Pick an example of the way that women are represented in the media and write an analysis of the representation of gender using 5 quotes from what we've covered in the class today.
As stated by Coward, "Western culture has become obsessed with looking and recording images of what is seen" (Coward. R, 'The Look', 2000, p.33) - this suggests that we are surrounded by bias representations of who we should be. In the No. 5 advert for Chanel (above), we are presented with Nicole Kidman, who epitomises various ideas of beauty that women desire - the fair and perfect skin, blonde hair, elegance, excellent posture, glamorous lifestyle - but all these ideas of beauty have been placed in the woman's mind because of how men want women to look.
"Entertainment as we know it is crucially predicated on a masculine investigation of women, and a circulation of women's images for men" (Coward. R, 'The Look', 2000, p.33) - this quote reinforces the idea that entertainment and the media has been largely dominated by men, and all the images of women and how women should look have been portrayed through a man's eye, which has been common throughout history. This perfect, fantasy idea of a woman comes from the sexual desires that a man contains, and are reflected through media so that men can fulfil their hidden desires without having to ruin the fantasy by approaching a woman in real life and possibly being turned down.
Men want to feel dominant, they want to have power over women - the last thing they want is their ideal fantasy woman to not be interested. This makes women in the media so important - "women, in the flesh, often feel embarrassed, irritated or downright angered by men's persistent gaze... Those women on the billboards, though; they look back. Those fantasy women stare off the walls with a look of urgent availability." (Coward. R, 'The Look', 2000, p.34) The fact that men aren't constantly challenged when it comes to looking at women in the media, makes them feel dominant and accepted - they feel as though they can have that woman, and that nothing is getting in their way. They are getting what they want. This is particularly expressed in the Chanel No.5 advert, as Nicole Kidman isn't even looking back at the man, so the gaze isn't challenged in any way what so ever. The man can gaze at his fantasy woman, and fulfil his desires.
However, the adverts aren't just for men to look at to fulfil their sexual fantasies. Women, too, need these images so that they can constantly tell themselves that they are desirable enough for men. "Women are bound to this power precisely because visual impressions have been elevated to the position of holding the key to our psychic well-being, our social success, and indeed to whether or not we will be loved." (Coward. R, 'The Look', 2000, p.33). Women won't be 'loved' if they don't look how men want them to, and yet no one challenges this idea. Women need desirable women in the media to fulfil their need to be desirable themselves, and be loved by men.
The desire to be desirable is reflected from woman to woman, as stated by Coward "Because women are compelled to make themselves attractive in certain ways, and those ways involve submitting to the culture's beliefs about appropriate sexual behaviour, women's appearances are laden down with cultural values, and women have to form their identities within these values, or, with difficulty against them... Women are, more often than not, preoccupied with images, their own and other people's" (Coward. R, 'The Look', 2000, p.36). Women feel the need to dress in a way that makes other women envious of them. Envious of the fact that they don't gain that same attention from the men than the other woman might gain, because of the simple fact that she might dress better or have nicer hair. This idea is reflected in the Chanel No.5 advert, as women desire to be as sexually attractive as Nicole Kidman, as they notice that a lot of men find her attractive and desire to have sex with her. Women who see this advert will want to have the same hair as Nicole Kidman, or wear that same dress, or even buy into consumerism and buy the perfume advertised as they truly believe that they could smell like Nicole Kidman and be that bit more desirable to men.
This idea of "women's narcissism" (Coward. R, 'The Look', 2000, p.36) shows how women have truly become obsessed with their own image, because of the more desirable images that surround them from day to day. These images in the media can suggest the idea of The Mirror Phase, as suggested by Freud, and the idea that all these images act as a giant mirror for women to gaze at and desire their own true identity, based upon the identity of others, even down to our nails or hair on our arms.
