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Mad Men Gender Analysis

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The Reversal of the Gaze: The Disruption of Power Dynamics through the Male Gaze in Mad Men
In Mad Men, the world of the office operates in the context of the male gaze in the sense that the rules established for the performances and behaviors of men and women are gendered male. As a result of these rules, women are expected to display themselves for the pleasure of men and act in a submissive role whereas men are supposed to offer women some sort of sexualized attention and take on the role of the dominant observer. Joan Holloway and Peggy Olsen complicate the traditional role of a female by not acting in accordance with the expectations set out for them based off of their gender. Joan is the office manager who constantly attracts the attention …show more content…

Furthermore, according to Mulvey, when women are displayed on screen, they possess a quality called “to-be-looked-at-ness,” which means that a woman’s appearance on screen is constructed to be put on “visual display” and she is expected to“exhibit herself to our gaze.” Ultimately, Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze can be summarized as the idea that women are always viewed through the eyes of men, who act as dominant observers. The male gaze is seemingly perpetuated to the tee in Mad Men through numerous devices such as imagery, film techniques and dialogue, however on closer inspection the certainty of this notion becomes less clear as the characters don’t act in exact accordance with the principles of the …show more content…

In “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” as Joan finishes offering advice to Peggy about the office, she suggests that Peggy “go home, take a paper bag and cut some eyeholes out of it. Put it over your head, get undressed and look at yourself in the mirror. Really evaluate where your strengths and weaknesses are, and be honest.”Joan’s monologue highlights how even though the male gaze is gendered male, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a man who is performing the operation of the gaze. Joan organizes the world according to how males see it and evaluates other women as well as herself in terms that are gendered male. It is important to note that this is not the only time Joan comments on Peggy’s appearance. In “Maidenform” Peggy complains to Joan that she’s not being invited out with the team for social gatherings and Joan tells Peggy “You want to be taken seriously? Stop dressing like a little girl.”These statements from Joan reinforce the idea that women are valued based off of their physical appearances and Joan takes advantage of this idea by dressing and acting in a sexualized manner, effectively gaining her power over men. Although Joan’s comments towards Peggy may be perceived as harsh, she’s trying to help Peggy by sharing the strategy she used to elevate her status in the

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1456 Words | 6 Pages

In contrast to the twentieth century we still see some of this in our current day and ages. Contrasting portrayals of men and women in films leave us with the fact that we haven’t changed. Men and women are sought to have different gender roles within

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718 Words | 3 Pages

Gender stereotypes have been around for hundreds of years and still are today. The stereotypes for women are strict in regards to jobs and homelife, behavior, and even attire. They keep a firm hold on women 's daily life, so whenever women get the opportunity for power, they will take it. Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, strongly features the stereotypes of women and, adversely, women in power; Kesey displays his opinion that women in power will abuse their status to manipulate men. One aspect of Kesey’s display of his distaste for influential women, is displayed through the character, Nurse Ratched (Big Nurse).

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1647 Words | 7 Pages

This is suggested by Helen Simpson who stated that Carter centralises ‘latent content of fairy-tale’ is that women are objects of male desire hence patriarchal discourse establishes male supremacy to which Carter does this to challenge contemporary perspectives on the place of women by revealing the oppression that society inflicted. The Marquis is an overt example of male ownership of female bodies. Similarly, where Atwood exposes the harsh realities of oppressive patriarchy through the female body, Carter utilises the construct of the Marquis in the eponymous story ‘The Bloody Chamber’ as a grotesque embodiment of patriarchal control. In her essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ Laura Mulvey coined the feminist term ‘male gaze.’ She argues that men are the audience and women are to embody the male perspective of women as objects of satisfaction.

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696 Words | 3 Pages

I did not know that the writer of the outsiders was a woman until I arrived at the ”speaking with S.E. Hinton …” page at the end of the book. On the page, she talked about the reasons that she disguised her name and her real life experience socializing with boys that led her to write The Outsiders. The novel tells a story of rivalry between two boys’ gangs, the greasers and the socs, from the perspective of a 14 year old boy. Abate (169) acknowledged that, compared to other novels of similar theme, The Outsiders was “lack of true profanity, drug use, and sex acts.” Is it characteristically a touch of femininity that women writer produce when writing about violence?

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In this paragraph I will be talking about Marilyn Frye’s article called “Sexism” and I will discuss whether I agree with her argument or not. Firstly, Frye gives an argument for sexism saying “sexism is not always apparent either to those who suffer from it or to those who inflict it upon others. It is imperceptibility of sexism that enables it to flourish in our society” (Frye, p.844). Marilyn Frye is trying to say that sexism is usually ignored in the real world to those who get hurt from it or to the ones who causes it. In my opinion, I will say that I do agree with Marilyn Frye’s stand on this subject for a couple of reasons.

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1587 Words | 7 Pages

The feminist theory is based on finding and exposing negative attitudes toward women in literature. Their goal is to reveal the reality of how women get portrayed in literature due to the fact that most literature presents an inaccurate view of women and are most of the time minimized. In the Catcher in the Rye there is a few female characters such as Sunny, the girls at the club, and Sally who are put in situations that show nothing but stereotypes and puts them in a bad spot throughout the novel. J.D Salinger decides to put some of the female characters in situations that can cause those who read this novel to think bad or leave readers with a bad image of women. This bad image on women is due to the fact that he decided to portray some of

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‘Twelve Angry Men’ written by Reginald Rose, is based on the story of a jury who have to come together to determine the fate of a young boy accused to have murdered his own father. Initially, eleven of the jurors vote not guilty with one of the juror being uncertain of the evidence put before them. As the men argue over the different pieces of evidence, the insanity begins to make sense and the decision becomes clearer as they vote several other times. Rose creates drama and tension in the jury room, clearly exploring through the many issues of prejudice, integrity and compassion, in gaining true justice towards the accused victim. These aspects have been revealed through three character who are Juror 10, Juror 8 and Juror 3.

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815 Words | 4 Pages

From Sexism to Social Reformation Many actions and ideologies of the characters in The Taming of the Shrew create an overarching conflict between comedy and sexism for most readers. Specifically, the relationships between the men and women introduce controversial topics such as obedience and love which must be questioned thoroughly. The conditions of Petruchio and Katherine’s marriage was more “traditional” in the sense that it was primarily patriarchal, and that Kate was expected to be subservient and obedient. While this is sexist, on the surface, this was not the intended meaning behind the works.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

While working in the store, Joe makes Janie wear a head rag so that it would cover up her hair from the other men gazing at her luscious hair. Hurston writes about Janie’s realization of her situation by mentioning, “Her hair was NOT going to show in the store….She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (Hurston 73). Joe clearly illustrates that Janie’s sole purpose is to serve and please only him. Joe will do as much as to demand Janie to wear her hair in certain ways so it doesn’t distract any of the

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698 Words | 3 Pages

The Fight for Dominance In today’s society, gender norms convince men that unless they are able to control women, they are weak. Considered the inferior gender, women must find new ways to prove their own strength, whether it be through manipulation or their sexuality. The battle between the two continues as men strive to remain dominant, often by immoral means, and women attempt to gain the upper hand. In the screenplay, “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, the sexual tension and struggle for dominion between Blanche and Stanley is evident, and as the play continues, Blanche's promiscuity and Stanley's predatory nature foreshadow an inevitable confrontation.

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1264 Words | 6 Pages

It acts as a euphemism by making the audience feel as though they aren’t being chastised by a word as blunt as “You” or even just “Men.” Instead of making the men Catt is speaking to feel as though they have had a proverbial finger pointed at them, they feel less insulted by the unifying word “our”. It would be unwise to start bashing men in her speech when ultimately she needs them, so instead Catt connects with them to gain credibility. Yet another way that Carrie Chapman Catt gains credibility with her audience is through her utilization of overall educated and informed diction.

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1814 Words | 8 Pages

This is because for getting there within the patriarchal culture and structures, there is required from them to demonstrate agentic and masculine behaviors. By doing so, they are established as powerful and the ‘baddie’ of the film. This is all demonstrated by Miranda, who is seen as mobbing and lead by intimidating, humiliating, and degrading. Also, if one is an ambitious woman like Andy on their career path, the need is that one becomes not a very nice person for achieving a senior or leader role. Also, it is argued by Greer (2000) that for women to move higher in the male dominated world, they are only accepted if they are also able to include in them the masculine cultural ideals.

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1891 Words | 8 Pages

(Bodenner, 2016). Many theories have surfaced since women have started their fight for empowerment and equality, and one of the most famous theory is “the Male Gaze” theory, founded by Laura Mulvey in her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” This essay will look into the sources of opposition the theory of “male gaze” faces, and how the theory is disrupted by other possible theories or pieces of media. As mentioned before, the Male Gaze theory was introduced in the essay Mulvey wrote in 1975.

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891 Words | 4 Pages

Trophies are not always made of gold, or even placed on a high pedestal. That’s right, housewives can be trophies as well (at least, that’s what men thought during the early 20th century). Unless they wore an apron, had food in hand, and maintained an hourglass figure, society forced women to believe that this was the only way the could be housewives, and deserved to be married to a husband. Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie featured Amanda Wingfield, a housewife that is unfortunately a victim of societal pressures.

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Abstract: In most parts of the world, females have always been the victim of oppressive patriarchy and male chauvinism since ages. This problem has been represented by many people through various forms of creations be it art, literature or films. Films are the most popular visual mediums of entertainment through which a large segment of people can be approached. Like literature, a film is also a work of art which mirrors the society, it also depicts the reality of the society though it has some fictionality in it.

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