Representation in chosen texts

Chosen texts – GTA 4
                         -Co Co Mademoiselle

Essay question:

1.How stereotypical is the representations in GTA 4?
2. How stereotypical are the representations in Co Co Mademoiselle

 1.)
Grand Theft Auto is open-world gameplay based and shows no fixed linear storyline, making the player finish missions in order.  In Grand Theft Auto 4, there are many different representations of things including; women, men, action, gangs, violence, vehicles and different cities. One of the most popular being the masculinity of the men.  Even though each portagonist in GTA changes with every game, they feature similiar representations none the less. It is only in this game and the newest GTA that we start to develop a back story with these main characters. Instead of just wandering the cities. This representation is created through the use of crime and violence and general behaviour of how the character acts in certain scenerios. For example, we never see a woman in these games creating these sort of crimes. The main protagonist shows us a stern looking male with broad shoulders in jeans and a jacket with fingerless gloves. He doesn't have the nicest posture of expression which shows us that he means serious buisness and isn't one to be messed with.  The men in this game dominate. This we can tell by the way they are portrayed, always taking the lead role and having them be able to use women to their advantage. There has been a lot of controversial discussion in the media because of these representations. Many are starting to be offended by them as they are portraying men from different ethnic groups are the violent type, women are nothing more than sex appeals and the city has nothing but violence and crime problems.  The testosterone life of deviancy.

The most discussed representations Grand Theft Auto is known for would be the women. The game lacks the true representation of women and instead uses them as sexual objects for the men. The game represents women in a very degrading manner making them wear short clothing, or putting them as prostitutes for the main character to kill, or play with for their satisfaction and money. These women are never given a strong character story and always have the flirty personallity.  For example some missions require you to kill an exotic dancer (female) or a stripper (once again female) or even in the newest game a mini-game where you go around gropping strippers. Other non playable  female characters are portrayed to be shallow and sidelined whilst the men go around self obsessed, heartless and money obsessed. Maybe they're actually just showing the ugly side of things that are actually happening in certain cities as the players seem to not mind it (they keep buying the product so they must enjoy it.) One thing ive realised is that the women in GTA 4 always have enhanced breasts or have them on show to temped the men proving the idea of them being sexual objects for the men to play with. 
As for violence, the game practically revolves around it. The constant shooting with guns that can be unlocked through even more violent missions. Of course the game shows a lot of the gang culture in that city and so there is going to be a lot of violence revolving around that. The protagonist being the main culprit as the player uses this character to be violent. Killing innocent non playable characters to earn money or weapons or even just for the fun of it encourages this sort of bloody violence.  None the less these three representations are what GTA games are most famously known for and so prefer to keep these representations are they are to keep up the fans expectations of the game. With each new release just being more bloodier, testosterone filled and sex enthused.
The stereotyping of ethnicity in this game is harder to master unless the consumer has first hand experience of it. It's usually the only encounter of this culture so it is harder for video games to not make a false accusation of the culture. Which could lead to abuse directed at that culture.



2.) Their website even though has a plain background still shows style and elegance through their use of products covering the pages, their models posing for them and their name at the bottom in a plain white font against the black background helps to seperate it from whats going on, this shows it's classy yet bare Keira Knightly placed infront of a black background with three main light points directed behind her, and enough light to show off the bottle is a typical idea by Co Co Chanel.  It's a perfume and fragranced spray targeted towards woman more than men in their advertising as we always see famous actresses or woman to advertise their product or using it as product placement. An example being the current actress Keira Knightly posing for their Coco Mademoiselle.Their fragrance for woman are usually presented in their glass bottle and usually a wine colour of some sorts, the gentle golden or soft pinks adds elegance to their company and avertising these bottles with dim lighting and an attractive model makes them seem all the more expensive and elegant. The french touch also adds the sense of attraction as France is known for it being the country of love, represents the country of love. These advertisements tend to favouritise their representation of females as being elegant, classy and built to perfection.  The women are always represented to have perfectly polished skin that's glossy and without imperfections that all real women have. Therefore this edited picture of perfection that's made to be seductive with the natural colours and soft lighting is false of what a true representation of a real woman looks like.
The perfume bottle it's self is set in such a dainty but elegant  bottle that it shows off the class as well. With the perfumes colour matching that of the ones often used in the adverts. Elegance, sophistication and beauty are all things the media try to force women to desire and these adverts always show them. Representing the famous actress wearing or carrying the perfume and it being the reason behind her beauty. Never  expressive photography editing software that clearly edited her to be as she is. The perfume represents freedom and expression through their designs.
The adverst tend to represent white beautiful young looking women and that this is the image the media give to beauty. When all ethnic groups are beautiful in their own way. Considering we are now a nation that has become obsessed with our appearences using beauty as a way of advertising will appeal to women more, showing them that a beautiful young looking woman is how to attract all male attention as that is what the advert shows. Giving a false representation.