Magazine 1 - Lesson 5 - Advertising

Advertising in Woman Magazine

• Women are represented as more interested in their makeup than the men. The mid shot here emphasises that her interest, her gaze is focused on the makeup.

• Women may not be as interested in sex as the man as the man is gazing at her, the mid shot again emphasises her.

• The women is putting more make up on, the hegemonic norm of society is that women wear make up and they dont go without it.

• Direct correlation between women putting on makeup and the man getting attracted to her. The man looks at the woman like the woman looks at her makeup.

• The main reason why the man likes her is because she is making an effort in the way that she looks because she's putting on makeup and because if she didn't wear makeup then she would be seen as something less than a woman.
• Alternative reading is that she's not actually looking at the man so it ruins the stereotypical hegemonic representations of women as she is more interested in the makeup than she is in the man.

• The mid shot is used to exaggerate the expressions of both the men and women.

• The fact that the women may be at a train station it shows that the equality of genders is uprising and is empowering the women as back in the 1960's thats when the women starting getting out of the house and getting on trains, going to college etc. so it empowers women.

• Men are only interested in the women's beauty, it would be an example of patriarchal society as he looks dominant as he is choosing to find her attractive.

• The women looks completely surrounded by men so it could say that she has gone to the station to find a man and it also shows that its a patriarchal society as there are only men to be seen in the station except from her.

• The advert is being sold as by saying that women are unattractive and if they wear this makeup then they're 'perfectly lovely again'. So attractiveness is dependant on the product - consumerism.

• Female looks a herself, male also looks at her - she is the object of his gaze (Lisbet van zoonen).

Devil's Advocate

• The positives to stereotypes it gives us rules to live by.

• If we follow these rules then it makes everyone behave in a nicer way.