Analysis of Gender and Sexual Cultures - Essay Example

affiliation Gender and Sexual Studies Question Popular culture- it encompasses utilization of entirety of ideas and diverse phenomena in line with the mainstream of a certain cultural angles. It is always seen being dumbed down and trivial, as a result, popular culture has come under heavy criticism. This type of culture includes culture, which is popular, easy to comprehend and to entertain a huge number of young populations. For instance, the pop music has exemplary followers. High culture- it is a societal self-consciousness. It contains works related to art, scholarship, and philosophical diversities all of which play a great role in establishing a reference point among the educated population in the society. Occasionally, culture of fake is always seen to supersede high culture. One such example is the popularity and usage of visual arts. Mass audience- it refers to a huge number of audiences congregating at the same place or listening to the same information at the same time. In such cases, the society is usually paying attention to one thing being aired or performed at the same time. Example is the use of mass media to passing information to a specific niche or political rallies in the society. Critics in the society have challenged this classification. Some have dismissed the effectiveness of popular culture in the development of the educated people in the society. On the other hand, some critics are proposing to merge the categories to portray one modern society. In addition, the feminists are also raising questions concerning the opportunities of women for creativity and how these have been able to change historically, and how the creativity of women have been put to evaluation, how women have been silenced and how men have been able to made meaning of life for women with the activities and myths. Despite this, the contemporary feminists have been able to take a diversified approach to dealing with these forms of culture (Charles, pg. 65). Question 2 There are two major assumptions on women towards popular culture, which have been shared by the contemporary feminists; Assumption one- in this assumption, it is believed that women have a certain relationship to popular culture that is quite different from what men have towards popular culture. It has been pointed out that women have been playing key roles as consumers of particular products of popular culture, and they are, therefore, a core subject of the popular culture for both men and women. In addition, it is believed that in some cases and periods, women have been very important in creating and producing popular culture. Assumption two- to comprehend the functioning of the popular culture to both the patriarchal culture and women is paramount if women are to go ahead, gain control over their identities, and change both social relations and mythologies. As a critique of the social relations existing in the society, feminism assumes that change is not only seen to be desirable but also necessary. Example of women popular culture include women’s roles as housewives Question three Ideologies are fundamental beliefs of a particular group and its members. It has something to deal with a system of ideas especially with the political, social or ideas of religion that are shared by a social movement or group. Ideologies are seen as the basis of social practice of a particular group of members. Thus, it is seen that racist or sexist ideologies may be based on discrimination. Therefore, ideologies are seen to be most often emerging from a group conflict and struggle. Despite the fact that social practices and ideologies of certain group members are always related, it is clear that ideologies cannot be reduced to the level of ideological practices. On the other hand, discourse forms a crucial part of social practices that are influenced by ideologies. These in turn influence how individuals learn, acquire and change ideologies. Much of the discourse members of a group speaks of, expresses opinions that are ideologically based. Several feminists have been able to point out that the greatest danger with an appeal to the psychoanalysis of the family is the appearance of the social context in use. The worse people use can be a source of social change in the society therefore there usage should be put to check in order to avoid social influence. Unlike ideologies in the society, which is more associated with men, the role of discourse among women is seen to be high. Women are much influenced by the words being used in languages and speeches. Hence, the use of discourse should be viewed as a huge influence in women (Henry, 45). Question four Postmodernity is a condition whereby the individual or entire society is linked to the changes taking effect in institution and with social and political results taking place worldwide; postmodernism is seen as an aesthetic. The ideas of postmodern society arose around the 1960s. Its impact has been felt in almost every aspect including creativity and culture; from architecture and art to the social as well as a political movement including feminism. In postmodern culture, advertising takes the center stage. It takes a significant space for the identity of contemporary consumers. Advertisement is the sole means of marketing in the postmodern society to reach huge number of people in the society. It captures great attention and has great convincing power. Question five Interlocking effect model provides the way of moving forward in relations and politics in the society. It is based on finding principles that are allied. In relations in the society, the answers to this paradigm lie in determining the conditions under which certain actors can behave like realists. In the contemporary society, thus model is effectively portrayed in most television programs. The programs do provide the society with many solutions on how to move on with their daily lives without necessarily undermining any cultural principle. Section 2 Uses of parody and satire in advertising and in television programming Satire is an artistic work that is chiefly literally and dramatic where human or individual vices abuses, follies, or weaknesses are held up to criticize by either means of mockery, irony, parody or other related techniques. Although satire is meant to be funny, its main intention is to inspire a social reform. On the other hand, parody is an imitation of a serious piece of work, for instance, literature, artwork, music or any form of artwork for satirical effects. Parody is often used as a method of criticizing and is one of the most popular means that is used by authors, advertisers, as well as entertainers to pass a particular message or point of view to the viewers. The two are often thought to have the same meaning; however, they are very distinct legally. Parody comments directly on the original piece of work while, satire comments indirectly. This means that while parody imitates from the original piece of work with the intention of commenting on it. Conversely, Satire copies from the original piece of work with the intention of commenting on another piece of work. This paper delves the uses of parody as well as satire in advertising and television programming. Uses of satire and parody in advertising In marketing, marketers often have to play a number of tricks to reinforce their position in the market. They can choose to use the themes of parody and satire with the intention of tackling the competitors branding strategy by replacing it with a humorous parody. However, parody advertisement is typically a fictional advertisement that is done in an additional advertisement for a real product. It usually represents a fictional product with the intention of creating humour to the public (Henry, pg136). Such advertisement necessitates an innovative work that is used to negate the branding concept with a humorous approach or rendering brand strategy as unethical to win the hearts of the people. There are different ways of designing a parody or satire in advertisement. It can either be done by drawing a comic sketch, or the advertiser has the choice of using the comic devices. In the modern advertisement, the advertisers copy a short clip from the original work to accomplish the desired outcomes. However, parody ad should not become the reason of advertisement of any particular brand in the market. Advertisers should always ensure that they use fictional brand names rather than using the original brand names because it is unethical to use such names (Henry et al, pg54). Manufacturers often ask their advertisement agencies to create an ad that will weaken the brand concept of other competitors in the market. Therefore, the advertisement agencies respond by designing an ad that utilizes parody. There are various intentions associated with the use of parody in advertisement. The two major motives include increasing the brand worthy or sabotaging the brand from the eyes of the public. A good example is the advertisement of puma, which is among the most prominent undergarment brands. The brand has been associated with pornography parodies that were found in various pornography websites. The major intention of such an advertisement was to destroy the image of Puma. Advertisements also use trademark tarnishment as another method influencing the public. Its major aim is to destroy the reputation of a particular brand, for instance, in the Mercedes advertisement, the brand is replaced by donkeys for satirical effects. However, such ads at times offer the manufacturers with a good intimation to understand the reverse outcomes of their launched products. For instance in the context of the Mercedes ad, the world is undergoing through a severe energy crisis but the Mercedes Company is still focusing on the manufacture of luxurious products that are often fuel guzzlers instead on concentrating in the production of vehicles that consume less fuel. Social outcomes Parody advertisement is at times used to show the response of the consumers or the entire public towards a particular brand. For instance, the 7up ad that was designed in such a way that it claimed that it transformed the consumers into gay. This parody was based on the response of the public towards the brand. Another good example of such a parody is the BMW advertisement. Keeping in mind that most of the BMW cars are expensive, the parody claimed that the consumer becomes psyche by handling the vehicle with an abnormal approach. Competitors of a particular brand to portray a bad image of the original brand use such advertisements. However, the competitors do not create a newer or better product, and they just copy the idea then destroy the public image of the original brand by diluting their positioning strategy. Citizenship Citizenship is a product of cultural standards as well as normal behavioural practices. In the context of citizenship, parody and satirical themes can be used to bring out the dark side of a particular society. The two themes highlight specific practices or issues that are common in the society but no one has noticed them yet. A good example is the parody of Muslims living styles as well as their pattern of spending life where the photographer takes the photographs of veil women. Such practices invade the boundaries of societies because they deem taboos (Charles, pg. 98). In the US, elegant girls are hired for the second ads while the parodies ads used ugly girls. However, the main intention of such practices is not to destroy the image a particular brand to the public but to bring satirical effects to the viewers. In some of the television programs, oppositions use satire during elections with the intention of sabotaging the image of the opposition to the public. However, such practices are healthy since they influence the voters to think about their choices from different point of view. Impacts of satire and parody to products The impact on the market of the copied work after a later work of parody or satire has negative affects to the initial work. However, satirical and parody works can be an exception to this rule given that most they use the original work to criticizes another work or comments on the original work. However, the society might value the criticism, and hence urging the manufacturers to be on their toes. In cases where criticism reduces the demand for the original work or that of the genuine product that has been criticized with the intention of destroying the products image, then that would be an acceptable outcome of the public discourse established by the parody or satirical work. Conclusion Modern culture has established a wider scope that enables political actors to take part in the public sphere. Moreover, the television programs and new media technology such as blogs, YouTube and other internet sources of information have established new possibilities for extracting social change. As discussed in the paper, some of the most effective ways to influence the public is by using parody and satirical effects to criticize poor practices in the society. However, satire and parody can be used inappropriately in case where the intention is to destroy the image of genuine or good practices, for instance, the use of satire and parody in the destruction of the image of genuine products. Despite the fact, that some of the parody and satirical advertisements harms genuine practices in the society, the fact remains that the public is able to access different perspectives pertaining various issues in the society. Conversely, in the context of advertisement the parodies educate the consumers concerning various products in the market. However, this can be viewed as an opportunity for the manufacturers to improve the quality of their products instead of using advertisements that may be exaggerated. Parody advertisements that aim at destroying the image of genuine brands should be seized or discouraged. In media, there are various alternatives that the parody advertisements can be applied. Advertisers can bring out parody in newspapers, television programs, sketch drawings and flash player games. However, it can be one of the most efficient ways that manufacturers can use in the memorization of specific brand names in the minds of the customers; for instance, child product manufacturers apply such techniques with the intention of entertaining the target market. Work cited Charles V. Television program master index : access to critical and historical information on 2,273 shows in books, dissertations and journal articles. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2014. Print. Henry, Matthew A. The Simpsons, satire, and American culture. New York: PalgraveMacmillan, 2012. Print. Henry, Michael, and Michele Hilmes. NBC Americas network. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Print.   Read More