Black Panther Trailer

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) – 2^nd voice over also suggests some change in the world whereas 1^st 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.

Post Colonial Theory - Paul Gilroy

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.

Water Aid - 'Sunshine on a Rainy'

The following advert is an appeal from the charity Water Aid who go to some of the world's poorest and most marginalized communities to install wells to provide said communities with water.

Claudia

-Clothing: Skirt, polo shirt and shoes -rather western style look
-Wide shots of the path show how vulnerable she is as a child. The close ups brings the audiences attention solely on her, one person is much easier to identify with rather than a group.

Stuart Hall- Representation

-Deliberately broken away from traditional/stereotypical charity advert (social context) - No depressing narration, no shots of children drinking dirty water, some crops are shown, Claudia does wear decent western clothing etc. The use of lots of close up camera shots makes it direct and personal while also allowing us to recognize this as every day life for her. She also never directly addresses the audience or look at the camera making her seam very lonely while she sings to her self.

-Shared conceptual road map; Typical African landscape with really unsaturated and beige colors, dry plants,

-Binary Opposites:
UK vs Africa -lush dark green Fertile ; Dead, Dusty, Dry crops -Developed; Underdeveloped
Beginning of advert and end -Single child; whole village - More saturation throughout
Sunshine vs Rainy day
Claudia's positive story vs on-screen graphic"650 million people still don't have access to clean drinking water" (conceptual binary)- concept of change

-Audience
The encoded meaning is very blatantly obvious to the audience -these people need water.
The use of covering Zoe's 'Sunshine on a rainy day' creates a target audience of 30s-40s as it has a nostalgic factor to the ad which will attract this age range who are likely to have a stable income compared to that of younger generations. 

David Gauntlett - Theories of identity

The idea that media provides us with 'tools' or resources that we use to construct our identities.

-Claudia acts as a role model for the type of life style changes that the audience could be responsible for creating if they donate to water aid

Liebst Van Zoonen - Feminist theory

-Women - Washing, collecting water, looking after children ]-Reinforced stereotypes

-Men - working in fields/labor

Although the women are in stereotypical female roles, they do physical work by walking to collect water which does subvert stereotypes 

Gilroy - Post Colonial Theories

-Water aid is encouraging it's British audience to 'help' those like Claudia who live in less developed countries

-'Sunshine on a rainy day' is from British culture and the meaning of the song makes sense in British social context, not African. 'Rain on a sunny day' makes more sense in African social context -Imposing of British values on African society doesn't work.
-Previous adverts have cultivated an impossible task with miserable and starving women and children of which audiences have become desensitised to. Water Aid has twisted this idea. 

Audio Codes

dietetic sound on radio - typical British weather

SOUND BRIDGE -crickets from 2nd frame heard in 1st frame -smoother transition - links UK to Africa-money comes from UK which is sent to Africa

Claudia begins humming-intro + crunching of footsteps-dry 

Singing has a contrast in accent to British Radio-childish voice although hard to distinguish age due to the fact she is on her own -suggests maturity 

'Sunshine on a rainy day' -contrast in culture -view of sunshine

"Makes me feel like i belong" -water brings people together?

"Don't leave me here alone" -keep watching 

"Sunshine on a rainy day"-happy children on screen - sunshine=happiness

Newspaper Bias

"Complaints that the British press has a right-wing bias have long been made by left-wingers – but is this a state of affairs the public recognizes?" 

This statement was part of an article originally published by the times. They reported that Owen Jones, a British columnist, political commentator, and left-wing political activist described UK press as “largely run by a very small group of very right-wing media moguls who defend the status quo of which they are part. If you are on the Left and want to change society, the media will always come and get you”. The following table from YouGov shows that out of the eight newspapers shown, five of them are predominantly right wing which further suggests that Jones's description is correct.

Although not all bias is deliberate, the following features of media are features that journalists may use to create a bias view. 

 –Bias through selection and omission

 –Bias through placement

 –Bias by headline

 –Bias by photos, captions and camera angles

 –Bias through use of names and titles

 –Bias through statistics and crowd counts

 –Bias by source control

 –Word choice and tone

Bias Through selection and omission

Editors and journalists can create a bias by choosing to ignore certain bits of information (omission) or by selecting certain bits to be shown. This crafted bit of story crafts the audience's view of the story which creates bias in the reader as well

Bias Through Placement

Editors and journalists may further select certain stories to be shown in different places of the newspaper. Radio and Television do this so that stories lead in order of significance (more important first) The order may be led by the political leading of the company which will influence what the audience believes is more significant too. 

Bias Through Headline

Audiences will often let the headline take priority (like the front cover) so editors will summarize views as well as presenting hidden bias and prejudice. 

Bias by Photos, captions and camera angles

Some photos are specifically chosen to flatter people or to make someone look unpleasant. This can influence the audiences opinion of the person to lean towards the media's view creating bias.

Bias by through names and titles

News media often uses labels and titles to describe people, places and events. Labels such as 'ex-con', 'freedom fighter' and 'terrorists' create a personality bias for the person -like selection and omission there are aspects being left out.

Bias through statistics and crowd counts

Sources can often omit certain statistics or often exaggerate others. Sources may also somewhat create false information e.g 'experts' say...

Betty Frieden -The Women's Liberation, 1950s

Betty Friedan is considered to be one of the most important feminists throughout history, she sparked the second wave of feminism activists in the 1950s. Previously i have shown how society during the 1950s forced women into a demeaning lifestyle that had no end and no inspiration. Attitudes created by the patriarchal society of the 1950s mean't that women's lives were dedicated to marriage, raising a family and keeping there house clean and should set aside education and job ambitions. They were objectified and seen as an image. Betty Frieden questions this attitude in her book 'The Feminine Mystique', she presents the 'problem that has no name'. This problem is simple, the lives women were leading were unfulfilling and left much to be desired in the eyes of all women of the time. Although the media and attitudes showed women being content and happy with their lives, this was merely to keep women like Betty Frieden from speaking out.

George Gerbner - Cultivation Theory

The research for the Cultivation theory, theorises by George Gerbner, began in the mid 1960s and it's aim was to specifically look at how television and media effect and influence the audience' ideas and perceptions of everyday life.

-The main findings were that high frequency viewers (those who experience a lot of media and TV) are more susceptible to media messages and the beliefs that the messages are real and valid. These high frequency therefore have a 'model' created by the media of things such as violence in the world. Findings also suggested that the media's cultivated constructs are present in todays society and are re-presented but within different packaging e.g violence depicted by social media is also depicted by radio.

Some of attitudes studied included violence, gender, demographic, cultural representation and political attitudes. Low frequency viewers have less stereotypes and attitudes than high frequency viewers who's stereotypes and attitudes are all based on their experience of media. High frequency viewers are also more exposed to more violence and are then affected by the 'Mean World Syndrome' which is the belief cultivated by media that the world is a far worse place than it is in reality.

Limitations:
-One of the main principles of the theory is that television and media cultivate the status quo, they do not challenge it. This is no longer true as some media now try to challenge the status quo to promote equality.
-It focuses on TV and not other forms of media.

Kiss of a Vampire

'

'Hammer Film Productions in 1963. It was directed by Don Sharp and was written by producer Anthony hinds. 'The Kiss of a Vampire' is part of a long line of horror films in the Hammer Film Productions' repertoire which were produced during the 1950s-1970s. These Gothic horror productions had it's large audience as a result of the baby boom that occurred after WWII, the babies born were now in their teenage years which was a large audience that enjoyed this Gothic horror style.


The poster has very typical language, representation and attitudes for the time period and the film genre that contrast to today's attitudes. Firstly the women in the poster are wearing very little clothing, furthermore the first woman (left) looks somewhat helpless and the man drawn on the left is possessively holding the first woman. This representation of women being 'damsels in distress' who can only be saved by a men is very typical 1950s-60s attitude as men were seen to be superior and women helpless and submissive. This can link to the target audience as these women are dressed and sexualised this way for the pleasure of men rather than for any other function. It could also be pointed out that only one of the women are credited in the poster -the male cast takes the majority of the cast list.

However, although the first woman enforces the 1950s attitude, the second woman (right) is seen to be much more aggressive. She bares her teeth and her right hand is in a fist. The beginning of the 1960s was often seen as the beginning of the women's sexual liberation as it was the introduction to the contraceptive pill and there were now more women in the workforce than ever before. David Gauntlet's identity theory could be applied to this as she could be seen as a role-model for women who struggle with male oppression or who would like to be seen as equals to men of the time, whatever the narrative environment. Liebst van Zoonen's feminist theories could be applied as by assuming the 'co-antagonist' role, the female vampire contributes social change in a non-traditional role.

Bell Hooks, a feminist and activist for black peoples rights, talks about how the media effects peoples perception of class. In her book 'Reel to Reel' she talks about how people of color are lowest in social class during the 1950s. This poster supports her theory.

The poster shows very typical attributes of the Gothic horror genre. The use of a cloudy background with a full moon is use of pathetic fallacy, it creates the idea of something supernatural. The choice of font in Hammer production posters are usually original font texts that have an art style that has relevance to the film's story line. For example the 'V' of vampire has blood dripping from it like a vampire's fang.

Roland Barthes's five codes can be applied to the poster. Firstly the hermneutic code is used through the enigma of a "kiss" in the title, this puts emphasis on the relationship between male and female vampires. There is further use of this through the enigma of the fate of the two victims. Barthes's semantic code can be applied to the images that link to vampire-ism e.g: bats, the castle and the exposure of peoples necks. The symbolic code can be applied to signifies of the supernatural and horror e.g: darkness and the full moon.