Representations of men

Representations of Men

Constructionist Approach:


The person being represented in this advert looks very confident, healthy and comfortable in themselves. This is shown by the choice of casual clothing, the positioning of his body and his posture, all gestures radiating confidence.
The photograph has been framed in a medium close up allowing focus to be drawn to the chiseled physique of the model, specifically his broad chest and arms. This is further emphasised by the low angle shot which promotes the ideologies of male superiority and intimidation. In addition to the fact that the model in this image stands alone, create a male ideology of independence and by the image covering the masthead of the magazine, it promotes the ideology of confidence.
The taglines of the magazine constantly reinforce many physical ideologies of men such as '6 weeks to your perfect body' and 'massive shoulders in 28 days'. Most items that grace this cover that suggest they have fast results to have the 'perfect body'. In addition to this, by using the title of 'America's 25 fittest colleges', it suggests both that this is only for America citizens and that fitness/sports facilities should influence your choice of higher education.
The target audience of this magazine are both the aspirer and succeeder in reference to the 4C's model. It targets the younger generation of men, I believe from late teens/early twenties to mid 30's. These men are more likely to have higher esteem needs, due to social desires and a want to be accepted by those around them. The preferred reading of this magazine would suggest that all men of this target audience believe and agree with all the ideologies presented in this magazine. Whereas, an oppositional reading of this text would suggest that the magazine promotes ideologies of vanity and self-absorption. Rather than, promoting ideologies of how to live a long-lasting healthy lifestyle, it only shows how to get 'massive shoulders in 28 days', short-term 'fad' solutions.
Health and fitness for men has been a dominant and recurring ideology for a very long amount of time, due to the belief that men have to always have the best physique possible. Although society is slowly changing their un-achievable standards, men are still told through representations that the ideal physique is a necessity.

Stereotypes:



Will McKenzie from the channel 4 comedy 'The Inbetweeners' aims to represent the typical 'geek' or 'nerd'. Although the show in over exaggerated and dramatised for comedic affect, the values and jokes made from the characters provide an element of relatability.
Will's appearance shows a young man with gapped teeth and glasses, both typical traits of the nerdy character. In addition to this, he is always shown to wear very smart, formal clothing even when he is not in a school uniform. Will, in comparison to his friends in the show, is known to have a very posh accent which again reinforces the stereotype and aids in differentiating and individualising 'geeks' from the rest of society.
In the show, Will's behaviour can often be labelled as submissive. It is repeatedly obvious that he is not the alpha-male of his friends and often takes verbal attacks without little retaliation at all. He is never shown to be violent, however, it is made evident through his appearance that if any violence was ever to come his way, he would always be the victim, not the instigator.
The most notable factor about Will is his humour. Although extremely funny, his humour is often dry and as a result misunderstood by his peers, emphasising isolation.

Ideologies:


In this advertisement, many traditional ideologies of the typical 'dad' character are reinforced. Firstly, the fact that the young girl is embarrassed of her Father. Fathers are traditionally represented as embarrassing, often due to the age gap and difference between generations, they often struggle to perceive what is 'cool' or not. This is shown in the Volkswagen advert when initially the young girl shrinks in her seat in an attempt to mask herself from her peers, avoiding being seen with her Dad.
However, it then establishes another key ideology of men being the providers and business owner. This is displayed following the fathers encounter with his daughter, in which his car alerts him of a change in times for his meeting. This is almost like a snap-back into reality and back to the grind of working every day. This clip also promotes the idea of a high paying successful job as it is aimed to advertise a car with an expensive price tag with many unnecessary accessories.
However, this advert then breaks the same ideologies it initially establishes. Following the young girl cowering away from her father to avoid embarrassment, it shows the girl become more confident and proud to be seen with  her father due to the auditory features of the car making her father look cooler and acceptable to be seen with.

Representations of men

Representations of men

Traditionally, men in the media were represented as being very manly, macho characters particularly in the 1970s and 80s. Although the stereotypical view of men in modern times has developed and changed, today this stereotype is still commonly used. 

For instance, in the TV show Supernatural the character Dean Winchester, played by Jensen Ackles conveys this traditional view of a working class man. Although the things that happen to the man are extremely abnormal we can still see how this character portrays the traditional view of a man. Taking the constructionist view, his body language connotes that of masculinity as his shoulders are pushed back and head is held high connoting confidence as well as the eye focus on the camera which suggests the idea that men are brave. His posture also conveys that perhaps he is ready for action and to maybe fight. 

The encoders in this text, in this case the photographers of the image, have used a medium long shot of the character allowing the audience to see his entire outfit and masculine stance. His loose denim jeans and leather jacket suggest that of a working class man the open jacket also suggests manliness and that he is not the clean cut type of male which is often seen in today's society. The encoders have also chose to take this picture of the character as he is standing in front of a car and although you can't see in the image, it is an old fashioned Chevalier impala connoting connoting how men are seen as car lovers and cars also show connotations of masculinity specifically romantically as men are meant to be seen as the chivalry.

I think the audience will take the preferred reading of this image, taking the character as the rough and ready to go alpha male. Although he doesn't necessarily come across as dangerous the audience still has the sense that he could do some damage.

This also feeds in to the dominant ideology of our society that men are seen as violent and dangerous and the media reinforce this ideology and shows how maybe the media is responsible for the steady stream of images that define 'manhood' connected to violence, dominance and control and creates it so that the audience accepts this idea of masculinity. For example and archetype of 'the action hero' is strong and often angry and above all is aggressive and engages in violent behaviour. Bruce Willis in the Die Hard films conveys this archetype as in the image he is holding a gun suggesting that he ready to fight and also how he is dangerous and does not mind killing somebody if he needs to. the archetype of the action hero also shows how man are more willing to fight even if it is for great of good, nevertheless shows how men will turn to violence rather than an alternative method. However this portrayal of men is accepted in todays society as me are seen as the protectors and the reason for this overly positive and dominant representations of men in the media is down to power. there is also an ideology that society is still very patriarchal and men have been in control of the media so have crated positive representations that support their dominance and violence which makes people think it is okay. 

in today's society however, the stereotypical view of men has been challenged and although traditional ideologies are still in place there are new concepts and representations of masculinity. 

Representation of men

Representation of men

When it comes to men being represented in the media they are usually shown as these perfect bachelors with massive muscles, a handsome face basically men in media are usually represented as the perfect man this makes us average men feel a little bit degraded at times but media texts have these type of men in them to attract women and even men at times to use the media text.The men that use the media texts because of the men in the film are usually the aspires there are plenty of texts that use men just for this reason and we could just use one actor for it and that was Arnold Schwarzenegger because is most of his earlier films he wears clothes that are able to show of his muscles or go one further and actually give him many clothes. One example of this is the film commando and this movie usually shows him with no  top or with a tight top making his muscles bulge out. They do this to also represent him as the archetype of the action hero and this is because this is what a lot of people represent a man that is massive in height and massive because of their muscles to making a man that looks like this in an action movie and making them the action hero makes a lot of sense because this is what a lot of people recognize action heroes as. An example of men being handsome and charming is from a little franchise called James Bond every actor that plays James Bond is usually a handsome person the best example of that probably being Daniel Craig and usually has a charming English accent to yes go with the franchise but also because this makes the man sound a lot more mature and nicer. Men are also represented as players nowadays picking up a lot of girls with ease without a care in the world what happens to them this is a stereotype that is used way to often a game franchise that does uses this is the devil may cry series as you play as a person called Dante who does not really care about many people but himself and does not mind sleeping with anyone he can. This is shown the most inn the recent reboot game if the franchise and in the opening title sequence the main character Dante is shown to have a threesome with two girls and he does not care how they are going to feel afterwards and this is shown by his attitude when he wakes up the next day.    

With reference to your own detailed examples, explore the ways in which Men are represented in the media today.

For many Video Games, the audience controls a male protagonist who must battle against the odds in order to save civilisation, Earth or a woman. The game Bioshock Infinite takes this cliché to an extreme length.

In Bioshock you play as a male protagonist named Booker. Your objective is to find and save the mysterious Elizabeth from captivity, then escort her to safety. The whole game is a giant escort mission for this one female, she doesn’t aid by shooting enemies down like you, but she does occasionally throw you some ammo. This game paints you as the female’s only saviour, a man who can fight and win, regardless of the odds. Although the ‘Saviour’ Male protagonist you play lacks facial hair, he still follows a lot of stereotypes that men are associated with in video games.

In Commando, John Matrix must use his ex-special unit training, almighty strength, and witty one-liners to combat the evil forces of thugs who have kidnapped his daughter! The protagonist is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger who achieved Mr. Universe at the age of 20. He is a regular body builder and is chosen to act in films due to his muscular physique.

Once again in this media text, the male is portrayed as the ‘saviour’ who has to win in an against-the-odds battle versus the baddies. It also re-enforces the ideology that men fight for revenge, this can be seen in various other films; e.g. Gladiator.

Alex Reid, both an Expert MMA fighter and a cross-dresser. What many believe to be opposite ends of the ‘traditional masculine activities’ spectrum. He has a very muscular physique, and sometimes dresses like a female. He appears on the frontpage of many newspapers dressed like a woman, it is not part of any staged act. Alex takes Queer Theory to the extreme, challenging gender stereotypes to the point of visually dressing like a female. As well as challenging masculine stereotypes, he also challenges ideologies, such as; Men should not pamper themselves.