Tuesday, 13 October 2015

'How does the article inform and entertain its reader?’



'Jennifer Lawrence: "I'm fed up with having to negotiate for same wages as male Hollywood stars"'



Don’t call me stereotypical, but the first thing that caught my attention in this article was the headlines huge famous name drop- Jennifer Lawrence. I pride myself in being different, not conforming to societies need for the admiration of popular celebrities, but I’d be lying if I said that I was completely oblivious to the names and statuses of these idols. I’m not a real watcher of popular movies, however I had to succumb to the pressure and force myself to watch ‘the hunger games’ and form my opinion on what everyone just simply couldn’t stop talking about. At first glance at such a popular name, I rolled my eyes making the assumption that it was probably going to be something pointless like boy drama etc., however I was shocked as I read on that it was leading to the controversial topic of feminism.

The headline was clever I must say, as it catches the attention of all sorts of people. Some will become interested at the mention of a celebrity, but others (like me) will be drawn in by the talk of something that has been socially debated throughout history. I was definitely shocked to realise that not all celebrities’ brains are focused on fame, money and relationships and found myself respecting the angle to which Jennifer Lawrence was coming from. This article informs us that even female celebrities have gender struggles, and that just because you’re well known throughout the world does not mean you can shake off the inequalities between men and women. 

I have been studying the topic of feminism and gender differences in my sociology lessons, which is also why I believe I have engaged with this article. Feminism and inequality is such an interesting subject, and by linking it with a well-known actor this article will help more people become aware of this aggravating problem. Being a female myself, I completely agree with Jennifer Lawrence’s outrage at being treated as of less importance than her male co-workers. This article entertains the reader by challenging the professional worlds decisions to give less money to females, and gets the reader(whether they are male or female) to really think and try to understand where all of this has stemmed from. Why do women earn less money? It can’t be that they do less important work, or that they don’t work as hard as men surely? Rhetorical questions like these will be playing through the readers head continuously throughout this article, and will help let people form their own opinions on the topic of feminism and the problems women face today. 

The writer forms negative associations with women and lexis like ‘difficult’, and ‘spoiled’. This pushes the idea that women are actually treated differently to men, and sometimes in a derogatory way. In a way this article questions societies assumptions on women, as later on it discusses how Lawrence is ‘over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state her opinion and still be like-able’ and talks about how she had made a stand and fought back for women’s rights, when she ‘spoke her mind and gave her opinion in a clear way; no aggression, just blunt’ to a man she worked with, and was treated as if she had said something offensive. She talked about how if a man does it he is respected, and not judged, and by using these anecdotes the reader starts to try and empathise with the star.

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