historical texts TASK 12

CaGnEy aNd lAcEy
http://www.cagneyandlacey.com/index.aspx

Cagney and Lacey are two female New York policewomen doing their job as best they can in a male-dominated police department. The weekly program was variously a "cop show", a relationship drama, and an "issues vehicle" The script for the movie was written in the mid-1970's. It took many years for the script to be produced because the networks felt that there was no audience for a realistic show about policewomen. When the TV movie aired, it was a ratings smash and inspired a successful series of the same name. Television police drama starring two female cops as partners. Their contrasting personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) strengthen them as a team, allowing each a different perspective on both personal and professional situations. The show was canceled at the end of the 1982-83 season, due to low ratings. In response, viewers wrote to CBS, protesting the cancellation. This effort, combined with the show's increasing ratings during the summer reruns, prompted the network to reverse the decision. Although the cast members had just been released from their contracts, they were soon brought back to work on the show. The series was reinstated in March of 1984, and ran until 1988.
watched episode "heat"-->cagney and lacey
They have the feminine and masculine feel to them which can be referred back to the book i read, working girls(by Yvonne tasker) , as they referred to cagney and lacey and talked about the feminine and masculine characters between the two females. This specific episode was found on you tube and i watched all 7 parts of the episode :). It was long but it works well with my independent study. 2 females are shown dominant in the episode and the story revolves around them, something that wasn't seen very often back in the 80's.
*Heat won awards for the character roles in that episode*
But the story concept is taken over my men and the only two females around are cagney and lacey, which shows the under representation of women in the police force.(Tuchman symbolic annihilation of women in media)

Cagney and lacey is a historical test which can be related back to my CSI independent study.It revolves around the police and crime genre, however CSI is a more indepth series about murder investigations. other programmes which relate to my sutdy are CSI ny and CSI miami, but cagney and lacey seems like the most related historical text.cagney and lacey's character roles are mostly in-synch with CSI:crime scene investigation. their are 2 females surrounded by males. the feminine/masculaine roles are also adopted by catehrine and sara within CSI, so there are many similarities.both programmes show the women as strong and emotionless. the roles have changed according to society changes but this only relates to the problems and changes in america.both prgorammes stil show relationships important in a females life, but focusing on CSI (because it also has male protagonists) the men are shown fully involved and obbsessed wtih relationship, they either have gambling problems or are devoted to their work. the males personal lives are almost a mystery, whereas everything about the females are known, their past, and their relationships are all on show for the programme.so according tot hese 2 texts its not much of a difference, but as i watch more cagney and lacey i may be able to find differences.
Books that will link to cagney and lacey which I can refer back to in my essay.

• Working girls(by Yvonne tasker)

• Defining women: TV and the case of cagney and lacey by Julie D’Acci (1994)

• Spectacular bodies: gender, genre and the action cinema By Yvonne Tasker(1993)

• Representing women myths of femininity in the popular media By Myra MacDonald (1995)

TASK 11

Laura mulvey’s visual pleasures and narrative cinema summary
Mulvey uses her psychoanalytic approach to uncover the patriarchal codes and ideologies of the sex object stereotype of women. (Phallocentric ideology-where a male dominance is recognized and makes his sex desires and needs a priority). Castration anxiety is also referred to, as she talks about how the media represents women in order for men not feel better about them. The media satisfies and reinforces the masculine ego and represses the desire of women.

Mulvey states two types of viewing fetishistic and voyeuristic, in which both of them the audience is expected to be male therefore in order to create a heterosexual viewing, women will be portrayed as sex objects to please the audience…the male audience.

She refers to lacan’s work in order to try explaining the narcissistic pleasures in viewing. The audience places themselves as the characters and have some sort of pleasure enforced…e.g. James bond allows many men narcissistic pleasure as they substitute themselves for James bond and create their own individual pleasure out of the media text. The screen acts like a mirror for the male dominated audience.

The male gaze is active and the female gaze is passive. Women, in the world of images, are displayed as sexual objects. Women were portrayed at 2 levels,

1. as erotic object for male characters in the screen story,

2. as an erotic object for the spectator in the auditorium

The activity/passivity of the audiences affects the narratives of the media texts, so male characters are shown to be more active and dominant in the media, and are shown as undefeated in order for the audience to relate to the character and enjoy their narcissistic pleasure. Mulvey says that "the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence."

Sadistic viewing is stated for film noir. Men blame the femme fatale for the passive thinking of the male characters

How Mulvey is relevant to my study

Laura Mulvey theory is directly relevant to my study as I am focusing on the representation of women in CSI…the media.

Mulvey’s study relates to Freud’s work, about scopophilia, and directly focuses on the objectification of women for the male gaze. She also refers to Jacques lacans work. There are 2 women in CSI and one is portrayed with more masculine qualities whereas the other has more feminine qualities this is portrayed through their costume props etc.

Catherine willows are constantly referred to by colleagues and criminals in ways which connote a sexual innuendo. The directors have probably used this characterization to their advantage, showing they can portray a successful strong independent woman doing her job and having no sexual blatant interests (Sara sidle) but do the complete opposite with Catherine. Mulvey’s theory alongside Freud’s can be used for many points in my argument within my essay, Mulvey’s findings can make my proposal stronger and allows me to back up my points heavily with a lot of proof.

A few episodes starred a certain woman (Heather) and she was represented as a paid dominatrix. Even though her role allowed her to be dominant over many men, she was still paid, and therefore in and under control of a man. The way she is dressed allows a voyeuristic viewing and fulfills the male gaze within the audience

blog buddy summary wid raj

theorists-->laura mulvey...and the male gaze.
masculinity and femininity-->cross gendering"mrs doubtfire"/"white chicks"
useful books-->Representing women myths of femininity in the popular media By Myra MacDonald (1995)
the superior roles females have taken recently in the media
how males prevent female dominance in x men 3

Book Research

Working girls by Yvonne Tasker 1998 published simultaneously in USA and Canada. Reprinted in 2000 2002 twice 2004 and 2005
I worked through this book and it had a specific section of the representation of working women in the crime series and department in the media, it focused on the women in a program called cagney and lacey which is quite an old text to refer to but is still relevant.

Here are 2 of the few quotes I found relevant and can comment on in my independent study.
“There are only 3 ages for women in Hollywood. Babe, District attorney and driving miss daisy” Elise Eliot in the first wives club.

This was a quote taken form the show Cagney and lacey
“I hope the people of United States of America will be able to sleep better knowing that women like us have guns- thank you.” (Page 94)
The specific reference to WOMEN and not PEOPLE defines them as female characters and does not generalize between the genders.
A few hundred years back it would have been ok for men to carry a gun but for women it would almost be a crime. Now women carrying guns is seen as a good thing which shows how time has moved on and the movement of feminism has helped having a more equal society status.

That specific section also talks about a theory about the opposition of characters; in general for example it would be a man and woman….the opposites. But in the case of Cagney and lacey it shows more detailed differences, directly linking to gender differences, for example a feminine female and a more butch female, blonde hair brunette hair, smart female and a scruffy female. This is also seen in CSI with Sara and Catherine, where Sara is seen as the more masculine woman, and Catherine is the more feminine woman.

from here to modernity: feminism and post feminism By Barbara Creed (1987)
Whereas feminism would attempt to explain that crisis [of legitimation that Lyotard has described] in terms of the workings of patriarchal ideology and the oppression of women and other minority groups, postmodernism looks to other possible causes – particularly the West’s reliance on ideologies which posit universal truths – Humanism, History, Religion, Progress, etc. While feminism would argue that the common ideological position of all these ‘truths’ is that they are patriarchal, postmodern theory...would be reluctant to isolate a single major determining factor.
(Creed, 1987:52)
Defining women: TV and the case of cagney and lacey by Julie D’Acci (1994)
Reading through a few of the pages explains the ideology behind the program of cagney and lacey. It is not a feminist text, but helps the audience read more in tune with the feminist Aims of the program.
It also talks about the sexual spectacle made of the females in the media for male gaze. It carries on further in the text about pleasing and fulfilling the audiences fantasies, both male and female.

Fabrications: costume and the female body by Gaines Jane and Herzog charlotte(1990)
Although I haven’t had a chance to read through this book because I have to find it first, I’ve read a brief Summary posted up on the internet and this book basically takes Laura Mulvey’s theory and pushes it further with its own ideas, of how costumes helps the representation of women in media, to fulfil the voyeuristic male gaze.

Murder by the book feminism and the crime novel by Sally Munt(1994)
This book focuses on crime fiction novels rather than moving texts but I’m sure I could find a book I could relate back to in my independent study.

Spectacular bodies: gender, genre and the action cinema By Yvonne Tasker(1993)
This book talks about the representation of gender rather then sex, as Brigitte neilson, is a tall butch like female but her feminine features such as her breasts are enhanced naturally gives her a sexual fantasy look and has worked in Beverley hill cops. It also talks about how her real life is misrepresented and how men fear her because of her shape and size.

It also talks about how sometimes women are just used as a spectacle to make the story more complex and interesting, but as a human or infact a heroine she is of no real importance, her character won’t be a main one within the story if she’s supposed to be a saviour. Women are usually shown as the ones desperately seeking protection rather than actually helping to save someone.

The final Frontier By Glenda Riley
Need to borrow it to read through it

A woman’s place? By Monica Vincent (1982)
Can’t find a copy online but will follow up in our school library.

Representing women myths of femininity in the popular media By Myra MacDonald (1995)
This will hopefully be one of my biggest and best sources, flicking through the book I realised there is so much I can extract from that and can help me with my independent study, so I will have to …soon borrow this from the library and actually read through it thoroughly in order to understand the theory behind it.
Women gossip Women giggle. Women niggle-niggle-niggle. Men Talk.(Liz Lochhead, "Men Talk" from True Confessions, 1986)
Shopping is to a woman what getting drunk is to a man.(Columnist Dorothy Dix in Daily Mirror, 19 December 1935)

Nothing is impossible, not for she devils.Peel away the wife, the mother, find the woman, and there the she devil is.( Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, 1983)

Blog Buddies

My blog buddies are…Kirandeep Jheita who’s doing representation of women in desperate housewives and from the other class Dilraj Bhamra who’s doing representation of women in x men 3.
My topic is quite specific so it was hard trying to find someone doing representation of women in the crime genre, but both desperate housewives and x men 3 have a sense of enigmatic crime to them………:s btw I have no idea if I’m making sense or not LOL.
Ok so Kiran’s Independent study is about the representation of women in Desperate Housewives. Kiran’s gonna focus on the representation and try and state that it is negative. Each character is shown differently ‘desperate’, desperate for something like money, love, a man, a family, a career, whereas a true representation would show problems in life, not perfectly airbrushed like Gabrielle or as successful as Bree.
Raj’s Independent study focuses on the representation of women in x men 3, even though I haven’t watched x men 3 (or any of the first one’s either lol)...Erm his question focuses on if women are still seen to be inferior to men. Even though these women seem to be powerful (in a fantasy-fied way lol) they are still incompetent of other things, making them inferior but not directly to male dominance it could be towards other things.
The way storm can control the weather is known as pathetic fallacy in English (I remember Mr. Munro teaching us this with a Shakespeare play I think) its when the weather reflects your mood so like, clouds and heavy rain can represent angry and upset, whereas a bright sunny day can show a happy emotion.
Both these studies can be related to mines in some way and can show how misrepresented women are even today in the media. Even though Females are shown much stronger than they used to, and can stand up for themselves and don’t act like damsel’s in distress waiting for their savior to come rescue them, they do need rescuing from their lives and are not perfect and happy without men.
From these blog’s I’ve learnt that women are misrepresented everywhere, and even though desperate housewives may seem like a breakthrough for women, as they are shown as successful independent women, the title ‘desperate’ is stamped on each character. Raj’s Blog has also shown that women are always shown as a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece, anywhere within the media.

self evaluations

Attainment -- 1—I have developed my understanding of media a lot this year.

Effort -- 1 my blog work is always consistent and I hope to keep it that way J… also I do participate in class discussions a lot more than what I used to.

Punctuality -- 1 I’m always on time

Submission and quality of homework -- 1 so far so good

Ability to work independently -- 2 could be better, I depend on people input a bit, but I can do my own independent work as well.

Quality of writing -- 3 could be better I think personally I can use media terminology but I think I should be using much more.

Organization of Media folder -- 1 all in order

Oral contributions in class -- 1 I constantly participate in class discussions and I am not afraid to say what I think.

Standard of Module 5 blog-- 1 its sik lol its getting along very well, just having problems at home I can’t post up anything on the blog from my home computer there’ some sort of problem with the Google toolbar, so I have to come into school and then post things up .

Standard of Module 6 blog-- 2 good, we don’t have much to put up there yet, just media guardian stories so far so it should get better.
WWW--
blog work has been really good
class discussions and input
good understanding and focus in lessons

EBI--
more blog work, analyzing clips for med 5
read newspapers and articles everyday for med 6
try and use more media terminology

self directed research

Self directed research
Wickedness.net àacademic paper

http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa06/graduatefa06/gmj_grad_fa06_kleminski.htm --> another academic paper

Representation Tag: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.htmlWomen Tag: http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/GenderMedia/index.htmlMed 5 tag:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html

www.youtube.com for all of the videos I’ve watched or analyzed

www.wikipedia.org I know it isn’t totally reliable but I have used it.

CSI fan sites and the official websites