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Main copy reads:
While you're bending down, bend and eat! Grand-tasting,
swell-eating Jell-O gelatin is one of the lowest-calorie
popular dessert you can eat. Whether you're watching
your weight or not, Jell-O sure makes swell-eating.

The Contrast of Women: Females of the 20th to 21st Century.

The Jell-O poster represents women as narcissistic and sexual objects. This area of media is a traditional 1950's advertisement poster and denotes a woman in a scanty outfit bending over in front of a work out video. The in the main central image has been used to sell this product to all genders (this being our target audience); women through the ego-driven weight loss-mad narrative (mentioned in the main copy: "Whether you're watching your weight or not") as well as the denotation of the woman working out suggesting women have a need for maintain traditional beauty standards, typical of the patriarchal society of the 1950's, as well a men, through the use of the male gaze (suggested by Laura Mulvey) evident in the provocative clothing choice and sexual innuendo in "While you're bending down, bend and eat" in the main copy. The sexuality in the poster has represented woman as objects of sexual gratification for men, increasing the likeness of sales for the Jell-O brand. Suggested by Van Zoonen (the feminist theory), women's bodies are sexualised in the media to appeal to western culture, so this advert would become more popular depending on how sexualised the woman was, especially in the 1950s.

The poster upholds traditional stereotypes of the 1950's ideology as it was typical for women to be expected to use their appearances and illusionary comparisons to appeal to their husbands. Women have been singularly represented in this magazine for this very reason; to promote sales from the opposite sex. When considering the colour palette, one aspect that is noticeable in the poster is the red colour used in not only the Jell-O but also in the woman's cheeks. Red is symbolic of sexuality and lust, so the use of the red indicates that women were first and foremost an object of sexual desire in the 50s. The Blumler and Katz theory argues that audiences are responsible for selecting media that meets their needs, so for an audience in the 50s, this Jell-O ad would have appealed to women who appreciated their appearance, reinforcing the stereotype that women are ego-driven. In this case, the poster may have been used to appeal men through the stereotype of sexualised women and educate women on the benefits of using their product, thus increasing Jell-O's sales. It could also be argued that due to the text to image ratio of the poster, with the sexualised woman being the largest image in the entire poster, that women are representative of the traditional stereotypes on the '50s, using appearance over intelligence; using bodies over brains. Judith Butler explored the theory of gender performativity; the exploration that gender is performed ritualistically to conform into society and how gender is a social construct. Since the dominant stereotype in the 50s was for women to be homemakers, women had to perform their gender role to blend into society. In this cover, you can see that the woman is exercising to maintain her appearance, demonstrating her role as an attractive wife and a good mother.

The cover of Time Magazine, The Silence Breakers, presents woman as powerful and bold. The image denotes 5 celebrity individuals all dressed in modest, black clothing with serious facial expressions. The mise en scene of the women's' facial expression is particularly serious suggesting that women, especially in the 21st century, are more confident than ever. The magazine cover is focused on the Me Too movement, the movement against sexual harassment and assault. For this reason, the magazine has not focused the message through the male gaze, and instead using modest colour and maximum coverage in their clothing. This shows that women do not have to be sexualised to be noticed in the media and society. In term of the male audience, the cover is aimed at men who appreciate female empowerment as opposed to appearance demonstrating that men can look past traditional female stereotypes and strive for improvement. The serif font text fits in with the overall colour palette of the magazine cover, as they are minimalist yet make a fearless and unafraid statement, that women are intelligent and brave. A detail the magazine has been used to highlight the contrasting representation of women.

 The inclusion of only a woman's shoulder in the right-hand side of the main central image to not only represent women who have spoken out but are yet to speak out. This presents women as fearful and victimised, despite the progression of feminism. However, this message may have been used to empower women to step forward implying that justice will be given to them. Similar to the Jell-O poster, the text to image ratio makes women the focus of the cover; in a different way. This ideology represents that the Me Too movement recognises women as the most important aspect of this specific news (as opposed to using the text as a metaphor of reinforcing female submission. The idea that these women are "The Silence Breakers" represents how women are brave through their ability to look past their own fear, and instead use their femininity to makes waves in society. This contrasts completely with the representation of gender the Jell-O advertisement poster because it is extremely regressive and argues that women are inferior whereas the 21st-century section of media demonstrates the power of strong-willed females. As suggested by Gerbner's cultivation theory, by using these women on the cover and the consistent denotation of strong females, will help to promote feminism and make it a dominant ideology in society, thus making the representation of women less stigmatised and stereotypical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T2RonyJ_Ts&feature=youtu.be

Miley Cyrus' 'Mother's Daughter' music video presents uses female sexuality as a weapon. Initially, we see the mise en scène of Miley's red latex costume. This is used as an icon of sex as shown through the colour imagery of red. This connotes the female seductive nature and is extremely suggestive. This implies that women can use their sexuality as a tool for success instead of a means of desire. From a feminists perspective, this could be viewed from different angles. Feminism being a conflict theory, could view this as liberating or regressive and obnoxious. Like this, the close up of female genitals is representative of female strength. This could be used as an empowering message which presents women as strong willed and confident due to the risqué nature of the image. This image being used is uncommon of the typical genre of music and representation of women in music videos so this makes an extremely bold statement about female sexuality. At 0:27 a short message is played in-between the scenes changing. The denotation of the white sans serif font on the red background reading "You are f*** beautiful" is representative of subliminal messaging, being used as a symbol of female strength and self motivation.