Representation of women in the Alfred Hitchcock interview

Reinforcement of ideology makes society believe something is okay.

Lisbet Van Zoonen - Feminist Theory

Gender is constructed through codes and conventions of media products, and the idea of what is male and what is female over time. Women's bodies are used in media products as a spectacle for heterosexual male audiences, which reinforces patriarchal hegemony.

Spectacle - Something to look at.

Why is there a patriarchal hegemony?

Men might enforce the rules in a patriarchal hegemony, to give them power. If women are weak and subservient then men are powerful and strong.  This supports the feminist theory.

Representation of women in the Alfred Hitchcock interview?

Content, Ideology and Lexis

• He refers to women as 'creatures', this lexis signifies that he believes women are not human, and channels the ideological perspective of the producer, that women are below men. It reinforces the feminist theory, as women are constructed in a different way to men.
• He says that 'I chose an English woman, Alma, for a wife.' The lexis used, particularly upon the word 'chose', further strengthens the idea that women are treated as lesser than men, as he got to choose her, but she didn't have a say. It objectifies her, treating her like an object.
• When speaking about acting, he says that 'sex appeal certainly isn't the private property of the stars', this expands on the idea that women are exposed and exploited for the entertainment of the heterosexual man. This highlights how women in media are purposefully constructed to appeal to the heterosexual man, and are treated in an objectifying manor. 
• The headline of 'Alfred Hitchcock', is bold and in capital letters. This is in sans-serif font, and shows his importance. Sans-serif font has masculine connotations, and is informal. This is symbolic of his power and status in society. This is anchored by the mise-en-scene of the pictures included in the article, where he is photographed wearing a suit. There are four images, which looks like a film strip, acting as symbolic coding for his job as a film director. Because his face is repeated four times in close-up shots, it shows he is important. This reinforces his dominant, patriarchal status.
• However, he is not attractive by hegemonic standards, but he can still get a lot of pictures because he is a man, and therefore deemed more important. This relates back to the idea that men have more power and can change the rules. 
• The symbolic coding of his gesture shows that he is bossy. His facial expression is grumpy. It shows how he looks as if he is in charge.
• The lexis of, 'A born English-man', it shows he has power. Because this magazine is targeted towards an English audience, it shows that he has knowledge and knows what he talks about, therefore he has power and privilege. 
• The pull-quote, 'They're like snow-capped volcanoes', describes British women. This shows racial superiority. This is a simile, personification and objectification. He is showing that women look proper on the outside, but on the inside they have sexual desires.
• In the article, he implies that women have a bad sexual reputation.
• He describes Italian women as 'avidly affectionate', which implies that they are openly 'affectionate'. American women are presented as being headstrong. This shows that by contrast, women from Britain are weak. This is a very xenophobic and extremely sexist.
• The use of the lexis, 'the amount of time I've spent grooming actresses has never been wasted'. This objectifies the women, as 'grooming' has connotations of grooming a pet, and therefore further presents women as sub-human. 
• Alfred Hitchcock would routinely stalk and harass women. Someone refused to sleep with Hitchcock and was blacklisted because of it. She had no more film roles after this. This shows that men have power because of money, influence and patriarchal hegemony. This suggests that this has been allowed to happen, as men have been in charge.
• Women will listen to the advice of Alfred Hitchcock because they will want to be casted by him, and to be seen as attractive. They will want to look like the actresses that they admire such as Grace Kelly.
• Grace Kelly is pictured in a large size across the double page spread. This is because she is viewed as very attractive to hegemonic standards. This gives the target audience a goal, to look like her. She is wearing lots of makeup, and therefore women will believe in order to look like her, women should wear a lot of makeup.
• The preferred reading of this article, is that Alfred Hitchcock is great and therefore admirable due to the amount of power and influence he possesses. Women should be prim, proper, yet also sexually promiscuous. This creates a binary opposition.
• This is the cover story, which indicates it's importance and relevance. The editor of the magazine has decided that this story is the most important. Given that this is the biggest selling women's lifestyle magazine in the UK, they were probably right.
• The dream of many women would be, to be an actress.
• If this came out nowadays, this would be unacceptable, but back then the views in the article were the dominant ideological perspective of society. Attitudes do change over time.

How Does Woman Magazine construct and appeal to it's target audience?

• It talks about the stereotypical interests of women, such as men and therefore aims towards the target audience.
• Women are presented to be obsessed with men, and have their whole world orient around them. It says 'all she has to do is eavesdrop on his conversation with other men', to find out if he cares. This suggests that she has nothing better to do. It also presents women as sneaky and shows that they have bad intentions. 'Eavesdropping' has connotations of being scheming and devious