English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Author: Kaleb Gauntt

Jessica Purple Jones

Well as far as the show goes, there is a lot of purple. Purple seems to be Jessica Jones’ color whether it be in her impromptu super suits or the color the screen turns when she is having a breakdown. This most likely comes from the comic book

This illustrating the very aura of Jones being shown to be purple.

coloring as well as Kilgrave’s other name being the Purple Man. So as far as the color scheme of the show, purple is the way to go.

When the screen isn’t purple, a lot of times its rather dark. Jones does a lot of stuff at night, in dark rooms, or poorly lit areas. Even during the day, her life is often times filled with shadows. This tying directly to the overall dark theme of the show and Jones’ figurative walk in the shadows. Specifically the last episode or two of the season conclude the conflict with Kilgrave at night in a place with very few people, away from the rest of the city. I think it stands out because it goes fully into darkness as it concludes with Jones killing Kilgrave.

The way that the show is shot is typical of an action based show. There is a lot of movement and quick shots going from one place to another while also having the occasional fight scene in one area with a long shot from the camera focused on the fighting. When there isn’t anyone being punched, the show works on character and plot development through long takes between characters as they discuss their issues. It allows one to notice changes between scenes of serious discussion, occasional comedy, and quick action based scenes. Some of the ways that it is shot is based on the New York City setting, where when there are a bunch of people walking about, the way the scene has to be shot reflects that setting to show the hustle and bustle. Jessica Jones is a dark and violent show and the cinematography and direction reflect that.

AKA The Theme of Ladies Night

This is the first episode of Jessica Jones, entitled AKA Ladies Night. It is a good episode to talk about the argument of, because it kinda sets the standard for what the show is about and what the underlying message is throughout the first season. The episode is arguing for the consequences, both physical and psychological, of rape. It shows how one can become trapped in one’s own mind in a sense as well as the eventually the effect that the justice system has on victims. The premise of the episode is all about introductions. It introduces Jessica, Kilgrave, and Hope. In this episode Hope is raped by Kilgrave and later forced to murder her parents. She is overwhelmed by Kilgrave’s power and the legal system is of little help to her especially after such a traumatic event has damaged her psyche.

Hope under Kilgrave’s influence.

This episode argues its point by showing the lasting trauma that Jessica experiences from her encounters with Kilgrave as well as making non-tangible consequences, effects, and concepts of rape into physical things that one can view through the show.  Over the course of the show, Jessica and Hope as well as the many other victims of Kilgrave are shown to have to deal with the trauma inflicted upon them. They show the very real affects that such an event as having one’s own minds and bodies overpowered and/or raped can have on anyone of any class, race, or gender. This episode’s argument is carried throughout the rest of the show because that is the whole overarching idea that is presented through Kilgrave’s powers and Kilgrave’s morals. As far as the legal aspect that continues onwards throughout the season, the inability of the police or judicial system to deal with such a matter illustrates the occasional but common enough incompetence that arises through cases of rape while under the influence of another. This is a very real problem in today’s society and Jessica Jones does a rather good job in showing it.

Jessica Jones: Gender Investigation

Jessica Jones is the main heroine of the show, as implied by the name. A female show runner already puts the show above others in terms of gender representation and inclusion. The show does well to focus on strong female characters such as Trish and Hogarth, the lawyer.

This show is based off of a comic and follows the trends of such modern superhero shows. Basically, the producers change the race and gender of several characters so that the show is more inclusive and appeals to a wider audience. Jessica Jones, for example, swapped the lawyer’s gender to the stone-cold, homosexual woman that is one of the central characters of the show. This move made by the show shows that it is trying its best to represent more sexual orientations and genders than its source material. This is an obvious indicator of the improvement of representation in today’s world, because the producers would go to such lengths as changing and introducing new characters so that they steer away from how it was back when the comics where first produced.

Even without the changes, the Jessica Jones’ New York City is rather inclusive when it comes to its representation of gender and race. Of cours

e one of the underlying themes in the show is its discussion of rape culture and how women are represented to deal with that and the issue of consent, especially while under the influence; though it may be mind control, its no different then the effects of alcohol. Jessica Jones is shown to be a strong individual who still has emotional issues as all of us do, so the show really balances stereotypes with actual humanity in a way that makes Jessica the character that she is.

Lastly, as far as inclusion, the interracial relationship between Jones and Luke Cage makes a big jump towards discussing a topic that is often shied away from and under-represented. Overall, I feel like my opinion as a dude does not do the show justice, but I think the show does a pretty spot-on job with its embracement of all viewers and potential fans.

Jessica Jones and the lack of “Free Choice”

The title is just a pun on this being the free choice option for the blogs. Also because of the whole occasional lack of free will due to Kilgrave’s mind control powers. This entry is going to a bit all over the place. The main two topics, as it is my choice to do so will be: the relation of the show to the comics and the choice of actors in the show.

This show is based off of the Jessica Jones comic series with the character being brought about and developed by the specific comic and the other’s she is apart of. The biggest part of the show is how they work in the villains, fellow heroes, and other significant events in the Marvel universe while maintaining a new and innovative plot line. Of course some of the basic concepts within the show are from the comics like Jones’ relations with Kilgrave and Luke Cage. But unlike in the comics, Kilgrave is not called the purple man and he doesn’t have as far a reach over other comic characters and heroes. There is also the part where Jessica Jones was made to be apart of the Marvel Defenders saga where she is only one of 4 stories or shows that are made and eventually lead to the Defenders TV show/fighting force. So basically a huge part of the underlying plot points going throughout the show is working Jones in with the other characters that she is destined to meet.

The second topic, which is one I tweeted about earlier in the semester, is the importance of the actors chosen by the producers of the show. Creating the right feel for the show is an important job that the actors must do correctly and creatively in order to create a realistic and immersive show. One major point is whether big name actors ruin this because they are associated with other television shows. I find it interesting how certain actors get heavy ties with other characters they have played, such as David Tennant. He has been in many other shows and in this he is depicted as an wicked twisted man, but he is heavily associated with BBC and Doctor Who. The other actors are not in any other big franchises so they are the character that they play, but when an actor who is recognizable is put in, then they are seen as the person not the character. This is simply an interesting characteristic of certain actors and can have a huge effect on the realism of a show. The same can be said for many other actors that are seen as themselves or the wrong character such as Daniel Radcliffe or Tom Cruise who can’t be in a movie or show without one thinking “hey, that’s Harry Potter.” Overall, this is an important issue within certain shows that is difficult to address but imperative nonetheless.

Gender Representation in European Advertisements

“Jodie Whittaker: Doctor Who’s 13th Time Lord to Be a Woman.” BBC News, BBC, 16 July 2017, www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40624288.

This source is one I was rather excited to use and write about. The central argument is about the 13th regeneration of the Doctor into Jodie Whittaker. This is significant because it will be the first female actress to play the Doctor. The article explains some central concepts of the show and how the change to a female will be new, beneficial, and exciting. There are a few problems as some of the fans or fellow BBC actors or critics have gone against this decision. Saying it feels to forced or they simply don’t like the idea. However, many say, including the 12th Doctor and previous writer, that this has been in the works for a long time. The show was first aired in 1963 so its change throughout the years into what it is now and the articles detailing of it is why this is an important and useful source.

 

Magra, Iliana. “Britain Cracking Down on Gender Stereotypes in Ads.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 July 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/world/europe/britain-ads-gender-stereotypes.html.

This source is the second and final source that is not peer-reviewed. It is written by the New York times about the Britain banning different ads that encourage gender stereotypes. One of the ads that this article focuses on depicts a female baby growing up to become a ballerina and a young boy ending up being a mathematician. The article talks about many ads that set body standards or enforce gender stereotypes that are being banned. The author of the article Iliana Magra talks about the negative effects this can have on a young child’s outlook on life and hurt females self-image. This is an important article because of its focus on the changes being brought about by the UK in response to gender-based advertisements. It illustrates the countries views on these matters and allows for a source that is written for a simpler reader than that of a peer-reviewed source.

 

Kumari, Shyama, and Shraddha Shivani. “A Study on Gender Portrayals in Advertising through the Years: A Review Report.” Journal of Research in Gender Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 2012, pp. 54-63. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1347635154?accountid=11107.

This source is peer-reviewed and written as an overview of gender portrayals in advertising in several different countries. A central argument through the source is that gender portrayal should be observed as a whole instead of looking at it based on individual countries. This of course goes against my groups project on international gender portrayal in television. Though this article is still worthwhile. The article talks of too much focus on printed advertisement as opposed to television ads which is what my group is doing. The article talks of gender stereotypes that occur in adverts no matter the country or continent whether in the US, UK, Korea, or Australia. This article in particular speaks of women being displayed as mere objects of sex and servitude in some countries advertisements. It also shows and speaks of research data on the past 4 decades of adverts throughout Europe, America, and Asia. Overall, the previous research data alone makes this article useful towards the gender portrayal project.

 

Furnham, Adrian, Matte Babitzkow, and Smerelda Uguccioni. “Gender Stereotyping in Television Advertisements: A Study of French and Danish Television.”Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, vol. 126, no. 1, 2000, pp. 79-104. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/231505739?accountid=11107.

This source is a full scientific experiment. It starts out with a hypothesis that French television would have more gender stereotyping than Danish television. The results found were that France had about the same amount of stereotypes per advert, with 165 being studied, as the average country does in their advertisements. The experiment was correct in saying France would have more as Danish advertisements had lower stereotyping among 151 adverts than most other countries. The paper explains some background to the role of advertisements and how feminists view them. It is up for debate whether adverts deliberately enforce gender stereotypes through its messages, but nonetheless the effect is negative. It talks of only 13% of adverts showing women in the workplace. They also noted that gender stereotypes decrease when the advertisement is aimed at children. Overall the comparison of stereotypes between two European countries and the subsequent comparison of that data to studies done on other continents makes this source beneficial to the purpose of the project and can be used as a valuable resource.   

 

 

Bush, Bianca, and Adrian Furnham. “Gender Jenga: The Role of Advertising in Gender Stereotypes within Educational and Non-Educational Games.” Young Consumers, vol. 14, no. 3, 2013, pp. 216-229. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1430565522?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/YC-11-2012-00324.

At first the title of this study may be slightly misleading but the study is about advertisements for children and children games in relation to gender stereotyping. Specifically, this focuses on British children’s advertisements and the UK’s displayance of its gender stereotypes. Similar to one of the previous sources, it is a study that analyzes 130 commercials from UK television. The study had nine hypothesis that were tested, most of which were supported by the study. Some include males being the main character of educational adverts, female-only casts of female oriented adverts, and young boys typically being alone while young girls often had another girl with them. It spouts off some statistics about the average amount of ads per hour, how much kids watch television in the UK, and how many households have a television set in the UK. This just focuses on the UK as opposed to many European countries so it might not be quite as useful as a few of the other sources.

 

 

Whitelock, Jeryl, and Delia Jackson. “Women in TV Advertising: A Comparison between the UK and France.” European Business Review, vol. 97, no. 6, 1997, pp. 294-305. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/225423500?accountid=11107.

This is a study done on how women are shown in advertisements on UK television and in French television. It focuses on the women’s roles in each of the countries adverts. This is an analysis done of several already completed studies done individually on French and British television advertisements. The studies begin in 1971 and continue onward until recent times. This gives a good feel of the change of television throughout the years as it has become more progressive than what it was in 1971. However, there are still gender stereotypes on newer advertisements and enforcement of gender roles. Some examples of this include the majority of main characters in adverts being male and any voice overs being almost always done by a man. One interesting data point was that France did have a slightly larger majority of female main characters among adverts, however this is only due to beauty products and sex appeal which is no better than the opposite and enforces certain beauty standards among women. Therefore, the new types of data in this study makes it a fine addition to the sources for the project.

AKA 99 Friends and How They’re Written

This is based off the fourth episode of Jessica Jones titled “AKA 99 Friends.” The credited writer of this series is Hilly Hicks, Jr. who has also written The Big C, Chicago Fire, and Pasadena. However the show is based off of Marvel comics so the writer is writing based off of someone else’s ideas, characters, and themes. Jessica Jones the comic was written/created by Brian Michael Bendis. The show gives credit to the comics and Stan Lee for the whole program. The dialogue is based around a slight New York City dialect and the inner voice of Jessica Jones. The only voice over is the thoughts of Jessica Jones during times of quiet, transitions, and pauses. This allows the viewer into the troubled mind of Jones and doesn’t create a weird silence while she stalks people. Also, it helps keep you keep up with what is going on and what issues Jessica Jones is going through with her PTSD.

I just thought this was a good and humorous addition to this otherwise dreary topic.

In this episode there are times of character silence that is used to allow the viewer to hear Jessica’s thoughts. Times of complete silence are almost always filled with tension or sadness, generally negative emotions. In this episode, it allows you to see a tear roll down Jessica’s face after the betrayal of a friend. Silence is also used for times of sleep which often leads to nightmares relating to Jessica’s experiences with Kilgrave. This is a marvel show, therefore there is a big ol’ load of references and allusions to ‘the big green guy’ or events that have taken place in marvel movies or other comics. Another character in the show is Luke Cage, he has his own show and therefore is kind of an allusion in and of itself.

The show Luke Cage that stems from Jessica Jones

The writing of the show is very powerful in its underlying messages about modern issues that are made apparent by using an issue in the show as a reference to a real world issue such as racism. Plus, I just like the way Jessica Jones is written as a bad ass character who pretends to not care and usually doesn’t.

Intro,ductory; Post:

Hello fellow bloggers and GT students, my name is Kaleb with a K. It is fully Kaleb Gauntt but I have to say with a K so often it might as well be a part of it. I am from Savannah, Georgia. Well, I am sort of from Savannah; I was born in Kentucky and I lived the longest in Anderson, South Carolina, but I have also lived in Missouri and North Carolina. I am a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineer who should, but probably won’t, graduate in 2022.

This is the only English class I have taken and will take at Tech as I got my English 1 credit in high school. I, have always, had difficulty; with commas and punctuation, of that sort. I am not so good at speaking English either, at least around others. I do love reading and creative writing, but only by my own will, I generally resent assigned reading and writing because it takes half of the fun out of it. I do hope that I can improve my ability to publicly speak, but I fear, there is not any, hope, with my use of co,mmas and sentence structure. I’ve also been told that I often use passive voice–which is apparently a bad thing–while writing which I find to be a made up concept thrust upon me in the 11th grade.

As far as TV goes, I am a binger. I have binged long shows such as Doctor Who and Supernatural in a matter of weeks. I do try to stay up to date on shows I have caught up on like the Flash, D-Who, or Boku no Hero Academia. Which brings us to another point of my TV lifestyle, I am an anime fanatic. I have watched over 30 anime within the last 2 years and I’m constantly watching more. Though my favorite “TV show” is a web series put out by the production company, Rooster Teeth.

A darker super hero story focusing on a bad ass female hero.

For my TV show, I chose Jessica Jones. It is a show about a lesser known marvel hero who has powers and does super hero stuff. I chose Jessica Jones for two reasons: I have wanted to watch it and I have already watched all of Super Girl.

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