Hi, im Ed and this blog is for my notes and findings in my A-level MediaStudies course. I'll be looking at Structural theorists, representation and symbols in the media.
-James Curren and Jean Seaton's theory of power and media industries suggests the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power -The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power
-The idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality
-The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.
-The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media production.
e.g The BBC, a large scale conglomerate, has a large influence over many platforms such as TV, radio and the internet. Thus spreading it's reaches in power and profit. A large varied audience is interested in the show 'Top Gear' which increases the scale of influence that the BBC has.
'Woman' Magazine is a British magazine that was first published in 1937, it is targeted towards 30-40 year old women. It encompasses the female beauty and fashion industry, celebrity gossip, TV, News and real life stories that the target audience might take interest in.This cover of 'Woman' is from the 23rd-29th of August 1964. The title and brand 'Woman' is in a very curly font that establishes the informal address to the audience of which also easily establishes the target and dominant audience as 'Woman' suggests a more mature audience then perhaps 'Girl'. The main image and title takes up the majority of the layout suggesting that it has great importance. The model chosen has particularly white teeth, nice hair, makeup and a dress. This presentation of women is very typical of the 1960s, women at the time were taught that they were constantly voyered by men and that they should always be seen in full makeup and nice clothes, during the end of the 1960s however the Women's liberation began to change this. The Yellow strapline at the bottom of the page covers over the woman making it more prominent and suggesting that it is of more importance. The text written on it in full capitals 'Seven Star Improvements for your kitchen' suggests that the audience posses a kitchen that they would like to improve. During this time after the WWII very few women could get jobs and so society enforced a new ethos for the lives of women. Women were taught that their purpose was to become a mother and to act as a housewife instead of getting a job, this Magazine reinforces this idea. It further shows a typical 'keeping up with the jones' ideology of having the next best household equipment and kitchen.
The use of the pull quote from Alfred Hitchcock who was a the rather famous film director of 'Psycho' and 'Vertigo'. In many of Hitchcock's films women play interesting and different heroine roles, however in Shakespeare-like fashion the women in his films are all either killed by the end or given a brutal lesson for stepping out of place in society.
Here are some of the codes and conventions which encapsulate the audience of a magazine simply on the front cover:
Layout - The design of a page of a magazine, including the composition of written text, images, graphics etc
Headline - Written text that indicates the content of an article, usually in a large font, and positioned at the top of the page
Masthead - The title of the magazine, usually positioned at the top of the front cover and the contents page, it establishes a a sense of the magazine's brand identity.
Sidebar - A brief article or story on a page - may be placed in a box or written in a different font to separate it from the main article
Feature - A key visual element on the front cover that usually dominates the page. It could be a model/celebrity or other picture that is relevant to the magazine content.
Pull quotes - Key phrases from an article that are featured in a larger font to attract attention.
Anchorage - Where text is used to 'pin down' the meaning of an image.
Strap-line - Short phrase encapsulating the essence of the magazine, usually positioned below the masthead
Brand identity - This communicates a clear message about the magazine to the target audience, it includes the image of the magazine (masthead, style, design etc). as well as its ethos and values.
Some other codes and conventions:
Cover (featuring masthead, strapline, main image, cover lines, banner, date, barcode and price)
Editor’s letter - Introduction to the magazines -ideals and ethos
Publishing information page - Authors information, ISBN, title of book etc
Readers’ letters - Letters given in by readers perhaps asking for specific content-gives a sense of community
Regular features (relevant to the sub-genre of magazine)
Feature articles (double page spread or extended features over several pages, including headline,
stand first, pull quotes/ sidebars, images etc.)
Advertising, including advertorials -First person account of a product.
Competitions - draws in audience for chance to win
Consistent house style across the magazine - a reoccurring 'internal' style e.g red borders, common logo, reoccurring text font.
Another of Stuart hall's theories is the Reception theory. It asserts that media texts are encoded with messages and values by the produces which are decoded by the audience. Different audience members will decode the media in different ways and possibly not the way the producer originally intended.
The theory states that the members of the audience will adopt one of three positions when decoding the text:
Dominant or Preferred reading - How the produces of the text want the audience to decode/view said text. They will assert thus position if the messages are clear to them; they can follow the narrative; they can recognise age and culture cues and the themes shown are relevant to said audience.
Oppositional Reading - When the audience reject the Producers intended message and create their own meaning of the text. This can occur when the text deals with controversial themes that the audience has an opposite view upon. It may also occur when members of the audience are unable to receive age and culture appropriate cues which leads them to decode the text in a different way to the intended way.
Negotiated Reading - When the audience compromise between dominant and oppositional reading; the audience will decode some of the messages in the intended way and then others unintentionally. This could occur when the audience understand the age and culture cues but the narrative is to complex which inhibits a misunderstanding.
Black Panther is an American film produced in 2018 by Disney's Marvel Studios which is part of a long line of films. The film is based upon Marvel Comic's Black Panther which was influenced by the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which was a political organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October 1966. The film entails the story of the kind of a secret country in the center of Africa, Wakanda. It is much more technologically developed than the rest of the world which is why they choose to keep secret. It deliberately shows a world where people of colour have secretly been above all other countries which is very similar to the aims of the Black Panther Party.
MARVEL STUDIOS – Logo suggests high quality
film
Audio
–Intense music presents action genre, voice overs – suggests some kind of
change in the world –audience need to be educated (uses and gratification) – 2nd
voice over also suggests some change in the world whereas 1st
voiceover suggests something hidden in Africa –ENIGMA CODE
-Hip hop style music ->Afro American
social history
Representation
- ‘Dora milaje’ Women warriors –challenges
old status quo, typically masculine role.
> Bell Hooks – Black women at the top of
the most technologically advanced country in the world –high social status.
Bell hooks-“to engage in film was to engage in the negation of black female
representation in the media” Black Panther challenges this old status quo.
-VERY developed technology however in
African artwork and style
Binary Opposites
Contrast of Wakanda to shared contextual
road map of Africa shown by the media.
Enigma Code
-Who are the people? Why do they look a
certain way? Who are the people in masks?
-‘El Dorado’ in Africa –myths and legends
-As an audience we want answers to these
questions (Uses and Gratification)
Scene 1
Industrial, grey blue dark colour pallet, looks like an interrogation body language suggests this, ethnicity -white males, 'What do you know about Wakanda/[Africa]' -what do we know as an audience? -Different to contextual road map, Scene 2
People wearing traditional African clothes- cultural reference point, 'El duardo'-Enigma code, Flying ship-Advanced technology-challenges shared contextual road map, 'terror group' style people-cultivated by media, The Black Panther-BlackPanther movement & Malcom X, "Wild Cat" imagery, fight Scene 3
Female representation-Shaven head, warrior's clothes- She is next to the king rather than a damsel in distress, Marvel Studios logo-suggests high quality film + specialised font suggests new kind of film, Wakanda looks like the future, Animal representation with mask-contrast to armour and technology, Empowered women -wields traditional spear with skill>Not conforming to other nations.
The media provides us as a audience with 'tools' to help us construct our identities.
-Colonial discourse continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
-Civilization constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary opposites based on notions of otherness.
The British Empire
-At it's height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over over a century, was the foremost global power.
-By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people-23% of the world's population(1913)
-By 1920, it covered 13,700,000 square miles, 24% of the earth's total land area.
Colonialism
The policy or practice of acquiring full political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
The Target of the imperial impulse is the immigrant. To implement the origin country's attitudes -ethnicity, attitudes, representation, class etc
"Albion's criminalization of immigrant and their progeny particularly from the Caribbean and South Asia signifies a melancholic response to these social and political groups that are essential to late modern British life." - Paul Gilroy Discourse
= discussion, debate, exchange of ideas.
"It is important to ask what critical perspectives might nurture the ability and the desire to live with difference on an increasingly divided but also conversions on the planet" - Paul Gilroy
Colonialism
=Fully of partially controlling, occupying and exploiting another country.
"the imperial and colonial past continues to shape political life in the overdeveloped-but-no-imperial countries." - Pail Gilroy
Egocentricity
=Belief that your ethnic group is superior.
