MIGRAIN Assessment 3- Learner Response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: Q1 is a strong answer showing good analysis and knowledge of terminology. Now we just need to match that in Q2. 

EBI: Social and cultural contexts: how do the adverts reflect society and culture? See mark scheme for more on this. 

2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Write down the number of marks you achieved for the two questions: _/8; _/12. If you didn't achieve full marks in a question, write a bullet point on what you may have missed.

Q1: 6/8

-The verbal codes (text) reinforce the gender roles expected in society, supporting Judith Butler’s theory that gender is “a performance” – a pattern of repeated acts or rituals. Here, the expectation that women should be ‘good girls’ while men are allowed to be ‘bad boys’ reinforces the restrictive gender roles that are set from childhood. This is then explicitly reinforced in the text ‘The new feminine/ masculine fragrance’ – suggesting that people should behave, look and smell a certain way to perform their gender.

-The costume of the man perhaps reflects David Gauntlett’s idea that masculinity is evolving due to changing representations in the mass media. The lack of a tie and socks is a more informal, modern interpretation of masculinity compared to traditional representations and perhaps suggests that Carolina Herrara as a brand is not entirely stuck in the past.

Q2: 4/12

-The Carolina Herrara campaign reinforces Liesbet van Zoonen’s ideas regarding the media and patriarchal dominance. Undoubtedly, the female model is presented as a ‘spectacle’ for male pleasure and the positioning of the models and the use of text (‘good girl’ and ‘bad boy’) establishes a male dominance.

3) For Question 2 on the social and cultural contexts of gender representations, identify three potential points in the mark scheme that you didn't include in your answer.

- The campaign reinforces Judith Butler’s work in Gender Trouble – particularly the idea that gender is culturally and socially constructed – not ‘natural’. The construction of the adverts supports Butler’s idea that we are conditioned to adhere to social norms – both in terms of gender roles and heterosexuality.

- David Gauntlett argues that masculinity is constantly evolving and social concerns that masculinity is ‘in crisis’ are exaggerated. However, this campaign does not provide particular evidence for an evolution in representations of men (aside perhaps from a lack of socks and no necktie). Indeed, this campaign reinforces classic masculine stereotypes and therefore perhaps provides evidence against Gauntlett’s theory.

- The Carolina Herrara advertising campaign may be seen as an attempt to reclaim traditional gender roles in response to an increasing tolerance of gender fluidity and non-binary gender identity.

4) Having read the whole mark scheme, pick out one media theory that you didn't include in this assessment and summarise it briefly here so you can use it confidently in future.

Judith Butler- The fact that gender is socially constructed and not natural. 

5) Based on your experience in this assessment, identify three aspects of Media (e.g. skills/particular theories/examples) that you need to work on for your next assessment.

I need to work on including theory in my assessments, as well as identifying what social and cultural contexts actually means.