MIGRAIN 3 Assessment - Learner response

 1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: This is a solid assessment that shows some clear analysis of the unseen text plus understanding of gender expectations in society. 

EBI: In Q2 you need a little more focus on the question - gender in advertising. Detailed reference to the text is also essential to reach the top levels. Try and add media theory to your answer where possible. 

2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Write down the number of marks you achieved for the two questions: 5/8; 5/12. If you didn't achieve full marks in a question, write a bullet point on what you may have missed.

Q1: The images on the ‘Good girl’ advert also reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. The woman is in a submissive pose on the floor (it appears between an unknown man’s legs). Her costume exposes her leg and extremely high heels are visible. The high heel can also be found in the pack shot of the fragrance bottle which is designed to look like a ludicrously high heel. It could be argued that the whole advert disempowers women and suggests that men should be worshipped from a highly submissive position.

Q2: The Carolina Herrara advertising campaign reflects a more traditional approach to representation than found in many modern campaigns. This perhaps reflects the recent cultural backlash against ‘woke’ or ‘PC’ (politically correct) causes as evidenced by right-wing political campaigns such as Trump or Brexit.

3) For Question 2 on the social and cultural contexts of gender representations, identify three potential points in the mark scheme that you didn't include in your answer.

• The campaign reinforces Judith Butler’s work in Gender Trouble – particularly the idea that gender is culturally and socially constructed – not ‘natural’. The construction of the adverts supports Butler’s idea that we are conditioned to adhere to social norms – both in terms of gender roles and heterosexuality.

• The Carolina Herrara adverts reinforce Mulvey’s idea of the ‘male gaze’ – that the media is constructed for the pleasure of a male audience. The image in the ‘Good girl’ advert overtly sexualises the female model, placing her in a submissive position at the feet of a man and exposing her leg. The male model in the ‘Bad boy’ advert – although he could arguably be conventionally attractive and therefore attract the ‘female gaze’ – is fully dressed and sat normally, reinforcing male power and control.

• The Carolina Herrara campaign reinforces Liesbet van Zoonen’s ideas regarding the media and patriarchal dominance. Undoubtedly, the female model is presented as a ‘spectacle’ for male pleasure and the positioning of the models and the use of text (‘good girl’ and ‘bad boy’) establishes a male dominance.

4) Having read the whole mark scheme, pick out one media theory that you didn't include in this assessment and summarise it briefly here so you can use it confidently in future.

David Gauntlett argues that masculinity is constantly evolving and social concerns that masculinity is ‘in crisis’ are exaggerated. However, this campaign does not provide particular evidence for an evolution in representations of men (aside perhaps from a lack of socks and no necktie). Indeed, this campaign reinforces classic masculine stereotypes and therefore perhaps provides evidence against Gauntlett’s theory.

5) Based on your experience in this assessment, identify three aspects of Media (e.g. skills/particular theories/examples) that you need to work on for your next assessment.

Writing about the question including media theories, analyse the pictures using mise - en - scene, have a detailed reference to the text.