Study Task 3 | OUGD401

Although this section is based on magazines specifically, I feel the themes run through advertising as well.

Men as sex objects

Women have been objectified in men's media for a while but the objectification of men in women's magazines is emerging. An example of this was in Cosmopolitan magazine inviting readers to send in a text message to vote for the 'fittest man'. These elements of female magazines mirror the content of typical men's media. If terms like "21 sneaky tricks to get guys to do what you want" (US Cosmo, Oct 2006) were found in mens magazines, there would certainly be an uproar from the female population. There appears to be a contrast in the viewpoints of both magazines; in women's magazines it is typically portrayed that the man does whatever the women wants, whereas, in men's magazines male readers need to win the consent of the partner. 

The approach to men in women's magazines is done gladly as some sort of revenge for the traditional treatment of women. Men's rights groups have been set up but this works against the media's 'ideal man', thus the men look "self-pitying". The assumption of female magazines is that men have sexualised women for decades and therefore they cannot really complain. 

There are however, leading sexual magazines that do not treat men as sexual objects in some areas. For example asking real men to answer the personal problems of readers. The answers are human, realistic and sensitive. So, despite the overwhelming sexual objectification of men, magazines are still allowing space for understanding the thoughts and emotions of the opposite sex. 

Gauntlett, D (2008), 'Women's Magazines and Female Identities' ,  Media,Gender and Identity. An Introduction, 2nd edn., Abingdon: Routledge., pp.196-198

Illustration in action

In this lecture, we focussed on the definition of an illustration and how drawings are often confused with illustrations.
Part of a definition of illustration stated-

‘…a shining, a spiritual illumination, vivid representation, an enlightening, light up, illuminate, make clear, disclose, explain, adorn, shine light, act of making clear in the mind…’

Illustrations effectively illuminate a page. Monks writing long texts had a desire to illustrate and fill the page with these illuminations.

So what is the difference between an illustration and a drawing? Our lecturer stated his idea of illustration-

"Strategic image making, used within the context of visual communication to convey meaning or concept."

He argued that if all the elements below are not present, is it really an illustration?


This Frosties box contains an example of an illustration. This is because Tony the tiger is smiling with a thumbs up to illustrate that the cereal is good and worth buying. 


Below is an example of a drawing, NOT an illustration. Why? Because there is no context, the image stands alone as a drawing. It has no purpose and it is not trying to communicate anything.



Aesthetics is a key element in successful illustration as this can communicate a mixture of messages. 

"As a result, the aesthetic of an image, its formal qualities, its media and composition can communicate as much as the semiotics of the signs and symbols employed.

I would argue that good illustrators not only communicates through use of sign and symbol, but also by the very aesthetic of their chosen media and its application."

A prime example of this is the illustrations of animals below -

 

Jillian Tamaki- Trafficked Animals for National geographic magazine

The aesthetics of these illustrations aim to communicate the fragility and vulnerability of these animals. Thus communicating a different message to this...

Lance Wyman- U.S National Zoo Washington

These animal illustrations have a much stronger, vectorised form. They have an instruction and informative aesthetic, which is hard so that the required information is easily communicated.

Also, the tone of voice of an illustration plays a key roll in what is communicated.

"Born from an individual image making process and creative practice that is unique to it’s creator, illustration often communicates with a specific tone of voice.

I would argue that it is the authenticity, craft, consistency and individuality of an illustrators visual tone of voice that will inform their success as an applied artist."

Here are some good examples on how tone of voice can change an image and reflect its purposes...

James Jean for Prada

This image aims to communicate the sophistication, elegance and sexiness of the designer brand. 

whereas...

Laura Carlin for The Guardian

This image aims to highlight the issues for the victims related to domestic abuse. The tone of voice is much sadder and triggers empathy.

"It is this combination of both an individual visual aesthetic and use of functional visual symbols that allows illustration to communicate both an explicit message whilst also being able to convey more subtle, nuanced or abstract sensibilities."

Illustration is a skill required by all disciplines. For example :

Animation studio employs illustrator to generate concepts and aesthetic for new short film

Art director commissions illustration for a newspaper article

Graphic Designer employs illustrator to work on branding project

Museum curator briefs Illustrator on mural for an exhibition

Photographer asks illustrator to design props for set

Creative Agency buys artwork from Illustrator to use in new branding campaign

App developer hires illustrator to design characters

Flagship retail store employs illustrator to collaborate on visual merchandising for shop window display

Interior design business commissions illustrated textiles

BUT illustrators are not subservient to to other disciplines.

It could be argued that during times of recession illustrations are not used because its decoration. What is required is the information. However this newspaper looks far more tempting to buy...

Sam Weber- New York Times 

Brainstorming - Gender Representation - Study Task 3 | OUGD401

This week we began to delve deeper into our questions and consider the themes and ideas that we could explore. We created some pretty intensive mind maps jotting down all the concepts and ideas we could think of related to our subject. We then shared our ideas with other students tackling the same question.
There are many themes to consider with gender representation as it is such a huge issue. However, this makes it difficult to whittle my ideas down to what I actually want to focus on - and I am still pretty undecided. However, the mind map has allowed me to focus my ideas.
I have decided to focus mainly on the sexualisation of genders. This is an obvious topic, but its still an important issue and there are countless examples that I can use for research.
During my mind mapping I considered which product advertisements represented gender in a specific way. From this, I began to consider children's toy adverts and how an early idea of sexualisation is given in a very subtle way - such as the figure and clothing of barbie dolls. I do need to be cautious of going off the advertising topic however, I would like to consider how the messages of sexualisation change dependant on the age of the target market.  I am also particularly interested in the sexualisation in the lynx adverts as this is a prime modern example of this topic.
I would then like to explore the fact that many people try and stand up against the false messages given in advertising. Despite fighting against these, people still fall victim to their tricks. I feel it is appropriate to explore various campaigns and whether these have had an affect and furthermore whether the creator of the campaign is being hypocritical! I would like to conclude with questioning whether there will be a day when the ideas portrayed in advertising will ever be correct or right.
Although this is only early days I plan to form my essay in this potential structure:

Introduction
Exploration of male portrayal with a focus on sexualisation
Exploration of female portrayal with a focus on sexualisation
Case studies (including advertising considering age of target market and adverts such as lynx)
Questioning campaigns and their affects
Conclusion and answer of initial question

Hypothesis-

Gender roles are regularly subject to separation and this is often the case with regards to the advertisement industry. Today the emphasis on sexualisation is greater than ever and impressed upon individuals at a young age. This is having a negative affect on every man and woman- even those who try to ignore its power. Today many campaigns attempt to fight the incorrect ideas portrayed by the media but the success of these is questionable. Perhaps the issues of gender representation in advertising will never be resolved .


My mind maps-