The purpose of this essay is to show how femininity is construed in a visual hipster discourse. The material used mainly consists of four adverts from the fashion company American Apparel and four blogs with the word hipster in the title. The method used is inspired by semiotics and discourse analysis and the theory is based on feminist visual culture. Focus is placed on both a deep analysis of the images and texts individually, and a review of the discourse and context in which they interact, in order to discover how femininity is construed among hipsters. Throughout the course of the analysis, gender and sexuality is a consistent focus and leads to other aspects related to power not being prioritised. The analysis section is divided into two main areas of focus where American Apparel is the first part and the hipster blogs the other. Each section begins with an analysis of images and text and is concluded with a summary. In the concluding discussion, it becomes clear that sexist images are used to represent women primarily by American Apparel, but this stereotype is also apparent in the blogs. It is also clear from the analysis of the material that unique and alternative fashion is promoted. Rather than re-contextualising femininity, the traditional objectification of women is hidden behind the hipster ideal. The essay concludes with several brief thoughts and discussion on whether it is possible to apply this ideal of women on a larger part of society than just hipsters.

Simultaneity and conflict are incessant qualities one is confronted with when looking at things. Shifting from familiar to foreign, from present to implied. There seems to be a tendency, if not necessity to embrace this multiplicity. Using the film theory construct of extra-diegetic and relative qualifier 'sort of' to investigate Pulp Fiction, Bose Wave CD player, Sunset Boulevard, American Apparel, and The Uncanny.

I denna uppsats granskas företaget American Apparel:s tidigare och nuvarande bildkommunikation. Företaget har kritiserats otaliga gånger för sin sexistiska porträttering av kvinnor i reklam, vilket är en av faktorerna som har tvingat företaget till en nylansering. Reklam i allmänhet sexualiserar kvinnor och framställer dem stereotypiskt, vilket skapar samhälleliga konsekvenser. De teoribildningar som används för att ge svar på studiens frågeställning är genus, stereotyp, feministisk teori, femvertising, the male gaze samt semiotik. Studien är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där totalt sex bilder från American Apparel jämförs komparativt. Genom en semiotisk analys jämförs dessa sex bilder som American Apparel har släppt för kommersiella ändamål. Tre av dessa bilder är från tidigare kampanjer av företaget, och de återstående tre är reklambilder som har släppts efter nylanseringen. Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra dessa bilder genom en semiotisk analysmetod för att urskilja huruvida det finns några skillnader gällande framställningen av kvinnor i annonserna, samt undersöka om de efter sin nystart använder sig av femvertising. Bilderna analyseras genom sju begrepp i den semiotiska analysmetoden. Dessa begrepp är setting, pose, gaze, color, body-chopping, empowerment samt representation. I resultatet framgick det att de tidigare reklambilderna från American Apparel sexualiserade kvinnor och framställde dem stereotypiskt. Bilderna efter nylanseringen illustrerar däremot kvinnor som är empowered, och det går även att notera att företaget använder sig av femvertising. / This study focuses on the way the brand American Apparel previously have and currently is representing women in their advertising. American Apparel has a long history of being criticized for their sexist portrayal of women. This has lead the company to do a relaunch. However, advertising in general share the trait of sexualizing and stereotyping women, which creates societal consequences. The theory forms used to give answers to the study's research question are gender, stereotype, feminist theory, femvertising, the male gaze and semiotics. The study is a qualitative content analysis where a total of six images from American Apparel are compared comparatively. Through a semiotic analysis a total of six images that have been released for commercial purposes will be compared. Three of these pictures are from previous campaigns by the brand, whereas the remaining three are released after the relaunch. The aim of this study is to compare six images through a semiotic analysis method in order to distinguish whether or not there are any differences regarding the portrayal of women in the advertisements, as well as to investigate if they are using femvertising after the relaunch. To be able to compare the images, seven elements will be examined in the semiotic analysis method. These elements are setting, pose, gaze, color, empowerment, representation and body-chopping. The result presented that the former images released by American Apparel sexualized and stereotyped women. The new images from after the relaunch illustrates empowered women and a usage of femvertising.