A Diva vs. A Champion

 From: Nate

The subtopic that I chose was the representations of femininity and masculinity in media, and according to “The Two Cultures of Childhood”, the media presents femininity as “soft, nice, and passive” and masculinity as “rough, tough, active”. The comparison of the men’s and women’s titles that were both in the WWE and how they are presented, show this. For the diva’s championship, the way we are looking down at the title, conveys that it doesn’t mean as much as the men’s one, presenting itself as “passive”. While the men’s one is looking down on the camera, presenting itself as superior and greater. The image of the Diva’s title being smaller, at the bottom, and pushed to side renders it obsolete, while the men’s is large and on top. The bright lighting behind the men’s title also presents itself as “God-like” or as something prestigious. Finally, even though the Diva’s title takes up more of the picture, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is presented as important, as since it is so close it gets portrayed as something that it is easy to grab or achieve. While for the men’s title, the perspective and the distance of the title from the camera presents the prize as one you have to reach or work towards to get it, making the prize more valuable.

Now, just comparing the titles, the fact that the women’s title is called the “Divas” title presents the idea to girls that they are supposed to act like a diva, which is commonly referred to as women who are known solely for their body and not as much for their intelligence. The title itself is also exceedingly small, conveying that you also have to fit a certain waist band to be considered successful. The butterfly plate presents women as being innocent or “soft and nice” and the heavy pink and bedazzlement of the title also presents common gender stereotypes of women. Finally, the fact that the women’s title has the gender labeled while the men’s championship just says “champion”, conveys the idea that the women’s title is a secondary prize and is gender exclusive. 

Through the use of camera work, and the titles themselves, it can be conveyed that according to the WWE (a PG rated show made for children), a huge source of media, femininity is about being girly, dainty, pink, and small, and as long your pretty, you’ll be successful, while masculinity is meaningful, large, and something that someone should live there life like.