MAGISTERARBEIT Titel der Magisterarbeit “Femininity image in popular media” The cases of Austria and Croatia Verfasserin: Nika Fumic angestrebter akademischer Grad: Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil) Wien, 2015 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 066 841 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Magisterstudium Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft Betreuerin: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katharine Sarikakis 1 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank everybody who supported me during the writing process of this master thesis. First of all, thanks to my supervisor, prof. Sarikakis, for all the useful comments and remarks. Furthermore, I would like to thank all the other professors at the The University of Vienna for the knowledge I have gained during this Master program. I would like to thank my colleagues who helped me a lot with useful advice and support all along this exciting jurney. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my loved once and my friends who gave me strength and support when I needed, and especially, I would like to thank my mother, my endless inspiration and motivation. 3 4 Table of contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 7 1.1. Popular culture ...................................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Gender ideologies behind the production of popular culture ................................................ 8 1.3. Reception of popular culture (“meaning production”) ........................................................ 10 2. Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 11 2.1. Gender expression ............................................................................................................... 11 2.2. Feminism vs. Post-feminism ............................................................................................... 13 2.3. Femininity in the post-feminist media culture ..................................................................... 17 2.3.1. Beauty ideal .................................................................................................................. 18 2.3.2. Sexualized body............................................................................................................ 21 2.4. Post-feminist “guilty pleasures”: glossy magazines and romance ...................................... 23 2.4.1. Girls’ and Women’s glossy magazines ........................................................................ 26 2.4.2. Post-feminist romance .................................................................................................. 29 3. Research aims ............................................................................................................................. 33 3.1. Previous research on women in popular culture .................................................................. 33 3.2. Research objectives ............................................................................................................. 38 3.3. Research questions .............................................................................................................. 39 4. Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 40 4.1. Sampling .............................................................................................................................. 40 4.1.1. Women’s magazines ..................................................................................................... 40 4.1.2. Music ............................................................................................................................ 42 4.1.3. Movies .......................................................................................................................... 43 4.2.Method.................................................................................................................................. 45 4.2.1. Critical discourse analysis ............................................................................................ 45 4.2.2. Feminist CDA ............................................................................................................... 48 4.3. Implementation .................................................................................................................... 49 5. Findings and discussion .............................................................................................................. 50 5.1. Women’s magazines ............................................................................................................ 50 5.1.1. Topics ........................................................................................................................... 50 5.1.2. Discourse analysis ........................................................................................................ 56 5.2. Music videos ........................................................................................................................ 72 5.2.1. Male artists ................................................................................................................... 72 5.2.2. Female artists ................................................................................................................ 79 5.2.3. Male feat. Female music videos ................................................................................... 84 5 5.2.4. Female feat. Male artists .............................................................................................. 86 5.3. Movie trailers ...................................................................................................................... 92 5.3.1. Discourse analysis ........................................................................................................ 94 6. Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 107 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 110 8. Literature .................................................................................................................................. 111 8.1. References ......................................................................................................................... 111 8.2. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 115 8.3. Sample material ................................................................................................................ 119 8.3.1. Magazines .................................................................................................................. 119 8.3.2. Music videos: ............................................................................................................. 121 8.3.3. Movie trailers ............................................................................................................. 122 9. Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 124 9.1. Magazine covers ............................................................................................................... 124 9.1.1. Topics ......................................................................................................................... 124 9.1.2. Discourses on Magazines Covers (divided by topics) ............................................... 133 9.2. Music videos ..................................................................................................................... 157 9.2.1. Male artists ................................................................................................................. 158 9.2.2. Female artists ............................................................................................................. 164 9.2.3. Male feat. Female artists ............................................................................................ 169 9.2.4. Female feat. Male artists ............................................................................................ 170 9.3. Movie trailers .................................................................................................................... 174 9.3.1. Movie genres & female characters ............................................................................. 174 9.3.2. Discourses in movie trailers ....................................................................................... 176 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ 189 Abstract (German version) ........................................................................................................... 190 Lebenslauf .................................................................................................................................... 192 6 1. Introduction 1.1. Popular culture Popular culture (short “pop culture”), often closely identified with the mainstream culture or media culture, is an “entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes,