For my foundation portfolio work I created a film opening containing conventions of the crime genre, as I created a crime drama.
Having a clear genre allows for a production company to market and advertise their film in a clear way. Cinemas will be able to see exactly which type of genre the film falls under, and will therefore be able to make a clear decision on whether they think people will be attracted to the film or not. Furthermore it allows for the audience to see exactly which sort of film they are paying to see, they will know roughly what to expect and therefore will feel that they are not taking a risk in spending money on a film which may prove to be disappointing to them. Actors and actress's are chosen for roles within films with the genre of the film in mind. Having a clear genre allows for the producers to decide which actors would best fit the roles, for example producers of a crime genre film may hire Robert De Nero as he has played criminals in past productions such as Goodfellas. This provides Kristeva's theory of intertextuality that media productions are influenced by existing past media texts.
In creating my film opening I decided to follow conventions of the crime genre rather than challenge them, in order to try and establish the genre of the film opening clearly to the audience so the viewer knows exactly what is to come from the film. Conventions of crime genre which I followed in my crime drama film opening included, a scene of violence between two young adult male characters in which one of the males get stabbed after a fight. The act of carrying a weapon alone not to mention stabbing someone suggests crime and therefore portrays the genre to the audience. Furthermore the two characters that are seen in the footage are both young males rather than females, this follows typical conventions of crime genre as females are more often portrayed in the media to be submissive and non-violent whilst males are portrayed to be violent, aggressive and mischievous. The clothing in which the two males characters are wearing in the footage further reinforces the stereotypical idea that these young males are from an area of poverty and crime, as the media often portrays young people who wear tracksuits to be 'yobs'. However some people would argue that this is not in fact a real interpretation of young people, as the media is controlled by older people and young people have no say in the way that they are portrayed, Giroux's theory suggests that young people portrayed in the media are simply characters designed from the anxiety's and worries of the adult producers. Additionally the location in which the footage was captured suggests the genre of the film, as I found that locations similar to the ones I used where often used in existing past crime genre productions. The stereotypical cramped housing estate and underpass that can be seen in the footage suggests poverty and working class characters, similar types of character are often portrayed in media productions to be involved within crime for example the young teenagers in Kidulthood. Following stereotypical conventions of the crime genre allows for the audience to see a verisimilitude in comparing the production to aspects of real life.
Steve Neale suggests a theory that declares that genre is simply 'instances of repetition and difference', some truth can be found in this as I myself have taken inspiration from looking at other crime drama films when making my film opening. I looked at existing character behaviour, appearance and also location within crime genre films, therefore it could be suggested that through following conventions of crime drama that I simply repeated aspects of existing media texts in slightly different ways.
Thursday, 18 December 2014
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Health Check Essay - 2nd October
Discuss the way that women are represented in the media. Use the work we have done so far to include a historical example and at least two contemporary ones to cover at least two different media types.
Across the various different types of both past and modern day media, women are and have been represented in a way which follows a particular set of stereotypes.Women are constantly portrayed in the media to be less powerful then men, both in physical aspects and on an intellectual level, for example the secretary's on a lot of TV program's will be women who work lower down the chain of command, than the men within the program.Women are often objectified in certain aspects of the media for the benefit of males, this complies too Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. This is seen in a lot of modern day music videos as women often can be seen wearing barely any clothing and dancing in a sexual manor for males. For example the girls in Robin Thickes Blurred Lines explicit video are not wearing any clothing to cover their breast areas, whilst they dance around the males as they perform the song with lyrics based around women wanting sex from men, this is clear as the Robin Thicke sings 'I know you want it'.
Additionally women are objectified for male pleasure in other areas of media such as newspapers and magazines. For example in the page 3 off the sun newspaper every week their is a photo of a half naked women, stereo-typically this is for the benefit of males. Various magazines which are clearly designed for men such as Nuts and Zoo also show women in this aspect.
Women on TV are often shown doing the cooking, cleaning and the housework this is seen as a stereotype towards women and feminists would see this as a way of degrading women as they would suggest that men believe for these tasks to be for women and women only. However it is a dominant ideology in society that women often do stay at home and carry out these tasks whilst the male or husband in the household goes out to work. Therefore Jean Baudrillard's cultivation theory applies women in TV as a form of media, as the hyper reality theory would suggest that this is simulating the real world.
When looking at past historical events in the media which show representation of women, there is little difference to how they can often be portrayed in the modern day. I studied a film from 1945 called A Brief Encounter, the women in this film are very emotionally unstable and are often seeking the help of men. It can be argued that to this day women are still often shown in exactly the same way.
However it could be said that the main character in A Brief Encounter, challenges both stereotypes for women around the time of the films release and in the modern day. It is a dominant ideology and has been for years that women often stay at home and look after the house whilst their husbands go out to work, the main women character in A Brief Encounter does the opposite as she goes out everyday either shopping, going to the movies or going out to lunch whilst her husband works. This challenges stereotypes as women around 1945 would of been expected to run around after their husbands.
Furthermore the film Sket also challenges the usual everyday stereotype of women and young girls in modern day society. The girls in this film often use violence against people, and use a lot of bad language. Stereotypically females in the media are usually portrayed as being polite, gentle and non-violent and are not expected to behave in the opposite way, this behaviour would be expected more from a male. Although it could be argued that the female characters in this film are simply acting in a way which would be expected of people who come from their culture and social background. Therefore it can argued that the females in this film conform to David Chandlers theory, as the representation of these characters refers to the construction of reality within their cultural identity.
Overall it would seem that the media has found a stereotypical widely accepted way of showing women, which a lot of society would believe to be the dominant ideology in every day life. This steretypical way of objectifying women, showing women as less powerful and more emotionally unstable in comparison to men, seems to of been the same for many years and it doesn't look as if it is going to make a change anytime in the near future.
Analyse your film opening with regards to genre.
The genre which I chose to create my film under was the crime genre. This genre brings with it the sub genres of crime thriller and crime drama, aspects of both of these sub genres can be seen in my film opening. Creating a film opening following the crime genre meant that my opening could be verisimilitude to events which can happen and do happen in every day modern reality.For example the stabbing of one young man in a brief confrontation in the underpass within my footage. Events like this are often reported on news channels and in newspapers, this means that many people are very aware that things do happen to young males in society, therefore it makes the footage in my film opening seem realistic.
The setting which I used for my film opening, is around a location which seems fairly deprived as there are many small houses crammed together and the scenery seems quite dull. Readers would decode this area to be an area for people with little amount of money (lower class people). Stereo-typically society would assume that crime rates are higher in places like these, as the lower classes are the people who commit most crimes, and therefore are the ones who do the stabbings. This is likely to be a widely accepted dominant ideology I thought that this would be a good setting to use as it would further make the film opening seem realistic to readers.
Furthermore the appearance of the characters in the footage would suggest the genre of the film opening to be crime. Many people in modern day society would believe that young men who commit crimes and are involved in different aspects of criminality, wear tracksuits with hoods on them and trainers as the main character can be seen wearing in my film opening. Additionally some of society will make the stereotypical assumption that young criminals are often black males. In a way my film opening conforms to this stereotype as a young black male can be seen trying to stab another young male character.
Youths of the modern day can often be perceived in the media as young, violent criminals. I have portrayed the characters of my film opening in this exact way, this conforms to Gerbner's cultivation theory as much of society would already expect to see young people behaving in this way and would not be shocked by it, as they have already been largely influenced across all different forms of media such as newspapers, radio, news channels, films etc. The fact that this cultivation theory applies to my film opening enables readers to see that the genre of the film is crime or crime drama, as immediately people will stereotype these characters into the lower class and accept what would be seen as stereotypical behaviour of the youth characters.
Additionally the brief dialogue of the main character Antonio represents the working class youth of today as he says 'yo' when leaving someone a message on their phone after he has tried to ring them. Many readers of today would instantly link dialogue or language like this to lower class people, particularly youths from poor and deprived social backgrounds. It is a dominant ideology that youths from such social backgrounds are often involved in crime and criminality therefore the language of the character can represent the genre of the film to readers. This conforms to Ronald Bathes theory as some people would see my footage as a way of portraying what can be seen in everyday life in the modern world, in terms of youth behaviour.
Across the various different types of both past and modern day media, women are and have been represented in a way which follows a particular set of stereotypes.Women are constantly portrayed in the media to be less powerful then men, both in physical aspects and on an intellectual level, for example the secretary's on a lot of TV program's will be women who work lower down the chain of command, than the men within the program.Women are often objectified in certain aspects of the media for the benefit of males, this complies too Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. This is seen in a lot of modern day music videos as women often can be seen wearing barely any clothing and dancing in a sexual manor for males. For example the girls in Robin Thickes Blurred Lines explicit video are not wearing any clothing to cover their breast areas, whilst they dance around the males as they perform the song with lyrics based around women wanting sex from men, this is clear as the Robin Thicke sings 'I know you want it'.
Additionally women are objectified for male pleasure in other areas of media such as newspapers and magazines. For example in the page 3 off the sun newspaper every week their is a photo of a half naked women, stereo-typically this is for the benefit of males. Various magazines which are clearly designed for men such as Nuts and Zoo also show women in this aspect.
Women on TV are often shown doing the cooking, cleaning and the housework this is seen as a stereotype towards women and feminists would see this as a way of degrading women as they would suggest that men believe for these tasks to be for women and women only. However it is a dominant ideology in society that women often do stay at home and carry out these tasks whilst the male or husband in the household goes out to work. Therefore Jean Baudrillard's cultivation theory applies women in TV as a form of media, as the hyper reality theory would suggest that this is simulating the real world.
When looking at past historical events in the media which show representation of women, there is little difference to how they can often be portrayed in the modern day. I studied a film from 1945 called A Brief Encounter, the women in this film are very emotionally unstable and are often seeking the help of men. It can be argued that to this day women are still often shown in exactly the same way.
However it could be said that the main character in A Brief Encounter, challenges both stereotypes for women around the time of the films release and in the modern day. It is a dominant ideology and has been for years that women often stay at home and look after the house whilst their husbands go out to work, the main women character in A Brief Encounter does the opposite as she goes out everyday either shopping, going to the movies or going out to lunch whilst her husband works. This challenges stereotypes as women around 1945 would of been expected to run around after their husbands.
Furthermore the film Sket also challenges the usual everyday stereotype of women and young girls in modern day society. The girls in this film often use violence against people, and use a lot of bad language. Stereotypically females in the media are usually portrayed as being polite, gentle and non-violent and are not expected to behave in the opposite way, this behaviour would be expected more from a male. Although it could be argued that the female characters in this film are simply acting in a way which would be expected of people who come from their culture and social background. Therefore it can argued that the females in this film conform to David Chandlers theory, as the representation of these characters refers to the construction of reality within their cultural identity.
Overall it would seem that the media has found a stereotypical widely accepted way of showing women, which a lot of society would believe to be the dominant ideology in every day life. This steretypical way of objectifying women, showing women as less powerful and more emotionally unstable in comparison to men, seems to of been the same for many years and it doesn't look as if it is going to make a change anytime in the near future.
Analyse your film opening with regards to genre.
The genre which I chose to create my film under was the crime genre. This genre brings with it the sub genres of crime thriller and crime drama, aspects of both of these sub genres can be seen in my film opening. Creating a film opening following the crime genre meant that my opening could be verisimilitude to events which can happen and do happen in every day modern reality.For example the stabbing of one young man in a brief confrontation in the underpass within my footage. Events like this are often reported on news channels and in newspapers, this means that many people are very aware that things do happen to young males in society, therefore it makes the footage in my film opening seem realistic.
The setting which I used for my film opening, is around a location which seems fairly deprived as there are many small houses crammed together and the scenery seems quite dull. Readers would decode this area to be an area for people with little amount of money (lower class people). Stereo-typically society would assume that crime rates are higher in places like these, as the lower classes are the people who commit most crimes, and therefore are the ones who do the stabbings. This is likely to be a widely accepted dominant ideology I thought that this would be a good setting to use as it would further make the film opening seem realistic to readers.
Furthermore the appearance of the characters in the footage would suggest the genre of the film opening to be crime. Many people in modern day society would believe that young men who commit crimes and are involved in different aspects of criminality, wear tracksuits with hoods on them and trainers as the main character can be seen wearing in my film opening. Additionally some of society will make the stereotypical assumption that young criminals are often black males. In a way my film opening conforms to this stereotype as a young black male can be seen trying to stab another young male character.
Youths of the modern day can often be perceived in the media as young, violent criminals. I have portrayed the characters of my film opening in this exact way, this conforms to Gerbner's cultivation theory as much of society would already expect to see young people behaving in this way and would not be shocked by it, as they have already been largely influenced across all different forms of media such as newspapers, radio, news channels, films etc. The fact that this cultivation theory applies to my film opening enables readers to see that the genre of the film is crime or crime drama, as immediately people will stereotype these characters into the lower class and accept what would be seen as stereotypical behaviour of the youth characters.
Additionally the brief dialogue of the main character Antonio represents the working class youth of today as he says 'yo' when leaving someone a message on their phone after he has tried to ring them. Many readers of today would instantly link dialogue or language like this to lower class people, particularly youths from poor and deprived social backgrounds. It is a dominant ideology that youths from such social backgrounds are often involved in crime and criminality therefore the language of the character can represent the genre of the film to readers. This conforms to Ronald Bathes theory as some people would see my footage as a way of portraying what can be seen in everyday life in the modern world, in terms of youth behaviour.
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Sia Chandelier original and parody versions
In this video an 11 year old can be seen dancing to a song with lyrics which seem to be based around alcoholism and suicide. This meant that a lot of questions and controversy we're raised by viewers.
Some viewers may find it offensive that this young girl is dancing around to these lyrics, whilst wearing a leotard which is a very similar colour to that of her skin, which from a distance means that she looks naked at first glimpse. This also would of created a lot of controversy.
The young girl in this video challenges stereotypes of the stereotypical young girls aged around 11, as at one point in the video she pretends to strangle herself in the curtains. This in particular challenges the stereotype of young girls around her age being happy and joyful, as she acts out this sinister action of taking her own life.
It is also apparent that this young girl has been made to look like the singer of the song 'Sia'. Therefore self representation of the singer herself is in the young girl and also perhaps in the actions which she carry's out throughout the video.
It is likely that Sia used a child in the video rather then herself as she knew it would create more controversy and therefore get the video more viewings, and more publicity which would in turn lead to a larger amount of profits. The controversy within the video succeeded in getting it viewings as the video got 1 million views within the first 24 hours of its release.
This parody has been created using similar shot types and timings in order to show a clear representation of the original in some ways. However the character in the video has been adapted, to follow what would seem to be a more comical theme. First of all the character is not a young girl but is instead a women, this creates less controversy as stereotypically children are depicted as more innocent then perhaps and adult human being. The character in the video can also clearly be seen standing on two buckets whilst making faces at the camera in one of the first shots of the video, this highlights the comedy factor in the parody as at this point in the original the child is straight faced and is not standing on anything. This could perhaps be seen as the women in the parody's self representation of what she sees in the original character and perhaps even the singer Sia.
The creators of this parody have been clearly influenced by what they have seen on the original and have been able to take on their our representation of it using web 2.0. This proves that the original was successful in creating controversy as many people have gone on the make their own versions adapted from the original, and have still been able to gain many views. This particular parody has over 1.5 million views.
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
If I had to decide I would...
If I had to decide now I would make a advert. I would choose to make an advert for Nike's running campaign using the slogan 'Just do it'. I would make on advert for some running trainers produced by Nike and I would make an advert for a running jacket produced by Nike.
My main influences for this are the adverts that I have watched by Nike which promote these different products, which they sell in their running wear range. These adverts are very well pieced together, not only do they show many shots of the design of the product itself but also how that product performs and looks when it is put into action. Different techniques such as low level lighting and slow motion are used in some of these particular adverts to show the different products. These are techniques of filming and editing which I may take into consideration when making my advert as it shows the product in a interesting way which appeals to the audience.
These adverts dont focus solely on the products themselves, but also on what these products are meant to be used for and what they are capable of doing, for example track running. These adverts provide consumers with the ideology that they will be able to perform as these athletes do through mediation of the adverts themselves. People will feel like these running shoes will enable them to run like the people seen in the video.
My main influences for this are the adverts that I have watched by Nike which promote these different products, which they sell in their running wear range. These adverts are very well pieced together, not only do they show many shots of the design of the product itself but also how that product performs and looks when it is put into action. Different techniques such as low level lighting and slow motion are used in some of these particular adverts to show the different products. These are techniques of filming and editing which I may take into consideration when making my advert as it shows the product in a interesting way which appeals to the audience.
The adverts which I would plan to create would both be around 30 seconds long, this would be enough time to show the products which I would choose to advertise, as these products would be better off being shown in action, rather then being spoken about.
These adverts dont focus solely on the products themselves, but also on what these products are meant to be used for and what they are capable of doing, for example track running. These adverts provide consumers with the ideology that they will be able to perform as these athletes do through mediation of the adverts themselves. People will feel like these running shoes will enable them to run like the people seen in the video.
If I we're to make an advert...
If I were to make an advert I could advertise:
- Sportswear - One advert for running trainers, one for sportswear e.g. running jacket
- Food - two adverts for two different food products from one provider e.g. Mr Kippling
- Fragrence's - one for men, one for women
If I we're to make a trailer...
Genre - Action Thriller
I may decide to create my film trailer following the action/thriller genre as I think it is an easy way to attract the audience to the film production, these action trailers briefly line out the plot whilst including brief shots of the action which will take place within the film.
I may decide to create my film trailer following the action/thriller genre as I think it is an easy way to attract the audience to the film production, these action trailers briefly line out the plot whilst including brief shots of the action which will take place within the film.
How have I used representation to create meaning in my film opening from last year?
Representation was used in a number of different ways during the course of my film opening to give the footage meaning, and also comparison to perhaps a real life situation.
Firstly the teenage boy who can be seen running at the start of the film opening is wearing clothes that may be stereotyped by a lot of people to be worn by young 'yobs', as he is wearing a tracksuit and trainers. When making the film opening I thought it would be a good idea to dress this character in these clothes as it would portray a representation of what many people in modern society would expect a lot of young boys to dress like. In a way the representation of these clothes and the surrounding area which the boy is running in, would create a visual image in the readers head of a deprived area, this is a good way to really show the genre of the film opening (crime), as these things would conform to stereotypes to that of areas which are deprived and therefore have higher crime rates.
Firstly the teenage boy who can be seen running at the start of the film opening is wearing clothes that may be stereotyped by a lot of people to be worn by young 'yobs', as he is wearing a tracksuit and trainers. When making the film opening I thought it would be a good idea to dress this character in these clothes as it would portray a representation of what many people in modern society would expect a lot of young boys to dress like. In a way the representation of these clothes and the surrounding area which the boy is running in, would create a visual image in the readers head of a deprived area, this is a good way to really show the genre of the film opening (crime), as these things would conform to stereotypes to that of areas which are deprived and therefore have higher crime rates.
The appearance of the characters and also the violent actions which take place between them could be seen as something that happens in the real world. This in a way conforms to Jean Baudrillard's hyperreality theory as the footage is simply simulating the real world but at the same time is distorting what actually may be real.
The action of the main character running could suggests to readers minds that he has done something wrong which he needs to run away from. This is likely to be what the readers will first think simply due to the age of the character, his appearance and setting around the character. This conforms to a stereotype that teenage boys in deprived areas often get themselves into trouble and perhaps commit crimes. As this plays on modern day stereotypes it could be seen to conform to David Chandler's theory that representation always involves the construction of reality.
When looking at the fight seen between the two characters in the film footage, a dominant ideology of male's can be seen. A particular dominant ideology for males rather then females is that males are more physically violent as a whole. This scene in which one of the males is stabbed in the stomach, would conform to this dominant ideology of males being more violent, as both the characters seem to have no hesitation in what they are doing.
An age representation is also shown by the characters in the film opening. Both these characters look young perhaps between the ages of 18 and 22. This would conform to the stereotypical dominant ideology that young males between these ages, are most likely to commit crimes and be involved with criminal activity rather then males of any other age range. Again this follows David Chandlers theory of construction of reality within the film opening footage.
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Why is it so important to look at how women are represented in the media?
In the media women can often be objectified as sex objects to men, it also seems that the media suggests that all women should be slim and attractive taking a lot of pride in their appearance. This is portrayed through women which are often shown on the front of magazine covers, in music videos and on TV adverts. For example the women on the covers of the vogue magazines are usually always slim and wearing lots of make-up.
Furthermore women are objectified heavily through music videos, for example in many mainstream media music videos young women are shown walking round in bikinis and wearing revealing clothing, often whilst dancing in what might be seen as a 'sexy' or 'seductive' way.
Additionally TV adverts often objectify women in the same way, for example the women models on adverts for women's clothing are normally always slim and attractive, this sends a false ideology to consumers that this is how women should look. Consumers will see this so many times that they start to believe that this is how women should be, and anything less may start to be considered undesirable or unattractive.
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
A Brief Encounter - Analysis of how women are represented
In the film brief encounter women were represented in various ways. Different things had to be taken into consideration when looking at the representation of women such, as if they conformed or challenged stereotypes, what they were wearing, the characters which were portrayed, the relationships these women had with other people, their body language, the camera work, sound and the mise en scene.
Throughout this film women are portrayed as very emotional people, for example the main women character in the film often breaks into tears at different situations, this would stereotypically be seen as a feminine action that would often be related to women, therefore it can be said that this women in particular is conforming to existing stereotypes that women are often very emotional people. Furthermore the women who works behind the counter in the small train side restaurant, gets quite upset at one part of the film when two men start making jokes about her, she gets a man to come in and make the two men giving her trouble leave the shop, this could further be seen as a way of women in this film conforming to the stereotype that women are emotional, as she seems like she starts to panic a bit and cannot deal with the situation by herself. These stereotypical female actions could be linked into Jean Baudrillard's 'hyperreality' theory, as the creator of the film have tried to simulate real life in as most convincing way as possible.
Furthermore typical stereotypes of women in society are conformed through characters actions in this film such as the women behind the restaurant counter, as she is seen to be washing up the glasses and serving people food and drink, these are actions that would stereotypically be seen as womens tasks by audiences around the time in which the film was released (1945). Additionally the women in this film conform to stereotypes through their appearance. Many of the women in this film are wearing big fur hats and coats, and also jewellery such as pearl necklaces and pearl earings, stereotypically these items would be worn be women therefore it conforms to the stereotype. Henry Gidden's theory could be applied to this film as some women around the time of the film release, would have perhaps seen a representation of themselves in the female characters of this film due to their appearance and maybe even their nature (at the time).
Near the start of the film the women who plays the main character is seen talking to another women on the train, in her own thoughts through non-digetic dialogue the main character describes this other women as gossipy, this represents her character and women to perhaps be more two faced then say men are, as men are not described in this way at any point in the film.
Women in this film are represented as quite giggerly through their body language, as the main character is often smiling and laughing at different points in the film.
This film could in a way perhaps be trying to represent women as unfaithful and maybe even as liars, this is shown by the simply fact that the main women in this film is willing to cheat on her husband and get people to lie for her on her behalf.
Throughout this film women are portrayed as very emotional people, for example the main women character in the film often breaks into tears at different situations, this would stereotypically be seen as a feminine action that would often be related to women, therefore it can be said that this women in particular is conforming to existing stereotypes that women are often very emotional people. Furthermore the women who works behind the counter in the small train side restaurant, gets quite upset at one part of the film when two men start making jokes about her, she gets a man to come in and make the two men giving her trouble leave the shop, this could further be seen as a way of women in this film conforming to the stereotype that women are emotional, as she seems like she starts to panic a bit and cannot deal with the situation by herself. These stereotypical female actions could be linked into Jean Baudrillard's 'hyperreality' theory, as the creator of the film have tried to simulate real life in as most convincing way as possible.
Furthermore typical stereotypes of women in society are conformed through characters actions in this film such as the women behind the restaurant counter, as she is seen to be washing up the glasses and serving people food and drink, these are actions that would stereotypically be seen as womens tasks by audiences around the time in which the film was released (1945). Additionally the women in this film conform to stereotypes through their appearance. Many of the women in this film are wearing big fur hats and coats, and also jewellery such as pearl necklaces and pearl earings, stereotypically these items would be worn be women therefore it conforms to the stereotype. Henry Gidden's theory could be applied to this film as some women around the time of the film release, would have perhaps seen a representation of themselves in the female characters of this film due to their appearance and maybe even their nature (at the time).
Near the start of the film the women who plays the main character is seen talking to another women on the train, in her own thoughts through non-digetic dialogue the main character describes this other women as gossipy, this represents her character and women to perhaps be more two faced then say men are, as men are not described in this way at any point in the film.
Women in this film are represented as quite giggerly through their body language, as the main character is often smiling and laughing at different points in the film.
This film could in a way perhaps be trying to represent women as unfaithful and maybe even as liars, this is shown by the simply fact that the main women in this film is willing to cheat on her husband and get people to lie for her on her behalf.
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Theorists
George Gerbner was the man who created the cultivation theory. This theory suggests that the media can often have long term effects on people which can often be indirect and come gradually to an individual. This is often described as a 'drip drip' effect, for example some people may believe that if a particular individual watches films with a lot of bad language, then this person may start to use similar language over a period of time.
Jean Baudrillard came up with the 'hyperreality' theory, this defines something as 'a condition in which reality has been replaced by simulacra. This theorist believes that media simply try's to simulate the real world, in a way which is very distorted from actual reality.
Jean Baudrillard came up with the 'hyperreality' theory, this defines something as 'a condition in which reality has been replaced by simulacra. This theorist believes that media simply try's to simulate the real world, in a way which is very distorted from actual reality.
Ronald Barthes theory was similar to that of Jean Baudrillard in that he believed the media simply tried to portray particular images in a way which would seem similar to every day life in the modern world, however his theory suggests once again that these images are simply of a distorted reality
Richard Dyer's theory is that anything which someone might see in the media affects how someone may act as an individual. He believed that the media has a very powerful influence on peoples behaviour.
David Chandler - Representation refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of 'reality' such as people, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Representation always involves 'the construction of reality'.
Henry Jenkins - Came up with the theory that the audience participate in the representation of themsevles and is an extension of self representation, the audience will see a media text and recreate this using all different types of media.
Anthony Gidden's theory refers to the ideology which influence's of ideas on peoples beliefs and actions.
Laura Mulvey came up with theory of the 'male gaze', she believed that in film audiences have to look at characters from the perspective of the heterosexual male.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Introduction g325
Key terms:
- Denotation
- Connotation
- Challenges
- Conforms
- Objectification
- Gaze (male gaze)
- Mediation
- Stereotypes
- Self Representation
- ideology
- dominant ideology
SKET
The film sket challenges the stereotypes which the media would usually apply to women. Women in the media would generally most often be portrayed as caring, kind, attractive and polite people, however in this film the young women in the opening title sequence are seen violently kicking someone, whilst the girls swear at the man who is being attacked and spit on him. This challenges stereotypes as these girls are behaving more typically as a man would more usually in media productions.
Near the start of the film opening at around 2:30 a male is seen walking up to a female and putting his arm round her as she passes him. This male gets angry and starts to abuse the girl verbally as she walks away after he tries to grab hold of her. This conforms to the stereotype that men often have control over women in terms of the relationship between the two.
At 3:22 in the film a women is seen pulling on some jeans over her underwear in front of a male, the connotation of this is that she is simply getting dressed however the denotation is that this male and female have just had sex. This represents objectification that in a way this women is perhaps a sex object, this could also be seen as a way of conforming to a particular stereotype that men have more control over women in comparison to women having control over men.
The women in this video also conform to stereotypes of how a women's appearance can often be portrayed in the media. These women are all wearing red lipstick and makeup, this is a stereotypical way of portraying women to be attractive, and to care a lot about their appearance. Each of the women also have long hair which is another stereotype which is used a lot in the media in order to portray females as ladylike and attractive.
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines
Women in both versions of Robin Thicke's blurred lines video are objectified as sex objects for the men in the video. In the explicit version of the video the women are only wearing shoes and very thin underwear which is similar to the colour of their skin, so it looks as if they are not wearing any underwear at all. This video conforms to the male gaze theory as the women are not singing their only contribution to the song and the video, is to dance around the men within the video itself. It would be suggested that these women are in the video to catch the attention of the male audience as they are revealing themselves whilst the men in the video stare at the and dance towards them. It would further seem that this video is to appeal to male gaze as the men in the video are fully clothed and looking respectable, whilst the women are barely clothed and are revealing themselves.
The women in this video also conform to stereotypes of how a women's appearance can often be portrayed in the media. These women are all wearing red lipstick and makeup, this is a stereotypical way of portraying women to be attractive, and to care a lot about their appearance. Each of the women also have long hair which is another stereotype which is used a lot in the media in order to portray females as ladylike and attractive.
It is clear that the women in this video don't care about being objectified as they are not trying to cover themselves up as the dance around the males in the video. This perhaps adds to the stereotype that men have control over women in some instances as the audience of this video can see that the women are clearly their to please the men in the video, and therefore also the majority of the male audience.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)