Media Representation Theory Pack Two: Feminist Theory: Van Zoonen

 Media representation theory, Feminist/Van Zoonen

The Silence of the Lambs, February 14, 1991

a) This extract does not engage with Van Zoonen's theories; it combats her ideas. This extract shows the woman doing a male-dominated activity, which empowers her and does not objectify her. It is not showing her in any sexual way; she is not being pictured as weak, removing the possibility of "male gaze". She is being shown doing the same activities that the men were not being shown as beneath them, but there is still a clear patriarchal system present.

b.) This extract does not reinforce the idea of the female body as a spectacle, as the woman shown is not shown in any provocative way, nor is she flaunting her body around. But it does acknowledge a potential female objectification by showing the woman as shorter than her male peers.

c.) There is an aspect of Van Zoonen's concept about the male body being celebrated by sports imagery, by showing the men doing rope climbs and jogging. Also, in the elevator, the men are tall and brooding, towering over the woman.

d.) The active representation is the woman who we can see working out. The men play a passive role as they are speaking in the background/ shown with a minor role.

e.) This extract is considered a subversive female representation as it shows a woman who is actively working and is shown sweating, which combats the idea that women are weak. She is being shown as an equal with both her male and female peers, where she is not made to have a "submissive" role in her workplace. Socially, it is not normal to see a female with unkept hair and with sweat still clearly on them, but in this extract, it is clearly showing both things breaking out of the norms for women.