Society - The Codes of Gender

Written and directed by MEF Executive Director Sut Jhally, The Codes of Gender applies the late sociologist Erving Goffmans groundbreaking analysis of advertising to the contemporary commercial landscape, showing how one of American popular cultures most influential forms communicates normative ideas about masculinity and femininity. In striking visual detail, The Codes of Gender explores Goffmans central claim that gender ideals are the result of ritualized cultural performance, uncovering a remarkable pattern of masculine and feminine displays and poses. It looks beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that focus on biological difference or issues of objectification and beauty, to provide a clear-eyed view of the two-tiered terrain of identity and power relations.