Desensitisation - The theory that repeated exposure to something shocking such as violence will lead an audience to be less affected by it.
"Yet, no matter how well-intentioned, the frequent broadcasting of the brutal images of war may bring about a progressive desensitisation and brutalisation of those viewing them." John Peacock The Independent.
An idea formulated by Jo and Berkowitz in 1967, which was then later revised in 1994. The revised formulation of this theory focused on the belief that media violence might prime thoughts of aggressive behavior and, consequently, make actual aggressive behavior more likely.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Exam Practice - Walt Disney
Walt Disney was founded in 1923. The Walt Disney Company and its affiliated companies produce unparalleled entertainment experiences based on the rich legacy of quality creative content and exceptional storytelling. The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with four business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer products. With the creation of Mickey Mouse and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, the Disney name quickly became synonymous with quality entertainment for the whole family.
The Walt Disney Studios distributes motion pictures under Walt Disney Pictures - which includes Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios and DisneyToon Studios - Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International serves as the studio's international distribution arm. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes Disney and other film titles to the rental and sell-through home entertainment markets worldwide. Disney Theatrical Productions, one of the largest producers of Broadway musicals, also includes Disney Live Family Entertainment and Disney on Ice. Disney Music Group distributes original music and motion picture soundtracks under Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records.
Advancing its strategy of developing outstanding creative content, Disney acquired renowned computer animation leader Pixar in an all-stock transaction completed in May 2006. In February 2007, The Walt Disney Studios joined forces with Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners/producers Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey to form ImageMovers Digital, a new state of the art studio devoted exclusively to the production of performance capture projects.
The Walt Disney Studios distributes motion pictures under Walt Disney Pictures - which includes Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios and DisneyToon Studios - Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International serves as the studio's international distribution arm. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes Disney and other film titles to the rental and sell-through home entertainment markets worldwide. Disney Theatrical Productions, one of the largest producers of Broadway musicals, also includes Disney Live Family Entertainment and Disney on Ice. Disney Music Group distributes original music and motion picture soundtracks under Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records.
Advancing its strategy of developing outstanding creative content, Disney acquired renowned computer animation leader Pixar in an all-stock transaction completed in May 2006. In February 2007, The Walt Disney Studios joined forces with Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners/producers Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey to form ImageMovers Digital, a new state of the art studio devoted exclusively to the production of performance capture projects.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Task 3
Media representations favour those with power at the expense of those without. To what extent do you think this statement is true?
In today’s society the media industry is still controlled by the dominant sex of the male. Men in media are shown to be the ones with a higher status and power. This results in women to be shown as a weaker sex and allow the male pride control.
In today’s society the media industry is still controlled by the dominant sex of the male. Men in media are shown to be the ones with a higher status and power. This results in women to be shown as a weaker sex and allow the male pride control.
As we look at the norms in society we have become aware of the hegemonic class who have created these acceptances in life. Simon Cowell is a prime example of power in the media industry, through his many talent shows such as the X factor and Britain’s got talent. He is a man with a lot of power which is shown through his confident speech and serious tone of voice. He represents what he thinks a popstar should be, therefore entailing the key traits for someone who wants to become a popstar. He believes a popstar is someone who conforms to a mainstream audience. This is how people with power are allowed to create general stereotypes for the people of a lower status.
In this recent time, homosexuals have become increasingly publicized in the media due to the awareness brought out by celebrities and the acceptance by the public. On the TV there has been a slightly increasing tendency to feature gay stereotypes, though they are rarely shown enjoying happy lives, stories about gays tend to reinforce conventional values. Even when gay men are portrayed the central focus tends to be on the reaction of others to this as a “problem”. The representations of homosexuals are slowly becoming accepted by society and are being shown more in the media. Celebrities such as Elton John are not afraid of their sexuality which sends messages to the public to be proud. This highlights that people with power influence other, not necessarily at their expense. On the other hand, the representation of homosexuals in newspapers and television is often wrongly constructed as those with power tend to subordinate other groups in order to remain powerful. In television shows such as “Eastenders”', homosexuals are often represented as being loud and promiscuous, for example the character Christian. By subordinating these characters, those in power would want to keep their position at the top and inject ideologies towards the audience that homosexuals are bad for society.
Lad’s mags have become increasingly popular and tend to characterize women as breasts and bottom for men to gaze at. They are seen to be misogynistic and represent women in subversive ways. They hold features such as virgin competitions, “babe” competitions and offering breast enlargements for women. Lad’s mags usually promote the aspiration in young women to become glamour models and promise fame and fortune, in the exchange of half-naked photos. These emphasize magazines only do this for the expense of women and which to only make money from showing their bodies off. The perpetual representations of women as sex objects are dangerous and are shown at the expense of these women.
The representation of women in music videos tend to favour the best, as particularly in hip hop and rap videos, women are also objectified in order to represent the lead male singer as dominant. In Rihanna's “Rude Boy” video, she is dressed in short, revealing clothing and is dancing around the man which is connoting sexual themes. As well as this, her body is fetished in order to arouse the male, as the video and others by artists such as 50 cent and Young Money feature women wearing not much clothing and being controlled by the male figure. Generally, most of these videos subordinate women to allow the dominance of the male.
To conclude, media representations do favour those with power at the expense of those without, as representations of women, homosexuals and business men are often pass judgement and make decisions in the media, as well as other platforms. By separating these two divides in the media, the leaders inject messages into the audience. However, alternative representations of these groups in the media, for example gay people in television shows do show some power and being accepted by society.
Task 5
Dominant Reading - The Simpsons is a family program shown on channel 4, which can be attracts many audiences and is aimed to entertain. The genre is mainly comedy and real life.
Negotiated Reading - In the Simpsons women are the passive characters while men are the ones who go to work. School is shown as important but still a place for misbehaviour.
The reading that is closest to me is the oppositional reading because The Simpsons is mainly used to entertain rather than educate those.
Task 4
In this scene from Scarface (1983) it shows the audience that violence is acceptable. The medium shots of Tony Montana with the machine gun show power and strength, the protagonist feels in power whilst holding the gun, it also acts as a phallic symbol to emphasise his manliness. The adult audience see the text as negatively, as it shows violence. This scene also contains bad content that children may pick up and copy, referring to the copy cat theory, which believes to inject the audience with actions and then they copy those actions.
The constant sound of gunfire may result in the audience to become desensitised to violence. Yet it can be argued that the audience could watch the film in order to be educated on the consequences of drugs and power. The audience may watch the film in order to escape from real life, as the audience's feel they need to watch a film to relax and forget their own problems. As the gangsters are wealthy and represented as powerful, audiences may aspire to these characters and do things like them.
Task 1
1. The teenagers in the video game for Bully are a negative representation. The first teenage boy we see is objectified as being a child of misbehaviour and disobedience, this shown by the way he is dressed as he has with his shirt tucked out, his tie loosely hung around his neck, his shaven head and the way he talks and openly gestures. The use of a long shot as we watch him sliding down a hand rail immediately gives the sense of insolence and disrespect; this shows his character to be off-putting which therefore creates a stereotypical view upon all teenagers to act the same. The medium shots of the “bully” harassing a teacher and school kids emphasise towards the audience teenage boys are all troublesome. While children play this game they can be injected with the same ideologies of misbehaviour and disrespect and begin to believe this behaviour is suitable. Some teenagers may copy attitudes from the “Bully” and bring them to their own lives, such as sneaking around and creating fires in the classroom. Girls are also represented negatively in this game trailer as we see a young girl who is laid back whilst talking about “dirty pictures” and connoting sex references. This gives the idea that sex is fine and accepted. Teenagers are represented as creating havoc and trouble.
Similarly, in the opening for “Skins”, teenagers are seen as disobedient and mischievous. The quick montage shots show the teenagers smoking drugs, homosexual themes and a general laid back attitude. This immediately emphasises moral panics for adults as they believe all teenagers are influenced by what they see on the television and can adopt bad behaviour, also creating a negative view on society’s issues. This can highlight the theory by Stanley Cohen who speaks of when a society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group, in this case teenagers. On the other hand, producers of Skins may be creating such programmes to educate kids on the dangers and real life situations children face now a days.
The representation of teenagers in both texts may cause moral panics as adults may feel that teenagers are troublesome and can be injected with ideologies that drugs, causing havoc and sex are all acceptable in today’s society.
2. Both texts can be seen to show moral panics. The representation of teenagers in the trailer for “Bully” can demonstrate moral panics. The game emphasises the stereotype of teenage boys to be troublesome. The representation of the “Bully” may result in teenage boys to be injected with ideologies that negative attitudes and bad behaviour is acceptable. The game influences violence and mayhem. It can be argued that some people may believe the game is dumbing down children and lowers their achievements and goals.
Similarly, the opening for “Skins” contains negative representations of teenagers, and can also be seen as a moral panic as the teenagers involve themselves in drug taking, sex and bad attitudes. The adult audience may feel that the programme injects teenagers to be unsociable and unreasonable. The montage of teenagers creating havoc and bad ideologies may result in adults gaining negative views about all teenagers and can corrupt society. This can highlight the theory by Stanley Cohen who speaks of when a society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group, in this case teenagers. This programme may also be seen to dumb down children as it doesn’t teach them the dangers of smoking, alcohol and drug taking.
However, there are some representations of teenagers such as Eastenders and The Simpsons that cannot be seen as a moral panic. These alternative representations show how some teenagers are well behaved and do not take drugs or involve themselves in sexual attitudes. In the Simpsons, Lisa Simpson is seen as a clever, intelligent, well mannered girl. Therefore this representation shows the audience that teenagers can be successful and good. In Eastenders, Tamwar Masood is constructed as a stereotypical Muslim boy who is an academic boy who listens to his parents all the time. Therefore, this alternative representation shows the audience that teenagers are positive and are willing to behave well. These alternative representations, have allowed society to see some teenagers positively.
3. The appearance of new and digital media has allowed different audiences to shape their own media representations, especially the younger audience. This is because this generation is the internet era and teenagers are most likely to use e to be more plural in the way they represent themselves.
Through social networking sites teenagers can represent themselves and changes the values and ideologies teenagers are associated with. Blog making sites such as BlogSpot have given teenagers the power to speak their minds and to form their own representations. User generated content (UGC) has allowed teenagers to put up their views and own material on the internet. In some situations teenagers have put up interesting and arguable work which has allowed adults to see this and change their views on teenagers, for example Twitter and Facebook. The younger audiences can join groups and present themselves positively.
Similarly, in the opening for “Skins”, teenagers are seen as disobedient and mischievous. The quick montage shots show the teenagers smoking drugs, homosexual themes and a general laid back attitude. This immediately emphasises moral panics for adults as they believe all teenagers are influenced by what they see on the television and can adopt bad behaviour, also creating a negative view on society’s issues. This can highlight the theory by Stanley Cohen who speaks of when a society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group, in this case teenagers. On the other hand, producers of Skins may be creating such programmes to educate kids on the dangers and real life situations children face now a days.
The representation of teenagers in both texts may cause moral panics as adults may feel that teenagers are troublesome and can be injected with ideologies that drugs, causing havoc and sex are all acceptable in today’s society.
2. Both texts can be seen to show moral panics. The representation of teenagers in the trailer for “Bully” can demonstrate moral panics. The game emphasises the stereotype of teenage boys to be troublesome. The representation of the “Bully” may result in teenage boys to be injected with ideologies that negative attitudes and bad behaviour is acceptable. The game influences violence and mayhem. It can be argued that some people may believe the game is dumbing down children and lowers their achievements and goals.
Similarly, the opening for “Skins” contains negative representations of teenagers, and can also be seen as a moral panic as the teenagers involve themselves in drug taking, sex and bad attitudes. The adult audience may feel that the programme injects teenagers to be unsociable and unreasonable. The montage of teenagers creating havoc and bad ideologies may result in adults gaining negative views about all teenagers and can corrupt society. This can highlight the theory by Stanley Cohen who speaks of when a society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group, in this case teenagers. This programme may also be seen to dumb down children as it doesn’t teach them the dangers of smoking, alcohol and drug taking.
However, there are some representations of teenagers such as Eastenders and The Simpsons that cannot be seen as a moral panic. These alternative representations show how some teenagers are well behaved and do not take drugs or involve themselves in sexual attitudes. In the Simpsons, Lisa Simpson is seen as a clever, intelligent, well mannered girl. Therefore this representation shows the audience that teenagers can be successful and good. In Eastenders, Tamwar Masood is constructed as a stereotypical Muslim boy who is an academic boy who listens to his parents all the time. Therefore, this alternative representation shows the audience that teenagers are positive and are willing to behave well. These alternative representations, have allowed society to see some teenagers positively.
3. The appearance of new and digital media has allowed different audiences to shape their own media representations, especially the younger audience. This is because this generation is the internet era and teenagers are most likely to use e to be more plural in the way they represent themselves.
Through social networking sites teenagers can represent themselves and changes the values and ideologies teenagers are associated with. Blog making sites such as BlogSpot have given teenagers the power to speak their minds and to form their own representations. User generated content (UGC) has allowed teenagers to put up their views and own material on the internet. In some situations teenagers have put up interesting and arguable work which has allowed adults to see this and change their views on teenagers, for example Twitter and Facebook. The younger audiences can join groups and present themselves positively.
Monday, 28 March 2011
It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.
Over time the television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes because it reflects dominant social values. Our society is still dominated by men which has resulted in men dominating most TV production and influencing these stereotypes, therefore reproducing a usual “masculine” view upon things. By the 1970s, women's roles were changing form the more traditional to a freer nature. Women’s roles were often shown on the television in roles such as housewives, mothers, secretaries and nurses. Men were portrayed in employment and tend to have a higher status and are less likely to be shown at home; this is still apparent today. In recent years there has at least been a notable increase in the number of women news presenters. It was argued that women were less likely to be taken seriously by viewers but however, their physical attractiveness can be a key factor to being shown on the television. In this recent time, homosexuals have become increasingly publicized in the media due to the awareness brought out by celebrities and the acceptance by the public. On the TV there has been a slightly increasing tendency to feature gay stereotypes, though they are rarely shown enjoying happy lives Stories about gays tend to reinforce conventional values. Even when gay men are portrayed the central focus tends to be on the reaction of others to this as a “problem”. The representation of homosexuals are slowly becoming accepted by society and are being shown more in the media.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
“Digital media have in many ways changed how we consume media products”. Who do you think benefits most – consumers or producers?
Over a short period of time, the way we consume media has rapidly changed and developed to revolve around the way we live of lives. The change in consumption has enabled a larger ranged age audience to become interactive and use the media easily and more efficiently. Producers have had to keep up with the latest trends and fashion to stay in demand and to produce a profit. The traditional consumption of media has mostly declined and producers are finding it difficult to create new forms of media to keep up with the changing times.
Facebook has become a very popular website, created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The website allows users to communicate and share pictures all over the world. The site has become so popular, with 600 million active users. Its popularity has encouraged new ways of using Facebook, such as Smartphone apps. The apps have allowed audiences to download the feature and use it effortlessly wherever they are. Facebook has become a source for obtaining the news and weather which shows the obvious declines in traditional consumption. Facebook has also been seen with negative impacts such as becoming addictive, less active and anti social. Facebook is also a new way of keeping in communication with people, resulting in old communication methods becoming extinct. The producers have benefited from Facebook by attracting many users and generating profit, $800 million in 2009.
The use of Newspapers are declining due to the new forms of media. People have now created blogs where they upload their own news for people to read, which reduces the need for newspapers. Also, Newspaper companies have now produced websites for people to read off the internet which allows audiences to recieve the interent a lot easier. The Guardian newspaper have recently released an app where people can pay £4.99 a month to recieve the newspaper on their Smartphones. The benefits the consumer gets is they have no need to buy a Newspaper from the shop which takes time and money, recieving their news on their phones is a more efficient and reliable way. On the other hand, producers are finding it difficult to cope with the Newspaper decline where they’re losing out on profit and having to cut jobs because they’re no need for extra journalists.
This generation has become more online active and revolve mainly around the computer. This has become apparant as television views have reduced due to the creation of BBCi player and 4OD. This online television viewing allows audiences to watch programmes they enjoy or have missed on the television. They can be viwed whenever and however many times. This has allowed audiences to create their own schedule which best suits them. This is also the same for Sky+ where audiences feel more in power and makes them happy.
To conclude, i believe audiences benefit mostly from the change in the way we consume media because things have been developed to revolve around our lives and to make things easier for us as consumers. Producers also benefit but only eith profit.
Facebook has become a very popular website, created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The website allows users to communicate and share pictures all over the world. The site has become so popular, with 600 million active users. Its popularity has encouraged new ways of using Facebook, such as Smartphone apps. The apps have allowed audiences to download the feature and use it effortlessly wherever they are. Facebook has become a source for obtaining the news and weather which shows the obvious declines in traditional consumption. Facebook has also been seen with negative impacts such as becoming addictive, less active and anti social. Facebook is also a new way of keeping in communication with people, resulting in old communication methods becoming extinct. The producers have benefited from Facebook by attracting many users and generating profit, $800 million in 2009.
The use of Newspapers are declining due to the new forms of media. People have now created blogs where they upload their own news for people to read, which reduces the need for newspapers. Also, Newspaper companies have now produced websites for people to read off the internet which allows audiences to recieve the interent a lot easier. The Guardian newspaper have recently released an app where people can pay £4.99 a month to recieve the newspaper on their Smartphones. The benefits the consumer gets is they have no need to buy a Newspaper from the shop which takes time and money, recieving their news on their phones is a more efficient and reliable way. On the other hand, producers are finding it difficult to cope with the Newspaper decline where they’re losing out on profit and having to cut jobs because they’re no need for extra journalists.
This generation has become more online active and revolve mainly around the computer. This has become apparant as television views have reduced due to the creation of BBCi player and 4OD. This online television viewing allows audiences to watch programmes they enjoy or have missed on the television. They can be viwed whenever and however many times. This has allowed audiences to create their own schedule which best suits them. This is also the same for Sky+ where audiences feel more in power and makes them happy.
To conclude, i believe audiences benefit mostly from the change in the way we consume media because things have been developed to revolve around our lives and to make things easier for us as consumers. Producers also benefit but only eith profit.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
The mutualisation of news
The Guardian and Observer controlled the delivery of news, comment to the readers and carefully controlled letters page.
The development of the internet, with now the public creating their own media have now made journalists believe they are now equal with the public writers.
"There was a very clear wall, dividing readers and writers" - Things have now changed causing an uproar between professional writers and the public.
"What we are doing is taking down those bricks, lowering the barrier and positively encouraging the relationship between the two. This gets over the tired argument that this is an either/or battle between old media and bloggers.” - Gaining the support of the public, newspapers believe they can build relationships with bloggers to gain the perfect and truest story.
"We can use the community of our readers in ways we would not have been able to in the past."
"It cannot be true that there are only a handful of people worth listening to in the world. Comment is Free is infinitely richer and more diverse and more plural. These bloggers who write for us could have done it very happily on their own, but what we offer them is the influence and the clout and an incredibly interesting audience to commune with."
"By continuing to go down this route, we will be more diverse, and genuinely more plural than other media organizations and create a huge external resource. We need to continue breaking down the perceptions of a remote journalist who is a preacher, living distantly, and newspapers as being in bed with power and on the side of power, rather than the reader.”
Rusbridger believes Twitter make it possible for the public to publish outside the constraints of our newspaper and website and develop direct relationships with communities of readers.
But in the world of Twitter, for example, journalists are now publishing information without any monitoring and outside of the Guardian's own publishing platforms.
"The way we tend to work is that there are always early adopters of these new technologies, and it works best when individual journalists who have a passion for it, use and explore it. If at some point the technology becomes too large in scale, that is the time to build guidelines.”
Any information coming from the public as a primary source that needs to be checked like everything else.
The investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstrations in London was an excellent example of linking traditional journalism with information from the public.
The development of the internet, with now the public creating their own media have now made journalists believe they are now equal with the public writers.
"There was a very clear wall, dividing readers and writers" - Things have now changed causing an uproar between professional writers and the public.
"What we are doing is taking down those bricks, lowering the barrier and positively encouraging the relationship between the two. This gets over the tired argument that this is an either/or battle between old media and bloggers.” - Gaining the support of the public, newspapers believe they can build relationships with bloggers to gain the perfect and truest story.
"We can use the community of our readers in ways we would not have been able to in the past."
"It cannot be true that there are only a handful of people worth listening to in the world. Comment is Free is infinitely richer and more diverse and more plural. These bloggers who write for us could have done it very happily on their own, but what we offer them is the influence and the clout and an incredibly interesting audience to commune with."
"By continuing to go down this route, we will be more diverse, and genuinely more plural than other media organizations and create a huge external resource. We need to continue breaking down the perceptions of a remote journalist who is a preacher, living distantly, and newspapers as being in bed with power and on the side of power, rather than the reader.”
Rusbridger believes Twitter make it possible for the public to publish outside the constraints of our newspaper and website and develop direct relationships with communities of readers.
But in the world of Twitter, for example, journalists are now publishing information without any monitoring and outside of the Guardian's own publishing platforms.
"The way we tend to work is that there are always early adopters of these new technologies, and it works best when individual journalists who have a passion for it, use and explore it. If at some point the technology becomes too large in scale, that is the time to build guidelines.”
Any information coming from the public as a primary source that needs to be checked like everything else.
The investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstrations in London was an excellent example of linking traditional journalism with information from the public.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
The impact of New & Digital Media Case Study
My case study will involve the impact of new and digital media on Facebook.
one. As technology redefines and remaps our world virtually, the consumer firms driving its development are the new mapmakers. Companies like Facebook are feverishly searching the potential of interaction on the web. Google, which has a 90%share of the UK search market, has already built a $197bn business on the back of advertising related to those text searches.
Though the social web is well established, the business model around it is not. This is the new horizon. And the volume and reach of data produced by Facebook's users – and the promise of the future of the social web – has investors so excited that they have just valued the company at $50bn.
For now, Facebook's priority is to keep growing its nascent advertising revenues ($2bn last year, by one estimate) and its user numbers, put at 633 million monthly users globally for October, according to comScore. But it is also laying the foundations for some powerful ways of extending the site. Last August it introduced Places, which allows users to share their location with friends, and in December announced that photo uploads would soon be scanned with facial recognition technology.
Already, one-third of Facebook's traffic is generated by mobile, and as these devices become ubiquitous we will become less reliant on a fixed screen. Often described as the next generation of the web, mobile's real breakthrough has been the success of apps in the past two-and-a-half-years. Not only are these devices always on and always with us, but they offer more forms of interaction than desktop computers, including movement sensitivity, camera and a web connection.
These location features provide the platform and possibility of a world that, not so long ago would have belonged in an ambitious work of science fiction. Augmented reality (AR) is a technique of overlaying information on an image of the real world, usually through our phone's camera. Despite the current clunky incarnations, augmented reality may well become the principal way that the digital world is presented to us. Freed from screens, information will float, contextually, accompanying the user and imparting – probably via a pair of augmented reality glasses – the time of the next bus, messages from a friend in a nearby pub, or a local match from your dating site. Everything you do now at your desktop will be superimposed in real time in the world around you.
two. Facebook = Computer = Now on mobiles = Apps (iPhone) = advertising = Make us see what they want us to.
Grindr = App on Blackberry = More accessible
They could all lead to isolation
Article = Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber - scepism sweeps us.
three. Facebook needs to be more accessible for the new era of technology. Meaning on phones and apps.
four. There is no denying how popular social networking has become, and has seemed to gain momentum from the start of this year. This was evident when Twitter doubled its amount of tweets in just over five months, which we recently mentioned.
There are three main contenders in the world of social networking, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – there are others, but they have a long hill to climb to catch up to the big three. New research by Nielsen has been looking into this phenomenon and some of the results are interesting.
If the figures are to be believed, then Americans spend around 25 percent of their time on the Internet on social networking sites, and it seems that the audience is getting older- just make certain that you do not allow your parents to become a friend on Facebook.
five.
one. As technology redefines and remaps our world virtually, the consumer firms driving its development are the new mapmakers. Companies like Facebook are feverishly searching the potential of interaction on the web. Google, which has a 90%share of the UK search market, has already built a $197bn business on the back of advertising related to those text searches.
Though the social web is well established, the business model around it is not. This is the new horizon. And the volume and reach of data produced by Facebook's users – and the promise of the future of the social web – has investors so excited that they have just valued the company at $50bn.
For now, Facebook's priority is to keep growing its nascent advertising revenues ($2bn last year, by one estimate) and its user numbers, put at 633 million monthly users globally for October, according to comScore. But it is also laying the foundations for some powerful ways of extending the site. Last August it introduced Places, which allows users to share their location with friends, and in December announced that photo uploads would soon be scanned with facial recognition technology.
Already, one-third of Facebook's traffic is generated by mobile, and as these devices become ubiquitous we will become less reliant on a fixed screen. Often described as the next generation of the web, mobile's real breakthrough has been the success of apps in the past two-and-a-half-years. Not only are these devices always on and always with us, but they offer more forms of interaction than desktop computers, including movement sensitivity, camera and a web connection.
These location features provide the platform and possibility of a world that, not so long ago would have belonged in an ambitious work of science fiction. Augmented reality (AR) is a technique of overlaying information on an image of the real world, usually through our phone's camera. Despite the current clunky incarnations, augmented reality may well become the principal way that the digital world is presented to us. Freed from screens, information will float, contextually, accompanying the user and imparting – probably via a pair of augmented reality glasses – the time of the next bus, messages from a friend in a nearby pub, or a local match from your dating site. Everything you do now at your desktop will be superimposed in real time in the world around you.
two. Facebook = Computer = Now on mobiles = Apps (iPhone) = advertising = Make us see what they want us to.
Grindr = App on Blackberry = More accessible
They could all lead to isolation
Article = Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber - scepism sweeps us.
three. Facebook needs to be more accessible for the new era of technology. Meaning on phones and apps.
four. There is no denying how popular social networking has become, and has seemed to gain momentum from the start of this year. This was evident when Twitter doubled its amount of tweets in just over five months, which we recently mentioned.
There are three main contenders in the world of social networking, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – there are others, but they have a long hill to climb to catch up to the big three. New research by Nielsen has been looking into this phenomenon and some of the results are interesting.
If the figures are to be believed, then Americans spend around 25 percent of their time on the Internet on social networking sites, and it seems that the audience is getting older- just make certain that you do not allow your parents to become a friend on Facebook.
five.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Quotes
Hegemony - "In history, in social life, nothing fixed. Rigid or definitive. And nothing ever will be" - www.idb.org.gramsci.htm
Marxism - "can we truly expect those who aim to exploit us to be trusted to educate us?" - Eric Schaub
Marxism - "Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness" - Karl Marx
Web 2.0 - "refers to 2nd generation of the web, which enables people with no specialised technical knowledge"
Post conolisation - "Post modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions" - Wiki
Regulation - "The use of media to control freedom of expression"
Ownership and control - "Legal title to a resource good or commodity, control means that the ability to determine...”
Pluralism - "It’s a social organisation in which diversity of racial, religious or ethnicity or cultural group is tolerated"
Censorship - 'The use of the media to control freedom of expression'.
Marxism - "can we truly expect those who aim to exploit us to be trusted to educate us?" - Eric Schaub
Marxism - "Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness" - Karl Marx
Web 2.0 - "refers to 2nd generation of the web, which enables people with no specialised technical knowledge"
Post conolisation - "Post modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions" - Wiki
Regulation - "The use of media to control freedom of expression"
Ownership and control - "Legal title to a resource good or commodity, control means that the ability to determine...”
Pluralism - "It’s a social organisation in which diversity of racial, religious or ethnicity or cultural group is tolerated"
Censorship - 'The use of the media to control freedom of expression'.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
#13 -
A beginners’ guide to...Laura Mulvey
Theorists: a beginners’ guide to... Laura Mulvey Lucy Scott-Galloway, MediaMagazine 21, September 2007, Film special, New online September 2008, Representation, Gender, Feminist, Film theory
Theorists: a beginners’ guide to... Laura Mulvey Lucy Scott-Galloway, MediaMagazine 21, September 2007, Film special, New online September 2008, Representation, Gender, Feminist, Film theory
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
#12 - Article - The rise and rise of UGC
Key points from the article "Is reality becoming more real? The rise and rise of UGC"
Now new technologies mean that the audience are no longer passive receivers of news.
We are in the era of user generated content (UGC) where the old divide between institution and audience is being eroded.
Key to this change has been the development of new technologies such as video phones and the growth of the internet and user-dominated sites.
1991 - Video cameras had become more common and more people could afford them…unfortunately for four Los Angeles police officers. King’s beating would be just another hidden incident with no consequences.
This was one of the first examples of the news being generated by ‘ordinary people,’ now commonly known as ‘citizen journalists’, ‘grassroots journalists’, or even ‘accidental journalists’.
Most news organisations include formats for participation: message boards, chat rooms, Q&A, polls, have your says, and blogs with comments enabled.
The natural disaster of the Asian Tsunami on December 26th 2004 was another turning point for UGC. Much of the early footage of events was provided from citizen journalists, or ‘accidental journalists,’ providing on-the-spot witness accounts of events as they unfolded.
A second terrible event, the London bombings on July 5th 2005, provided another opportunity for citizen journalists to influence the mainstream news agenda. No one was closer to events than those caught up in the bombings, and the footage they provided from their mobile phones was raw and uncompromising.
23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate at Virginia Tech. Between his first attack, when he shot two people, going on to kill a further 30 people. Rather than concentrate on saving his own life, Jamal Albarghouti recorded events from his position lying on the ground near the firing. The footage, available on YouTube and CNN brought events home to a worldwide audience.
Twitter and flickr came to the forefront during the Mumbai bombings in India in late November 2008.
You can send in as much UGC to the major news organisations as you want, with no guarantee that any of it will ever be aired. The blogosphere, for example, provides an opportunity for independent, often minority and niche views and news to reach a wide audience.
The change in the landscape of the news means that groups who had little access to self-representation before, such as youth groups, low income groups, and various minority groups may, through citizen journalism, begin to find that they too have a voice.
It is likely that in future there will be fewer and fewer permanent trained staff at news organisations, leaving a smaller core staff who will manage and process UGC from citizen journalists, sometimes known as ‘crowd sourcing.’
Now new technologies mean that the audience are no longer passive receivers of news.
We are in the era of user generated content (UGC) where the old divide between institution and audience is being eroded.
Key to this change has been the development of new technologies such as video phones and the growth of the internet and user-dominated sites.
1991 - Video cameras had become more common and more people could afford them…unfortunately for four Los Angeles police officers. King’s beating would be just another hidden incident with no consequences.
This was one of the first examples of the news being generated by ‘ordinary people,’ now commonly known as ‘citizen journalists’, ‘grassroots journalists’, or even ‘accidental journalists’.
Most news organisations include formats for participation: message boards, chat rooms, Q&A, polls, have your says, and blogs with comments enabled.
The natural disaster of the Asian Tsunami on December 26th 2004 was another turning point for UGC. Much of the early footage of events was provided from citizen journalists, or ‘accidental journalists,’ providing on-the-spot witness accounts of events as they unfolded.
A second terrible event, the London bombings on July 5th 2005, provided another opportunity for citizen journalists to influence the mainstream news agenda. No one was closer to events than those caught up in the bombings, and the footage they provided from their mobile phones was raw and uncompromising.
23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate at Virginia Tech. Between his first attack, when he shot two people, going on to kill a further 30 people. Rather than concentrate on saving his own life, Jamal Albarghouti recorded events from his position lying on the ground near the firing. The footage, available on YouTube and CNN brought events home to a worldwide audience.
Twitter and flickr came to the forefront during the Mumbai bombings in India in late November 2008.
You can send in as much UGC to the major news organisations as you want, with no guarantee that any of it will ever be aired. The blogosphere, for example, provides an opportunity for independent, often minority and niche views and news to reach a wide audience.
The change in the landscape of the news means that groups who had little access to self-representation before, such as youth groups, low income groups, and various minority groups may, through citizen journalism, begin to find that they too have a voice.
It is likely that in future there will be fewer and fewer permanent trained staff at news organisations, leaving a smaller core staff who will manage and process UGC from citizen journalists, sometimes known as ‘crowd sourcing.’
#11 Post - UGC
1. What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
Citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic", "guerrilla"[2] or "street journalism" is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information".
2. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
1991 - Video cameras had become more common and more people could afford them…unfortunately for four Los Angeles police officers who were recorded as racist for brutally beating a black man. King’s beating would be just another hidden incident with no consequences.
3. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
The blogosphere, for example, provides an opportunity for independent, often minority and niche views and news to reach a wide audience.
4. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
First hand footage could be perceived in the wrong context and may set off a problem for the public. Professionally shot footage is a lot clearer and can be viewed easily.
5. What is a gatekeeper?
In journalism, gate keeping is the process through which ideas and information are filtered for publication. The internal decision making process of relaying or withholding information from the media to the masses. The theory was first instituted by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1947.
6. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
It has profound implications for professional content creators of all types.
http://pegmulligan.com/2010/07/26/content-strategy-and-technical-communication-by-sarah-okeefe/
7. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
It is likely that in future there will be fewer and fewer permanent trained staff at news organisations, leaving a smaller core staff who will manage and process UGC from citizen journalists, sometimes known as ‘crowd sourcing.’ Some believe that the mediators and moderators might eventually disappear too, leaving a world where the media is, finally, unmediated. This does raise concerns however. Without moderation sites could be overrun by bigots or fools, by those who shout loudest, and those who have little else to do but make posts.
Citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic", "guerrilla"[2] or "street journalism" is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information".
2. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
1991 - Video cameras had become more common and more people could afford them…unfortunately for four Los Angeles police officers who were recorded as racist for brutally beating a black man. King’s beating would be just another hidden incident with no consequences.
3. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
The blogosphere, for example, provides an opportunity for independent, often minority and niche views and news to reach a wide audience.
4. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
First hand footage could be perceived in the wrong context and may set off a problem for the public. Professionally shot footage is a lot clearer and can be viewed easily.
5. What is a gatekeeper?
In journalism, gate keeping is the process through which ideas and information are filtered for publication. The internal decision making process of relaying or withholding information from the media to the masses. The theory was first instituted by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1947.
6. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
It has profound implications for professional content creators of all types.
http://pegmulligan.com/2010/07/26/content-strategy-and-technical-communication-by-sarah-okeefe/
7. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?
It is likely that in future there will be fewer and fewer permanent trained staff at news organisations, leaving a smaller core staff who will manage and process UGC from citizen journalists, sometimes known as ‘crowd sourcing.’ Some believe that the mediators and moderators might eventually disappear too, leaving a world where the media is, finally, unmediated. This does raise concerns however. Without moderation sites could be overrun by bigots or fools, by those who shout loudest, and those who have little else to do but make posts.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
#10 - Carol Clover - "Final Girl"
The "final girl" is a horror film (particularly slasher film) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Hellraiser, Alien, and Scream. The term was coined by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
According to Clover, the final girl is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims (sex, narcotic usage, etc.). She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g., Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). Occasionally the Final Girl will have a shared history with the killer. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.
During the final girl’s confrontation with the killer, Clover argues, she becomes masculinized through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, against the killer. Conversely, Clover points out that the villain of slasher films is often a male whose masculinity, and sexuality more generally, are in crisis. Examples would include Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Clover points to this gender fluidity as demonstrating the impact of feminism in popular culture. The phenomenon of the male audience having to identify with a young female character in an ostensibly male-oriented genre, usually associated with sadistic voyeurism, raises interesting questions about the nature of slasher films and their relationship with feminism. Clover argues that for a film to be successful, although the Final Girl is masculinized, it is necessary for this surviving character to be female, because she must experience abject terror, and many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male. The terror has a purpose, in that the female is 'purged' if she survives, of undesirable characteristics, such as relentless pursuit of pleasure in her own right. An interesting feature of the genre is the 'punishment' of beauty and sexual availability.
According to Clover, the final girl is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims (sex, narcotic usage, etc.). She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g., Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). Occasionally the Final Girl will have a shared history with the killer. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.
During the final girl’s confrontation with the killer, Clover argues, she becomes masculinized through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, against the killer. Conversely, Clover points out that the villain of slasher films is often a male whose masculinity, and sexuality more generally, are in crisis. Examples would include Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Clover points to this gender fluidity as demonstrating the impact of feminism in popular culture. The phenomenon of the male audience having to identify with a young female character in an ostensibly male-oriented genre, usually associated with sadistic voyeurism, raises interesting questions about the nature of slasher films and their relationship with feminism. Clover argues that for a film to be successful, although the Final Girl is masculinized, it is necessary for this surviving character to be female, because she must experience abject terror, and many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male. The terror has a purpose, in that the female is 'purged' if she survives, of undesirable characteristics, such as relentless pursuit of pleasure in her own right. An interesting feature of the genre is the 'punishment' of beauty and sexual availability.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
#8 - Media Conference
1. Perfecting your Production work
Research
Look at examples
codes and conventions
Media Magazine
Target audiences
Institutions
Planning
Plan for what can go wrong
Record all planning
Show process of planning
Blogging Evidence
Storyboard
Script
Ideas/ Feedback
At every stage take feedback to improve
Logistics
People, place, props, costume
Rehearse and prepare
Share contact details
2. Chewing Gum for the Brain: Why do people talk such rubbish about Media Studies?
Professor David Buckingham talked about the critics of media studies and referred to “Angry parents accuse school of 'dumbing down' English by showing The Simpsons in class”. In addition he went on to say that a Media study is a dumbing down of English where they favour The Simpsons over the traditional Shakespeare.
Also another thing he talked about was that Media studies alongside sociology is a Mickey Mouse subject which aimed to brainwash young people and that schools should be teaching the more academic subjects.
3.Online media, Cleggmania, and the Cowell Factor
Julian McDougall argues that Media 2.0 is a more interactive form of emedia where people express themselves thorugh social netowrking sites, download songs from..thus leading to the end of traditional methods of doing things the longer the way.
Research
Look at examples
codes and conventions
Media Magazine
Target audiences
Institutions
Planning
Plan for what can go wrong
Record all planning
Show process of planning
Blogging Evidence
Storyboard
Script
Ideas/ Feedback
At every stage take feedback to improve
Logistics
People, place, props, costume
Rehearse and prepare
Share contact details
2. Chewing Gum for the Brain: Why do people talk such rubbish about Media Studies?
Professor David Buckingham talked about the critics of media studies and referred to “Angry parents accuse school of 'dumbing down' English by showing The Simpsons in class”. In addition he went on to say that a Media study is a dumbing down of English where they favour The Simpsons over the traditional Shakespeare.
Also another thing he talked about was that Media studies alongside sociology is a Mickey Mouse subject which aimed to brainwash young people and that schools should be teaching the more academic subjects.
3.Online media, Cleggmania, and the Cowell Factor
Julian McDougall argues that Media 2.0 is a more interactive form of emedia where people express themselves thorugh social netowrking sites, download songs from..thus leading to the end of traditional methods of doing things the longer the way.
Monday, 1 November 2010
#7 - Alternative Representations in Hip Hop
Ciara - Like a Boy
Within the area of Hip Hop the representation constructed of females and their sexuality is mostly controlled by males, but recently there can be a sighting of a strong movement by strong female Hip Hop artists to reclaim and transform this representation therefore removing the female stereotype and creating a strong, independent woman.
In this essay I will be discussing the alternative representation Ciara portrays in her music video “Like a Boy”. The name of this song instantly allows the audience to understand the song is a play on gender roles and could include some switch in male and female positions.
At the beginning of the music video we hear Ciara starting the song with "Ladies, I think it’s time to switch the roles" this emphasises the song title and begins to convey her message across. We then see a close up shot of Ciara’s hands and arms which have tattoos all over them and wears very big, manly rings. Also in the second shot we have Ciara sitting in a throne like chair which could connote her strenght and power. Her slouch and posture definatly contrasts with a way a woman is supposed to sit which makes her look quite like a man.
Her clothing is the complete opposite to what a woman normally wears as we see Ciara wearing baggy jeans, a vest top and a hat. Her accessories consist of chunky chains and rings to bring out the masculinity she is trying to convey. This begins to highlight Ciara's masculine approach and alters the stereotypical gender roles women usually have in hip hop videos.
We also see Ciara circling a man who is at a lower level than her. This could imply she has a greater power than him and is at a higher rank than him, acknowleding women are the greater sex in this video. The close ups of her talking in his ear and her angry facial expressions also suggest this and show that the man is weak and helpless. Ciara also spells her name in a bold sort of manner "C.I.A.R.A". This emphasises her status.
There is a shot of Ciara holding the crotch area, this plays around with gender roles as men are usually seen to do this to show their power. Ciara's clothing is very man-ish even when shes wearing a suit, she looks exactly like a man and dances like one. Her stick used could be seen as a phalic symbol to highlight the manhood of this video. Ciara's dance moves are also quite masculine.
Within the area of Hip Hop the representation constructed of females and their sexuality is mostly controlled by males, but recently there can be a sighting of a strong movement by strong female Hip Hop artists to reclaim and transform this representation therefore removing the female stereotype and creating a strong, independent woman.
In this essay I will be discussing the alternative representation Ciara portrays in her music video “Like a Boy”. The name of this song instantly allows the audience to understand the song is a play on gender roles and could include some switch in male and female positions.
At the beginning of the music video we hear Ciara starting the song with "Ladies, I think it’s time to switch the roles" this emphasises the song title and begins to convey her message across. We then see a close up shot of Ciara’s hands and arms which have tattoos all over them and wears very big, manly rings. Also in the second shot we have Ciara sitting in a throne like chair which could connote her strenght and power. Her slouch and posture definatly contrasts with a way a woman is supposed to sit which makes her look quite like a man.
Her clothing is the complete opposite to what a woman normally wears as we see Ciara wearing baggy jeans, a vest top and a hat. Her accessories consist of chunky chains and rings to bring out the masculinity she is trying to convey. This begins to highlight Ciara's masculine approach and alters the stereotypical gender roles women usually have in hip hop videos.
We also see Ciara circling a man who is at a lower level than her. This could imply she has a greater power than him and is at a higher rank than him, acknowleding women are the greater sex in this video. The close ups of her talking in his ear and her angry facial expressions also suggest this and show that the man is weak and helpless. Ciara also spells her name in a bold sort of manner "C.I.A.R.A". This emphasises her status.
There is a shot of Ciara holding the crotch area, this plays around with gender roles as men are usually seen to do this to show their power. Ciara's clothing is very man-ish even when shes wearing a suit, she looks exactly like a man and dances like one. Her stick used could be seen as a phalic symbol to highlight the manhood of this video. Ciara's dance moves are also quite masculine.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
#6 Post - Feminism and Post-Feminism
2. Read/Highlight Exemplar Essay -
Bianca's essay - What are the different representations of women in adverts and how are they signified?
The representation of women can be positive: challenging the roles and expectations of women or negative: reinforcing a patriarchal society. This essay questions how and why these representations are constructed in an advert for Gucci Guilty Perfume and Stella Artois beer.
Firstly the Gucci advert is in widescreen which connotes a dramatic cinematic experience to engage its audience. More attention is gained by the female character first seen in the text and her protagonist is signified through this. The protagonist has female dominance which is signified through the use of colour- everything is in black and white while her hair is gold/blonde. This colour connotes gold, power and divinity signifying her importance in the text.
The use of intertextuality in this text will appeal to a particular audience. The film references a great deal to the neo film noir Sin City, with the use of colour and the female dominant femme fatale character. Sin City appeals to a male audience due to the action genre, this trailer could also appeal to the same audience due to the intertextuality. In terms of the Uses and Gratifications theory, a female audience might realise and accept the protagonist in the text is a form of escapism and also a male gaze, by theorist Mulvey, and therefore might aspire, from Young and Rubicam's 4Cs, to be the object of male gaze too.
Though the protagonist is an object of male gaze, it could be suggested that she sexually objectifies herself to tease the audience. The protagonist puts her leg into the frame of the shot. As she puts into the frame, it signifies self objectification, allowing the audience to fetishise her body. Another shot, a high angle, of their sexual activities signifies CCTV and spying which is voyeuristic. The fact she is on top signifies her control of the situation for both the male character and the audience.
Not only does the protagonist exert her feminity through self objectification she also presents herself as an anarchic character signified by adopting male stereotypes. The advert begins with a long shot of an unknown character speeding down the motorway, which stereotypically would be expected to be a male character. However, the audience's expectations are challenged when a medium shot of the driver shows to be a female.
In contrast, women are negatively represented in the Stella Artois text. The most obvious editing technique used in the advert is the split screen: one side shows the female getting dressed and the other side is of the beer getting "prepared". This use of split screen signifies that neither the beer nor the woman know they have been placed side by side. This puts the audience in position of control as they can voyeur the woman, in a socially acceptable way. Audiences may identify this control as patriarchy, and also identify with the unknown male character whose presence is felt within the text. This text then reinforces the idea of a patriarchal society and that women are subordinated by men.
Not only does the female share the screen with the beer, but the screen is split equally between the two "objects" which connotes the woman is equally objectified to the status of beer. It is suggested the audience is male due to the female and beer subject. Though the advert is targeted at men, it also negatively stereotypes men as people who have little respect for women which however is a dominant representation.
A range of close up shots of the female are used to fetishise her body. There is a close up shot of the female's leg slowly and elegantly rising from the bath tub. On one hand this could signify femininity and her control over it which is the oppositional reading. However, the more dominant reading is that her legs are an important part of the female body and connotes a male audience who can voyeur her body.
The text near the beginning of the trailer says "the preparation" which is an enigma code as the audience question "what event is the preparation for?". It is signified through the shots that the woman and beer preparation is for the male through the use of action codes. Action codes of both the preparation of the woman and the glass of beer are the same.
Women are represented as people who prioritise their looks and appearance, and this ad reinforces this ideology. Action codes including close ups of her: brushing her hair, doing her make up and putting on heels strongly represent women as image conscious. It could be said that the advert reinforces this representation, which is always seen in the media. Funnily enough, it could also be said that the media itself is the cause of this representation as this ideal, perfect woman is always represented in the media, and women feel they have to aspire to it.
In conclusion, both texts females are the protagonists and are sexually objectified for male audiences to fetishise and vouyer their bodies. However, while Gucci’s advert’s protagonist controls her sexuality through self objectification, the Stella Artois’ protagonist is objectified by an unknown but present male character.
In the Gucci’s ad, there are many examples in the text that signify the protagonist’s female dominance, but it is arguable whether this could be seen as a positive representation. The dominant reading is that the protagonist exerts her female dominance over the male challenging the historical patriarchal society and even subordinating males as easily manipulated and easily tempted by women and sex and this would favour feminism. However the oppositional reading which would favour the ideologies of the Stella Artois advert, might be that females can control their sexuality, but it is still for the male gaze and male dominant society.
4. Understanding Post-Feminism -
Clarifying Concepts:
A more positive look at post-feminism:
In raising these questions, I am only at the beginning of figuring out what a more positive kind of post-feminist account of religion and family might look like, and so have no compelling summary to offer, let alone a call to a specific research agenda. In my own work, I do want to take some feminist insights for granted. But I explicitly reject the idea that strong feminist critiques have had their day and must now give way gracefully to approaches that favor a consensual and functional, or even communitarian, interpretation of the good society. I am feeling more combative, or at least constructively critical, about theories that neatly divide society into a “public” and a “private” realm, while systematically devaluing those feminine things (religion, family) assigned to the private (cf., Warner 1999). I am not sure where it will lead, but it feels right to begin pushing back the boundaries of post-feminism by asking a different set of questions.
Post-feminism as backlash to feminism:
What the hell is postfeminism, anyway? I would think it would refer to a time when complete gender equality has been achieved. That hasn’t happened, of course, but we (especially young women) are supposed to think it has. Postfeminism, as a term, suggests that women have made plenty of progress because of feminism, but that feminism is now irrelevant and even undesirable because it has made millions of women unhappy, unfeminine, childless, lonely, and bitter, prompting them to fill their closets with combat boots and really bad India print skirts.
I like this concept because it makes most sense to me. I believe Post Feminists have achieved so much but still have not gained total equality.
Post-feminism as a colloquialism:
It’s about deeply held political convictions, not to mention strategy. If there’s a wad of people out there extolling postfeminism and meaning “I think feminism is flawed and I’d like to see some goal-shifting, fresh tactics, and revisiting of contentious topics,” this isn’t just an issue of what’s going on in a speech group that doesn’t overlap with mine. It’s about defending feminism’s ground. Feminism is already doing the work that these (as I have come to think of them) non-evil postfeminists think comes with their prefix. And it’s beyond obvious that feminism suffers from its terrible reputation and from the vast misunderstandings that stunning numbers of people still have about it (no matter how many times it happens, I will never, ever get used to being asked if I hate men). I can’t help but see even the non-evil usage of “postfeminism” as a rejection of and attack on feminism, and an implication that the movement is finished. And that means I need to challenge it at every turn.
The ambiguity of the prefix “post”:
I’ve come accross the term used in the way Lurker describes, similarly, in academic circles, and for academic reasons I don’t think anyone should use it. The problem lies in the ambiguity of the prefix “post”, because post can mean since something commenced OR since something concluded. So, while technically a “post-feminist society” could mean a society since feminism began to be an influence, there will always be people who think you mean since feminism ended.
5. Post-Feminism Reading/Research
http://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/women/students/biblio/historiog/McRobbie%20-%20postfeminism.pdf
Bridget Jones’s Diary -
"..she has benefited from those institutions (education) which have loosened the ties of tradition and community for women, making it possible for them to be disembedded and re-located to the city to earn an independent living without shame or danger".
".. gentle denunciations of feminism (as in the film Bridget Jones’s Diary) co-exists however with the shrill championing of young women as a “metaphor for social change” on the pages of the right wing press in the UK, in particular the Daily Mail."
Wonderbra -
"The Wonderbra advert showing the model Eva Herzigova looking down admiringly at her substantial cleavage enhanced by the lacy pyrotechnics of the Wonderbra, was through the mid-1990s positioned in major high street locations in the UK on full size billboards".
Sex and The City -
"...capable of earning their own living, and the degree of suffering or shame they anticipate in the absence of finding a husband is countered by sexual self-confidence. Being without a husband does not mean they will go without men".
"Individuals must now choose the kind of life they want to live. Girls must have a lifeplan. They must become more reflexive in regard to every aspect of their lives, from making the right choice in marriage, to taking responsibility for their own working lives,and not being dependent on a job for life or on the stable and reliable operations of a large-scale bureaucracy which in the past would have allocated its employees specific,and possibly unchanging, roles".
6. Laura Mulvey -
Mulvey suggested that women in film are represented as ‘objects’, images with visual and erotic impact, which she termed their ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’. According to Mulvey the look could be ‘voyeuristic’ (women are viewed as virtuous and beautiful) or ‘fetishistic’ (women are viewed as excessively sexual beings).
Scratchy - Girls
The main and only woman in this music video is a key example of attracting the "Male Gaze". The popular saying about blondes is that "all blondes are bimbos", this is becoming an increasingly more common stereotyping associated with blonde haired women. The notion of the "blond bimbo" is generally determined by age - to most people they associate them as a young, sexy girl with long blonde hair, large breasts, long legs who is stupid and seemingly fake'. The stereotype has been very heavily built up and shaped by the media today. A key example of this is the women shown in this music video.
The way her body and clothing is fetishized through the use of close ups and long shots. Her gestures and facial expressions bring a sense of blank and inviting implications, showing her as a sexual character that men will fall for.
The way she walks around the house ansd street in nothing but a bra and knickers definatly shows the audience how she self objectifies herself and allows men to gaze at her.
The woman is making breakfast in her underwear. Her expressions and movements seem quite "bimbo" like and allow the audience to watch her with ease, as if she is a passive character. She is very sexualized as the camera close ups along her body from head to toe.
As she follows "Scratchy" down the street, she is seen as a helpless and week female who needs a man to "rescue" her. The "male gaze" enables the audience to watch her as she yelps helplessly down the road, making huge gestures and showing her body off.
She also cleans the house in her red underwear. The broom she holds in her hand could be used as a phallic symbol and could suggest some kind of sexual refrence.
Bianca's essay - What are the different representations of women in adverts and how are they signified?
The representation of women can be positive: challenging the roles and expectations of women or negative: reinforcing a patriarchal society. This essay questions how and why these representations are constructed in an advert for Gucci Guilty Perfume and Stella Artois beer.
Firstly the Gucci advert is in widescreen which connotes a dramatic cinematic experience to engage its audience. More attention is gained by the female character first seen in the text and her protagonist is signified through this. The protagonist has female dominance which is signified through the use of colour- everything is in black and white while her hair is gold/blonde. This colour connotes gold, power and divinity signifying her importance in the text.
The use of intertextuality in this text will appeal to a particular audience. The film references a great deal to the neo film noir Sin City, with the use of colour and the female dominant femme fatale character. Sin City appeals to a male audience due to the action genre, this trailer could also appeal to the same audience due to the intertextuality. In terms of the Uses and Gratifications theory, a female audience might realise and accept the protagonist in the text is a form of escapism and also a male gaze, by theorist Mulvey, and therefore might aspire, from Young and Rubicam's 4Cs, to be the object of male gaze too.
Though the protagonist is an object of male gaze, it could be suggested that she sexually objectifies herself to tease the audience. The protagonist puts her leg into the frame of the shot. As she puts into the frame, it signifies self objectification, allowing the audience to fetishise her body. Another shot, a high angle, of their sexual activities signifies CCTV and spying which is voyeuristic. The fact she is on top signifies her control of the situation for both the male character and the audience.
Not only does the protagonist exert her feminity through self objectification she also presents herself as an anarchic character signified by adopting male stereotypes. The advert begins with a long shot of an unknown character speeding down the motorway, which stereotypically would be expected to be a male character. However, the audience's expectations are challenged when a medium shot of the driver shows to be a female.
In contrast, women are negatively represented in the Stella Artois text. The most obvious editing technique used in the advert is the split screen: one side shows the female getting dressed and the other side is of the beer getting "prepared". This use of split screen signifies that neither the beer nor the woman know they have been placed side by side. This puts the audience in position of control as they can voyeur the woman, in a socially acceptable way. Audiences may identify this control as patriarchy, and also identify with the unknown male character whose presence is felt within the text. This text then reinforces the idea of a patriarchal society and that women are subordinated by men.
Not only does the female share the screen with the beer, but the screen is split equally between the two "objects" which connotes the woman is equally objectified to the status of beer. It is suggested the audience is male due to the female and beer subject. Though the advert is targeted at men, it also negatively stereotypes men as people who have little respect for women which however is a dominant representation.
A range of close up shots of the female are used to fetishise her body. There is a close up shot of the female's leg slowly and elegantly rising from the bath tub. On one hand this could signify femininity and her control over it which is the oppositional reading. However, the more dominant reading is that her legs are an important part of the female body and connotes a male audience who can voyeur her body.
The text near the beginning of the trailer says "the preparation" which is an enigma code as the audience question "what event is the preparation for?". It is signified through the shots that the woman and beer preparation is for the male through the use of action codes. Action codes of both the preparation of the woman and the glass of beer are the same.
Women are represented as people who prioritise their looks and appearance, and this ad reinforces this ideology. Action codes including close ups of her: brushing her hair, doing her make up and putting on heels strongly represent women as image conscious. It could be said that the advert reinforces this representation, which is always seen in the media. Funnily enough, it could also be said that the media itself is the cause of this representation as this ideal, perfect woman is always represented in the media, and women feel they have to aspire to it.
In conclusion, both texts females are the protagonists and are sexually objectified for male audiences to fetishise and vouyer their bodies. However, while Gucci’s advert’s protagonist controls her sexuality through self objectification, the Stella Artois’ protagonist is objectified by an unknown but present male character.
In the Gucci’s ad, there are many examples in the text that signify the protagonist’s female dominance, but it is arguable whether this could be seen as a positive representation. The dominant reading is that the protagonist exerts her female dominance over the male challenging the historical patriarchal society and even subordinating males as easily manipulated and easily tempted by women and sex and this would favour feminism. However the oppositional reading which would favour the ideologies of the Stella Artois advert, might be that females can control their sexuality, but it is still for the male gaze and male dominant society.
4. Understanding Post-Feminism -
Clarifying Concepts:
A more positive look at post-feminism:
In raising these questions, I am only at the beginning of figuring out what a more positive kind of post-feminist account of religion and family might look like, and so have no compelling summary to offer, let alone a call to a specific research agenda. In my own work, I do want to take some feminist insights for granted. But I explicitly reject the idea that strong feminist critiques have had their day and must now give way gracefully to approaches that favor a consensual and functional, or even communitarian, interpretation of the good society. I am feeling more combative, or at least constructively critical, about theories that neatly divide society into a “public” and a “private” realm, while systematically devaluing those feminine things (religion, family) assigned to the private (cf., Warner 1999). I am not sure where it will lead, but it feels right to begin pushing back the boundaries of post-feminism by asking a different set of questions.
Post-feminism as backlash to feminism:
What the hell is postfeminism, anyway? I would think it would refer to a time when complete gender equality has been achieved. That hasn’t happened, of course, but we (especially young women) are supposed to think it has. Postfeminism, as a term, suggests that women have made plenty of progress because of feminism, but that feminism is now irrelevant and even undesirable because it has made millions of women unhappy, unfeminine, childless, lonely, and bitter, prompting them to fill their closets with combat boots and really bad India print skirts.
I like this concept because it makes most sense to me. I believe Post Feminists have achieved so much but still have not gained total equality.
Post-feminism as a colloquialism:
It’s about deeply held political convictions, not to mention strategy. If there’s a wad of people out there extolling postfeminism and meaning “I think feminism is flawed and I’d like to see some goal-shifting, fresh tactics, and revisiting of contentious topics,” this isn’t just an issue of what’s going on in a speech group that doesn’t overlap with mine. It’s about defending feminism’s ground. Feminism is already doing the work that these (as I have come to think of them) non-evil postfeminists think comes with their prefix. And it’s beyond obvious that feminism suffers from its terrible reputation and from the vast misunderstandings that stunning numbers of people still have about it (no matter how many times it happens, I will never, ever get used to being asked if I hate men). I can’t help but see even the non-evil usage of “postfeminism” as a rejection of and attack on feminism, and an implication that the movement is finished. And that means I need to challenge it at every turn.
The ambiguity of the prefix “post”:
I’ve come accross the term used in the way Lurker describes, similarly, in academic circles, and for academic reasons I don’t think anyone should use it. The problem lies in the ambiguity of the prefix “post”, because post can mean since something commenced OR since something concluded. So, while technically a “post-feminist society” could mean a society since feminism began to be an influence, there will always be people who think you mean since feminism ended.
5. Post-Feminism Reading/Research
http://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/women/students/biblio/historiog/McRobbie%20-%20postfeminism.pdf
Bridget Jones’s Diary -
"..she has benefited from those institutions (education) which have loosened the ties of tradition and community for women, making it possible for them to be disembedded and re-located to the city to earn an independent living without shame or danger".
".. gentle denunciations of feminism (as in the film Bridget Jones’s Diary) co-exists however with the shrill championing of young women as a “metaphor for social change” on the pages of the right wing press in the UK, in particular the Daily Mail."
Wonderbra -
"The Wonderbra advert showing the model Eva Herzigova looking down admiringly at her substantial cleavage enhanced by the lacy pyrotechnics of the Wonderbra, was through the mid-1990s positioned in major high street locations in the UK on full size billboards".
Sex and The City -
"...capable of earning their own living, and the degree of suffering or shame they anticipate in the absence of finding a husband is countered by sexual self-confidence. Being without a husband does not mean they will go without men".
"Individuals must now choose the kind of life they want to live. Girls must have a lifeplan. They must become more reflexive in regard to every aspect of their lives, from making the right choice in marriage, to taking responsibility for their own working lives,and not being dependent on a job for life or on the stable and reliable operations of a large-scale bureaucracy which in the past would have allocated its employees specific,and possibly unchanging, roles".
6. Laura Mulvey -
Mulvey suggested that women in film are represented as ‘objects’, images with visual and erotic impact, which she termed their ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’. According to Mulvey the look could be ‘voyeuristic’ (women are viewed as virtuous and beautiful) or ‘fetishistic’ (women are viewed as excessively sexual beings).
Scratchy - Girls
The main and only woman in this music video is a key example of attracting the "Male Gaze". The popular saying about blondes is that "all blondes are bimbos", this is becoming an increasingly more common stereotyping associated with blonde haired women. The notion of the "blond bimbo" is generally determined by age - to most people they associate them as a young, sexy girl with long blonde hair, large breasts, long legs who is stupid and seemingly fake'. The stereotype has been very heavily built up and shaped by the media today. A key example of this is the women shown in this music video.
The way her body and clothing is fetishized through the use of close ups and long shots. Her gestures and facial expressions bring a sense of blank and inviting implications, showing her as a sexual character that men will fall for.
The way she walks around the house ansd street in nothing but a bra and knickers definatly shows the audience how she self objectifies herself and allows men to gaze at her.
The woman is making breakfast in her underwear. Her expressions and movements seem quite "bimbo" like and allow the audience to watch her with ease, as if she is a passive character. She is very sexualized as the camera close ups along her body from head to toe.
As she follows "Scratchy" down the street, she is seen as a helpless and week female who needs a man to "rescue" her. The "male gaze" enables the audience to watch her as she yelps helplessly down the road, making huge gestures and showing her body off.
She also cleans the house in her red underwear. The broom she holds in her hand could be used as a phallic symbol and could suggest some kind of sexual refrence.
Monday, 11 October 2010
#5 Post - Gender and Advertising
1. What sort of images of women and men dominated advertising pre-1970s? Why was this the case?
Pre 1970’s commercials stereotyped women as household figures who stayed at home and looked after the children. Women were mostly shown in commercials for bathroom and kitchen products. Men were shown to be the powerful figure that also controlled the voice over. Also when shown in paid work environment men were shown dominant in suits and top hats whereas women were always seen as subordinate to men. Authority roles were dominated my males.
2. How did the advertising of the 1970’s continue to perpetuate the stereotype of women, despite depicting women in a greater range of roles?
Women were still shown weaker and less important than men as they were only shown in beauty, cleanliness, family adverts.
3. Can Gaye Tuchman’s quote regarding under-representation and the ‘symbolic annihilation of women’ still be applied in 21st Century advertising? If so how?
Yes this can still be applied in the 21st century; women are still being “symbolically annihilated” an example for this day and age is the way women are shown as the “sex object”.
4. Do you agree that adverts, such as those for the 1990’s Boots No. 7, ‘It’s not make-up. It’s ammunition.’ campaign, are post-feminist (thereby representing women as better than men?). Explain your answer
The words “It’s not make-up. Its ammunition” gives as sense of power towards the advert. The word “ammunition” sounds like a manly word denoting guns and bullets. This shows that women have decided to show men they can also become powerful and confident with them and not always be subordinated by the male sex. Women in this advert are shown to be controlling and dominant. On the other hand women could be seen as surrendering themselves to men and trying to be like them when talking about “ammunition”.
5. Is the representation of women by the media accountable for the results of a survey in which ‘women were up to ten times more likely than men to be unhappy with their body image’?
Yes the media is accountable for these results. Now a day’s women in the media are shown as beautiful, toned, glamorous people covered from head to toe in cosmetics. This creates a negative impact on women in society as they look at women on the tv and are drawn in by their good looks. Women become depressed and try so hard to achieve “the perfect” look. Women aspire and feel the need to look like these women and feel ashamed with the looks they have already.
6. Is the contemporary representation of men in advertising perhaps also a negative one where they too are treated as sex objects?
There is a rise in males being depicted as sex objects in advertising commonly in perfume adverts; this is a negative representation because males are supposed to be strong and connote power and dominance.
Pre 1970’s commercials stereotyped women as household figures who stayed at home and looked after the children. Women were mostly shown in commercials for bathroom and kitchen products. Men were shown to be the powerful figure that also controlled the voice over. Also when shown in paid work environment men were shown dominant in suits and top hats whereas women were always seen as subordinate to men. Authority roles were dominated my males.
2. How did the advertising of the 1970’s continue to perpetuate the stereotype of women, despite depicting women in a greater range of roles?
Women were still shown weaker and less important than men as they were only shown in beauty, cleanliness, family adverts.
3. Can Gaye Tuchman’s quote regarding under-representation and the ‘symbolic annihilation of women’ still be applied in 21st Century advertising? If so how?
Yes this can still be applied in the 21st century; women are still being “symbolically annihilated” an example for this day and age is the way women are shown as the “sex object”.
4. Do you agree that adverts, such as those for the 1990’s Boots No. 7, ‘It’s not make-up. It’s ammunition.’ campaign, are post-feminist (thereby representing women as better than men?). Explain your answer
The words “It’s not make-up. Its ammunition” gives as sense of power towards the advert. The word “ammunition” sounds like a manly word denoting guns and bullets. This shows that women have decided to show men they can also become powerful and confident with them and not always be subordinated by the male sex. Women in this advert are shown to be controlling and dominant. On the other hand women could be seen as surrendering themselves to men and trying to be like them when talking about “ammunition”.
5. Is the representation of women by the media accountable for the results of a survey in which ‘women were up to ten times more likely than men to be unhappy with their body image’?
Yes the media is accountable for these results. Now a day’s women in the media are shown as beautiful, toned, glamorous people covered from head to toe in cosmetics. This creates a negative impact on women in society as they look at women on the tv and are drawn in by their good looks. Women become depressed and try so hard to achieve “the perfect” look. Women aspire and feel the need to look like these women and feel ashamed with the looks they have already.
6. Is the contemporary representation of men in advertising perhaps also a negative one where they too are treated as sex objects?
There is a rise in males being depicted as sex objects in advertising commonly in perfume adverts; this is a negative representation because males are supposed to be strong and connote power and dominance.
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