Gender is a constantly debated subject, especially within the world of sports. The representation of athletes in the media is dominated by the males. It is often that the athletes are portrayed on the basis of their sex and gender. With the extreme skiing being a new and modern sport, should it not be autonomous from gender? This study aims to examine whether and if so how the cover design differ between female and male extreme skiing athletes and how it affects the professional skiers. A semiotic analysis was used on the covers of the Swedish skier’s magazine Åka Skidor and interviews were held with some of Sweden’s professional extreme skiers using a hermeneutic approach. The theoretical framework used for this study was poststructuralism, poststructuralist feminism and gender theory. The semiotic analysis showed that there is in fact a difference in both representation and how the skiers are portrayed on the covers of Åka Skidor. The interviews that were held resulted in three themes to answer the aim of this study. They were; the climate of extreme skiing, extreme skiing in media and the future of extreme skiing. The skiers had acknowledged that there is a difference between females and males when it comes to media representation and how they are portrayed. Although the explanation for this differs between the skiers they all mentioned the power of sponsors and sponsorship. However; the issue with athletes being portrayed and represented different based on their gender is not important enough to debate within the world of extreme skiing today. Therefore, it can be concluded that extreme skiing will probably not be autonomous from gender in the near future.

This intersectional study explores how the social constructed categories gender and ethnicity interact with each other in photos picturing Swedish athletes. The studies empirical material is collected from the sport section of the biggest Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, and was published during the period 23rd of November, 2012 to 23rd of November, 2015. The photos has been analyzed with a semiotic analysis which establishes that there are discriminating differences in how the athletes are being portraited. The most comprehensive differences are found between the groups ethnical Swedish men and ethnical non-Swedish women.

Problem statement and purpose of the study: The picture and the visual presentation have an increased importance in news media today. Which means that politicians visual frames can have a great impact on the readers and therefore on the outcome of an election. The purpose of this study is to examine the visual framing of the american presidential candidates of the 2016 election, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, to see if there is any sign of stereotyping or personalising, and if the candidate’s gender matters. Women and men have been framed differently by the news media in the past. Men has often been portrayed as the normative politician, while women been portrayed as the female politician. Method: This essay is written by a qualitative method and is the result of semiotic analysis of 16 pictures from the swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet. Eight of the analyzed pictures show Donald Trump and the other eight show Hillary Clinton. We analyzed the pictures by denotation and connotation. Main result: Our results showed some significant differences in the visual framing of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump is portrayed as an more threatening and serious manner while Hillary Clinton’s framing shows a more emotional and encouraging politician. We also found stereotyping in the visual framing, but not so much personalising. The two candidates gender was for the most part clear in the framing. Hillary Clinton’s frames were those of a woman and Donald Trump’s those of a man. There were differences in the two newspapers visual framing, but they were not as clear as the ones between Trump and Clinton.

Esta tese é sobre o preconceito e intolerância contra a homossexualidade, a partir da análise semiótica de depoimentos de mães heterossexuais e de filhos homossexuais, brasileiros. O trabalho divide-se em introdução, quatro capítulos principais, conclusão, bibliografia e anexos. Na introdução, delineou-se o contexto externo em que se desenvolve a dificuldade de aceitação das mães heterossexuais a seus filhos homossexuais e um apanhado geral do trabalho. O contexto interno foi considerado como o resultado do cruzamento comparativo de centenas de depoimentos analisados, de mães e filhos. Utilizou-se, como embasamento teórico, a semiótica de tradição francesa e seu instrumental de análise e a tese divide-se como segue: O primeiro capítulo traz a metodologia que foi utilizada e os objetivos do trabalho. O principal objetivo foi analisar como são construídos os discursos de rejeição e/ou os discursos de aceitação da homossexualidade de filhos por suas mães, heterossexuais. Em contrapartida, foram analisados os discursos dos filhos. O segundo capítulo tratou do preconceito, de mães e dos filhos, anterior à descoberta da homossexualidade. No terceiro e quarto capítulos da tese, relacionou-se o percurso discursivo passional de rejeição/aceitação das mães à sua influência no percurso passional de autoaceitação dos filhos e levantou-se os principais tipos de paixões e ações apaixonadas que esses discursos manifestam. Examinou-se também a organização discursivo-passional e da enunciação de milhares de depoimentos, relacionando texto e contexto via enunciação. A partir disso, foi feito o levantamento de semelhanças e diferenças qualitativas, entre os percursos de aceitação das mães a seus filhos homossexuais, na última década (2001 a 2010). / This dissertation deals with prejudice and intolerance against homosexuality, based on the semiotic analysis of statements of Brazilian heterosexual mothers of homosexual sons and daughters. The study is divided in an introduction, four main chapters, conclusion, bibliographic references and addenda. The introduction discusses the external context in which mothers develop a difficulty in accepting the homosexuality of their sons, and an outline of the whole dissertation. The internal context of the problem, on the other hand, is taken to be the outcome of the comparison of hundreds of statements, by mothers and sons. French semiotic theory was used as the theoretical background for the analysis and the dissertation is divided as follows: The first chapter lays out the methodology used and the objectives of this study. The main objective was to analyze how rejection and/or acceptance discourses are constructed with respect to the homosexuality of their sons by their heterosexual mothers. In tandem, the discourses of homosexual sons and daughters were analyzed. The second chapter deals with prejudice, from the perspective of mothers and sons, preceding the unveiling of homosexuality. The third and forth chapter explain the relation between the rejection/acceptance passional discoursive trajectory of the mothers and the autoacceptance passional trajectory of the sons. There, the main kinds of passions and passionate actions that are manifested in the discourses are listed and discussed. Other objects of inquiry are the discoursive-passional organization and the enunciation of thousands of statements, relating text and context through the enunciation. Based on that, the study maps the qualitative similarities and differences between the trajectories of acceptance by mothers of their homosexual sons in the first decade of the XXI century.

Esta tese é sobre o preconceito e intolerância contra a homossexualidade, a partir da análise semiótica de depoimentos de mães heterossexuais e de filhos homossexuais, brasileiros. O trabalho divide-se em introdução, quatro capítulos principais, conclusão, bibliografia e anexos. Na introdução, delineou-se o contexto externo em que se desenvolve a dificuldade de aceitação das mães heterossexuais a seus filhos homossexuais e um apanhado geral do trabalho. O contexto interno foi considerado como o resultado do cruzamento comparativo de centenas de depoimentos analisados, de mães e filhos. Utilizou-se, como embasamento teórico, a semiótica de tradição francesa e seu instrumental de análise e a tese divide-se como segue: O primeiro capítulo traz a metodologia que foi utilizada e os objetivos do trabalho. O principal objetivo foi analisar como são construídos os discursos de rejeição e/ou os discursos de aceitação da homossexualidade de filhos por suas mães, heterossexuais. Em contrapartida, foram analisados os discursos dos filhos. O segundo capítulo tratou do preconceito, de mães e dos filhos, anterior à descoberta da homossexualidade. No terceiro e quarto capítulos da tese, relacionou-se o percurso discursivo passional de rejeição/aceitação das mães à sua influência no percurso passional de autoaceitação dos filhos e levantou-se os principais tipos de paixões e ações apaixonadas que esses discursos manifestam. Examinou-se também a organização discursivo-passional e da enunciação de milhares de depoimentos, relacionando texto e contexto via enunciação. A partir disso, foi feito o levantamento de semelhanças e diferenças qualitativas, entre os percursos de aceitação das mães a seus filhos homossexuais, na última década (2001 a 2010). / This dissertation deals with prejudice and intolerance against homosexuality, based on the semiotic analysis of statements of Brazilian heterosexual mothers of homosexual sons and daughters. The study is divided in an introduction, four main chapters, conclusion, bibliographic references and addenda. The introduction discusses the external context in which mothers develop a difficulty in accepting the homosexuality of their sons, and an outline of the whole dissertation. The internal context of the problem, on the other hand, is taken to be the outcome of the comparison of hundreds of statements, by mothers and sons. French semiotic theory was used as the theoretical background for the analysis and the dissertation is divided as follows: The first chapter lays out the methodology used and the objectives of this study. The main objective was to analyze how rejection and/or acceptance discourses are constructed with respect to the homosexuality of their sons by their heterosexual mothers. In tandem, the discourses of homosexual sons and daughters were analyzed. The second chapter deals with prejudice, from the perspective of mothers and sons, preceding the unveiling of homosexuality. The third and forth chapter explain the relation between the rejection/acceptance passional discoursive trajectory of the mothers and the autoacceptance passional trajectory of the sons. There, the main kinds of passions and passionate actions that are manifested in the discourses are listed and discussed. Other objects of inquiry are the discoursive-passional organization and the enunciation of thousands of statements, relating text and context through the enunciation. Based on that, the study maps the qualitative similarities and differences between the trajectories of acceptance by mothers of their homosexual sons in the first decade of the XXI century.

Title: The representation of gender: A semiotic study of Tom Ford's Gucci campaign 2003 and Frida Gianninis Gucci Campaign 2013. Number of pages: 73 (79 including enclosures) Author: Sara Andréasson Tutor: Anne-Marie Morhed Course: Media and Communication Studies D (2IV091) Period: VT 2013 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University. Purpose/ Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the representation of gender in advertising that has both men and women as the primary audience. The aim of the study was to investigate how Gucci has chosen to represent men and women in their advertising campaigns 2003 and 2013. Material/ Method: A semiotic analysis was performed by using three images from Gucci's spring/ summer campaign for Tom Ford in 2003, and three images from Gucci's spring/ summer campaign for Frida Giannini in 2013. Main result: The results showed that there was a clear difference between Ford and Gianninis ways of representing women and men in the two advertising campaigns. The women in Fords campaign 2003 are presented as sexual objects and represented by the male pornographic imagination and portrayed as sexual eye-catchers while the men are portrayed as addicted to sex. Frida Gianninis advertising images is a contrast of Ford pornographic portrayal of women. Giannini presents women as confident individuals while the man is represented as feminized and androgynous in his appearance.

Applying semiotic analysis to advertisements and their context leads to the discovery of associations and symbols, potential increasing the trust the spectator has on the brand. In this thesis, I provide semiotic analysis of selected Louis Vuitton advertisements and their context, where I analyse the advertisement's visual images and narrative line, and infer associations and symbols. The analysis enhances average day factors, full of duties and stress, making them more appealing in the advertisement world.The primary focus for the analysis will be the Spirit of Travel2 advertisement. I will apply semiotic analysis to the elaborate, dream-like, and pleasantly-toned piece of art contained in this advertisement.The philosophical nature throughout the advertisement is connected to the promoted material goods, such as travel cases, and it binds a line of advertisements with an abstract motive defined through "The Journey" (the journey as a life itself). The content of the advertisement is not as it seems at first sight. The narrative level is quazi-philosophical, yet it is strategically presenting a question without an immediate, initial answer. The resulting cognitive dissonance then creates pressure on the spectator. The question is later answered in the advertisement, and a special trust between the...

This study explores the political messages framed within the cover of Vogue magazines by reviewing the published issues that surround election season. By focusing on the intersection of politics and fashion through the visual representation provided by a prestigious, globally known fashion magazine, the research will observe the potential increase and growth of political involvement within influence of the fashion industry. This study will begin with the October, November, and December covers from the 2016 and 2020 presidential election. These will be accompanied by the January, February, and March covers of the following years. Guided by semiotic analysis and visual rhetoric theories, this study will focus on developing this upcoming avenue of research by exploring how fashion is utilizing its power to bring attention to current events within a political atmosphere. While typically seen as feminine, Vogue magazine has been able to tap into a variety of audiences including previously politically charged groups such as feminists. As such, this research will allow for new insight regarding the overarching effects of visual media as seen through magazines, as well as their potential impact with targeted audiences.

In today’s media, menstruation tends to be portrayed in different ways. Periods are either portrayed as being natural or as a problem that must be solved. When these different portrayals are made, questions about the normalization around menstruation are being raised and there are doubts if the menstrual taboo is really gone. This thesis will analyze how menstruation is represented in two different commercials for menstrual products and further discuss if a menstrual taboo is still present in commercials today. Through a semiotic analysis the study shows that menstruation is being represented in different ways and that one company is more progressive than the other, however signs can be found in both commercials which indicate that a menstrual taboo is still present. The differences can on the other hand also demonstrate the positive change that has come out of questioning the menstrual taboo.

The aim of our study was to examine which news images the media industry choose to reward. The World Press Photo Awards is an anual competition in which a jury of professional photo journalists appoints a winner among over 90 000 contributions. We have studied twelve pictures that have won World Press Photo of the Year over the time span of six decades to explore the characteristics of the winning pictures, but also to give a perspective over time. For the purpose of our study, we took a closer look at the roles of the people in the pictures, as well as the attributes and contexts related to them.   Our findings indicate that myths seem to play a central part in the telling and retelling of stories. The tradgedy of human lives is a reoccurring element, and the people are in most cases depicted in a negative context. The story of the victim, for example, was common in the winning pictures.   We could see that civilians frequently appears in photographs, especially suffering children who often stands as a symbol of weakness. As connected to the mishap of people, our research found similarities to other studies focusing on how news stories speak to our compassion and emotions.