Keyword Social Structures

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

Ten French job seekers show up for a two-day recruitment session knowing only that they’re vying for a sales position in the insurance field. Their prospective employer remains a mystery. With limited information, they’re launched into a hiring process that more closely resembles a reality TV challenge than a traditional interview.This brutal examination of entry-level recruitment sheds light on the stigma of being unemployed, the power dynamics of interviewing and the roles people play in their quest to earn a minimum wage.

A documentary exploring the "respectable" and "immoral" stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of 2 strip-tease dancers in a cabaret house in Bombay.

Africa, Europe - Europe and Africa: Surfers live differently on each continent and Africa marks a special place - as surfing is in many places at its very beginnings. 'Beyond - An African Surf Documentary' follows locals along the coast of Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia into their homes, visits their home surf spots and takes a look into their surfing lives. Three months of shooting culminated in a 111 minute long episodic journey on a continent, that has the potential to be the next big thing in surfing.

Seven women and one non binary person share their personal experiences with masturbation through short anecdotes and a revolutionary washing machine.

Piel dolor (Skin Pain) explains how power is structurally sustained in violence. Its nature and the relationships it establishes in society are based more on the imposition and use of force than on building consensus, dialogue, and respect for diversity. In that sense, power is a behavior that seeks dominance through force and man as a gender, becomes an instrument of violence that is exercised against the weakest. Extinguishing the socially constructed violence means eliminating the current power and its historical sustenance, questioning the source of origin, religion, ideology, the system and its values. Is that utopia possible?

Sigourney Weaver guides viewers on a journey to the heart of whale culture to experience the extraordinary communication skills and intricate social structures of five different whale species. With the help of new science and technology, viewers witness whales making lifelong friendships, teaching clan heritage and traditions to their young and grieving deeply for the loss of loved ones.