ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦІЙ МАСКУЛІННИХ ОБРАЗІВ: ДИСКУРСИ СЧАСНИХ ТЕЛЕРЕКЛАМ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ УКРАЇНИ, РОСІЇ ТА ПОЛЬЩІ)

Abstract

This article is concerned with the problem of masculine image creation in modern television commercials. Media, particularly advertising, on the one hand, may become a source of misinformation and stereotyped images, and on the other – the source of formation of new values and behaviors. Research objective is to reveal the main discourses of modern television commercials in Ukraine, Russia and Poland in the context of masculine image creation. Goals: to identify the special aspects of a discursive study of mass media, in particular television advertising; to develop research model of the discursive representation of masculine images in television advertising; to explore ways of presenting the male images in the commercials (in Ukrainian, Polish and Russian television); to compare the results of the research with the others similar. Masculinity can be defined as a system of normative conceptions of man, namely the properties of such basic characteristics as appearance, behavior pattern, life style, interests, values, attitudes, sexual orientation, etc. These and other categories involve compliance with their own psychological gender, the adoption of sex-role stereotypes. Advertising spaces can be considered as a sphere, which has its own discourses, put on an idea and provide values to certain social practices. TV commercials of three countries – Ukraine, Russia and Poland – were analyzed through the use of content analysis and discourse analysis. As a result of the study, four discursive methods of male representation were identified: «Family man», «Businessman», «Seducer», and «Sportsman», masculinity of which is measured through such «nodal points» as features of appearance, values, behavior, emotions, image environment and thematic scope of advertising. There is a competition between different discourses for defining the image of a man. The television is an example of the discourses plurality in the context of masculine image creation. With the help of content analysis, we managed to discover that we often watch on a television of all three countries the image of «Family man». The generalization of the highest percentages of all detailed and covered categories allowed us to highlight a typical male image. On the Ukrainian television, the image of a man in advertising is associated, usually, with rest, casual style, crew cut, athletic build, with expression of social values and consumer behavior, hedonistic and communicative emotions. In the Russian TV advertising the image of a man is as follows: on vacation, casual style, sport hairstyle, athletic build, giving preference to social values and a demonstration of consumer behavior, expression of hedonistic and communicative emotions. For Polish television, the typical image is: a man surrounded by a family, casual style, with classical hair style, athletic build, with an expression of social values and comfort behavior, communicative and practical emotions. Based on the results of our study, we note that Ukrainian and Russian TV advertising discourses can be characterized as traditional, but in Poland we observe ambiguousness, namely the conflict between traditional and liberal discourse. Key words: gender, masculinity, mass media, television advertising, discourse