![]() Tags: art/music, gender, media, inequality, sex/sexuality, social mvmts/social change/resistance, feminism, lady gaga, popular culture, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 2:44 Access: YouTube Summary: In this clip, Lady Gaga explicitly articulates feminist sensibilities, most notably critiquing the sexual double standard that exists for men and women. Yet, when asked by the interviewer whether she is a feminist, Lady Gaga responds, "I'm not a feminist. I hail men. I love men. I celebrate American male culture, and beer, and bars, and muscle cars." Here we see the ways in which feminism is misunderstood and how celebrities (and people in general) distance themselves from claiming feminist identities, even when they agree with feminist ideals and are disadvantaged by patriarchal structures. This clip is useful for initiating a discussion with students about the meaning of feminism and questions around why people might disassociate themselves with feminism. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp
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![]() Isaiah Mustafa Tags: bodies, emotion/desire, gender, marketing/brands, media, social construction, hypermasculine, ideal beauty, sexism, hegemonic masculinity, manliness, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 0:33 Access: YouTube Summary: The caption below this YouTube ad reads "We're not saying this body wash will make your man smell into a romantic millionaire jet fighter pilot, but we are insinuating it." In the span of about 30 seconds, the Old Spice model triumphs as a hypermasculine male. He has the body, the sexy voice, the self-confidence, the money, and the romance. Although the commercial appears to be poking fun at hypermasculinity, it is important to note that the commercial works because consumers broadly share a set of relatively narrow ideas about masculinity. In particular, the clip is useful for introducing R. W. Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity, which draws attention to the way masculinity is constructed in relation to other subordinated masculinities and in relation to women. For Connell, the concept is "a social ascendancy achieved in a play of social forces that extends beyond contests of brute power into the organization of private life and cultural processes." In other words, Isaiah Mustafa embodies a masculinity in the ad that is hegemonic because it is favored and promoted throughout major social institutions, and among other places, it can be readily found mass media content. A point of discussion is whether the ad uses satire to challenge this hegemonic form of masculinity, or does it only succeed in reinforcing it? Note that the clip can also be analyzed for playing a role in the construction of feminine desire. While the audience is laughing about this tongue-in-cheek form of masculinity, they are likely taking it as a given that all women want this kind of man and the diamonds he holds. Submitted By: Lester Andrist ![]() Tags: capitalism, commodification, consumption/consumerism, corporations, marketing/brands, theory, critical theory, culture industry, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1999 Length: 3:04 Access: No online access Summary: These 2 separate scenes from Fight Club draw on a familiar dialogue about consumers and are a great illustration of the culture industry (begin/end 4:45-5:40; 29:06-31:15). The scenes include the narrator's (Edward Norton) discussion of Ikea, and his conversation with Tylder Durden (Brad Pitt) about consumption and social control. In one scene, Norton discusses all the Ikea furniture around his apartment. He begins: “like many others, I have become a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct” as the screen pans around his apartment and overlays the space with images and text like it was straight out of an Ikea catalog. In a later scene, Norton laments the loss of all of his stuff, saying “when you buy furniture, you tell yourself ‘that’s it, that’s the last sofa I’m gonna need. Whatever else happens, I’ve got that sofa problem handled. I had it all … I was close to being complete.” Brad Pitt’s character concludes the scene stating “The things you own end up owning you,” which often facilitates very lively and interesting class discussion. Submitted By: Paul Dean ![]() Tags: art/music, bodies, children/youth, discourse/language, gender, lgbtq, social construction, poetry, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 2:45 Access: YouTube Summary: This poem from Brave New Voices is performed by two young women from Philadelphia. The poem is useful for introducing students to discussions of transgenderism, as well as for talking about the ways in which language constructs our social experiences (the term "hir" is the gender-neutral pronoun that replaces either "her" or "his"). Submitted By: Valerie Chepp ![]() Tags: consumption/consumerism, gender, lgbtq, marketing/brands, media, sex/sexuality, social construction, theory, masculinity, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 0:33 Access: YouTube Summary: This commercial for Pepsi Max, marketed as the first diet cola for men, demonstrates how masculinity (and by implication, femininity) is constructed in western culture. Unlike the consumption of traditional diet cola which suggests a concern over one's figure and a willingness to sacrifice flavor in exchange for fewer calories (i.e., appropriately "feminine" concerns), the taste of Pepsi Max is the first diet cola that is flavorful (i.e., potent/powerful) enough for men. To demonstrate men's ability to handle most anything besides the taste of traditional diet cola, this clip portrays men claiming their tolerance for pain in the face of extraordinarily painful - and dangerous - events. Significantly, this unrealistic tolerance for pain is asserted exclusively by men in the presence of other men. This clip is useful for exemplifying Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and Kimmel's concept of masculinity as homophobia. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp ![]() Tags: bodies, crime/law/deviance, discourse/language, foucault, gender, knowledge, lgbtq, religion, science/technology, sex/sexuality, social construction, theory, discipline, norms, power, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 3:29 Access: YouTube Summary: This short clip summarizes the main arguments of Foucault's "The History of Sexuality" in a playful song/music video format. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp ![]()
Tags: consumption/consumerism, gender, marketing/brands, organizations/occupations/work, housework, 00 to 05 mins
Year: 2007 Length: 0:35 Access: YouTube Summary: The clear message sent in this Clorox commercial is that laundry is women's work. The commercial states that throughout time and despite many changes (one might even include the Women's Movement as a part of this timeline), women continue to trust Clorox. The underlying message is that laundry continues to be a form of women's (unpaid) labor. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp ![]() Tags: emotion/desire, gender, media, politics/election/voting, hillary clinton, john edwards, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2008 Length: 0:47 Access: YouTube Summary: In this clip, we see John Edwards respond to accusations that he criticized Hillary Clinton for getting emotional during the 2008 Presidential Primary (view a clip of Clinton). What's interesting is when the interviewer asks Edwards whether he's ever "teared up" on the campaign trail. Edwards staunchly claims to never have cried on the campaign trail, despite acknowledging the grueling, tough nature of the work. In making this claim, Edwards not only reinforces an ideal of hegemonic masculinity (i.e., the stoic man), but also uses this appeal to hegemonic masculinity as an indication of his ability to "handle" the tough world of politics, thereby distancing himself from anything feminine and making an implicit claim about the incompatibility of femininity (i.e., women and specifically Clinton) and politics. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp ![]() Tags: consumption/consumerism, marketing/brands, media, multiculturalism, race/ethnicity, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 1:00 Access: YouTube Summary: This commercial nicely exhibits multicultural marketing strategies, portraying a largely racially/ethnically ambiguous (i.e., "multicultural") cast in order to broaden the consumer base and make implicit claims that appeal to colorblind race logics. The commercial serves as a nice companion piece to: Minjeong, K., and Chung, A. Y. 2005. "Consuming Orientalism: Images of Asian/American women in multicultural advertising." Qualitative Sociology 28(1). Submitted By: Valerie Chepp ![]() Tags: emotion/desire, gender, intersectionality, media, race/ethnicity, representation, sexism, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2007 Length: 1:00 Access: YouTube Summary: Featured in this clip is a public service announcement from the U.S.-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's "Don't Believe the Type Campaign." The short clip warns young people to be careful of what they post online. This clip is a good example of how women, and young white women in particular, are represented as vulnerable in popular media. One could argue that the creators of this ad have intuited how to communicate this cautionary message with maximum effectiveness by positioning a young, white women as a vulnerable body. The clip is also promoting a complimentary message about the predatory lust and desire of heterosexual men. This clip might be useful for demonstrating gendered media representations. Submitted By: Lester Andrist |
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