Quality Street 1956
The Quality Street Ad was Published in 1956. During this time, Women had little power and wrongfully viewed in this day and age. Back in 1956, women were dehumanized and their rights were limited. They were perceived as objects and a possession of men; whose jobs were to clean. They were often used mainly for men’s sexual desires and treated with utter disrespect as shown in the image. Two white women clinging onto the middle-class gentlemen attempting to pleasure him by kissing his cheeks. The women’s clothes are almost similar in colour to the packaging of the sweets, inferring that the 2 females are of minority to the male figure, connoting that the 2 women’s power are tantamount to the bars of chocolate. The male figure sitting on the chair is surrounded by the 2 women, whose clothes are mainly red. The red clothes have connotations of desire and lust, which arguably are what the women may be considered for. The punchline ‘What a delicious dilemma’ suggests that the man has a major selection on what he feels as ‘delicious’ meaning the women are included with sweets as both are used for his pleasure. The man in the suit uses a box of chocolates as a phallic symbol suggesting that may be aroused. The poster uses a mid-shot which coincides with the male gaze theory by Mulvey which insinuates a male dominance. The use of purple in the text has connotations of royalty inferring it was made for upper-class people.
Lil Uzi Vert – That’s a Rack Music Video
The opening scene of the music video is an over the shoulder shot of Lil Uzi himself, strolling into a warehouse full of females. The women are stripped of their clothes with only musical instruments to their privacy, the formation of the seated women is circular with a table in the middle that Uzi uses as his stage. On the stage, his body is positioned above the women, during his performance his is constantly looking down at the women as degenerate and belittles the women’s status. In the middle of the video, the women are covered in blue paint, the use of the colour blue has connotations of cold and depressing, which may suggest Lil Uzi Vert's actions towards the women are dismissive, cold and worthless. This music video also coincides with the male gaze theory by Mulvey. Throughout the video, Lil Uzi Vert's actions and dance moves may be considered stereotypically feminine to some viewers, due to the way he carries himself which links to David Gauntlett's theory of identity where in the past media used to convey singular, straightforward ideologies of the typical male and female whereas in this day and age, there are a more diverse range of icons and stars.
GQ magazine
In an edition of GQ magazine from November 2016 masculinity is represented as toxic and the cover of the magazine creates an idealised version of masculinity. Dwayne Johnson as the star vehicle and as the dominant image creates a role model to the readers and somebody to aspire to be like. He represents power, authority and dominance. The use of getting his iconic bicep and his tattoo of the Brahma bull in the shot reinforces stereotypes of men having to be hyper masculine, strong and muscular. The magazine cover as a whole creates a toxic ideology that men have to look a certain way , live a certain life and have certain items to be classed as masculine. The red, black and white colour palette helps to support the idea of power. Red has connotations of strength and black has connotations of power and creates a strong , bold statement. One of the cover lines reads 'man up! how to be a man in 2016' suggesting that men should read it in order to become masculine. the very essence of mens lifestyle magazines is consumerism and so the images and cover lines always seek to support this. the magazine informs men that is has all the answers and has exactly what they supposedly need. Van Zoonen’s feminist theory can be applied here because in women’s lifestyle magazines they are represented and constructed differently to men.
