KROPPSIDEAL, MEDIER OCH KVINNLIG REPRESENTATION. En kritisk diskursanalys av kvinnors representation i Smalast vinner

Sammanfattning

Media plays a major role in both depicting and creating the world in which we live in throughdiscourses. Women in media have often been marginalized and stereotyped in their depictionin media texts, which has consequently led to women feeling they need to live up the idealsset by the media.The purpose of this study is to investigate the way in which women and body idealsare depicted in the feminist documentary film Smalast vinner, by the Swedish publicservice-broadcaster SVT, to add to the work of previous studies as well as bring attention tothe need of a wider variety of female representation. The theory used for this study is acritical discourse analysis, as defined by Norman Fairclough (1995), which centers languageand discourse as vital factors when analysing media texts. In addition, Schippers’ (2007)article in which she develops the term hegemonic femininity will be used as a complement inorder to get a better understanding of the structural factors in play. The method will also bethe critical discourse analysis which will give structure and a theoretical base for the analysis.The study found that women in the documentary were placed in one or more of threeroles: conscious critic, involuntary victim and reckless promoters of ideals. The ideals on theother hand were depicted as being omnipresent, impossible to avoid, exclusively female, aswell as being illustrated as having no apparent roots.This study provides more insight to how women's media representation is shifting tobe more diverse while still holding on to some traditional reiterations. The findings of thisstudy add on to previous studies made on representation of women and body ideals in themedia by exploring how the two coincide in a public service provided documentary. It alsocontributes with an insight into how gender structures are beginning to shift through thedepiction of women in media, showing that women take on a combination of complex roles,rather than just the traditional ones that we are used to seeing represented.