Thursday, 31 March 2011

Reflective Log

Day1
In today’s media culture seminar I was given the information that I need in order to start thinking about what I am going to base my portfolio on. I have heard ideas that other people on my course are already thinking of doing. However, I want to write about something that is unique and interesting therefore I have been doing a lot of research into popular culture and bought a few magazines so I could browse through the advertisements and see if I could find anything interesting. I found an interesting advertisement for Elnette Hairspray where the woman appears to have been on a night out with her friends or been at work and has come in to her husband who is dressed in a cooking apron with a candlelit dinner for two placed on the neatly presented dining room table. This has sparked an idea in my head and I am considering basing my portfolio on gender role reversal which I want to confirm with my tutor tomorrow.
Day 2
It has been a few days since I wrote on my reflective log; however I have been busy gathering a large amount of media texts that I could possibly consider using in my portfolio. I talked to my tutor after the lecture on feminism, which was a great help as we were introduced to the theory of ‘the new man’ which suggests that the male’s role and media representation has changed dramatically. We discussed how the male body is used to help sell a media product and it made me think about the opposing side of Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ as a ‘female’ gaze could be applied to a numerous amount of media texts that I have collected for my portfolio. My idea has been approved by my tutor and the lecture was extremely helpful.
Day 3
After attending the lecture on ‘the new man’ and feminism I have borrowed a book from the library by Rowena Chapman and Jonathan Rutherford Male Order: Unwrapping Masculinity. The chapter by Chapman The Great Pretender was a great read and a huge help. I have written down a few points that she mentions and I hope to use a few quotes to back up my media text analysis. I have learnt a great deal from this such as the history of ‘the new man’ and how he came to be. I have also been introduced to the Men’s movement of the 1970s which helps make sense of the whole subject. Alongside my reading I have found the Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue perfume advertisement for him and her. This I find particularly interesting as it evidently uses the male body to sell both products and it is unusual that he dominates the advertisement rather than the woman who is usually the centre of such advertisements and seen as an object. I will definitely be using this in my portfolio.
Day 4
I have decided to publish my portfolio as an online blog as I have found numerous videos that would greatly link in with the idea of ‘the new man’ and the female gaze that I do not want to go to waste. I have also read a few chapters from a book by Paul Martin Lester Images That Injure which includes some helpful essays by numerous authors. One essay that particularly helped me was an essay written by Phillip Patterson called Rambo’s and Himbo’s: Stereotypical Images of Men in Advertising (Himbo’s meaning male bimbo’s apparently) which focuses on the fact that males have been feminised in advertising and ‘the new man’ has become a stereotype of a tanned, muscular and fully waxed male that all women fantasise about.
Day 5
Today we had a question and answer session in the seminar which cleared up a few issues that I had and I think that it helped everyone else too in terms of portfolios. I asked a question about what Marxism is, I don’t know how I would apply it in my portfolio but it has certainly helped. We were also shown two similar media texts for perfume advertisements. One being a woman based on Marilyn Monroe, portraying a classy woman advertising an expensive perfume. We then compared this with a perfume advertisement of Coleen Rooney’s new fragrance. It was interesting how I could point out which one reflected popular culture with Coleen’s over tanned body and over the top makeup.  I think the aim of this was so that we were able to link two media texts together which I definitely want to do an example of in my portfolio.
Day 6

 I have finally started to piece my Portfolio together, after doing a lot of reading I am finding this quite easy to fit together. I am happy with the media texts that I have chosen to analyse as there is a huge amount of things to say about them in depth.

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