Feminism And Popular Culture Gender Relations And...

Feminism and popular culture have interacted over the years, each influencing and responding to the other. The media has been a cause of feminist protests, especially because of their representations of men and women’s lives. These portrayals can have an impact on society, as because of their mass distribution, they have the capability to influence the public’s perspective on gender relations and feminist issues. The views of feminism and the ideas that the movement was currently emphasizing can be seen in popular culture’s productions during that time. One critical feminist issue has been the expectations for their physical appearances and lives outside of the home. In fact, Naomi Wolf’s idea of these themes, as described in The Beauty†¦show more content†¦With the destruction of the beauty myth, many businesses would lose customers and profits. Therefore, advertisements and companies pressure women to subscribe to the beauty myth. With these inf luences, â€Å"the more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us† (120). The beauty myth has an impact upon popular culture too, as common portrayals of women nearly always present a traditional image of beauty on the screen. This can be seen in two examples of popular media, the reality television show, The Bachelor, and the science fiction film, The Stepford Wives. In both of these cases, the women’s beauty is used to undermine their power and is emphasized as a central reason for their importance to the plot. In the reality television series, The Bachelor, the beauty myth is important to the portrayal of women and the result of the competition. At the beginning, the show focuses on â€Å"†¦twenty-five aspiring wives in revealing cocktail dresses...reminiscent of the Miss America pageant†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Frank 91). In these scenarios, called ‘Rose Ce remonies’ and heralded by the show as a prominent feature of the competition, the women’s beauty becomes a critical component of the Bachelor’s decisions. As explained in The Beauty Myth,Show MoreRelatedHow Popular Fiction Reflects Debates About Gender and Sexuality: Feminism1278 Words   |  6 Pagesto what extent popular fiction reflects such things as social changes in our society and topical debates. In this paper I will discuss to what extent popular fiction reflects debates about gender and sexuality. Moreover, I will look at the difference between postfeminism and third-wave feminism, afterwards I will more closely look at Candace Bushnells book Sex and the City (1996) and relate the books ideas about woman and womans sexuality to postfeminism and third-wave feminism ideas. 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