HYPERREALITY and the representation of women

By the end of the lesson you should be able to:

Able to identify how an advertisement appeals to its audience using
The Male Gaze and Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Understand and practically apply the process of airbrushing digital images
Able to use the concept of hyperreality when analysing representations of
women in print media

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

Dreams/aspirational lifestyles

Airbrushing and the concept of the HYPER-REAL

What is airbrushing?

Imagine that you are a PICTURE EDITOR for a magazine...

You have selected this image for the front cover. On the sheet provided,
annotate which of the models features you think need to be airbrushed
before the magazine can GO TO PRESS.

Jean Baudrillard was a social theorist who is best known for his
analyses of the modes of mediation and of technological communication.
One of his major areas of study was the way technological progress
affects social change.
In particular, he worked on the way advances in media technology have
changed representations of reality. He developed a theory that tried to
explain the effects of these changes on society.

Baudrillard claimed that modern society has replaced all reality and
meaning with symbols and signs, and that the human experience is of a
simulation of reality rather than reality itself.
The media, and especially the advances in digital technology, are key to
the creation of this HYPERREAL world. He termed examples of the
hyperreal as SIMULACRA.
Baudrillard argues that today there is no such thing as reality.

1st

2nd

6th

3rd

4th

5th

What are the social affects of hyperreal representations?

The Independent reported in 2006
that the cosmetic surgery industry
was worth in excess of 539 million
in the UK alone in 2003.
In 2003 The Guardian reported the
cosmetics industry to be worth
over 4.5 billion in the UK. The diet
industry in the UK is valued at over
10 billion a year

The number of children admitted to

hospital suffering from anorexia has
risen dramatically during the last
decade. The increase is most
marked among pre-teens, where
admissions went from 36 in 1996/7
to 81 in 2006/7 a rise of 125%.

HYPERREALITY AND THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

1. In you own words, explain the concept of hyperreality.

2. How do you think hyperreal representations of women
might have an affect on society?

Homework:

Compare and contrast the representations of women in the

advertisements for Coco Mademoiselle and Tommy Girl.
With reference to:

Laura Mulveys theory of The Male Gaze

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Baudrillards concept of Hyperreality