A Visual Evaluation “to what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender?”
This is the first imagery I came across when researching, and I think they pretty much set the tone for the project – even after exploring other ideas ultimately they defined my outcomes.
The first sketch I made in my visual evaluation, basically a mash-up of everything I’d seen in regards gender targeted advertising
Dumb sketches “I've done a few of these weird little character creations, i just think they work well because its all kind of ridiculous and tongue in cheek, and obviously i can exaggerate them so much. i like the idea of recreating ads & basically just mocking them for what they are.�
Quote from Gauntlett
"it seems clear that the media plays an important role here. Magazines, bought on one level for a quick fix of glossy entertainment, promote selfconfidence (even if they partly undermine it, for some readers, at the same time) and provide information about sex, relationships and lifestyles which can be put to a variety of uses. Television programs, pop songs, adverts, movies and the internet all also provide numerous kinds of 'guidance' - not necessarily in the obvious form of advice-giving, but in the myriad suggestions of ways of living which they imply. We lap up this material because the social construction of identity today is the knowing social construction of identity. Your life is your project there is no escape." - Gauntlett, Media, Gender and Identity.
Notes from my blog “i liked the idea of a constructed identity, and i feel like in some of the drawings i produced earlier i was almost starting to create characters, the process of creating a character and constructing a person are basically interchangeable when put like that” “They're basically just strange put together characters, sort of based on a range of different ideas about gender, identity & media, and consumerism”
Re-visiting & amending my proposal The main themes that I will explore in visual response to my essay topic will be gender, identity & media. These themes mainly stem from theories and ideas outlined in my research from sources such as Gauntlett 'Media, Gender and identity’ (2002), Berger ‘ways of seeing’ (1973) And ‘Controversies in contemporary advertising’ (pages 91-107) by Kim B Sheehan (2014). These theories include the notion that women and men face very specific & different role portrayals in advertising, and that these help form our stereotypes and therefore mold us as individuals. I’ll also look at ideas from Berger about how women specifically are portrayed and presented in relation to pleasing the eye and expectations of males. To paraphrase Gauntlett, I will explore the casual construction of gender identity, masculinity and femininity and the ways in which this in presented to us and conveyed in media. More specific subjects i will used to inform my work will be things like celeb magazines, popular culture and the very separate & ingrained ideas of male and female identity. In order to visually investigate this content I will find & respond to relevant examples of old and contemporary advertising. I’ll also collect/ look at magazines for insight into body image, fashion and consumerism – following theories that these are the foundations in which an external and internal identity is built.
These outcomes follow on from the same quote, but basically I felt like I’d hit a wall with what I was doing, I couldn’t move any further with that process. I decided to do something completely different to anything I’d done previously but along the same themes & visual imagery - like the dolls “some of my favorite ones feature a mixture of doll parts or toys, i think it plays into the idea of identity being something you figure out as you grow up, & the fact that is can be just playful or superficial and everything toys & dolls connote” – From my blog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4UWxlVvT1A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SrpARP_M0o
“From the feedback i got a few comments that people liked my gender-swap sketches. They were drawn in quite a dumb style purposely because i just think it makes them funnier, but yeah people mentioned that they'd like to see more sketch book work like that, a bit more development. I had moved away from them without fully exploring the subject so i was open to revisiting . i also happened to come across a video that was all about swapping genders at the same time whilst looking for imagery & i found it really interesting. The tone is a lot more serious but the message is still the same - so this also directed my interests a bit more.” – from my blog
Re-visiting gender swap sketches From a combination of feedback & coming across fresh research I decided to revisit the whole idea of a gender swap. The satirical dumbing down of these ads proved to just be a winner really – especially when it came down to just making a point. I had a lot of fun with it, at this point I just needed to define a style.
Refined outcomes In the end I almost came back to where I started, just much more revised & finished. They have a style. But i think what’s important with these is that they evoke a reaction, weather people think they’re funny or just really creepy, they say something and that’s what I wanted to do. “it's the whole shiny/plastic and oiled up glossy magazine thing going on with the skin, but i kept the rest the same lo-fi style from my earlier sketches that people liked.” – from my blog