THE CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINE IDENTITIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINE IDENTITIES IN BRITISH MAGAZINESBRITISH MAGAZINES

Relatore: Antonio PinnaRelatore: Antonio PinnaCorrelatore: Dott. David BrettCorrelatore: Dott. David Brett

Laureanda:Laureanda:Valeria Eleonora FlorisValeria Eleonora Floris

UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI SASSARI

Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche e Sociali

TopicTopic

AN INTRO TO SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

● Critical Discourse Analysis

● The categorization of gender

● Masculinity in men's magazines

Storey “Cultural Theory and Popular Culture” (2009)

Ideology:

● a systemic body of ideas articulated by a particular group of people

● distorted images of reality

● a particular image of the world

● encountered in the practices of everyday life

Discourse

● Practice that systematically forms the objects of which it speaks (Foucault, 1989)

● It works in three ways:

● It enables

● It constrains

● It constitutes

Language is..

A discourse:

● It enables me to speak

● It constrains what I can say

● It constitutes me as a speaking subject

Critical Discourse Analysis...

● a combination of linguistic and sociological methods for the analysis of discourse

● It aims to unravel ideological meanings in everyday discursive practices

The analysis is carried out on different aspects:

● Semantic relations (words and long expressions)

● Grammatical relations (morphological aspects of texts)

● Vocabulary (collocation, patterns of co-occurrence, lexical bundles and aspects of phraseology)

Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

1980s: how do images convey meanings?

Barthes's contribution to semiotics (1973-77):

● Images denote

● Images connote

Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996, 2001):

● Attributes (how are objects represented? What kind of discourse do they communicate?)

● Setting (where are the objects found?)

● Salience (what do the salient aspects communicate?)

Gender construction (1)

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”

(Simone De Beauvoir, 1949)

“One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman; but farther, one is not born female, one becomes female; but even more radically, one can if one chooses become neither female nor

male, neither woman nor man.”

(Judith Butler, 1999)

Gender construction (2)

It has several consequences in society:

● It gives way to the categorization of gender;

● It draws people into particular positions and identities;

● It creates stereotypes.

Easthope's Dominant Masculinity (1986)

Men are due to construct themselves on the ground of the myth of heterosexual masculinity.

A man must be:

● Tough;

● Assertive;

● Masterful;

● Ready to any circumstances;

● Always in control.

Men's crisis

The advent of the independent and self-sufficient woman in society has implied the decline of the traditional role for man.

“Men may not be able to fit into their traditional role, but that's no reason to conclude that life is over for men. Men just have to find a

new, modern, useful place for themselves in the world-just as women have to. And this is where mass media and popular culture

come in, because they offer important tools to help men- and women- adjust to contemporary life.”

(Gauntlett, 2008)

Masculinity in men's British magazines

My analysis focuses on three man stereotypes:

● The Italian Stallion type (Men's Health)

● The Nerd type (FHM)

● The Existentialist type (Loaded)

The Italian Stallion type (1)

The Italian Stallion type (2)

Results:

● Pale skin

● Thin shape marked

● Geek but determined look

MCDA:

● Salience: high light exposition and high saturation

● Distance: medium shot

● Transitivity: naïve gaze

The Italian Stallion type (2)

Results:

● Represented as a classic Greek statue

● Muscles well-defined

● Severe and serious look

MCDA:

● Salience: high light exposition, low tones, medium contrast

● Distance: medium shot

● Transitivity: aggressive gaze

The Italian Stallion type (3)

CDA:

● Clear opposition between the two figures(e.g. 'The skinny boy who became a mountain of a man is now poised to

become even bigger than his body')

● Several references to Joe Manganiello's physical body (e.g.'Highly trained physique'; 'He has become bigger, stronger, more

athletic and better defined'; 'supreme/new shape')

● Use of metaphors and similes related to forces of nature and animals(e.g. 'A mountain of a man'; 'A very different beast'; 'I hit the gym like an

animal')

The Nerd type (1)

The Nerd type (2)

MCDA:

● Pose: Heroic

● Gaze: upward, off frame

● Setting: Blue background, surrounded by megaphones and questions about science

● Salience: high saturated colours, filter sharpened at the centre of the image, moderate light exposition, medium contrast

The Nerd type (3)

CDA:

● High use of honorifics

(e.g. 'Professor': 'Internationally recognized particle physicist'; 'One of the world's most well-known communicators of science'; 'Passionate

campaigner')

● Positive qualities

(e.g. 'Lovely face'; 'The familiar face of science'; 'The softly-softly Brian'; 'Friendly smile')

The Existentialist type (1)

The Existentialist type (2)

MCDA:

● Salience: Filter sharpened, light exposition focused at the centre of the image, high contrast, borders faded

● Gaze: Serious and charming

● Pose: Resolute but calm

The Existentialist type (3)

CDA:

● Use of stative verbs expressing feelings and emotions

(e.g. 'Pearce exudes Zen-like calm'; 'I miss my family and my dogs'; 'He prefers the company of women'; 'He loves and plays Aussie

football')

● Use of hedges

(e.g. 'Some sort of level'; 'I suppose'; 'Kind of stuff'; 'He reckons')

Final results

● The Italian Stallion type sticks to the classic representation of masculinity (references to the ancient Greek statues)

● The Nerd type is depicted as a respectable and well-acclaimed man (positive signs of his acceptance in society)

● The Existentialist type shows men how to express their feelings and how to be in control of their lives (representation of a resolute but also sensitive man)

Conclusion

My study has shown that:

● Modern society is getting more flexible

● The representation of masculinity in mass media is changing

● Gender construction does not prevent men from re-elaborating more suitable styles according to their own personality

References

A) PUBLICATIONS:

● De Beauvoir, Simone, Le Deuxième Sexe, France, Gallimard, 2010.

● Fairclough, Norman, Analysing Discourse, London, Routledge, 2003.

● Gauntlett, David, Media, Gender and Identity, An Introduction, Great Britain, Routledge, 2008.

● Machin, David and Mayr, Andrea, How to do Critical Discourse Analysis, A Multimodal Introduction, Glasgow, Sage, 2012.

● Storey, John, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, An Introduction, Harlow, Pearson and Longman, 2009.

References

B) MAGAZINES:

● Brightmore, Dan, “Humanity is so fragile”, Loaded UK, The Heroes Issue, January 2015, (pp. 90-95) .

● Masoliver, Daniel, “We meet the professor”, FHM UK, n.299, November 2014, (pp. 44-49) .

● Morton, David, “From Scrawny to Brawny”, Men's Health, The Body Transformation Issue, September 2014, (pp. 46-51)