GCST1603: Screen Cultures and Gender - Social Media & Tech Analysis

This report examines the evolving landscape of screen cultures, focusing on the intersection of gender, social media, and digital technology. It analyzes the portrayal of action heroines in film, exploring how their representation challenges traditional gender roles and how they are depicted as more robust and technologically enhanced compared to their male counterparts. The report also delves into the impact of social media, particularly the influence of selfies and influencers on shaping perceptions of self-curation, self-branding, and gendered labor. Furthermore, it explores the role of digital technology, including wearable devices and mobile applications, in self-tracking and its implications for individual behavior and societal norms. The analysis draws on various academic articles and studies to provide a comprehensive understanding of these complex relationships and their implications for contemporary society. The report also explores the ideas of gender construction and its impact because of deconstruction and the role of digital technology in the future of film reception and cinematic production.

Answer to Week 4:
The “action heroines” are found to be more robust, smarter and better enhanced with
equipment as compared to male counterparts. They have turned to be strong female
protagonists in different action films. Here, a critical reason why various action
heroines are complicated in order to conceptualize as strong feminine characteristics
are seen as a binaristic logic of various theoretical models. Here, for example,
feminists are found to be working under a dominant theoretical model of effective
psychoanalysis. They have highly limited space under which the transgressive and
transformative potential of action heroine is considered.
The study mentions that characterization of a body has been asserting more positive
kind of difference which is non-hierarchical in nature. This is on different negatively
binary models. It also is shown that as the body is re-conceptualized according to a
site of transformation and experimentation, indicates that the body of women can be
imagined outside various notions. The assemblage of words like “heroine” and
“action” has been changed the different nature of structures. Further, this has been
exceeding the limits of the essentializing system of genders. However, contrary to this
idea of male-female distinction has been constraining different kinds of multiplicity of
difference-making that has led to subjectivity. Moreover, the present study shows that
the women body living with its total potential has not been organized as per specific
organs. It is seen as a body without organs comprised instead if various independent
body parts. This is referred to as “desiring machines: connecting and reconnecting

with other objects, elements and devices seen from various frames of references for
creating specific kind of assemblages.
The author shows that from a Deleuzian point of view, it has made no sense of
reading technology. This can be compared to a gun as a fixed referent for a phallus.
Instead, it is also understood that as one of the vital elements of machine, the
connection between the hand of a woman forming the assemblage of a gun. However,
it has no connection with attempted compensation for the initial lack instead of
activity producing a new body. Here, the transformation has taken place while the
repetition is replaced through a difference of dynamic assemblage of various forces
and elements. Since these assemblages are never restrained through expectations
about proper connections and behaviors, they are related to contesting ideas of fixed
subjectivity and gendered identity. Thus instead of a situation of mere being, Deleuze
has pointed the concept of “becoming” the process of transformation. This is further
created as the body that disconnects from various kinds of habituated modes of
features of thinking and acting. This is in favor of changing and multiple means of
experimentation.
Thus the study highlights those female bodies over the screen can act as compared to
action heroes. Apart from seeing the reaction of feminine shape as literal, an action
heroine can be interpreted as a visual metaphor for academic and career success. They
have taken pleasure to see women to be successful despite any adversity. It has
revealed that post-feminist sensibilities have promoted action heroines successful in

various intellectual arenas. At the same time, discipline action heroines have rendered
them unbelievable as a reliable and physically powerful human (Hills, 1999).
Answer to Week 5:
In this article, Teresa de Lauretis has indicated overall four type of propositions. Here,
the first proposition states that “gender” is a type of representation. However, it
cannot be said that it never had any real and concrete implication in both subjective
and social consideration. This is for the material life of individual people. For
example, in the image captured in transformative instant in Metropolis, as the metallic
robot Maria goy infused with screen format has been small. Further, it was not been
based on projection. Thus the deployed interactivity changed to spectator to user
(Friedberg, 2010).
The next proposition is that representation of gender can be seen as its construction.
At the purest sense, it is said that among every high culture and Western art, this is
engraving the history of building. It is a process and product of representation. It has
never equated genders with impacts of ideology. It has seemed that singular history of
cinema, in spite of any dovetailing constipation like computer, television, radio,
telephone has provided a narrowly developed geneology. As the area of “information
science” is considered, and never been the part of understanding visual culture, the
history of computer and telephone has turned into notable tributaries at converging
stream of media. Thus, analytical engine of Charles Babbage has been seen as the
notable remaking of visual imagery. This is a mechanical precursor onwards modern

day digital computing to store numbers, retrieving that, change that and store in other
location. Besides, phenakistiscope of Plateau, any optical toy regarded as primary pre-
cinematic tools has demonstrated the way in which movements are examined to those
static elements. This has been seen as a moving image while seen through slits of any
spinning disk.
Again, the third proposition indicates that gender construction has been going on
busily. Since the subject of studying movies is found to redefine itself, they have been
revising the internal historical accounts and creating the area to evolving multiplicities
of visual and cultural studies. Here, most of work has been coincident with campaign
for academic legitimacy of researching movies. This has been as a republic separate
from the initial disciplinary overlords.
Lastly, the fourth proposition reveals that gender construction has been impacted
because of deconstruction, paradoxically (De Lauretis, 1987). The subject of film
studies has found to redefine itself. This has been revising their internal historical
accounts and then open up the area to rise in multiplicity o. However as latest
technologies has been creating future of film reception and cinematic production, it
has required to assert their individual historicity. As some indicators of where latest
technologies would take genders discrimination, there is still no clear idea of what
would be the sustainable innovation are market terms. As the present display media
and storage is seen as a transitional technology, films and other visual materials has
been moving on line. Hence this the more apparent that with the quickness of radical

and rapid transformations, the technological scenarios are never been theorized
conclusively. This idea of film history has re-conceptualized the technology of
genders under the light of those changes in technology. Further, assumptions
regarding spectatorship has lost their different kinds of theoretical pinions as the
screens are found to be changing.
Answer to Week 10:
From the analysis of the done from the interpretations of the several literary articles, it
has been observed that the social media plays a major role in defining the day to day
activities of youth both male and female. References shows that the social media is
one of the greatest influencer in the modern days (Abidin, 2016). One of the prime
aspects by which the social media is covered up in the present day conditions is the
posting of numerous selfies. The selfies act as one of the great influencers considering
the modern day conditions. The selfies work as one of the greatest influencers in the
motivating mass with the support of social media.
It is a matter of great concern that the Influencers often try portray their impact on the
common people with their gendered labor for reaping the benefits that are in to their
money making abilities and self actualization. Evidences show that although there are
is a generic bypassing of the frivolous approaches, the gendered labor of the
Influencers is facilitated with several ways by which they are able to depict their
affordances on the social media, hopes of female businesspersons, the power of the
camera along with the depictions of genuineness (Driscoll & Gregg, 2010).

The social media in the country of Singapore is mostly covered up with Influencers
that are mostly micro-celebrities who started as the business oriented bloggers in the
online platforms that included LiveJournal, Blogger and the Word Press. The
commercial lifestyle bloggers are mostly a group consisting of tender aged females
between the age ranges of 18 to 35 years, in which the Influencer Labor is a self-
developed process. The followers of these bloggers are mainly young people among
which 70% are female and 30% are male followers. This is in evidence to the fact that
the fan following of these bloggers has risen recently as the micro-celebrities played
the role of an Influencer with their posting of the selfies. These selfies happens to be
the greatest motivators of all time among the young generation of male and female
(Chua & Chang, 2016).
The selfies are considered as the gendered screen culture because it influences both
the masses of men and women through a collection of several entities. The urge of
clicking the selfies and simply posting them on social networking websites such as
Instagram and Facebook is mostly governed by several factors such as self-curation,
perceived expectations, audience assessments and apparent authenticity. The selfies
are generally taken for the purpose of authentic self-branding. As the selfies are one
of the greatest influencers, the selfies of several micro celebrities are considered as the
ideal status of mark (Murray, 2015). The Instagram is one of the greatest platform for
the representation of the selfies by the Influencers. It helps the people to meet the
purpose according to structure of demands. Although several selfies in Instagram

often prove to be a sense of conflicting representations that are mostly known for the
separation of the brands.
Answer to week 11:
Digital technology has developed over the years for quite a couple of years. As the
science and the technology is getting advanced, more number of technologies are
being developed and the human lives are being benefitted from the results of these
technologies. The development of new ideas has garnered a sense of desire of gaining
new knowledge among the people of different cultures (Dalmasso et al., 2013). The
new technologies have been able to deliver the needs of the human beings considering
their present needs. This is the reason that the human lives haven facilitated to a
greater extent with the involvement of new technologies in the market. The people are
relying on the new advancements to meet their objectives so that the integrity of the
knowledge about the scientific methods can be kept intact.
On number of occasions it has been seen that the internet and the mobile applications
play vital role in setting up the frame of mind of the individuals. As the thought
processes are contradictory for different individuals, the mobile applications are
designed in such a manner that are able to meet the needs of the human beings with
the requirement of a minimum effort. The human interfaces of the applications are
designed with in the context of the involvement of ideologies of average human
beings (Hoehle & Venkatesh, 2015). The applications are user oriented for which they
are able to deliver with the requirements of the users with the use of slightest of

interactions. The media delivered through the help of the modern day mobile
applications are designated towards serving every need of a user within the same
domain. This is the region that highly contradicts to the media that was delivered to
the users of the traditional period.
In the traditional days the technology was not developed to this extent. This is the
reason for which the devices involving human persona were usually imperative in
nature. The devices used in the traditional days served only the single purpose of the
users (Crawford, Lingel & Karppi, 2015). This is the same reason for which the older
day media were unable to serve the audiences with the necessities. The present day
mobile applications serves every need of the users with a various range of
information.
One of such evidences include the weighing machine of the traditional and the
modern media. In previous days, there was only the existence of the analogous
weighing instrument that was helpful in the measurement of weight. However, with
the modern day applications relating to measurement of weights, the applications
serves with information in addition to the methods of measurement. Modern day
applications are specific and not generic in delivering the approaches. Besides
measuring weight, it acts as a weight tracking device and also helps in providing
guidance through which the weight can be easily tracked thereby providing a great
source of information (Schüll, 2016). This shows that the developed critical

approaches for the older media has become ineffective and to provide any sort of
assistance to the new media thus becoming obsolete with the passage of time.

References
Week 4:
Hills, E. (1999). From ‘figurative males’ to action heroines: Further thoughts on
active women in the cinema. Screen, 40(1), 38-50.
Week 5:
Abidin, C. (2016). “Aren’t these just young, rich women doing vain things online?”:
Influencer selfies as subversive frivolity. Social Media+ Society, 2(2),
2056305116641342.
Chua, T. H. H., & Chang, L. (2016). Follow me and like my beautiful selfies:
Singapore teenage girls’ engagement in self-presentation and peer comparison
on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 190-197.
De Lauretis, T. (1987). The technology of gender. In Technologies of gender (pp. 1-
30). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Driscoll, C., & Gregg, M. (2010). My profile: The ethics of virtual
ethnography. Emotion, Space and Society, 3(1), 15-20.
Friedberg, A. (2010). The end of cinema: multimedia and technological change.
Murray, D. C. (2015). Notes to self: the visual culture of selfies in the age of social
media. Consumption Markets & Culture, 18(6), 490-516.

Week 10:
Abidin, C. (2016). “Aren’t these just young, rich women doing vain things online?”:
Influencer selfies as subversive frivolity. Social Media+ Society, 2(2),
2056305116641342.
Driscoll, C., & Gregg, M. (2010). My profile: The ethics of virtual
ethnography. Emotion, Space and Society, 3(1), 15-20.
Chua, T. H. H., & Chang, L. (2016). Follow me and like my beautiful selfies:
Singapore teenage girls’ engagement in self-presentation and peer comparison on
social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 190-197.
Murray, D. C. (2015). Notes to self: the visual culture of selfies in the age of social
media. Consumption Markets & Culture, 18(6), 490-516.
Week 11:
Dalmasso, I., Datta, S. K., Bonnet, C., & Nikaein, N. (2013, July). Survey,
comparison and evaluation of cross platform mobile application development
tools. In Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference
(IWCMC), 2013 9th International (pp. 323-328). IEEE.
Hoehle, H., & Venkatesh, V. (2015). Mobile Application Usability: Conceptualization
and Instrument Development. Mis Quarterly, 39(2).

Crawford, K., Lingel, J., & Karppi, T. (2015). Our metrics, ourselves: A hundred
years of self-tracking from the weight scale to the wrist wearable
device. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 18(4-5), 479-496.
Schüll, N. D. (2016). Data for life: Wearable technology and the design of self-
care. BioSocieties, 11(3), 317-333.