Analyse the ways in which the media represents woman

Part 1

I have chosen to focus on the representation of woman in britiain, using contemporary british film as a case study. I will examine wasp, fish tank and red road by Andrea Arnold. I will also touch on the personal styles of Amma Asante and Lynne Ramsay. In my answer I will consider feminist theories of gender.

Part 2

Women have traditionally been represented as equals or as support characters in british cinema, for example in 'my beautiful laundrette' the female perspective is neglected. In a film like 'a kind of loving' women are portrayed as limits to the male character's ambitions. There are of course exceptions, such as 'a taste of honey' which cast women as the main characters.

New realist film is a kind of extreme realism which refuses to lie in any way to it's audience.  Films are shot on location, use natural light and 35mm colour film. No special effects or distortions are allowed. This is called the dogme 95. These rules or 'vows of chastity' make certain these films do not detract from the central theme.

Directors such as Andrea Arnold aim to produce a feminist perspective using these rules. Awareness of these vows of chastity is important when studying british film from new realist directors.

Part 3

Andrea Arnold uses the vows of chastity in Wasp to represent women trapped in their domestic position. The world she creates has an atmosphere of repression. The diegetic sound and over-use of close-ups helps create and sustain this. I also like how Andrea uses the motorway as an icon of a wall literally trapping the main character (Zoë) in their world.

Part 4

Some of Andrea Arnold's films represent women as failing mothers, take for example Zoë's inability to feed her children in Wasp. This invites the audience to criticise the wider social conditions which lead to Zoë's situation. However because Andrea Arnold does not specify any dominant reading the text is open to be interpreted from a quite reactionary viewpoint. Zoë could easily satisfy a deep-seated resentment of single mothers and their demonisation in some areas of the media.

Andrea does allow the audience to see the 'human' side of Zoë by allowing the audience to empathise with her reaction to the wasp. Zoë may be a negligent mother, but it's only natural that she protect her child from serious harm. Andrea portrays Zoë's behaviour as typically human, and as such she forces an unnecessary emotional reaction from the audience.

Lastly when Mia says goodbye to her sister, Tyler, she demonstrates an emotional attachment. This shows a dimension of their relationship which had been previously hidden behind a layer of insults and mutual dislike. This revelation shows that women are capable of meaningful relationships, and stops the film from slipping into chauvinism.

Part 5

There's a tendency to over-emphasise appearance in magazines aimed primarily at either men or women. This puts pressure on people to hide behind masks and cover their faces in facepaint. It's accepted by common society that this pressure is more manifest in women than it is in men. Both Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold chose to cast their actors based on how ordinary they looked, rather than whether they were 'glamorous'. This is because they do not believe in subverting reality to conform to an unhealthy aspiration of what the ideal woman should look like. Both directors challenge the emphasis on appearance, choosing instead to go on different factors, such as acting ability.

Wasp succeeds in demonstrating how the proletariat can be distracted from their oppression by the false aspirations to fame and celebrity. In fact it makes Zoë's predicament all the more shocking as the audience knows she will never be able to achieve her aspiration, and they recognise that Zoë is being lied to by society.

This can be taken further that the women in Andrea Arnold and Amma Asante's films define themselves in relation to men.

Zoë in Wasp does everything she can to subordinate herself to Dave's authority. This is harshly criticised in the film as the consequences of it are clearly explained.

Joanne in Fish Tank competes with Mia for Conor's attention, Conor is given 'male authority'.
According to Althausser's theory of interpellation the women in these films misunderstand their role in society, and actively suppress this role.

Part 6

The beginning of red road presents Jackie as  benevolent watcher. She watches the lives of ordinary people and takes pleasure in thesimple things they do, such as dancing to musing whilst cleaning. Later on in the film the atmospheric background noise takes on a sinister rumbling tone as she watches someone being stabbed. The film plays on voyeurism by over-using close-ups and often presenting events from th point of view of the secuity camera.
When Jackie starts following the man her behaviour becomes more paranoid and animalistic, she grows rings underneath her eyes. The film also sometimes uses Foucault's theory of the panopticon to demonstrate how she is powerful by her ability to observe events. As she starts to stalk the man it seems she is abusing this power. However the film continues to present her behaviour as human and her curiosity as natural. The 'female gaze' she develops is no different from the 'male gaze' seen in the rest of the media. The film does challenge male gaze, but only to the extent that it show it as appicable to both men and women.

Part 7

In conclusion it is important that british directors continue using new realism to represent women, as it generally rejects many of the unrealistic concepts which are attributed to women by the mainstream media. However it can also be said that there is little stopping it from reinforcing these unrealistic concepts.