bell hooks believes that women and minorities are discriminated in the media as they are misrepresented or underrepresented by the people who own the media. She believes these people who control the media are white,male, upper class men. She believes that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice. It is a movement to end patriarchy,sexism and oppression.
In the 'Moving on' section of the magazine, the central image and accompanying text show a black woman and how she went from sleeping rough in London to running a charity that aims to help prevent youths from becoming homeless like she once was. The fact that the article is the largest of all of them, along with the success story that it tells goes against the fact that women, especially black women, are discriminated in the media. This article shows the success of a black woman who now runs a charity. The 'Moving on' section also features more men that it does women with 7 men and 3 women. this could either be seen as an underrepresentation of women in the media, but i believe that it reflects the fact that more men than women are homeless.
In this particular section of the article,there is another segment that involves another woman who was formerly homeless who has became a painter. What you can see with her is that her picture is the smallest compared to the men's ones. More importantly, there is another article that talks about another woman who has became a charity manager. However, she does not have a picture that we can associate with her. This may be seen as a sort of oppression; that women are not as important as men when it comes to issues such as homelessness.
This article is written by a man who may be identified as a transvestite. He writes about his struggles growing up with his hobby and how e managed to embrace himself through cross-dressing. What Grayson Perry stands for is the expression of self identity and being oneself. The way that Perry does it is through his enjoyment of dressing up as a woman. Perry, and the Big Issue, can be seen as reinforcing some of hooks' points. The fact that his identity s something out of the norm shows that there is a power struggle between males and females. the Big Issue, however, takes a supporting stance against patriarchal values and attempts to show that there is equal power in masculinity and femininity. This then goes against bell hooks believing that all media products misrepresent or underrepresent females in their products and that they shine a light on the minority group in Britain. A voice for the voiceless.
This article is from the perspective of a man being interviewed. The man in question is a Big Issue vendor has has immigrated from Italy. The Big Issue give this man a platform to tell his story and represent himself in a positive light. There are different types of people being represented in this article: homeless people, immigrants, and OAPs. The fat that this magazine gives their vendors to tell their stories challenges hooks' point that people of lower class and minorities tend to be discriminated in the media. Instead of being discriminated, the article is exactly quoted from the man being interviewed, giving him near full control over his representation. The magazine decides what to put in the final article, and they have decided to represent him and the cultural groups mentioned before in a positive, optimistic light.
Some smaller points ; The editor of the big issue is a white middle aged male. This is the exact stereotype that bell hooks believe have more power in the media, therefore reinforcing her ideas about the underrepresentation of minorities in positions of authority.
The people, more specifically the vendors, in this article are male. There is only 1 female who is visible in the pictures and she seems to have a smaller role in this company. There are also no quotes from any females who are involved with the venture in the article. However, this could be The Big Issue once again representing the homeless in a realistic way, with more homeless people being male than female.
This advertisement for Westworld consists of a an old white man in a suit. What this connotes is that the man is wealthy and in a place of power. This advert reinforces what hooks believes, with old white middle class males being in a place of power. This advert also does not represent women or any minorities. This may reinforce the fact that feminism is a struggle against patriarchal values.
good yes i agree this disproves bel hooks to some extent, the westworld ad i would say is a bit irrelevent to the ideology of the rest of the mag and the patriarchy.
You've looked at the representations of women in the magazine in detail, I agree with the points you made.
good analysis of the under representation of women in the magazine and how ethnicity is represented.
Good critique of the magazine, the layout and the interviews. good application of theory.