Tuesday 5th September 2023
The Power of the Media
L/O: To identify examples of the media's power.To discuss how the media can influence the audience.
I am interested in food and films.
The media that I like the most is streaming websites since I can watch the older Romanian films or any films when I want.
The media that i watch is basically anything since I watch different things on different platforms.
I listen to a variety of different genres of music.
I get my news from the Tv downstairs every time I eat though it is Romanian news.
Monday 11th September 2023
Stranger Things
L/O: To analyse using the theoretical framework to critically apply the theoretical framework to texts.
Media Language: Camera work, editing, sound, Mise-en-scene. Codes and conventions
Media Representation: How the media portray events, issues, individuals and socials groups.
Media Industry: How the media industries processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms
Media Audience: The audience that is target by the media. And how the audiences interact
Context: Detail that is needed to understand the story/ thing better
sound- loud then silence to create suspense.
camerawork- zooms in of the faces before getting killed
MISE- low light to create suspense and the lights flicker to create suspense during the chase. The props that are 80s theme
industry- most of the cast weren't popular actors before stranger things.
audience- very 80s attitude and it looks 80s as well
political- the government hiding stuff
Tuesday 12th September 2023
Stranger Things
L/O: To investigate the principles behind theories. To critically apply theories to text.
ML: 80s language, 80s decor,
high school experience with bullies and relationships.
Police representations of Americans is that they are unsupportive, not clean, he doesn't help her to find her son. High school bullies relation to homosexuality.
single mum in the 80s was a struggle due to inequality (can seen through Josie), john the brother takes the mother role at home and also helps her mum with money. Police is biased.
Elements of sci-fi and horror.
Audience- we don't identify with the praiciacal wall.
Industry- production is high since we can clearly see its set in the 80s.
Postmodernism: includes
Irony- the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite
Parody/Homage- making fun of things/ looking at someone as inspiration
Bricolage-construction or creation from a diverse range of available things
Intertextual references- referring to other texts
Fragmented narrative- broken narrative where things doesn't make sense
Self reflexivity- reflecting yourself
Common themes ( What if?) - has this really happened
Loss of reality- When a person doesn't know what is real.
Lack of Verisimilitude- real or true
Baudrillard Theory 1
Hyperreality is the idea that representations are now more powerful and 'real' than reality.
Hyperreal representations don't represent reality, instead they are representations of representations.
Simulacra is artificial copies of reality.
How is Stranger things an example of a post modern text?
We can see that postmodernism is shown in this scenes when in the interrogation room will's mum is talking to the chief about him being missing and that he's bullied and his father called him a 'queer/fag' the chief asks if he is and considerers that more important that him actually being missing. And then later on he actually helps to find him. This fits cause this is a simulacra in what Baudrillard states.
Monday 18th September 2023
Music as protest Hip-Hop and beyond
L/O: To investigate the principles behind theories.To discuss various theories to critically apply theory to text.
Representation:
How people are presented/ portrayed also stereotypes.
they are represented as thugs/gang members or hip hop.
Threatening can be seen in their facial expression and body lang
Their cloths and how their body lang, bling.
Sidran and Rose
Music as a form of protest.
Rap Music is a form of rebelling.
80s/90s Hip-Hop are mainly about sex (boost/ success),
humble beginnings- making it!,
police- critique, abusive relationships.
Stormzy superheros:
Very positive and empowering. Appreciates and compliments woman for their skills. Masculinity positive. Positive and good mindset, a subtle negative thing about the police being the only thing negative.
Tuesday 19th September 2023
Rupaul and Identity
L/O: To investigate the theoretical framework in a text. To discuss media Theorists to critically apply theories to text.
Identity:
How can you define identity?
What a person feels like they are.
What makes up a persons Identity?
Background, Name and personality and medical records (in some aspect)
Audience- When people consume media (any forms)
Gauntlett Theory 2
Its encouraging and appreciated about identity. Mainly about Identity
Butler Theory 3
Not who we are its what we do. Gender roles that become normalized in society and then becomes gender trouble and we need to move away. Performance of Gender.
Rupaul and identity:
What are the elements of identity that are presented?
- Ru refers to Angeria as 'she' even without the drag on which means that she identifies as a 'her'. Which is accepted and supported without any judgement.
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How are there shown as fluid and open in the show?
-we are seeing two sides of rupaul, from standard looking to a drag appearance. (over the table talking and her being a judge.)
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What are the elements of gender that are presented?
- Gender isn't presented as positive its more over the top makeup, jokes, big boobs/ ass, dancing, dresses and the cat walk which is the stereotypical female gender but at the same time it isn't what a female really is. This can be seen when they are presenting them self's to the judges.
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How are these shown as fluid and open in the show?
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Monday 25th September 2023
Gender and Bond
L/O: To investigate the theoretical framework in a set text.To discuss various theories. To critically apply theory to text.
James Bond:
What do you see?
Camerawork-
low key lighting, mid long shot, side shot, slightly low angle ( power)
Mise en scene-
tables, suit (smart, covered), belly dancer costume (revealing),
editing-
female body shot no face (objectified) (juxtaposition with the clothing)
James Bond -Man with the Golden Gun
How are woman represented 1970s
sound- the music changes to a more seductive music when they are kissing. Also their dialogue is about how she quickly moves on and forgets the guys name even after spending the night together. Audience to the belly dancer is men which is stereotypical. She is french with a strong accent which is stereotypically erotic.
Camera- there is a low angle that shows that she is objectified and then there is close shots of her body which could sexualise her but also objectifies her further.
Her face was shown very little in the fight scene which shows that she has very little significance when it comes to fights.
1970s stereotypical of woman being helpless, Provocative behaviour,
Negative representation of the belly dancer that also sleeps around but the lady with the British accent at the front desk is differently shown as more smart and dressed smartly.
Van Zoonen Theory 4
Van Zoonen applies to this scene because you can see that the camera angles are mainly on the dancers body rather than on her face. Also since she has an French accent she becomes more erotic to the males you can clearly see that since she seems to sleep around a lot due to her not even remembering the guys name even when spending a night together.
How are the woman represented in text?
In the belly dancer scene woman is represented more like an object. You can see this with camera mainly being used on her body when sees dancing on the stage and also the close up shots of her body in the back room with Bond and when he's kissing down her belly to get the bullet. Another way Van Zoonen is shown is at the beginning of the scene there is no sound and every one is focusing mainly on the dancer and the use of the low angle that is used on James Bond, is to show that even though, the attention is on the dancer the men in the room have more power that the woman. Another theory that applies in this scene is Mulveys theory about the male gaze. Since the dancer is doing her job at entertain the audience you can see that she receives a lot of male gazes throughout the different close ups of the audiences. This all reflects the context of the 70s as it represents how woman are used as objects and something to use for entertainment as its shown throughout the whole scene even in the fighting scene she is pushed away and forgotten about.
Tuesday 26th September 2023
Gender and Bond Beyond
L/O: To investigate the theoretical framework in particular representation in media text.To discuss various gender theories and to critically apply theory to text.
Bell Hooks Theory 5
Being oppressed is influenced by other things along side gender. ( sexuality, race and class). And with all them combined you are more oppressed than just being male/ female.
What stereotypical representation are present?
- The male character leading the female character which shows that he's in charge and in a leading role. His body language is very confident and independent
-The female character she was confident too and also leading/ inviting him in the room with her.
How are our characters represented?
- Bond is very confident and formal in a suit he's leading the female in the room and then he leaves to do the mission.
-The woman is in a dress not that revealing as the belly dancer but the dress
What performances are reproduced for our genders?
- she's feminine dress not a costume, make up, responds/ reacts to him rather than having her own actions. Follower/ weak patriarchy.
-Bond very male stereotypical in a suit leader/ strong patriarchy.
What media language elements support these representations?
- costume the music
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What performances are reproduced for our genders?
- Similar for bond
What media language elements support these representations?
-suit and surrounded by very rich powerful men, seen by the cars, gadgets
- dominant male, the secretary scene her birthday was forgot by the male.
-the widow has her face covered which shows that she isn't that important, dressed the part but lacks emotions and very cold. Seen as a sexual object.
How far is gender performance in media text dependent on their contextual factors?
Gender performance in the media text shows woman as more of sexual object. This links with Van Zoonen's theory because in the scene with the widow Bond uses her to get information and then sleeps with her and then he leaves her be.
Monday 2nd October 2023
Race
L/O: To investigate the stereotypes of race in texts. To discuss race theories and to critically apply theory to texts.
The productions are more cultural and tribal. This is a different stereotype since men are the ones normally that go to battle
The characters are presented to the audience as powerful and fearless this can be seen in their body language, their cloths and facial expressions. This is a hip angle shot which is making the woman more powerful and threatening.
Black Panther
Positive African Culture
- Cultural clothing
- Piercings
- Face/ body paint
- Beads
- Traditional weapons embracing the culture
- Ceremonies of crowning
- The community is very close and loving and welcoming even with the royal structure very friendly
- Traditional music of drums and singing
Positive tribal and native. Really positive of woman and treated equally.
Tribal are very isolated from the world.
Negative African Culture
- Spears quite primitive and violent
- Tribal costume was mix of cultures
- The accent was a mix of accents not a true one from a country
-view of militia and woman and children as victims - child soldiers( children being forced to become soldiers at young age)
Tuesday 3rd October 2023
Race
L/O: To investigate the principles behind theories of representation of race. To discuss various theories on racial representation and to critically apply this theory to text.
Hall Theory 6
- Representation- being an area of discussion
- stereotype being identified and discussed
- not one true meaning
- Ideology - a set of values/ideas/ beliefs behind the stereotype
- if there is one there has to be the opposite of the thing (bad and good)
The dude with the moustache is the bad guy and john steed is the good guy.
Not a theory I need to know
His theory is more modernised than Halls theory.
1) Pitied- someone who is in need of sympathy/help
makes you feel something to send a message.
2) Dangerous- someone who is aggressive/violent and needs to be feared
3) Exotic - culturally strange or different, exciting or 'other'
4) Comic/Humorous - someone who is funny and should be laughed at/with.
little plan for the essay
answer questiongive examples media language
link theory
create meaning
How does Black Panther and other text depict different racial representation?
In Black Panther the racial representation is mainly positive. This can be seen with mise-en-scene as the costumes where mainly cultural clothing same with different use of face/ body paint and the weapons. With camerawork they are mainly presented as powerful and confident which can be seen in their body language. Halls theory can apply to this since some people disagreed with the representation since it was seen as very negative to the native people due to not being any Africans at all on set even though its an African movie.
Monday 9th October 2023
Ideologies
L/O: To investigate how representation can produce ideologies. To discuss various theories and to critically apply theory to text.
The audience can see army training and what can be assumed to be the Sargent.The audience is expected to think about the training and that the people there are doing a good thing. They could also think about war. This is a pro Vietnam war film and are trying to get people to fight in the war.Todorov Theory 7
Equilibrium- where the beginning and the end are similar but the progress between them is important. unhappy at the start unhappy at the end but its different.
Fire- repeated explosion- mental fire in his head.
PTSD- war remained in his head.
Drug and alcohol abuse, loss of marriage
Vulnerable person - violent also at risk
Mentally in two worlds.
1- War is harmful and destroys not only everything around but the people them selfs.
2- War might be needed to happen.
3- War is irrelevant even if you win you still lost. Win but have traumatised soldiers that will not want to fight again, or even broken families that are grieving their dead son/ husband even grandparents.
Apocolipse
The dominant reading is mainly that the Vietnam war was really harmful not only to the surroundings but to the soldiers them self and are suffering from PTSD and now have the war in their heads and the flashbacks from it are making them destroy things around or just try and numb them selfs with drugs or alcohol to escape the torture.
Fish tank. - negative
stereotypical angry British teenager- aggressive, casual joggers
Lower socio-economic group
Mum - stereotype - smoking, clothing, lots of boyfriends
Dominant reading - some parents are like that but they don't need to be lower socio- economic
Negotiated reading- it is mainly lower socio- economic parents that are like this rather than a stable parent.
ideology - a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.
How are ideologies integrated integrated in to media texts?
The ideologies in the text are that the Vietnam war wasn't just harmful to the surroundings but to the soldiers and the people close to them to. This can be seen in the opening of apocalypse now when we see how the solider is acting after the war and that he is suffering with PTSD but also alcohol/ drug abuse which caused him to lose his wife because of him not talking to her maybe because of all his surfuring. The ideologies in this section establish that war is much more harmful than just destroying places and killing people even tho these are just as bad the side effect of the survivals and what that does to the people around them. The families of the dead are grieving and the families of the survivals might abandon them due to the trauma that the war has caused.
Tuesday 10th October 2023
Masculinity
L/O: To investigate how representation of masculinity differ, to discuss various theories on masculinity and to critically apply theory to text and explore the impact of the representations.
The representations here is that the dude is very strong and stereotypical masculine man. Daring/dangerous and physically. Outside and down to earth very traditional..
Expectations putting pressure on the boy of how to look and behave like even if it isn't how a true man is. Like you can go to the gym to gain muscle if you would like.
Masculinity is being represented by him hitting her that he is in control and dominant and if she steps out of line there are consequences. He needs to find out everything and she cant have her secrets.
Diet coke advert 1995
Man - Physical strong (muscles)- break relaxing- construction site. not mentally challenging
man objectified for female pleasure- inferior high angle
woman office job intellectually dominant- low angle
not more equality just swapped roles.
satire- making fun of masculinity because of the reversal of stereotypes
the females are all skinny and good weight.
Masculinity is presented in the diet coke advert as something to objectify. This can be seen with how the females look at the male in there and also how they focus on his physical appearance when he takes his shirt off since he is physically strong with muscles. But it is also made fun of because we can clearly see that the stereotypical roles have been switched and how the females are looking down on the man with the high and low angles used.
Monday 30th October 2023
Assessment
L/O: To demonstrate knowledge of media theories, to apply media theory to texts. To critically explore a text using media theory.
Notes:
representation- school is represented differently this can be seen with the boys and them being made fun of and also Nancy with her boyfriend.
Police stereotypical donuts and the smoking sitting around.
camera angles-wide angle of the danger sign on he gate and seeing the kid passing it. Mid close up on the conversation between the mum and the cop
mise en scene- old tv and a lot of cigarettes, 80s cloths to clearly see when the series was set. Radio station.
shot type- close up on the door to see the monster is there. Tracking on the mother when looking for her son. close up on their faces to see their reaction to where the girl came from this weird alien egg thingy.
pov of the lab people when exploring the escape of the monster thingy.
audience- You wonder what is going to happen and if Will is still alive, you also wonder what the weird monster thing is.
Theory- baudrillard-simulacra
Representation can vary within long form television dramas. Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently.
Representation can vary within long form television dramas. The audience might respond to and interpret these representations differently because representation is also an area of discussion according to the theorist Hall. For example in Stranger Things in the scene with the wide angle of the boys at school you can see that they are being picked on and by their cloths and how they speak you can clearly see it was set in the 80s however not everyone had that experience at school but could relate more with Nancy and her boyfriend. So the representation of the old school days is an area of discussion between the audience.
Another representation that is in the beginning of Stranger Things is the stereotypical representation of the cops and with the donuts and how they are lazy and just smoking without doing much work. This has sort of become a normal view of the police which then Baudrillards theory applies with either a hyperreality or Stranger Things is a simulacra of reality. Which also links in with how Stranger Things is based on a real event that happened with the government experimenting on children in America. You can see this in the POV of the lab/ government people when they go and see how the experiment escaped and then they ask I think ' Is this where she came from?' and it shows this weird alien thing on the wall.
And as the audience you are wondering what they are talking about since we haven't seen the monster yet though Will did try and get away from it which we see with the close up on the door and a shadow figure passing it while he looks petrified and makes a run to the shed and grabs a gun. After that there is a close up on the light bulb above that is shinning more brightly by the second with weird alien nosies and then a wide shot of the shed completely normal and the lightbulb swinging gently and that has the audience hooked because we don't know what just happened. So its a combination of both reality and sci-fi and also based on a true story.
Monday 6th November 2023
Media Theory - Dirt
L/O: To reflect on areas to improve and to improve application of media theory. To improve critical exploration of the text using theoretical framework.
Standard english - more fancy wording
representation-
-Wills mum hysterical panicked, stereotypical mum caring for her kids. Confident- against Hopper (the chief). Mikes mum- stereotypical mum, cooking, telling her kids off. The one that controls the family and not the dad.
Child is missing, speaking to Jonathan. Also in the police station. Persistent with Hopper, gets him to act. Breakfast table and also when she is dismissing the kids.
-Hopper as a man and police officer.
The representation of gender is used through the character Nancy in the bathroom scene with Steve. You can clearly see that Steve is a stereotypical boy teenager and wants to have sex with Nancy however you can clearly see that Nancy doesn't want to and stands up for her self which wasn't normal back in the 80s; due to the men being in control and the woman following what they say. Another person you can see the representation of gender is through Mikes mum and how instead of the dad being in control of the family is the mum with ordering her kids to stop misbehaving and their dad just sitting down doing nothing and just agreeing with the mother. However she still does show the stereotypical mother roles like cooking and taking care of the kids just with more control of the household than the father. Which wasn't normal in the 1980s since the men were more in control than the woman.Which the theorist Butler applies due to how gender roles are used and normalised however this goes against it due to the gender roles have been reversed but later will be normalised.
25/9- Really good analysis. T; 4 try to explain how the scene fits to the theory you are discussing.
ReplyDelete10/10- Great analysis. T: 2- Clear example from the text (media language examples)
ReplyDelete30/10 EOU assess:
ReplyDeleteSome great points and application of theory to the texts.
T: Try to use standard English in your phrases and link to contexts of the 1980s.
11/3- TV Drama marking: Excellent notes and annotations, brilliant detail.
ReplyDelete