Food, glorious Food!

Now a days in the media you can't go anywhere without seeing an advertisement for food. Whether is just snacks like chips, candy bars, or gummy bears, or entrees like chicken dinners, steak dinners, pizza, ect.

We see advertisements for food almost every single time they go to commercials on TV.  Commercials are the number one way for getting products out their for people to see. Anything from billboards, TV's newspapers, Magazines, sides of taxi's, buses, and trains will be advertising a delicious delicacy. Just take a look around very closely. I bet you can't go a day without seeing or hearing an ad about food.

Now the creators of these commercials for TV's or pictures for newspapers or magazines have a very important job. That is to make whatever they are advertising look delicious, and mouth watering. So they will spend countless hours doing whatever it takes to make that burger look very appetizing.

Going with what i said though is a reason why obesity is a major problem in the world today. You take a look around and you see ads for sandwiches, soda's, pizza, candy, fries, chocolate, anything that is technically unhealthy for us. How often do you see ads for fruits and veggies? not as often as subway does ads for foot-longs, or McDonald's is doing another commercial for Big-Macs. People see a commercial for lets say a steak at Outback, They will then most likely be craving a steak from Outback. The creators of these ads for foods will do anything to make the viewers start craving their items. It's their job, that's what they are suppose to do.

Body standards in the U.S.

 In today's society Beauty standards are at an all time high that some are almost impossible to do.. These sexual, sometimes provocative, images that the media portrays to the youth and adults of today to instill in their minds that this is the standard of people. They tell people that they should look like this and if they don't they are not popular All over we see advertisements with obviously fake people on it but we cant just ignore it because it is everywhere.We see commercials, models in magazines, people on billboards, even on sides of buss's and trains.

In modern day advertisements for clothing, cologne, sunglasses, almost anything, there is a half naked man with his shirt off. Almost always he has six pack abs and a clearly defined jaw line, biceps, and pecs.He usually has extremely fine hair and a nice smile This is one of few beauty standards for men. They are expected to be super suave or very rugged. One represents the sophistication of the modern day man. That he can take care of himself. The other represents a primal beast that takes nothing from no one, at least that's what they want people to think.

In reality it lowers other men's self esteem not only because they aren't like these men by physical standards, but it also challenges their sense of manhood and dominance. This challenge of ideals can cause some men to just feel in superior to the others. That they aren't as much of a "man" as them.

Women, from a young age, are bombarded with subliminal messages and standards of how women should be. They don't have a stupid " sense of manhood" like men do so they usually are more adept to whats going on. But if it happens from birth, it is the norm. For women, the beauty standard is thin, big boobs, big butt, tan, pretty (caked in make up) and apparently pose for everyone. But seriously, this is a little unreal here. Its especially concerning when young ladies actually strive for these things thinking that people will like her more if she was that person. That her false beauty would over shadow the years of self doubt and feelings of inadequacy. So in turn, she would look down upon other ladies who have not taken the road she has and some even shame them. This would cause possibly a lifetime of depression due to this standard that is in place. In my opinion, women's beauty standards are not only more rough than men, but also more widespread. 

History of black males in the Media

Within the first couple months of class we have learned just how social media, Television, and newspapers, have influenced our minds on what society should be. The representations of races, cultures, and other groups in media not only effects those being represented in the media but, also those who are not included in these groups.  The people then start getting their own opinions about certain people. The public will then begin to treat people of different cultures, or race the way they see in the media. This can be observed through the portrayal of black men throughout the history of television.

 Black males were further stereotyped through early American films, in which they were  portrayed as Toms,and coons.  In the film The Birth of A Nation, the roles and images of Black men were altered and exaggerated in an effort to alter the landscape of post-Civil War America. The film directs Black people to occupy “certain spaces, such as kitchens, and into certain supporting roles, such as criminals, on the screen. 

The Cosby Show was a Brooklyn based African American sitcom that lasted from 1984 to 1992 starring comedian Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby (Cliff Huxtable) is shown as a doctor in the show and is accompanied by a lawyer wife (Clair Huxtable). The show is very misleading to its viewers because of how rare it is of the family situation at the time of the show's airing. Even in present times, for a black family to have a doctor and a lawyer generating income in the same household is a very rare occasion. In this situation, if one is to look at the show as a reflection of society, they would flat out be wrong. Anyone who would classify this show to represent what is common in society at this time would be saying that most blacks are not in the streets dealing drugs, doing them, or in some form of way affected by drugs around them. To make this assessment is incorrect. If one is to look at this show as an image of what society should turn into, they would be partially correct except that there is no indication of what a black person has to overcome to reach these levels of success.

A Dream or a Fantasy

          Barbie girl dolls are famous and known for their irrational physical appearance. Barbie is posed as having impossible standards of physical perfections for girls.  The makers of Barbie gave her dimensions that if were to be on a person they would have a hard time.  

           Barbie is known as a woman who is significantly rich, lives in a big house, goes shopping all the time and has a boyfriend. 

Barbie is seen as a young, and successful girl in her twenties, who is rich, has a condo, pools, a car, loves to shop, and has a boyfriend named Ken. Barbie buys and wears clothes that attract others to herself.  Playing with Barbie, children, teenagers and their mothers to look like her and they themselves would grow up to be her.  Girls get this sense of feeling that in order to be successful in life, have people be attracted too you, be able to have a boyfriend, that you need big breasts , big butt, but a slightly skinny body. Barbie also portrays the idea that getting rich happens significantly, when in reality you need to work hard everyday.

When will it end?

Much like my last post I will be talking about male stereotypes and what the media has portrayed as masculine and non-masculine. Another episode that interested me was season three, episode four of friends. In this episode Ross's son Ben is seen playing with a Barbie doll. The show starts off with Ross's ex-wife bringing Ben over to the apartment while tightly holding onto a Barbie doll. When Ross see's this he immediately states "What's my boy doing with a Barbie" to which his ex-wife replies "He loves it" "he picked it out”. Throughout society men hate even remotely being close to feminine or being a sissy. Men will do whatever it takes to get that masculinity characteristic with them and making them seem manly to others especially other men. The show Friends shows a lot of examples of masculinity.

 The fear of being called a sissy or wimp starts out at a young age for males.  Kids will watch commercials, TV shows, movies, and even play games that portray the stereotype that all men need to be manly, big, strong, feared, show no emotions, and can work hard. From commercials for toys usually a male will be the voice over for toy trucks, action figures, race cars, sports games, and more while females voice the commercials for Barbie dolls, easy bake ovens, and other toys that the media classifies as only toys girls can play with. Kids then take that aspect into life and try to stay away from anything seen as feminine. They don't want to "loose their masculinity" being seen doing something like playing with Barbies.

Things then transform over to teens and clothes. The mainstream media has boys wearing colors from white, blue, red, orange, black, grey, and green while women wear pink, purple and light blue. Colors don't have any generalization to them but the media acts like it does. You won't walk down a street and see a buff guy wearing a purple shirt ever. Why? Because the media portrays certain colors as masculine and certain colors as feminine. Guys again don't want their masculinity to be stripped of them so they follow what's called the social protocol.

 Other things the media has put into our heads are activities. Activities like LuLaRoe parties, knitting, getting a spa, and painting your nails are classified as only females can do them. If a man is seen doing any of those you might as well take their man card away. Throughout media and for the past couple decades men will not do anything that could potentially take away their masculinity.

What counts as being Masculine?

The show Friends was a popular show that aired between September of 1994 and May of 2004 on NBC. The show still appears on TV with reruns on TBS. The show was featured around six adults, three men and three women, who went about their lives everyday involving each other. In the beginning seasons Joey and chandler lived together, Monica was living across the hall, with Rachel, and Phoebe and Ross had their own apartments.From the show and this episode masculinity is defined as men need to strictly do men things and women do girly things. It tells the audience that doing anything remotely feminine will take away any masculinity.

  The episode shows two perfectly good examples of stereotypes in men and women. It shows that men can't doing anything feminine like knitting or doing makeup unless they want to be seen as feminine. Women are seen as them having to to be portrayed as feminine.

 

Another one would be men showing their emotions. For so long men have been taught to always suck it up. Being told don't cry its for babies, or don't be a wimp take it like a man. Shows like friends and in this particular episode like in the picture above showing your emotions is considered feminine and can take away a guys masculinity. Guys also will leave the inside work to women. Like doing laundry, cleaning inside, cooking, things that according to men are feminine. Men will stick to the outside work like repairs, cutting grass, things that can get a man dirty so he can say he was masculine.

 It lets us know what is considered only a women's thing like doing makeup and inside work. This show is just one of many shows, movies, and even commercials that portray the fact that if a man does anything feminine that his manhood is gone. With that said then fathers take that and try to teach their kids to be socially normal and so on and so forth. The media is a great source that really teaches people stereotypes and the apparent social norm and that anyone who does something different is abnormal to society.Masculinity is seen all over the media with men doing things like drinking beer, driving fast cars, play sports,watch sports games, anything that shows masculinity. 

Where are the females at?

The Smurfette principle, no not the girl smurf with blonde hair, is any movie, television show, or video game that only incorporates one female character within a group of male characters. Many TV show, movies, and games have been doing this ever since they could. The mainstream media has gotten better on adding multiple female characters to shows, movies, or games but can still lack on adding females for some odd reason.

One very popular game has been doing it every since it got created. When Mario Brothers first came out the only characters were Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Toad, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Waluigi and last but not least the only female character, Princess Peach. She was for the longest time in any of the Mario games, the only female character. In the Super Mario Bros game they would have Princess Peach locked away and guarded by Bowser, who would portray a male character. She would need the males help like Mario and Luigi to free her. This goes against another stereotype that women always need a man’s help, but I will get to that in a second. Princess Peach was the only female character in the game for quite some time. Then they finally decided to add more female characters.

Another add on is the movie Smurfs, which features tiny little human like creatures which are all you guessed it, MALES, except for one, Her name was Smurfette, she was the only female surrounded by all of the male smurfs. In the movie Smurfs, she was created by the enemy of the smurfs in order to distract the males. I know another stereotype!!! Along with failing the Smurfette principle by only having one female, she was again captured by the bad guy and needed help from the males.

Movies, TV shows, and games most of the time have the female be the one needing help from the men. Name a game where it’s the other way around…… That’s right you can’t, and why not? The media has portrayed females as people who always need help from males and can’t do anything for themselves. The mainstream media has really influenced our minds in what is stereotype and what’s not.