Framing To Get Results

As a communication major concentrating in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building I have been introduced to the framing theory. After this week in class I was exposed to situations where the framing theory could possibly be applied to better shape ideas on gender. My worldview brought me to the question :

CAN USING THE FRAMING THEORY BE THE CHANGE THEY WISH TO SEE?

The framing theory can be applied as a solution to fix and create positive images for the LGBTQ culture and re create gender norms for the society that we presently live in.  Because of the media we have encountered problems like toxic masculinity, gender hierarchies, and cultures are not properly recognized (such as: women, LGBTQ community and men).

The concept of framing is very important when it comes to getting the results that you desire. I also plan to discuss framing in organizations and how that can be used to get a message “across and through” to the audience. Like the picture frame that holds a picture, framing theory also shows a specific picture to a certain audience in a much larger realm. While researching I came across a website on mass communication theory and I saw that they had used model from the book The Art of Framing by Gail Fairhurst and Robert Sarr. 

Using Framing techniques per Fairhurst and Sarr (1996): 

▪    Metaphor: To frame a conceptual idea through comparison to something else.

▪    Stories (myths, legends): To frame a topic via narrative in a vivid and memorable way.

▪    Tradition (rituals, ceremonies): Cultural mores that imbue significance in the mundane, closely tied to artifacts.

▪    Slogan, jargon, catchphrase: To frame an object with a catchy phrase to make it more memorable and relate-able.

▪    Artifact: Objects with intrinsic symbolic value – a visual/cultural phenomenon that holds more meaning than the object it self.

▪    Contrast: To describe an object in terms of what it is not.

▪    Spin: to present a concept in such a ways as to convey a value judgement (positive or negative) that might not be immediately apparent; to create an inherent bias by definition. 

The Bechtel test is a creative tool to start shaping how we view women; it can also work with race (if applied). As a human we want to know how much underrepresented a woman can skew our perception of reality. Now that I am aware of this, I am starting to see how much women are really underrepresented.

When two women talk to each other for more than a minute about things other than men and relationships, this really does give more quality to the women characters.

After watching Bridesmaids in this class, I saw how this movie did a pretty good job shaping characters and giving the women in the film more qualities to them.

Last week we talked about transgender, the Bechtel test and hegemony.

Transgender and framing

An issue that I have noticed, that has to do with how the transgender community is framed is the bathroom issue. There are a lot more problems that people could worry about in society than where someone has to use the bathroom. It was a good law that was passed but the focus has been more on the negative than the positive.

I use this as an example because the media is choosing to cover these hateful stories are being presented, instead of the media outlets putting another view on its viewers. It seems like they are feeding into the frenzy about bathrooms because this talk is in the newspaper and in the news when you watch it. 

The positive in this rule was supposed to be gender equality

The negative backlash is discrimination that others are placing on people

This could be advertisement for that Christian boycott group to link up because of the media outlet covering. Target has always welcomed the transgender community but recently when Pres. Obama passed that law; they publicly announced that you can use the bathroom that you identify with your gender.

I think others took this out of context and started to get really hateful calling that community all types of names that aren’t true. This has to do with the framing theory because we as humans act on what we know and have been shown. With the framing very and tools like the Bechtel test, society's perceptions of people can be changed.

This is a funny video that I saw that is a response to the hateful bathroom boycotts!

The Bechtel Test

The Bechdel Test was created by Alison Bechdel in 1985 in her comic ‘dykes to watch out for’. Movies are tested on three aspects. 1) There are two women 2) who talk to each other 3) about something other than a man. The comic was written as a joke, but when applied to films it addresses a much bigger picture of gender and racial discrepancies within films in Hollywood.

This idea is similar to framing but is a set of guidelines that make the presence of a woman and to call attention to gender inequality in fiction due to sexism.

I believe with consistent practice using the Bechtel test our perception of women will be shaped differently, because of the opportunities to express the more woman qualities than the masculine.

Using the Bechtel test and some elements of the framing theory directors can have the two women characters tell more meaningful stories, thus breaking the traditional masculine movie themes.

Hegemony

In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity is a concept popularized by sociologist R.W. Connell of proposed practices that promote the dominant social position of men, and the subordinate social position of women.

I think that this is an interesting term and is frequently use with political power or ethnicities, but can also relate to gender. Knowing this and being aware of this would definitely be beneficial - when you are the messenger and the message.

This leads me to ask is hegemony the result of falsely framing?

Gender performativity is a term created by post-structuralist feminist philosopher Judith Butler in her 1990 book Gender Trouble, which has subsequently been used in a variety of academic fields.

What is performativity?

Performativity is a term for the capacity of speech and communication to not simply communicate but rather act or consummate an action, or to construct and perform an identity.

In her book Gender Troubles she argues that gender is not natural or inherent but it is constructed. From the moment a parent finds out she is having a girl or a boy; they start buying gender specific materials for the baby. Then when the child is growing up we tell them that they should act like a man/woman. We all have unique personalities that gender or sex will not define, so gender norms aren't always true for each individual.

A parent telling their child how they should act is framing the child using all the elements of framing. Ultimately this is shaping the behaviors for how a child should act because of his or her gender. Before a child is born you don't know how his or her personality is going to be, so parents have an ideology of how a certain gender should act using metaphors stories and tradition.

An example of this would be: “since you are a boy you can only wear blue, black and red; because all men only wear dark colors like that. You better not cry because only girls cry because they have feelings”

In class

We talked about how “people’s ideology mistake the exception for the rule”. When people confuse what happened for some, as for something that happens for all is just ideology.

Since I know what the framing theory is, I ask myself are messages being falsely framed and can implementing the Bechtel Test in movies and television shows, frame a path to gender equality to its viewers?

There is always going to be a common good amongst us as humans, but practicing these theories and concepts wouldn’t hurt at all. It should actually better inform us about the characters. It is true that women in movies mostly only talk about relationships and are only an object for a male protagonists to advance. Women are also used for their looks which self objectifies them as an object of sexual interest and lessening their intellect.

Knowing the dynamics of the framing theory will be beneficial to gender equality and can reshape the way society views gender.

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