'Riptide' - Vance Joy

Riptide Case Study (2) Copy by Edward Pick on Scribd

I, Daniel Blake

‘I, Daniel Blake' - Case Study Copy by Edward Pick on Scribd

Baudrillard - Postmodernism

Modernism 

-- A period of time in the 19th and early 20th century when industrialization caused widespread cultural and economic upheaval. This caused a deliberate philosophical and practical departure form the past in the arts and literature.

Postmodernism 

-- A deliberate philosophical and practical departure from modernism. Postmodernism developed in the course of the mid 20th century and continues in culture and society today. 
Simulacra 
=the postmodern copy; reproduced and manipulated to the point that it no longer resembles its original.

Hyperreal
= where reality and fiction are indistinguishable
= 'more than' real; improving upon reality

Parody
= Referencing something for comedic effect and ridicule. (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Pastiche
=Referencing something to pay homage rather than for comedic effect (Pulp Fiction, Ready Player One)

Bricolage
=Taking many different elements and combining them into something new (Stranger Things, Avatar, Black Panther)

Intertextuality
=Referencing a text within a new text (Age of Ultron - Pinocchio, The Goldbergs - ET, Ready Player One - The Shining etc)

Fragmented Narrative
=A non-chronological/ typical narrative (Breaking Bad -ending shown at the beginning)

Self-reflexivity
=Making the audience aware of the film making process (Deadpool, Ferris Buler)

Baudrillardcreated four steps of reproduction:

1.basic reflection of reality

2.perversion of reality

3.pretence of reality (where there is no model)

4.simulacrum, which "bears no relation to any reality whatsoever".

–Jean Baudrillard

“successive phases of the image: it is the reflection of a profound reality; it masks and denatures a profound reality; it masks the absence of a profound reality; it has no relation to any reality whatsoever-it is its own pure simulacrum” – Jean Baudrillard

Adbusters and Woman

How significant are economic factors in the magazine industry? Refer to Woman and Adbusters in your answer. (30 marks)

Introduction:
– Explain how economics and profit are a priority in the magazine business however there are often exceptions whereby the social agenda/message takes priority.
-Introduction to ‘Woman’ (target audience, time, conglomerate)
-Introduction to ‘Adbusters’ (target audience, targeted people/conglomerates)

Magazine info:
-Significance of ownership in relation to major publishing conglomerates and independent publishes outside of the mainstream commercial area.
-The nature of the magazine industry during the 1960s –dominated by very few publishing companies
-‘Woman’ sells 12million copies per week.
-Contemporary magazine industry, still dominated by major publishers however a much wider range of titles are available and more competition. –Independent publishers need to find a unique selling point in order to appeal to audiences.
-Different sources of funding/revenue for magazines.
-Significance of advertising and how adverts are chosen for a specific audience.
-Production values are shaped by economic factors.
-Historical contexts –economy, post war recession, austerity gives way to new consumer boom in 1960s
-Power and Media Industries (Curran and Seaton)

Curran and Seaton:
-The idea that media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of power and profit.
-The idea that creative media is generally limited over variety, quality and creativity in itself.
-More socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.

Woman
-Owned by IPC (created in 1963) -> largest in the world, profit and power driven.
-Woman is a product of capitalist industry.
-Diversification of the parent company into news, magazines, book publishing – horizontal integration.
-Different release date to ‘Woman’s Realm’ -> audiences might buy both = maximum profit.
-Advertising reflects mainstream products e.g. Max Factor, Breeze
-Economic stability – expenditure on quality product – high production value, interview with celebrity Alfred Hitchcock.
-Limiting choice and viewpoint for audience (lack of diversity of opinion)

Adbusters
-Independent, non-profit magazine funded by subscriptions, sales of copies + donations.
-Does not feature advertisements.
-High cover value (£10.99) reflecting lack of advertising
-Magazine has high production values and print magazine of quality
-Owned by Adbusters foundation -> organizes campaigns such as Occupy Wall Street and the magazine embodies an anti-consumerist ideology.
-Adbusters subverts the traditional relationship between magazine advertising via use of ‘culture jamming’ for example the use of the “Louibouton” ‘advert’.

Riptide - Case Study

Formation - Case Study

Beyoncé Formation copy by Edward Pick on Scribd

Adbusters - 'POST-WEST'

Adbusters is a non-profit, anti capitalist and anti consumerist magazine. They specialize in subverting typical and traditional magazine conventions with no adverts whatsoever. They take mainstream conglomerate adverts and culture jam them throughout the magazine to promote their message. Adbuster magazines also contain articles that relate to their post modern world message. As shown in the covers (left and right) although they brand their magazines the font is in a different style to avoid branding.


Set Cover:

-Masthead: Plain, white, sans serif font clearly viable at the top of the cover however pasted over/partially covered by a
dirt affect.

-Title: 'POST WEST' in same white font as the mast head social/political message - image linked to article 'time for a radical rethink of what is considered a normal life in the decadent west'. Also suggesting a link to 'post-truth'

-image not fully anchored - assumes a level of understanding in the audience.

-gesture/clothing black background, main image of male in khaki camouflage jacket, angry, animal-like expression, clenched fist -subverts codes of consumer/lifestyle magazines.

"CHRISTIAN LOUIBOUTON"

This is a culture jam of Christian Louboutin's advert for high-heels. As shown where the high heels should be have been replaced by two bottles used as the soles of flip-flops with pieces of string. Instead of a typical model they have used a shot of the feet of a stereotypical African in poverty. As shown the photo is taken in a dry dusty part of Africa perhaps Zambia or Ethiopia adhering to shared conceptual road maps of said countries. Paul Gilroy's Post Colonial theory can be applied to this page as the bottles are likely to have come from places such as the UK, without us it is unlikely a person in Africa would have ever come across such bottles without British colonisation.

The culture jam on the page is criticising how pointless the Christian Louboutin high heels are as although shown in the media as the 'nicest' high heels that should be the most expensive, in reality their worth is probably much less and it's functionality awful. The shoes shown in the image could be identified as being more functional than high heels as high heels often cause problems in foot growth. Furthermore the caption 'Red soles are always in season' perhaps further criticise the consumerist view of wanting these high heels with red soles and how people in this situation possibly have red soles on the bottom of their feet. This perhaps graphic imagery is what Adbusters aim for in their magazine to convey a dramatic message.

Norman Gall - Osasco

The first article presented is written by journalist Norman Gall. Norman Gall has been to multiple LICs and observed the lack of basic resources such as toilets, food and water. The article focuses on Osasco in Sao Paulo where 'people rise at 3:30AM to collect water' that he describes as polluted and disease ridden.

'Him' - Zucchetti.

The next page tremendously juxtaposes the last article. Although it is an ad for Zucchetti's bathroom wear the ad is placed in the magazine to mock it and to ruin it's image. The image shown of the tap shows a rather slick and expensive tap that is likely to be overpriced simply for it's design rather than it's actual function. This makes a mockery of Zucchetti and those who purchase items from Zucchetti because it shows how the consumerist lifestyle takes water for granted and is more bothered with the look of a tap and the water coming out rather than actually being grateful to have water whatsoever. When looking at the website Adbusters point is further emphasized by Zucchetti's pretentious tone that is only present to entice the audience.

350ppm and Justin Gillis

The next two pages are referencing climate change. The first image has a rough black background with an image of a model with a painted '350ppm' over the image. '350ppm' refers to 350 parts per million, this is the limit of how much CO2 needs to be in the atmosphere before the greenhouse effect takes place. The use of this over the model is significant because the cosmetics industry is known for it's pollution and contribution to climate change.

To the right of this image we have a second image followed by a paragraph written by Justin Gillis who is an author and activist in preventing climate change. The second image shows a woman who is begging in the middle of a city center. She contrasts to the model as firstly she is of much lower class and arguably closer to the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the model who is closer to the top. Furthermore they contrast because the woman on the street has likely had very little contribution to climate change whereas the model is advertising the cosmetics industry that has a very large contribution to climate change.

'Save the Planet Kill Yourself'

This next article is the longest article in the magazine. It is written by David Joez and is taken from his book 'Villaverde's Save the Planet Kill Yourself: A Guide to Living in the End Times.' He is a writter and a poet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This article has a very protestant tone that directly targets audiences in the west. The article is structured in the order of items in a supermarket or shop and gives a story of information about how each product effects the human body, mind and how it pollutes the world/environment around us. It has a very left wing anti-consumerist view that targets large corporations such as 'Coca-Cola' and the places that we shop at. It criticizes these capitalist firms and gives a bad image of there completely profit oriented views.

This article is one of the many aspects of the magazine that make it deviate from normal mainstream magazines. This large article of a dense two pages of text is unusual as it allows no room for advertisements. Furthermore it criticizes other magazines as they also produce lots of harmful by-products for the environment.

The quote "you learned long ago to ignore reality" and "like how you call pig pork or bacon or sausage instead of calling it pig[to appear more stomach friendly]" use personal pronouns to directly talk to and target the audience reading. It criticisms them in a very 'telling of ' tone. Further quotes such as "the second leading ingredient in Coca-Cola, high fructose corn syrup, is problematic far beyond it's deleterious health effects" show how Adbusters are targeting big capitalist corporations and their methods.