 So for a long time here in the United States, we had a pretty simple view of sex and gender There was male and there was female and that was pretty much it And those were you know men were male and women were female and that was pretty much it And we knew that the men were really on top for a long time and were the dominant Part of that power structure in our society for a long long time Eventually we made a hugely bright and came to embrace androgyny, which is you know that men can sometimes Maybe express their emotions and maybe have emotions right and women can be in charge of things Or you know just and more in terms of a crossover between what we traditionally saw as masculine and feminine that men Can in fact Demonstrates some traits that would be considered traditionally feminine and vice versa women are allowed to To display some traits that would consider be traditionally considered masculine. That was a hugely forward You know that only took you know a couple hundred years for us to really start to embrace Androgyny in a sense in that in that sense of things, but of course eventually We came to acknowledge really that women have as much value in society as men and that really led to the exploration In the role of media in advancing deterring and framing this reality this idea that that women are Equivalent to men as we came to understand and so so then how does the media factor into that factor into our understanding of that factor into advancing that factor into Diminishing that idea and so forth just all of it. So that led of course then to the exploration of Feminist analysis, which we're again, I want to really Clarify that we're not here to argue the politics of feminism whether it's good whether it's bad whether it's reality whether it's not whether it's You know a better for our society or not. We're not here to argue those Politics really but to consider the perspective of feminism in the context of media That's really what we're here to do. So we're here to put on that critical there's critical lenses that critical framework of Feminist analysis and really consider that now that we do understand that the women aren't Are as valuable as men to society they're an equal part and an equal partners in our society and and so We're gonna explore feminist analysis in the way that that plays out in the media So for definitional purposes feminist analysis examines artifacts using a framework that considers the ways in which an article artifact excuse me Enforces or undermines the economic political social and psychological oppression of women Again, not here to argue the politics of this But rather to explore the idea then okay women have been Subjugated to men for a couple hundred years We're gonna take on that premise and and explore media through that particular lens and see how Media works to do these things in economic political social and psychological Ways So that's our mindset right now. So the history of feminist analysis really comes in three waves There there are three waves of feminism here in the United States We're gonna look at at each of these just briefly so we have some understanding of what we're talking about here when we say feminism The first wave really took place between the late 1700s and the early 1900s So the start of the United States as a country up till the early 1900s And really that was just some general attention drawn to the inequality of the sexes I'm drawing some attention to the fact that you know men were really very much empowered during those times really did have the upper hand Women were were seen very much as secondary considerations Not as capable not as strong not as qualified as men and that that really was represented in the United States by what we call the women's Suffrage movement which brought attention to the fact that women were not allowed to vote We're not allowed to really do much of anything not not technically own property in many parts of the country for large portions of that time We're not allowed to you know have ownership of these different things Except through their husbands or the men in their family or whatever, you know, there was passed down through the men So women really had no standing no rights during that time And so that was just bringing attention to that the first wave of feminism was just say look this is not fair We don't have any standing any rights in this country and yet we are expected to do all these things and we are capable and we are we are should have some Consideration in that regard so then in the the second wave really Kim's in a much shorter period of time the the early 60s early 1960s into the late 1970s so that you know around two decades or so those 20 years Really are where we saw first World War two demonstrated the ability of women to work equally with men So proceeding that you had again all the men in World War two went off to fight in the war So that left women here to do really all the work that men had been doing and Give them the opportunity to say look we can do this We are capable of doing all the things that men do It's just that we haven't been given the opportunity to do so But World War two really provided that opportunity for them to demonstrate that they can then that coincides in later on picking up steam then from from Demonstrating that through World War two then in the 60s and 70s This coincided with the civil rights movement in the United States and really a lot of women to step forward along with I'm this idea of civil rights Farmer now for minorities and codifying those rights for minorities women were able to step forward and say look This is us to you know We should we should be included in this conversation and and you know the good news is in some ways That was easier for people to swallow here in the United States in some sense, right? It didn't feel I guess as for the for the people who were in power. It didn't feel as threatening I suppose as you know the the rights of minorities did so Women were able to make strong advancements in this idea of feminism Made a lot of advancements during that second wave during those decades of the 60s and 70s here in the United States Then the third wave of feminism came in the early 1990s and really extends into present day And here we see an emphasis on marginalized women So by that we mean women of color women in lower economic classes So not just women as a whole that was that was you know the early parts of feminism were just women Period full stop women deserve these rise women should have Equal standing women should have protection under the law for these things So that was just all women, but then of course even after that you had Certain women who after those things were recognized and granted certain women were able to access them more easily than others So this third wave of feminism starting in the early 1990s has focused on you know, not just women Specifically, but but women in particular who have been marginalized within that movement even so right women of color women from lower economic status Economic classes who may not have the money to to pursue or to press these kinds of advantages. So so you have women in these different Subsets that are really starting to to be recognized into to push for their own Recognition and rights within that so we had these three waves of feminism and so now that's just a very very you know In a nutshell type of history of feminism and and delivered by a you know Very privileged middle-class white guys So take that all with a grain of salt and do your own exploration of those things certainly by all means But just trying to give you some understanding of that framework then So the major premises and how this relates to feminist analysis where this comes from then are first of all that women are oppressed by the Patriarchy feminist analysis for our understanding for our exploration of this We need to take that on take that mindset on again setting aside the politics whether or not we we think that's true Whether or not that's something that is part of our own belief system for our purposes of study here And and for analysis we need to be able to put on that lens that framework of Women are oppressed by the Patriarchy that women have traditionally been Subjugated to men in terms of power and opportunity and those types of things and so women are oppressed by the Patriarchy is the primary premises here Then at this idea that Western culture is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology So that that our country really was when we talk about it the history of our country Why we talk about the founding fathers? We don't talk about that the founding parents or the founding mothers or whatever You know we talk about the founding fathers and everything that was really developed within that This developed really to advantage men because men were in control men could own things men could do things men could vote And so even deeply rooted in our history is this idea that? Men are obviously better than women and superior to women and should have those rights and advantages, right? so Western culture is deeply rooted in that patriarchal ideology that that That privileges men over women While sex is determined by biology Gender is determined by culture. So sex is a biological thing and it's a it's a physical thing. It's very clear very very transparent Male and female that's what we mean when we talk about sex when we talk about gender We know that that is determined. It's that's a that's a social construct gender is a social construct What is appropriately masculine? What is appropriately feminine? What is in between there? What is? Not a part of any of that what it where does all that fall in that spectrum that is all determined by our culture and the culture decides You know really what's appropriate for what gender so we need to distinguish between those things as well It's sex is determined by biology Gender is determined by culture and then that gender issues which is at the heart of feminism gender issues play a part in every aspect of human Production and experience including the production and experience of media artifacts, right? so the media that we're looking at was Created by someone with some idea and some belief and some sense of purpose and value and things and those are all informed by gender issues They were created by a person or persons who you know ascribed to ascribed to a particular gender If you see that gender is a part of themselves And so that then informs every aspect of our lives including what we create and what we Take in as as media what we view as media in the different artifacts that we see So gender plays a part and it has a role in all of that the production in the experience for those things and everything So okay, those are the major premises of feminist analysis. So there's things that's that inform this framework So some of the questions that we might see as part of from feminist analysis Might want to consider as part of feminist analysis Include things like how is the relationship between men and women portrayed in this artifact? So just basically how are they? How are they? Layed out here. How's the care? How are the characters portrayed? How are they relate to one another? and what Visual perspective are they provided in this artifact or what kind of language are they using so forth? What is the relationship between men and women here? What are the power relationships between men and women or characters assuming male and female roles? So even if it's you know men playing women or women playing men or whatever whoever's playing those male or female gender identified roles What are the power relationships like between those people? Does one person in that relationship have more power than the other and how is that portrayed? How are the male and female roles defined then right? So how are we using gender as a part of this? How is how are you know? How is masculinity defined and portrayed? How is femininity defined and portrayed and how is the everything in between their portrayed? What constitutes masculinity and femininity as it's portrayed here in the in the artifact and how do the characters embody those traits I? Do the characters take on traits from opposite genders? So if somebody is is the characters been portrayed primarily as masculine do they take on some feminine traits? They display that kind of androgyn either and vice versa does it the feminine characters take on masculine traits? How so and how does that change the others reactions to them? So when you see a masculine character take on a feminine trait, how do the others relate to that? Do they look down on it? Do they think it's weird? Do they do they accept it? Is it not just a part of the the the conversation at all? What are the reactions to that? What does work reveal about the operations those operations we talked about before economically politically socially and psychologically of? Patriarchy does it does it confirm the patriarchy does it go against the patriarchy does it try to tear it down? What is how does it relate to the the patriarchy then in those operations in this work? What is the history of the works reception by the public and the critics tell us about the operation of the patriarchy? So when people see this if they see that it confirms and confirms the patriarchy Do they approve of that? Do they disapprove of it or vice versa if somebody? Sees something that is contrary to the patriarchy. Do they do they like that? Do they not like it? Do they accept it? Do they promote it whatever? And what role does the work play in terms of women's artistic history and artistic tradition? So how does this contribute to and play into the work of our Women's artistic work in the in the in our society? Okay, so I want to take a quick look at an example of this and try and apply this I'm just in an artifact that I've chosen and so this is going to be again a mile wide and inch deep We're going to try and answer all those questions very very quickly and very briefly So this is not an in-depth analysis, but just to give me an idea of what this might look like So I've chosen a very popular artifact for this examination and a Harry Potter world We're just going to call it the world of Harry Potter, you know the books the movies We're not going to distinguish between the two really And so we're just going to look at the world of Harry Potter that was created and and how it's portrayed in those things And those are different things mean the books were obviously very specifically written by women The movies were though produced and developed by both men and women that were directed I believe by all men and so they're I mean there are different people that had Though the fingers on this different world at different Stages and different in different ways, but we're just kind of kind of look at it generally here So we're gonna look at the world of Harry Potter and hopefully that's when you're familiar with at least if you're not You know totally enveloped by it than you've been you're familiar enough to know the reference So some common questions go back through these common questions that we just looked at How is the relationship between men and women portrayed? Well, it's portrayed In a fairly traditional way. I think a fairly typical way a stereotypical way that we would think of first of all the Protagonist is a man, of course. So we're focusing on men proud a man prime primarily here the women the men women because of the setting as much as anything are Very kind of separated they live in different dorm areas and the living You know their their house separately because they're at a boarding school and that's not kind of makes sense But there's a very you know kind of stark distinction between men women a fairly traditional Rules I think in display of men and women in this in the series How are the power lay what power relationships are there between men and women or characters assuming male and female roles again This is focused on a male protagonist So the power relationship is primarily in men. In fact, you look at them the people who have the most power in In this series are the men The headmaster of the school is a man at least for the primary portions of the story here The main headmaster was a man was male The certainly them the evil kind of the big evil in the in the series was male in in Voldemort I'm not afraid to say his name, but in Voldemort. You had a male power there and So and even just a within the school you look at most of the powerful characters And obviously Harry's a male two out of the three primary characters are male The the the big teachers you had Were mostly male and you could make a case from God ago Although I would argue that she takes on a lot of masculine characteristics So even though she's female she really takes on a lot of masculine characters So it's just the power in the in the stories primarily resides within people who are either male and or masculine So even if even the women who are Really portrayed as having power take on those masculine traits if you look at the later headmaster at the evil one That comes to the teacher who then becomes headmaster later That is Is female but she really takes on a lot of masculine traits megonical the same way even her mind He really takes on many masculine traits what we would call masculine traits So the power relationships tend to be pretty traditional in that and that the male or masculine Power folks tend to be in control tend to have the power within that story How are the male and female roles to find I can very traditionally there's very distinct difference between The the man or boys and the women or girls in the story And there's not really a lot of crossover We know of course if we if we really examine this from the author We know that that she tends to have has that has indicated that she has kind of What I guess you would find is transphobic views in terms of she's not she's not approved of of the trans World or lifestyle and that kind of trans sexual idea So it's not surprising that it's not really evident in in the work here that it that is while there's some Women that cross over in a masculine territory, there's not really a lot of men who cross into that feminine, you know that femininity a lot but and and so there and there's certainly no I don't think Real distinction or there is very much a distinction between the sexes when we talk about male or female is very clearly defined What constitutes masculinity and femininity and how do the characters embody these traits again? I would say it's pretty traditional. I've kind of talked about this a little bit. I think What we would can traditionally consider masculine is what is portrayed here that it is direct that it is powerful that it is in control and in command and and and those types of things where as femininity is more concerned with emotion and and And kind of physical Attributes and things like that when we think about most of the feminine characters in here again Hermione kind of is at the very least androgynous if not masculine So when we look at the other a lot of the other primary Characters that are female or feminine here. They are largely concerned with this is boy like me like me What do I look like does my is my dress pretty for this formal occasion or whatever those types of things? So it's you know pretty typical Feminine type of things except except those females who are taking on the masculine traits So pretty traditional in that regard kind of belabored that point a little bit already So some other common questions. We have two characters take on traits from opposite genders kind of talked about this Yeah, there is some of that that it's that it but it's primarily women taking on more masculine traits And as far as the views and how it changes the others reactions to them. It's not great I mean it's not really We think about how a lot of the different people relate to her Hermione excluding Harry himself, but even Ron a little bit is a little bit put off at times by how Boyish she's a masculine. She is how in control and in command She is and kind of questions his power and authority, right? And certainly the other people around Don't care for that at all when you look at the other characters Draco and his group there They really don't like Hermione the way that she is, you know, considers herself. She's confident She's powerful. She takes command. She does well at things that really boys should be good at, right? And so it's not great when when people take on those traits They're not viewed really well, but they do it sometimes and I know and it's viewed positively by the audience I think but but a pretty traditional take on it in terms of the way the work is portrayed What does the work reveal about the operations of the patriarchy? I mean, I think it reveals the really traditional sense of The patriarchy in full effect men are in control men are in power women should take their cues from men and be led by men and You know men own own the shops own the money or in the positions of power primarily, right? So we look at it in all of those senses economically politically socially psychologically. I think it's a very traditional perspective on the patriarchy and and reinforces in essence What the patriarchy is What is the history of the works reception by the public and critics tell us about the operation of the patriarchy? I think it tells us that we're comfortable with it that we're used to the patriarchy in that regard that that it's a comfortable story in The sense of it doesn't really contradict a lot of those things although does give us just enough of the modern idea of feminism With Hermione being a strong character and really showing the boys. What's what really is the best at a lot of the things They do. I mean, should she be the primary character here in the story? Maybe she deserves her own story I think that she's that powerful a character So what does it tell us about about the reception though that we like the I think that we like the safety of what we're used to What we're accustomed to and that it conforms to the patriarchy in that regard But gives us just enough, you know moments of yeah, women can do things too So a lot with Hermione and then of course with mrs. Weasley at the end it's a spoiler alert If he's been on a long time, so I think I'm safe here but spoiler alert when When jenny is under attack right when jenny is is being attacked at the end the final battle And and mrs. Weasley comes in and storms in and you know, not my daughter Whatever takes a strong stand and really protects her and comes up strong there and and in a lot of ways mrs. Weasley shows I think smashing characteristics. We like that too that she's independent. She's capable. She's whatever But also that they're still portrayed within the safety of the patriarchy mrs. Weasley is primarily a concerned mother And a housekeeper and a you know a loving caring emotive type of character except she does have that strength too within and so So we like that that's safe as well. I think so there's there's very traditional patriarchy displayed with just enough taste of them sort of the second wave, I guess of feminism To to to make us feel like yeah, this is kind of progressive but not really Not really challenging too much of what we are comfortable with What role does this play in terms in terms of women's artistic history and artistic tradition? I mean a lot has been made out of the fact that this series was created by a woman And about her circumstances, you know, if you're familiar with that that she was A single mom who didn't really have a lot economically It was kind of in a welfare type situation when she wrote this and then obviously became extremely successful So it's it's been a real Boon for I think you know the idea that women can be creative women can do whatever and has Had a significant role within that Although I think again the work and the author themselves are kind of safe within Our traditional understanding of the patriarchy and so kind of a mixed bag there in terms of feminism Yeah, it was written and created by a woman a woman and that's fantastic But that woman woman is fairly traditional And and and the work itself is fairly traditional and safe and comfortable and that made it I think more broadly popular more broadly accessible to people too that it didn't challenge a lot of those things So so kind of a mixed bag there But anyway, so that's just a quick rundown a quick analysis of Harry Potter in terms of feminist analysis I hope this gives you some idea of what we're looking at with feminist analysis and a better idea of What goes into that and how to how to Lay that framework of feminist analysis over an artifact and that the next time you view and Any artifact that'll give you a new perspective on What it might indicate about the traditional perspectives of the patriarchy and current ideas of feminism and feminist analysis If you have questions about feminist analysis or about any other kind of critical media studies and or Anything at all related to this, please feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there In the meantime, I hope that you have Enjoyed this discussion and that you will continue to broaden your perspective in terms of the frameworks and the critical lenses that you have In your tool belt as we continue to be critical analysts of media in our society