Digitizing the Commerce of Images: Posters and Consciousness

Gender performance within media studies has long been a complex and multifaceted issue, persisting into the realm of new media where it both influences and is influenced by the ever-changing landscape of digital content, discourse, and social interactions. The advent of Web 2.0 has amplified this phenomenon, facilitating continuous dialogue and the amplification of diverse perspectives on traditional media formats such as films. Platforms including film blogs, social media movements, online critiques, hashtags, digital communities, podcasts, and live discussions serve as catalysts for advocating inclusive and diverse storytelling within cinema. However, beneath this surface lies a structural paradox inherent in masculine studies, one that is often overlooked yet consistently perpetuated. A thorough exploration of representations of men or heroes in new media provides an opportunity for critical examination of the complex web of gender identities perpetuated by sociocultural norms and structures. The perpetuation of a social message through both traditional ('old') and contemporary ('new') media channels, aimed at prescribing normative ideals of masculinity to individuals biologically identified as male, has persisted across cultural contexts. This paper attempts to elucidate the pervasive role of new media in perpetuating and disseminating such ideological constructs, owing to its extensive reach, interactive nature, and capacity to shape cultural images.