Feminism

1) What are the two texts the article focuses on?
Pan Am and Beyonce
2) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?

Beyonce: simultaneously declares herself as an independent woman, whilst objectifying herself for the camera and the ‘male gaze’.

Pan Am: purpose is to be admired and aspired to by women, and visually enjoyed by men.

3) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form?

These texts pose as perfect examples that no matter how forward the feminism movement moves, sexism will never cease to exist due to the engraved idea that women's bodies are sexy and are meant to be enjoyed.
4) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog.

Patriarchy – An ideology that places men in a  dominant position over women.

Nostalgia – A sentimental longing for the past, often only remembering the positives of the time.

Male Gaze – The gaze referring to Laura Mulvey’s seminal article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which argues that main stream Hollywood films subject female characters to the ‘male gaze’ of the camera,

fragmenting and objectifying their bodies

Music video analysis

Watch the Beyonce video for ‘Why Don’t You Love Me?’: 

 

1) How might this video contribute to Butler’s idea that gender roles are a ‘performance’?

In this video
2) Does this video reinforce or challenge the view that women should perform certain roles in society?

There are two interpretations of this video which would lead to two very different answers- the first being that in this video Beyonce has offended all women by applying the idea that in order to gain a mans love and attention we must cook, clean, provide, and become sex objects, as if it is an obligatory duty. This interpretation would suggest that women should perform certain roles in society. However, the other end of the spectrum would suggest that through Beyonce's perhaps deliberate failures in the tasks she performs in the video whilst simultaneously crying "why dont you love me?!", she is mocking the idea that women must work for a mans attention, and through this video is underlining the very idea that women do not have to take on certain roles for men.

2) Would McRobbie view Beyonce as an empowering role model for women? Why?
Once again,there are two interpretations of this video which would lead to two very different answers- the first being that in this video Beyonce has offended all women by applying the idea that in order to gain a mans love and attention we must cook, clean, provide, and become sex objects, as if it is an obligatory duty. This interpretation would suggest that women should perform certain roles in society. However, the other end of the spectrum would suggest that through Beyonce's perhaps deliberate failures in the tasks she performs in the video whilst simultaneously crying "why dont you love me?!", she is mocking the idea that women must work for a mans attention, and through this video is underlining the very idea that women do not have to take on certain roles for men. Therefore, there are alternate approaches to this question in the sense that this video can be an example to show Beyonce is not a role model, however this is slightly confusing as it is ambiguous as to whetehr or not she is highlighting this issue in a mocking tone in order to make a statement.