WHERE ARE ALL THE POWERFUL WOMEN?

What happens when you google "Powerful Women".... check it out, think about it, talk about it :)

NCEA ASSESSMENT

For your assessment, I am saving trees and putting them online, if you want a printed option, I suggest you print it yourself:

Here is your assessment resource, make sure you take special note of the assessment criteria, you will need to click on 2.3a:

http://ncea.tki.org.nz/Resources-for-aligned-standards/Social-sciences/Media-studies/Level-2-Media-studies

Here is the annotated exemplars (they are only partial, not full scripts) to guide you through what is expected of an Excellence, Merit and Achieved:

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/subjects/media-studies/annotated-exemplars/level-2-as91250-a/

As requested, a guideline for working through it

As requested:


1. What is the representation saying?
1. What are the lyrics saying?
1. What is the message that we recieve from this scene because of the representation?

2. Who does the representation favour? What is the dominant hegemony? How realistic is it?
2. Does the representation favour 'dumb blonde' stereotypes or 'smart girl' or 'sport girls'? Are they realistic representations?

3. How does the image effect the audience? Especially the effect on teenagers.... What are the implications of this image?
3. What are these images telling teenagers?
3. Can we blame the attitude of teenage girls on these representations?
3. What are the concequences of representing teenage girls this way?
3. What values does this representation send? (Values/morals)

Use these PLUS use your marking schedule to make sure you cover everything :)

In need of Inspiration ?

This Spoken Word may or may not appeal to you but it is interesting for two reasons:

1. Spoken word is another 'text' worth looking into for this research whether to use for your assessment or to gain some simple inspiration.

2. What she is saying is not really from a teenage perspective but doesn't it send some great ideas to a teenage girl, that challenges many of the 'ideals' put forward by the media. Listen to it and try to spot some of these.

And here are some videos that might inspire you for your end product:

and the lyrics to an oldy but a goody, search it on you-tube if you are wanting to hear it too you will likely know it (I think it has been redone)

"AT SEVENTEEN"

By Janis Ian I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth... And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say "come dance with me"
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems at seventeen... A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
Said: "Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve"
The rich relationed hometown queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly... So remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debitures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment dueExceeds accounts received at seventeen... To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today
when dreams were all they gave for free
to ugly duckling girls like me... We all play the game, and when we dare
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say: "Come on, dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen...

There are SOOOOO many songs out there about teenagers expectations today.
Like TLC Unpretty - if you change the 'him' they talk about to the media it works perfectly.
What are some others..... 

The Internet is your oyster (research time)

Ultimately, this assessment is a Research project, not a lot different from the research you complete in many of your other subjects. You need to be researching the representation of teenage girls in the media and each time you find something, post it on your blog and blog about it.

Common question: What do you write?

You should be following the guidelines from the task set in Blog 1 about Serena combined with the Assessment Resource given to you in class. Write it like a blog though, your thoughts, your opinions and provide the evidence (photos/videos etc) to back up your thoughts and opinions.

Remember:

 you should find at least 6 texts, and then pick your favourite 3 to discuss in your end report.

You have 2 1/2 more weeks to get this done, which is ample time BUT you will struggle to get it done if you do not use each hour of class time wisely.

This task is to be done both in class time and in your own time.

My suggestion would be to try and complete your research by Monday 27th and then use that week PLUS the weekend to complete your findings. 

 

The final product is due on Monday 3rd September.

That way you have 6 hours of class time to edit your projects for your other internal before exams.

So, buckle down,

get searching,

get researching

and I will keep checking in on your blog to see how you are getting on.

Food for thought: When sexiness stops being sexy

Here is a link to an article I was reading recently which brings to light a lot of the issues we have discussed about representation. Provides one opinion on the question "where did these girls learn to dress like this"?

(http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/6628338/When-sexiness-stops-being-sexy)

To quote the writer: " I can't help thinking that some of the more multi-dimensional heroines have been replaced by one giant Kardashian/Jersey Shore/video chick/Hilton/Victoria's Secret mush.

There doesn't seem to be any celebration of diversity, just a whole lot of glorification of waxed/tanned/augmented homogenisation."

So in the media driven world that we exist in today.. there is a 'trend' taking over.

Firstly, infamous people are becoming famous for no reason, they are being coined 'heroes' and providing inspiration to young teenage girls. 

Marketers pay big bucks for these 'heroes' to endorse their products (that support their representation in the media) and the marketers make big bucks as a result.

Who's pockets does that money end up back in?

..... Think about it :)

Student Guidelines

Your first blog is to be completed on Serena from Gossip Girl as a guideline to how you should approach this task.

Pick a scene from one of the episodes we have watched in class to base your answers on for the following questions:

1. Who is Serena? (provide a brief description of Serena as established up until the scene you will discuss. Include adjectives to describe her look, attitude, personality etc)

Serena van Der Woodsen is the main character in Gossip Girl and is portrayed as.....

2. How does the director show this in your chosen scene?

(Refer to dialogue, costume/dress, conflict etc)

The director has styled her to be dressed in.....

The director has Serena talking about/to.....

3. Discuss in detail how Serena's representation in this scene is typical of a teenage girl in the media.

Teenage girls are most commonly represented as....

4. What material is omitted regularly from episodes of Gossip Girl?

Intelligence and talent are two traits of a teenage girl that are not acknowledged as much as they should be in Gossip Girl. This is because....

(think here about the $$$$$$$ making media)

5. Does Serena represent a typical teenager in the world today then? Why/why not? (Relate it to the world today with specific examples)

5. What message therefore, does this representation of Serena send to real teenage girls in our world today? (Think here about values created by the representation).

Representations like that of Serena in Gossip Girl tells teenagers today that....

You need to support all your conclusions with as much evidence from the text as possible.

Develop your argument as much as possible by providing as much detail as you can, always answer the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE and WHY.

Build an opinion and strengthen it with each answer and each blog.

You should be able to complete this within the period, anything you do not finish you must complete for homework.

Any questions, ask me. Have fun blogging.

Blog 2: Exemplar 2

This assessment requires you to demonstrate understanding of at least THREE media texts and produce either:

a narrated visual (5-10 minutes in length)

or

an essay (1000 words in length)

showing your understanding of aspects of the representation of teenage girls.

 

We will talk about our class example in this period and then brainstorm some other otpions you could explore to fulfill your other texts.

It is then up to you to chose which texts you would like to focus on.

The point of the blog is to 'aid' your research process and help you in completing your final peice.

You need to start looing into and collecting:

Screen grabs from a film

Tv programme

or website

You can also use magazine advertisements, film/you tube clips and music videos.

You need to be considering:

• How characterisation/ casting and/or costume etc convey representation

• The diffference between the representation and reality (compare the teenager in the text with real world examples of teenagers today)

• How stereotypes, messages and/or values are created through the representation

• Why certain material has been used and other material maybe missed out

• The connection between the representation and the world view/ideology of the media producers.

 

 

Blog One Exemplar

Pink Stupid Girls: Representation of teenage girls in the media

What is the representation saying?

The representation is telling the viewer how teenage girls or women in general are not all conformists and are not following the current trends in female hegemony.

Although the current media put loads of emphasis on young girls conforming to the stereotype of "blonde, ditsy, pretty = cool, popular, worthy", Pink's video is challenging this idea and reminding the audience thats not how it is.

  Pink plays different kind of roles like a dancer, a girl attempting to attract the attention of a gym instructor, a girl with purging disorder etc. She also plays the opposite of these given characters like a female president and a girl winning a football game. At the end of the music video, she chooses a football, a computer, dance shoes, books, and a keyboard over set of dolls and a set of make up. The things that she chooses symbolise fitness, education, work, love and leisure, while on the other hand, the things that she leaves symbolise vanity and innocence. This tells the viewer that not all teenage girls or women want to be just like what they see in their everyday lives and that some teenagers still want a normal life instead of being a conformist and living the life of someone else.