for men to admire.A further problem with gender identity in the film Mulan is that it could be regarded as transphobic as its ideas of what it means to be a man or woman tho reference the physical aspects, for example the way we look or the way we talk which can be seen when Mulan cuts off her hair and uses a deep tone when pretending to be Ping who is her male alter ego. The film does not reference the mental aspects of gender and could possibly offend a minority of people.However, some argue that Mulan isnt transphobic in the slightest, its just all about gender performance, much like drag in real deportment. In the Feminist and Queer Analysis of Disneys Mulan by Juliane Fung they suggest that using the extraordinary theorys idea of gender performativity, it can instead be argued that Mulan is a film about gender performance and not gender itself. The film is support by Butlers idea that gender is not an inherent set of trai ts, but rather it is performed (Ott and Mack 2009).7Furthermore, the film explores the pressure that is put on young women and how the anxieties can affect the. In the song, Reflection Mulan considers about her roles she has. She claims that she will never pass for a perfect bride, or a perfect young lady which shows the unrealistic demands that she was asked of. Mulan also hopes that she can free (herself) from their expectations which also demonstrates that women areIn conclusion, many would argue that Mulan executes feminism ideals very well and that the theme of women authority is the most prominent in the whole film while others would discord and claim that the film portrays the belief that men are in fact super to women and that feminine traits will always be subordinate to those of the superior male class, as explained in Juliane Fungs analysis.8 Throughout the whole movie, the emphasis is on gender roles, not Mulans aim to save China or her fathers life-time. Moreover, I believe that no gender here is represented in a more positive way than negative. Its very obvious that Mulan reinforces gender stereotypes with males being strong leaders and females serving no other purpose than spirit after their husbands and being beautiful. Something I felt was completely unnecessary was giving Mulan the love interest too, this film was supposed to show Mulan being strong and free-living and break free of the stereotype that women should be wives and dedicate their life to domestic life so I felt having Mulan and Shang share a romantic relationship completely went against the films intended message.The Princess and the FrogThe second film we have from Disney is The Princess and The Frog which is the modernised version of the Brothers Grimms The frog king. This film phrenetic many people as it was the first Disney film to have an African American lead role who was female. It also strays away from the typical damsel in distress trope that Disney have freque ntly used in the past. Tiana is a hardworking woman from New Orleans from 1930s America. She works two jobs to try and fund her dreams of owning a restaurant but callable to discrimination she is left without the chance to buy an empty property. Her friend Charlotte is the daughter of the mayor, shes rich and beautiful yet her and Tiana have a very undecomposed and open relationship. This is really refreshing to see as you would expect Charlotte and Tiana to have a very unfortunate relationship however they work really well together. One problem however is that there are the stereotypes of the pine brunette and the dumb/helpless blonde. (Gtz, 2006).Tiana is a headstrong character while Charlotte is constantly obsessed with marrying princess and being a princess herself, many would argue that she is a very one-dimensional character as she has no other tropes other than the one previously mentioned.As I previously mentioned, Tiana was the first female African American lead of a D isney movie so a lot of people would be excited to see what role she would take on and how she would be represented. A positive of Tianas character is that she shows that its important to work hard for what you want and that you should always follow your head. Her happily ever after isnt that she is married to a prince, although that does happen, it is more about the fact she finally has her restaurant after working hard for so many years. Its very excite to see that Tiana finally reaches her goal after all of the hardships she faced but there are many problems attached to this as well.One problem that I have found is the fact that Disney likes to include love interests when theyre clearly not needed. By showcasing male-female romantic love as something out of the ordinary, modified and magical childrens films further the notion of heterosexuality normative. (Kazyak and Martin, 2009) Furthermore, it seems at the end of the film that Tiana was merely able to purchase the restaura nt she wanted because of Naveens money and his side as a prince. Its understandable that this is more realistic as his license would have helped Tiana in the 30s but what sort of message does it promote to young women? That you have to rely on a man to reach your goals? In my opinion this is bad representation as it is showing that women cannot be independent in the long run.Another problem that could be argued is that even though Disney made a huge breakthrough with their first African American lead, Tiana spends the mass of the film as an amphibian. Obviously, she has to be so the film can be progressed but what does it say if we hardly have any moments with a humanised Tiana? It could be claimed that because of the way Disney gave human Tiana hardly any screen time they didnt want a woman of colour to be the main lead and that is understandable. However, on many pieces of merchandise Tiana is very much always presented as a human and not as the frog character we admit so this could dispute that claim.On the other hand, Prince Naveen also has troubles with representation in the film. Disney have come under fire from many fans and black man who accuse Disney of erasing their identities. Stroman (1984) states that black characters on television shows are more probably to be unemployed and impoverished9 so by making Naveen racially ambiguous, Disney have offended many people. From a blog online people have argued that this was a slap in the face of black men who are only portrayed as criminals and sidekicks and not heroes and romantic love interests.10In conclusion, I feel like Disney did try to represent both genders and minorities in this fortune well yet it didnt work. There are many problems such as the fact that the two main people of colour spend the majority of the film as amphibians and not portrayed as humans, that the female character has to rely on the male character for her dreams to come true and the squeeze hetero-romance between the main c haracters. On the other hand, there are many positives too. Tiana is overall a very inspiring character for young girls and curiously little black girls. Its important for children to not only be encourage by a character but that they can relate with them also. Tiana teaches them not to give up on your dreams even if the world is against you and thats an important life lesson for anyone. Prince Naveen is also a good role model for young boys, but mostly towards the end of the film when he has come to the end of his character arc. He goes from a penniless prince to a man who is loving and compassionate of his friends and family. He is concerned about his own ego at the start but changes to become more compassionate. Whats more is that Naveen loves his music and encourages others to play, something which is considered quite feminine.Bibliography act 1http//articles.bplans.com/gender-equality-white-paper/?_ga=1.15604406.1436524096.1490723092 (Accessed Feb, 17)(Ott and Mack 2009) Ot t, Brian, and Robert Mack. Critical Media Studies. Oxford Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. (Accessed Jan, 17)(Gtz, 2006).Gtz, M. (2006). Die Hauptfiguren im deutschen Kinderfernsehen (The main characters of German childrens TV). In TelevIZIon, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 4-7. (Accessed October, 16)(Kazyak and Martin, 2009) Martin, K. A., Kazyak, E. (2009). Hetero-romantic love and heterosexiness in childrens g-rated films. Gender and Society, 23(3), 315-336.(Accessed October, 16)(Stroman, 1984)Stroman, C.A. (1984). The socialization puzzle out of television on black children Electronic Version. Journal of Black Studies, 15(1), 79-100.(Accessed January, 17)1 https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Bravocite_note-8, 20172 https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Universe, 20173 https//www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/comments/3j7r23/does_garnet_count_as_black/cun2a4f/, 20164 http//prixjeunesse.de/images/PDF/GenderInChildrensTVWorldwide_2008.pdf5 http//www.prixjeunesse.de/childrens_tv_worldwide/studies/CTV_WW_2 3_UK_IZI_PJ_2008.pdf6 http//articles.bplans.com/gender-equality-white-paper/?_ga=1.15604406.1436524096.14907230927 http//mulananalysis.weebly.com/8 http//mulananalysis.weebly.com/9 The Portrayals of nonage Characters in Entertaining Animated Childrens Programs, http//etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-05282004-130909/unrestricted/Smith_thesis.pdf10 https//tcdh.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/the-princess-the-frog-controversies-and-criticism/