To continue my discussion about gender streotypes, I think it's important to bring up media's role in the issue. As I mentioned in my previous post, the gap between genders is becoming lesser, but it still remains prominent in society. The question I posed was, why? To answer that, media is why!
Personally, I believe that news broadcast stations, magazines, music, film, etc. are all reinforcing these stereotypes - whether purposely or not - by bringing up irrelevant, and just stupid, things such as the J Crew catalogue. As you saw in class, and probably all over the media, J Crew published a picture of the designer with her little boy, painting his toenails. Unfortunately, something so minuscule was made public through news broadcasters who misconstrued the image, sparking debate and issues of gender identity. By making the image public, media outlets are only confirming stereotypes - as they tried to do with J Crew.
But what are their motivations for doing so? You would think that media outlets would not want to get involved with issues such as gender identity since the material could be offensive or conflicting to viewers' views. With this being said, I think it has to be profit. Controversy sells. Why do you think we primarily see sex, drugs, and death as the main topics in news today? It all comes down to getting viewers' attention so they can make money. The issue of gender identity is such a controversial topic that it's obviously going to get the publics attention, but it's sad that it has in a way become leverage for making a profit.
Dani, before I finished reading your post, I was thinking to myself that the rationale behind the portrayal of gender controversy in the media is due to profit motivations. As much as we both hate to admit it, controversy is certainly what sells. What is particularly sad is that the few brave media outlets that could attempt to avoid framing stories in the context of controversy would quickly see a massive decrease in profits as viewers, readers, and subscribers would quickly turn to the other outlets sharing such shocking stories.
ReplyDeleteAs you discussed in your post, I believe that many of the narratives in stories, including violence, drugs, sex, and crime, are all appeals to some of the themes Hodkinson mentioned in his chapter discussing infotainment. People are attracted to such stories because of their mystery, intrigue, effect on the community, or fulfillment of celebrity narratives. The current trends in media have certainly showed that these trends not only sell, they increase the overall popularity of certain platforms, portals, forums, and genres. Regardless of how sad, disappointing, or controversial they may be, it seems as though they are here to stay.