Within Ugly Betty there are a number of different ideologies that are portrayed throughout the programme. I have listed a few of the main ideologies that are shown.
Image obsessed:
As the programme is based on a fashion magazine, it emphasises the ideology of society being image obsessed. Even though Betty is shown to be unattractive, even she supports the idea of image being important to a certain extent. Betty to fit into had to go through a major makeover herself, but the producers still try to promote the idea that inner beauty also counts.
Patriarchy:
The idea of male dominance is also reproduced and supported throughout Ugly Betty. Daniel Meade is the boss of the company who gives orders to his workers who are mainly female, he is shown to have power and control within the business. It can be argued that the women in the show are also shown to be superior rather than being inferior. Their used to be a idea that the women couldn't do better than men because of the 'glass ceiling' this is the idea that women have a ceiling above them which stops them from going any higher, which therefore means they have to stay lower to men. An example of a lady who has broken the glass ceiling is Wilhelmina, but she is stil shown to be inferior as she can't get to Daniels Position and to try and do this she uses her body and manipulates Daniels father.
Capitalism:
The idea of the bourgeoisie exploiting the proleteriat is strongly emphasised in the programme. Daniel is of the ruling class whereas Betty is of the working class.
Hetrosexual relationships:
The programme strongly puts pressure upon hetrosexual relationships. Even though Marc is Gay in the programme majority of the characters are straight and have girl/boy relationships.
Thursday 28 August 2008
Wednesday 27 August 2008
Media Institution
The programme Ugly Betty was first aired on ABC (American Broadcasting Channel). ABC was created in 1943 and is currently owned by the Walt Disney Company, it first broadcasted on television in 1948. The series was aired twice a week, with the original programme being shown on fridays at 7pm and then repeated on the weekend for people who missed the show.
The programme was then sent to the united kingdom and was aired to the UK viewers via channel 4. The premiere of of Ugly Betty attracted 4.5 million viewers and was aired on television on the 5th January 2007, after two weeks Ugly Betty's ratings rose to 5.5 million viewers by the third episode.
The programme was then sent to the united kingdom and was aired to the UK viewers via channel 4. The premiere of of Ugly Betty attracted 4.5 million viewers and was aired on television on the 5th January 2007, after two weeks Ugly Betty's ratings rose to 5.5 million viewers by the third episode.
Genre
Ugly Betty belongs to a number of different genres, this is normally known as hybrid genre. Hybrid genre is a cross between one film genre and another.
One genre Ugly Betty falls into is comedy-drama, comedy-drama also known as dramedy, is a style of television or movies where there is an equal balance, or nealry equal balance of humour and seriouness. In a comedy you always have stereotypical conventions, in a comedy there is always a humourous character, in this case it's Marc st James (Marcus Weiner). Marc is portrayed as a bisexual- interested in men, gay men are sterotypically seen to have feminine characteristics, such as bitchy, cunning. sweet and interested in their looks. Even though Marc is a funny character there are serious issues attached to him, seriousness is a convention of drama's and Marc has the issue of telling his family that he is bisexual.
Other characters are also portrayed in this way such as Betty who is quite humourous because of her appearance and because of the things she does (clumsiness) and when she walks straight into a glass on her first day at work. She then has a serious side to her to, which is issues with her boyfriend.
The second genre that Ugly Betty consists of is Romance. Typical conventions of a love story is always girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, someone gets in between the two, they get back together after they overcome the obstacles and then they live happily ever after. But this is not always the case in Ugly Betty. Betty, who already is in a relationship with Henry begins to fall for her work colleaugue Walter, Walter already has a grilfriend namely Charlie. When Betty expresses her love for Walter, Charlie becomes an obstacle and announces that she is pregnant with Walters baby. The sterotypical ending in a romantic programme/film is that they all live happily ever after, but after watching the final episode it is made quite clear that this is not the case. It is made obvious that Betty goes through a makeover and gets with her boss instead.
One genre Ugly Betty falls into is comedy-drama, comedy-drama also known as dramedy, is a style of television or movies where there is an equal balance, or nealry equal balance of humour and seriouness. In a comedy you always have stereotypical conventions, in a comedy there is always a humourous character, in this case it's Marc st James (Marcus Weiner). Marc is portrayed as a bisexual- interested in men, gay men are sterotypically seen to have feminine characteristics, such as bitchy, cunning. sweet and interested in their looks. Even though Marc is a funny character there are serious issues attached to him, seriousness is a convention of drama's and Marc has the issue of telling his family that he is bisexual.
Other characters are also portrayed in this way such as Betty who is quite humourous because of her appearance and because of the things she does (clumsiness) and when she walks straight into a glass on her first day at work. She then has a serious side to her to, which is issues with her boyfriend.
The second genre that Ugly Betty consists of is Romance. Typical conventions of a love story is always girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, someone gets in between the two, they get back together after they overcome the obstacles and then they live happily ever after. But this is not always the case in Ugly Betty. Betty, who already is in a relationship with Henry begins to fall for her work colleaugue Walter, Walter already has a grilfriend namely Charlie. When Betty expresses her love for Walter, Charlie becomes an obstacle and announces that she is pregnant with Walters baby. The sterotypical ending in a romantic programme/film is that they all live happily ever after, but after watching the final episode it is made quite clear that this is not the case. It is made obvious that Betty goes through a makeover and gets with her boss instead.
Narrative
Propp's theory can be applied to ugly betty, it is made clear to the audience that Wilhelmina is the vilian as she is shown to be manipulating and is also shown to be shunned via the camera angles and shots used. However despite the dark side to her the audience are also see the softer side to her as she is shown to have a daughter. Wilhelmina has a poor relationship with her daughter, so to emphasise on the relationship she has the producers have used high angle shots and has blured the images on the back to show that she is isolated and only and has no-one to care about her. This allows the audience to sympathise with her and allows them place themselves in her shoes (uses and grattification theory).
Although it is easy to predict the vilian of the series the programme makers have made the hero discrete and unpredictable. To the audiecne we can identify two protogonists, the first one to us is Daniel, although he is shown to have made a number of different mistakes he is shown to be a good character. On the other hand Betty is also seen as a protognist as she overcomes all the obstacles that are thrown in her way and the businesses way, we also seem to sympathise with her more than the other characters.
Ugly Betty also follows Todorov's narrative structure theory. Each episode begins with a recap of the previous episode, in which it states the small problem that occured along with its resoulution. The major problems that occured are normally left unresolved to be later revealed in the next episode. It tends to finish with a cliffhanger creating a sense of suspense and engima, which the producers will know that this will encourage their anticipated targeted audience to participate in viewing their next broadcasted episode.
Although it is easy to predict the vilian of the series the programme makers have made the hero discrete and unpredictable. To the audiecne we can identify two protogonists, the first one to us is Daniel, although he is shown to have made a number of different mistakes he is shown to be a good character. On the other hand Betty is also seen as a protognist as she overcomes all the obstacles that are thrown in her way and the businesses way, we also seem to sympathise with her more than the other characters.
Ugly Betty also follows Todorov's narrative structure theory. Each episode begins with a recap of the previous episode, in which it states the small problem that occured along with its resoulution. The major problems that occured are normally left unresolved to be later revealed in the next episode. It tends to finish with a cliffhanger creating a sense of suspense and engima, which the producers will know that this will encourage their anticipated targeted audience to participate in viewing their next broadcasted episode.
Media Languages And Form
In one episode Ugly Betty is shown to have a Gucci bag, this is important as in society it is beleived that people gain status through the goods they posess. The producers have used a number of different props to represent a number of different things throught each series, the idea of using a Gucci bag gives the sense of feeling that Betty is trying to try her best to fit in and that appearance and posessions are a vital aspect of life.
Throughout Ugly Betty the sound is always parrell to what is actually happening, for example if one of the characters are planing something sly the sound changes to support this idea. This then creates more tension for the audience and keeps the more keen, leaving them with a number of unanswered questions. The open credits always start with Bettys face parts mixed with sexy slim models, this could be done to emphasise the difference between the protogonist and average women.
Daniels father connotates a patriarcahl society, therefore this emphasises the idea of marxism as they believe in the exploitation of society of the working class. As mentioned before Betty recieves a Gucci bag, this reflects Bettys position and shows the audience that the bag is worth so much more than her and that this isn't her and because of the bag she has she was shown to be more popular and more respected by her fellow colleagues. This conotates the idea that you can only gain status amongst your peers only throught your posessions and not through personality or the person you are.
Throughout Ugly Betty the sound is always parrell to what is actually happening, for example if one of the characters are planing something sly the sound changes to support this idea. This then creates more tension for the audience and keeps the more keen, leaving them with a number of unanswered questions. The open credits always start with Bettys face parts mixed with sexy slim models, this could be done to emphasise the difference between the protogonist and average women.
Daniels father connotates a patriarcahl society, therefore this emphasises the idea of marxism as they believe in the exploitation of society of the working class. As mentioned before Betty recieves a Gucci bag, this reflects Bettys position and shows the audience that the bag is worth so much more than her and that this isn't her and because of the bag she has she was shown to be more popular and more respected by her fellow colleagues. This conotates the idea that you can only gain status amongst your peers only throught your posessions and not through personality or the person you are.
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Media Representation In Ugly Betty
Betty Suarez (America Ferrera) : In the programme, Betty Suarez is the protogonist of the show. She is the sterotypical character of what people in the contemporary society label as a 'geek'. She has no fashion sense and has bright blue braces at quite an ol dage. She tends to wear big reading glasses. She is not portrayed as a sex symbol, which normally all women are portrayed as in some way, instead she is shown to be responsible as she picks up all the mess that Daniel gets himself into.
Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton) : Amanda has been streotypically represented as a 'blonde bimbo' and only good for entertainment purposes. She is concerened about her image and uses her looks and bodies to help her around Mode with her daily routines. She shown to be rude and bitchy and self centered.
Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) : To a certain extent she has broken the stereotype as she is at a high position at Mode magazines. On the other hand she is shown to use her body to help her get places. To takeover Daniels position in the business, she has decided to marry his father in order for her to takeover the business and for it to be passed on to her if or when his father passes away.
Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) : To a certain extent she has broken the stereotype as she is at a high position at Mode magazines. On the other hand she is shown to use her body to help her get places. To takeover Daniels position in the business, she has decided to marry his father in order for her to takeover the business and for it to be passed on to her if or when his father passes away.
Saturday 16 August 2008
MIGRAIN Analysis Of The Ugly Betty Promo
media language:
- A close up of ugly betty's appearance is shown, there is a zoom on her clothing and her braces. As the man in the back struggles and says ' sorry our positions are full now' the zooms on Betty could be done to emphasise the fact the main reason she didnt get the job was because of her appearance.
- There are a number of close up on Betty's face, this could be done to emphasise her appearance. The fact that she is wearing braces also links to her fashion sense.
Institution:
- Channel 4
Genre:
- The genre of Ugly betty is comedy-drama
- Comedy-drama, also known as dramedy, is a style of television or movies where there is an equal balance, or nealry equal balance of humour and seriouness
Representation:
- Women: They have two different representations. One representation is that of the Stereootypical women who is obessesed with her image, bitchy etc. where as on the other hand the second representation is that of the stereotypical geek, who has no fashion sense what so ever, wheres braces, glasses and irritating.
- Men: They are also represented stereoptypical, that of seeing women as 'sex objects' and ther job in the work force is to entertain the male.
- Families: families are portrayed as a close group of people who stand by each other. When the going gets tough for Betty and turns to her family they have been there for her, helping and supporting her when she needs it. They are portrayed as financial and emotional support for Betty.
Audience:
Ideology:
There are a number of ideologies that are attached to this Ugly Betty promo, but the main ideology is to do with appearancce. ' If you are not attractive, you are more likely to be unsuccessful in life' or ' looks get you everywhere, if you don't have this there's no point of trying'
Narrative:
At the start Betty never used to get her way, her colleagues used to laugh at her and saw her as a source of entertainment, but after a while people began to rely on her, aswell as her boss who at the begining never used to take her seriously. Ugly Betty has a linear narrative, a linear narrative is when each story flows in order and the previous scence links to the next scene. Ugly Betty also creates a narrative enigma, it alllows the audience to create question like who is ugly Betty in their mind.
Monday 11 August 2008
Independent Study Proposel
Title:
'Mum said she wasn't surprised..you wanting to work in a magazine, don't happen to people like us unless your j-lo or something'. To what extent are women manipulised to look attractive and how has the representation of women changed in the media paying particular reference to Ugly Betty.
Hypothesis:
Media is like a virus, it injects and spreads ideas and views into indviduals of society at a fast rate, it's like an intrusive thought that intimidates you to take action. Media has the power to manipulate the vunerable.
Although the representation of femine roles within the media has changed considerably, where women are shown to be more masculine e.g. Angelina Jolie in Tomb raider, this change is superficial, however the typical femine image remains the same. Overall the media dictates society about the the 'perfect figure' and women in particular are the prey. It idolises celebrities and pressurises girls in todays society to look like the sterotypical celeb, which is someone who is tall, skinny, nice figure with the perfect hair and facial features.
A brief summary of idea's:
After watching films such as 'Mean girls' (2004) and 'Coyote ugly' (2000) it has become more evident that society is image obsessed and for a women to be successful she has to obtain and maintain a specific figure and look. I wiil try to investigate the fact whether women can be successful without having to be a size zero, this i will probe with the examples from 'Ugly betty'.
Theories/theorists:
There are a number of theorists/theories i have studied throughout the year, which i'll be using throughout my independent study. One of the theroy that i will be using is the 'hypodermic syringe theory' this theory suggests that the media is like a needle that injects ideas into an individuals mind. An example of this is when two boys from America watched the movie 'childs play' (1988) and then actually went out and reconstructed scenes from the movie onto a small child. A Theorist i will be refering to is 'levvi strauss's' and his theory of 'binary oppostion' to compare different females in different movies. I will also be referring to 'Laura Mulvey' who talks about the 'male gaze'. I am also going to be researching new theories and theorists, which would relate to my topic.
Context:
I will overall explore and probe the representation of women in the media, relating to issues such as the feminist ideology, that of the society being a patriarchal society (male dominated) and whether women are portrayed as being feminine and volumptious sirens. I aim to research and discover whether contemporary issues such as bulimia and anorexia are connected to media influence directly or indirectly. I will look in detail how womens role in the media has evolved, from women having being shown to have a 'triple shift' and cameo roles to women having taken over protogonist roles and in some cases taken over the direction of a film. Is the media the culprit and is the media intimidating?
Other texts:
I will also analyse and compare whether other programmes in the media put pressure on teenage girls to look a particular way. I am going to look at other programmes that are popular with teenage girls such as 'Hollyoaks' and 'Eastenders' puts pressure on and influences teenage girls to create a particular image.
'Mum said she wasn't surprised..you wanting to work in a magazine, don't happen to people like us unless your j-lo or something'. To what extent are women manipulised to look attractive and how has the representation of women changed in the media paying particular reference to Ugly Betty.
Hypothesis:
Media is like a virus, it injects and spreads ideas and views into indviduals of society at a fast rate, it's like an intrusive thought that intimidates you to take action. Media has the power to manipulate the vunerable.
Although the representation of femine roles within the media has changed considerably, where women are shown to be more masculine e.g. Angelina Jolie in Tomb raider, this change is superficial, however the typical femine image remains the same. Overall the media dictates society about the the 'perfect figure' and women in particular are the prey. It idolises celebrities and pressurises girls in todays society to look like the sterotypical celeb, which is someone who is tall, skinny, nice figure with the perfect hair and facial features.
A brief summary of idea's:
After watching films such as 'Mean girls' (2004) and 'Coyote ugly' (2000) it has become more evident that society is image obsessed and for a women to be successful she has to obtain and maintain a specific figure and look. I wiil try to investigate the fact whether women can be successful without having to be a size zero, this i will probe with the examples from 'Ugly betty'.
Theories/theorists:
There are a number of theorists/theories i have studied throughout the year, which i'll be using throughout my independent study. One of the theroy that i will be using is the 'hypodermic syringe theory' this theory suggests that the media is like a needle that injects ideas into an individuals mind. An example of this is when two boys from America watched the movie 'childs play' (1988) and then actually went out and reconstructed scenes from the movie onto a small child. A Theorist i will be refering to is 'levvi strauss's' and his theory of 'binary oppostion' to compare different females in different movies. I will also be referring to 'Laura Mulvey' who talks about the 'male gaze'. I am also going to be researching new theories and theorists, which would relate to my topic.
Context:
I will overall explore and probe the representation of women in the media, relating to issues such as the feminist ideology, that of the society being a patriarchal society (male dominated) and whether women are portrayed as being feminine and volumptious sirens. I aim to research and discover whether contemporary issues such as bulimia and anorexia are connected to media influence directly or indirectly. I will look in detail how womens role in the media has evolved, from women having being shown to have a 'triple shift' and cameo roles to women having taken over protogonist roles and in some cases taken over the direction of a film. Is the media the culprit and is the media intimidating?
Other texts:
I will also analyse and compare whether other programmes in the media put pressure on teenage girls to look a particular way. I am going to look at other programmes that are popular with teenage girls such as 'Hollyoaks' and 'Eastenders' puts pressure on and influences teenage girls to create a particular image.
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