How does Adbusters encode themes of inequality and conflict?

Work slowly through the following headings, making notes, clicking links and looking up concepts online as needed. It's a nice chilled out lesson, if you want it to be...

1 - Analyse the Louboutin double page spread, making explicit reference to the following points:

• Barthesean codes and conventions – hermeneutic, proairetic, referential and symbolic
• Layout and design
• Composition - positioning of masthead/headlines, cover lines, images, columns 
• Font size, type, colour 
• Images/photographs - shot type, angle, focus
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• Graphics, logos 
• Language – headline, sub-headings, captions – mode of address
• Copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

Remember, the more notes you make here, the better

2 - Analyse the Zucchetti double page spread, using exactly the same headings as above

Remember, these two images from a double page spread. The image with the woman in the bath is on the left, the tap is on the right.

3 - Subversive representations

Analyse the image of the woman in the bath. How is it constructed, what messages are being constructed here? And how could this image be see as being subversive?

4 - Researching Osasco

Much of Adbusters seems to either assume a massive amount of prior knowledge on behalf of the reader, or, at the very least, a willingness to research. So with this in mind, research Osasco, in Sao Paulo. What is notable about this place, and why does this publication want to draw our attention to it?

5 - What an earth is Zucchetti?

In this scene from the excellent crime drama The Wire, major lieutenant 'Bunny' Colvin is mentoring a group of children who are wrapped up in Baltimore's criminal underworld. These kids are comfortable on the streets, and in some cases are already successful criminals. But what happens when they are taken to an exclusive restaurant?

There exists something called cultural capital. Capital is money. However, simply being rich does not change much. Without a knowledge of customs, products, rituals and services, it is more or less impossible to gain access to exclusive and exclusionary lifestyles. We can refer to this as cultural capital, where your value can be measured by how you talk, dress, act, what you own, and the knowledge required to succeed in bourgeois society. 

Click here. What is this? What is being sold? What is ACTUALLY being sold here? 

And what message is adbusters presenting to the audience?

6 - Paul Gilroy and postcolonial identity

Paul Gilroy argued that many of the same prejudices that existed throughout Britain's colonial history still exist today.

Google colonialism and postcolonialism. What are these concepts? How do they relate to Adbusters? And how is Adbusters challenging these views?

REVISION: Regulation and the online media industries

Livingstone and Lunt have argued that it is functionally impossible to regulate the online media industries as long as there exists a conflict between the desire for unrestrained profit and the ethical need to protect those who are most vulnerable. To what extent do you agree with this theory of regulation? Make reference to Zoella/Zoe Sugg and Attitude Online to back up your argument

Knee jerk reaction

To a large extent, it is impossible to regulate online media, because of the conflict between making profit and the need to protect vulnerable people

Plan

Regulation

Self regulation

Producer maximise profit 

End of audience

Reception theory??

Horizontal/vertical integration

Constant change

Target audience 

Rise of convergent digital technology

Ethics and morality

Distribution

Click through/advertising

Economic factors

Hypersexualation

Hypermasculinity

Capitalism!!!

Unrestricted access

Darkweb

Pornography

sexual violence 

Conglomerations

Introduction

Regulation refers to the rules and restrictions that producers must follow in order to not harm or offend audiences. However, regulation of media has become particularly difficult. The amount of media being produced is massive, and digitally convergent technologies have made the availability of online content far more available than ever before. In this exam I shall argue that online media is largely impossible impossible to regulate effectively, as the organisations who regulate it are motivated solely by power and profit. Additionally, the internet is largely self regulated, which allows producers to be influenced by their own ideologies. In order to explore this argument, I shall be looking at Zoella/Zoe Sugg, a social media influencer especially popular with young girls and more recently older women, and Attitude Online, an online gay mens lifestyle magazine. 

Content

• One excellent example of a media producer putting profit over the needs of their audiences is Zoella discussing sexuality and sex toys on her website. For example, her article 'contactless self pleasure' discusses such adult concepts as 'clitoral stimulation', which, while appropriate for her new, older audience, is completely inappropriate to some younger audiences. The over the top and sexually explicit language is deliberately included to challenge an audience to click on the article, which is an example of clickbait, and potentially manipulates the target audience...
• One way in which online media is regulated is through self regulation, where companies and corporations chose what is available to their audiences on their own platform. For example, on Attitude online, the menu bar boasts a 'boys' section, which links to a range of lurid articles focusing exclusively on hyper-sexualised representations of predominantly young, attractive muscular men. Not only do these articles reinforce a potentially negative stereotype about gay men, they also cultivate unrealistic body expectations for the young and vulnerable secondary gay target audience. The sole reason Attitude online does this is to make money in the most straightforward way possible, by presenting sexually alluring images to manipulate their target audience...
• Manipulative clickbait adverts
• Standardised, basic products, much like any other
• However, in order to appeal to their niche yet large audiences, bit Attitude and Zoella present broadly inoffensive ideologies that appeal to the vast majority of their fans. To present explicitly extreme and harmful ideologies would be problematic from a capitalist perspective. 

How we revise in A-level media studies

 1 - Write down the question

There's no choice of questions in A-level media studies, so this is nice and easy. You'll get given a question every lesson. Also, this is a great place to jot down what the media product we'll be referring to is

2 - Underline the key terms

Here we'll write out the question again and underline the key terms as a class. It's really important not to get too gung ho when underlining key terms. If you underline too many, it gets confusing.

Why do we underline key terms? Because these are the words that you are going to use over and over and over again in your response to actually answer the question. It makes your life SO MUCH EASIER!

3 - Kneejerk reaction

Don't think about it! Just let your lizard brain take over. What is the answer? Yes or no? Agree or disagree? It helps top be EMPHATIC here. If it asks 'to what extent', it's SO MUCH EASIER to argue "to a really great absolutely massive extent"...

For example "yes, the tide advert is really stereotypical and straightforward. That's it. That's your argument.

4 - Plan

This is where you vomit all your thoughts and ideas all over the page (or in this case, the blog). No need for any order or structure. And again, no thinking. Lessons are for thinking. There's no point thinking in an exam. This is potentially controversial, but I am right. 

We

Will

Structure

Our 

Plan

Like 

This 

Because

It

Looks

Cool

Sort of like

A typewriter 

Or something

5 - Introduction

DAC, definition, argument context. Define the key terms that you've underlined, state your argument (that you JUST came up with. Or your lizard brain did, anyway), and then give some contextual information on your case studies to ease your answer in.

Your argument is YOUR point of view, though in class, we'll be using the hive mind's point of view. You can argue whatever you want as long as it' s not stupid

This really works well for component two, but don't bother doing this for short answer component one questions.

Oh! and you can DAC in any order. So Argument, Context, Definition if you really want. I prefer DAC because DAC sounds funny.  

6 - Content

• This is the content, the stuff that goes in your answer. It's all about examples, and media language, as well as theory and arguments and all that stuff. 
• Other teachers love really long acronyms like GNRIOPOOHH or something but I hate that sort of thing. We've already had DAC, so now PEA
• Point - A simple, one sentence point related to your question. Another way in which The Tide advert presents singular and straightforward representation of women is...
• Evidence - stuff from the toolkit to back this up
• Argument - how this relates to your argument

Attitude: issues with regulation and industry

Who makes, publishes, and distributes Attitude Online?

Attitude is published by Stream media, a horizontally integrated company which specialises in publishing magazines. We are studying Attitude Online, which should be seen as an online, supplementary component to the Attitude brand. Attitude Online is infrequently updated by the publishers, which suggests that this website is not nearly as important as the magazine to their brand and to their success. 

Additionally, Attitude Online and Attitude magazine differ significantly when it comes to a target audience. The magazine clearly targets a middle class target audience. It has less of a focus on gossip, and more of a focus on a sophisticated, high end design with a big focus on high end production values. Attitude magazine often interviews and shoots celebrities, including heterosexual celebrities, such as Prince William, Olympic athletes like Tom Daly, and female musicians such as Lady Gaga. 

Attitude online however clearly targets a working class audience. It utilises an informal lexis, there is a big emphasis on images over text, and there are masses of adverts targeting a generalised audience. The website often features low production values, and the number of adverts can make it confusing to read. In short, Attitude online mainly exists to make money off of click through advertising, and, most of all, to promote the Attitude brand. 

How can David Gauntlet's theories surrounding identity explain how the producers of Attitude Online can maximise revenue?

What regulatory issues does Attitude Online fall foul of (if any), and how could the publication cause harm and offense?

• Many stereotypical assumptions are made about gay men, including an interest in drag, camp culture, theatre, and young buff men. 
• Manipulative, clickbait adverts can potentially be scams which can destroy the lives of vulnerable people
• Articles may deal with issues such as bullying, mental health and suicide
• Highly sexualised images of naked men may make some audiences uncomfortable

What is clickbait, and how does it work?

• Clickbait often uses low resolution, heavily photoshopped images. These images may be intentionally poorly made, and even laughable in order to provoke the audience in to clicking on them. This is an intentionally manipulative technique that also functions as a hermenuetic code, inferring mystery to the audience. 
• Often the images take a creepy and unpleasant aspect, which may cause people scrolling the page to suddenly stop. These grainy, grimy pictures present a voyeuristic mode of address, and entice the audience in to seeing something potentially nasty and out of the ordinary. 
• It is often deliberately confusing to work out what is a clickbait article, and what is just another article on Attitude
• The captions typically take a challenging and direct mode of address, which is again manipulative and potentially harmful to vulnerable audience

Attitude Online clearly obtains revenue through these low-quality, intrusive and manipulative adverts, which demonstrates a certain level of cynicism towards their target audiences. Attitude Online is clearly a commercial product, motivated primarily through the acquisition of power and profit

In what ways does Attitude Online use multimodality and hypermodality in order to appeal to it's audiences?

Hypermodality: where one media product uses digital technology to 'link' to other media products that offer different modes of communication. For example, a text based article may link to other websites, videos and online shops

What opportunities for audience engagement does Attitude Online offer? 

• Attitude Online
• Facebook page
• Twitter page
• Instagram page

Very little opportunities for active audience engagement are offered beyond leaving Facebook comments!

Adbusters 125: front cover analysis

Layout

• Very, very little information is included on the front cover, which insinuates a high expectation of socio-cultural knowledge of the readership
• West as a concept can be defined as rich, post-colonial, including north America and Europe. There is also an assumption of democracy. The use of the term 'post west' could mean the collapse of the Western world, and the end of civilisation
• Extremely vague, basic layout, with a big emphasis on the colours black white, green and brown
• A highly polysemic layout which challenges the audience to come up with their own interpretations 
• White 'halo' effect around the soldier's head may have an angelic or religious connotation. Is this guy... the good guy?

Masthead

• Partially covered by a smear of 'mud', which completely subverts the point of a masthead: to attract a readership
• Irregular masthead looks completely different from every other edition of Adbusters. 
• Here it is sans-serif, which is connotative of seriousness and masculinity
• The masthead itself is damaged and partially unreadable, camouflaged. This suggests that Adbusters does not care about it's own brand identity
• White, plain, sans serif, no nonsense creates an exciting contrast with the background

Cover lines

• Lexis of cover line, 'post-west' may suggest a shift in political and economic views. Is the magazine suggesting that the 'west' is over?
• Assumes a large political knowledge for the audience
• West has connotations of stability, democracy and progress. 

Main image (shot type, angle, focus)

• Mid shot of cover 'model' emphasises the anger and hatred in his facial expression, which is further anchored by his clenched fist. This magazine is clearly fixated on themes of aggression and violence
• The main image is of a stereotypical 'terrorist'. With his big bear, middle eastern appearance, screaming face and camo jacket, he ticks off a lot of stereotypical
• More typical of war photography than the front cover of a magazine. Here this challenges genre expectations. What genre is this magazine?
• Canted angle of main image is highly reminiscent of action films. This is an example of intertextuality or a referential codes. This allows the audience to draw links between their own experiences of war and violence and the image
• Shallow depth of field (background is blurry)
• Fact the cover line is more visible than the masthead suggests that Adbusters is more concerned with politics than image 
• Polysemic meanings: is the soldier screaming or celebrating? Angry or happy? We just don't know
• Mid shot of an unidentified soldier soldier positions the audience in a scary and uncomfortable mode of address
• Through a lack of anchorage, the audience are forced to come to a number of stereotypical conclusions. Is this man a terrorist? A deliberately uncomfortable mode of address

Mise-en-scene (colour, lighting, costume etc.)

• MES of grainy is symbolic of war and violence, and makes the magazine look deliberately unappealing, which fits in to the magazine's independent, not for profit ideology
• MES of camo green again is symbolic reflective of war, violence and death
• Use of a dark colour pallet, black, brown, dark green. Very uninviting for the target audience
• Front cover has been deliberately smudge, almost as if it has been damaged or destroyed. This is a clear symbolic code, referencing war, death and confusion
• Black and brown: symbolic of death, dirt, mud
• MES of clenched fist is a proairetic code, suggesting violence, hatred and action

Anchorage

• The cover, much like Adbusters in general, lacks any significant anchorage which may allow an audience to come to a conclusion as to what this image may mean. So, is Adbusters deliberately confusing the audience? (answer: yes, lol)

Elements of narrative

• A deliberately confrontational, upsetting and even offensive mode of address. The audience are forced to observe and to try and understand a stereotypical representation
• Hermenutic codes: why is this man screaming? Why is his hand in a fist? What is he going to do? These questions are not answered

Mode of address

• indirect yet still confrontational. The 'soldier' is deliberately not looking at the audience (highly unconventional for magazines), which suggests the insignificance of the target audience

A level revision 2022

I don't know what picture to include here, so here are some nice flowers that I found near my house

Please note, if you are reading this in 2023 or later, the 2022 exam was a little different. Students got advanced notice as to what was coming up in the final exams. So the material here is really good and really focused, but keep in mind, you will not know what topic will come up for each industry!

Revision 2022 - how to get the best grade possible

• This year, things are a little different, but we'll be revising in the same way as we always do: revision lessons
• You can read about the structure of revision lessons by clicking here
• These lessons work. They work really, really well. If you engage in class and make lots of notes and do the activities you will get a very good grade
• But you have to work outside of lessons. Revise every day, for at least five minutes. Even on Sundays. If you set yourself such a small target, you will absolutely destroy it (and if you want to set yourself larger targets, be my guest!)
• There is no such thing as 'good and bad' revision, and even reading through your notes can be very useful, especially when you're tired
• But you have to mix things up. Revise in a variety of ways. Revision shouldn't be boring. If you're bored, revise in a different way

Revision content

Details of the modified exam: includes what theories could come up in component 2!

Everything you need to know about the component one exam!

'Cheat cheat sheet' - this is a cut down version of the cheat sheet that ONLY focuses on what you need to know for the 2022 exam! It also includes timings too! It's still quite long (naturally), but it's a whole lot of very useful information!

Component one a)

Unseen music video - media language

Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran

Are We Ready by Two Door Cinema Club

Streets by Doja Cat

Melanie Martinez - Mad Hatter

LITTLE BIG – SKIBIDI

Tyler, The Creator - WUSYANAME - BONUS: teacher exemplar answer

Kiss of the Vampire and unseen film poster - representation

A refresher on Kiss of the Vampire

Revising 'basic' representation theory

KOTV and What We Do In The Shadows - BONUS: TYPICAL VS ATYPICAL REPRESENTATIONS

KOTV and Morbius 

KOTV and Hotel Transylvania 4

Revising 'advanced' representation theory

KOTV and Free Guy

KOTV and The Vampire Lovers

KOTV and No Time To Die

KOTV and Jungle Cruise

KOTV and The Secrets Of Dumbledore

Component one b)

Daily Mirror and The Times - Media industries

Introduction to revising the newspaper industry and what the questions will be like

Every kind of question that can come up in the newspaper industry questions, and how to answer them 

New newspaper case studies (very important)

Newspaper key terms, industry key terms, everything key terms (very very important!)

Anoosheh Ashoori and the problem with news values

Profit, power and ownership

Regulation issues case study

Regulatory guidelines

Newspaper exemplar answers

Newspaper questions walk through 1

Newspaper questions walk through 2

WaterAid - Audience

Revising audience theory

How representations position audiences

Component two

Humans - Audience

How does Humans target a niche audience?

Humans and audience identity

Humans and audience interaction

Humans and middle class audiences

Les Revenants - Representation

Claims about realism

Atypical and challenging representations

Feminism

Feminist theory

Stereotypes 

Reflections of the time it was made

Advanced representation

Basic analysis revision

Issues and events

Camille returns

Woman - Media language

A detailed analysis of the front cover of Woman magazine

How does the Crème Puff advert encode meanings and ideological perspectives?

An Analysis of the Hitchcock interview

Adbusters - Media language

Cover analysis

'Homeless' double page spread

Comparing Woman and Adbusters 1

Comparing Woman and Adbusters 2

Zoella and Attitude Online - Media industries

Zoella, power and profit 

Zoella and regulation

Attitude Online, power and profit

Attitude Online and regulation

Livingstone and Lunt have argued that it is functionally impossible to regulate the online media industries as long as there exists a conflict between the desire for unrestrained profit and the ethical need to protect those who are most vulnerable. To what extent do you agree with this theory of regulation? Make reference to Zoella/Zoe Sugg and Attitude Online to back up your argument

Explore the ways in which newly emergent digitally convergent technologies have shaped the online media industries. Make reference to Zoella/Zoe Sugg and Attitude Online to explore your reasoning

David Hesmondhalgh has argued that while the internet initially had radical and transformative potential, this has largely been squandered by the involvement of vast corporations motivated by power and profit. Critically evaluate this theory related to the cultural industries. Make reference to Zoella/Zoe Sugg and Attitude Online to back up your argument

Workshop/study plus sessions: 'advanced media 2022'

Because of the way in which revision is structured this year, and because of the frankly very generous advantages we have been given by knowing much of the exam content in advance, we have been able to include all standard and extension content within the standard lessons. However, there is still some room for some advanced, stretch and challenge, extended work.

Therefore study plus sessions this year will be called 'advanced media 2022'. They shall focus EXCLUSIVELY on 'A' grade content, and will be geared towards students who wish to stretch themselves to reach an 'A' grade in the final exam. Topics will include advanced level argumentation, advanced level theory, and advanced application of concepts and methodologies. 

Session one - an argument for every situation

Session two - the ideological implications of representations

Session three - applying postmodern theory to the music video analysis question

Session four - newspaper industry walkthrough 

How are audiences constructed? Exploring the construction of the representation of gay men in Attitude Online

Why do media products exist in the first place?

 

The sole reason why any media product exists is to make profit for the producer. The most straightforward and effective way of doing this is to target and to construct audiences. 

Constructing audiences - where a producer effectively 'builds' an audience, by communicating to them exactly who they are and what they are interested in. This allows the producer to communicate an ideology, and guarantees a regular audience

What is the difference between Attitude and Attitude Online?

Attitude Online is a gay men's lifestyle online magazine. It is the online spin-off of the British gay men's lifestyle magazine Attitude. It is essential to point out that we are studying the 'online' sector of Attitude!

Why don't media products typically target gay people as a primary audience??

• Firstly, from a hegemonic perspective, homosexuality is still 'othered' in media and society. Therefore, representations of gay people may not be considered to be hegemonically acceptable by the population at large. Prejudice against gay people still very much exist, and, unfortunately, advertisers are aware of this

Othering: the idea that audiences split the world in to 'us' and 'them'. This helps us (!!!) to make sense of the world

• When gay people are targeted by a media product, they are rarely the primary audience. Gay people make up approximately 2.7-10% of the population

What representations of gay men are constructed in Attitude?

1 - Gay men are represented as camp, and enjoying camp culture

Camp - an exaggerated, over the top and deliberately trashy aesthetic. This style may be associated with gay male culture because of its themes of being extroverted, confident and 'out' 

An article featuring YouTube personality Jojo Siwa is an excellent example of Attitude constructing a camp, over the top and 'out' audience. The article uses overwhelming colourful and trashy mise-en-scene, and represents queer relationships in a positive and uplifting manner

2 - Gay men are represented as proud, strong and fierce

There are many articles that represent gay men as out and proud, including this article promoting a gay pride event in Benidorm. A mid shot of two attractive, muscular men arm in arm, holding a rainbow flag clearly anchors the image with many symbolic connotations of pride, openness, love, sex and freedom for gay men. It is worth noting, however, that this article is produced in partnership with a Spanish tourist board, and the images are provided by them too. Therefore, we must understand that this undeniably positive message serves an explicit capitalist purpose: to encourage gay men to visit Spain. 

3 - Gay men are represented as vulnerable and oppressed

Many articles feature representation of issues such as homophobia, bullying, suicide. These are unfortunately issues that the gay male target audience have had to face to some degree. 

4 - Gay men are represented as hypersexualised and hypermasculine

Hypermasculinity: an exaggerated representation of stereotypical masculinity

In gay subculture, hypermasculine representations are often 'gay coded' to indicate to audiences that a product is targeting gay audiences. Before gay erotica could be legally sold, many bodybuilding and so called 'muscle' magazines secretly targeted a gay audience, while pretending to appeal to heterosexual men as aspirational images. It's very possible that this exaggerated representation stuck, and we still see them today.

The article  5 STUNNING PHOTOS OF THE MALE FORM UNDERWATER BY WILLIAM VERCETTI is a classic example of erotica aimed at a gay male audience. There is a big emphasis on the model's buttocks, which is fairly rare in mainstream sexualised representations of gay men. This is an excellent example 'gay coding', where men are presented as being appealing to gay audiences regardless of their sexuality.

Articles such as this reinforce very strict gay male beauty standard. Potentially this can cultivate and reinforce insecurity in a the gay male audience reading this online magazine

The 'pink pound'

This is advertiser speak for the assumption that LGBT audiences are likely to have more expendable income that non gay audiences. Gay couples are less likely to have children, and are stereotypically more interested in nightlife, events and holiday, which makes gay people appealing to advertisers. 

Why does Attitude online use such stereotypical representations of gay men? Surely this reinforces prejudice?

Remember: representations are used by media producers to present ideological perspectives, but also construct. So Attitude Online presents stereotypical representations not to insult or denigrate, but to celebrate gay culture.

But, more importantly, Attitude Online uses stereotypes as a means of constructing audiences to maximise profit

Ultimately, Attitude Online presents a positive but stereotypical, straightforward and reductive representation of gay men for it's target audience. This is to maximise their revenue by appealing to a more straightforward, working class and less literate target audience than the magazine portion of the Adbusters brand. This is an example of media diversification, and allows Attitude to maximise power and profit. 

Detournement and culture jamming: an introduction

1 - Conclusions - using metalogic

If Woman is a simple, straightforward, hegemonic, sexist, capitalist magazine, then what kind of magazine will Adbusters be?

2 - Detournement and culture jamming 

3 - Getting to grips with Adbusters

Before we dig in to Adbusters and the set pages, it is important to not only look at Adbusters as a whole, complete text, but also Adbusters as a magazine. This can only be done by looking at multiple, different editions.

i) Click here to access the full edition of Adbusters, issue 125. This is totally illegal, but personally, I like to think The Adbusters Media Foundation will be happy with this flagrant rule breaking. Flick through it. In what ways is this edition of Adbusters unconventional?

ii) Google 'Adbusters front cover', and save three front covers. What atypical, unconventional elements does this magazine demonstrate?

4 - An analysis of Adbusters 125's front cover

Use the case studies tab to find the front cover to Adbusters issue 125. Save it, and insert it in to your blog. Open the toolkit for textual analysis. And

RIP 

THIS

COVER

APART

Puffs and Suds: analysing the advertising in Woman magazine (1964)

Symbolic annihilation - where a group is completely excluded from a media product 

Introduction - advertising is essential to producing magazines (five minutes)

Task: Please read this information carefully, and copy and paste it in to your blogs

For many audience members, adverts are annoying, But for many media producers, adverts are essential. Without advertising, it would usually not be possible to produce and distribute media products. 

About 30% of a magazine's revenue in 1964 would come from advertising. This is huge. Without this revenue, the cover price would have to be increased significantly, which in tern would lead to lower sales And, while there are other ways in which print magazines can create revenue in the 21st century, print advertising is still essential.

For magazines like Woman, advertisers would pay a premium to advertise in the magazine. Why? Because it sells an absolutely massive amount, and it sells to a dedicated audience. We keep discussing how the target audience for Woman is 

• White
• Working class
• British
• Middle aged
• Heterosexual
• Women

That's pretty specific. Additionally, around 1964, Woman magazine sold approx. 3million copies a week. In terms of reach, this is incredible. Therefore, advertisers will pay a massive premium in order to target such a specific audience

Starter Van Zoonen and hooks (five minutes)

Task: Use your notes and the theories and theorists section to briefly revise these two feminist theorists, and make three bullet points for both of them. Keep it basic. 

Here's a starter:

Van Zoonen 

• Representations of men and women are constructed through media language

bell hooks

• The representation of women becomes more complex if they belong to different groups

Main 1 - Crème Puff (forty minutes)

Audience positioning is where the audience are placed in a media product, using techniques such as mise-en-scene and shot types. Are we near or are we far? Who are we positioned with? And what does this mean?

Q1 - How are the target audience positioned in this scene? Make reference to media language

Van Zoonen argues that media language is used to construct male and female representations in different ways in media products

Q2 - Check out the textual analysis toolkit (this should always be open anyway!) and note at least three ways that men and women are represented differently in this advert. It's like Spot The Difference but you're 17...

Van-Zoonen also argues women’s bodies are used in media products as a spectacle for heterosexual male audiences, which reinforces patriarchal hegemony. Patriarchal hegemony, simply put, is the hegemonic expectations of women in society as reinforced by men who occupy power

Q3 - In what ways can it be argued that this advert encodes ideologies of patriarchal hegemony? How do you know? And why is this important?

Main 2 - Breeze Soap (forty minutes)

Positioning is essential for advertising! For the next question, ONLY make reference to lexis, i.e the choice of language. For example, "because you are a woman..."

Q1 - Explore how this advert uses lexis to position it's target audience

We talk a lot about sexualisation in media. But it is essential to be as specific as possible in your answer. "the model is attractive and naked" will NOT cut it here. Use the toolkit!

Q2 - This advert uses a frankly sexualised representation of a woman in order to appeal to it's target audience. First of all, we must be as specific as possible. Using the textual analysis toolkit, list all the ways in which this model is encoded as being sexually attractive

bell hooks argues that feminism is for everyone, and the representation of woman affects the representation of everyone. We could argue that the woman is hegemonically sexually attractive... but what assumptions are we making here? And who does this harm?

Q3 - Using bell hook's theory of intersectional feminism, explore how the representation of this woman could be harmful to certain women. Again, make explicit reference to media language

Online media 2: Zoella/Zoe Sugg and the regulation of the online media industries

 Unfortunately Michael is absent today! This work is to be competed by Michael's P block and T block A-level media classes. Remember, since you know roughly what's coming up in the final exam, this work is absolutely essential to complete! So answer every question, do all the research, and make sure you talk to Michael if there's anything you didn't find or understand!

Please complete every task, and please, feel free to work with someone else!

By the end of this lesson, you should have AT LEAST 20 bullet points that can go straight in to your exam!

Starter - regulation of online media: case study

Read this article, on how online pornography could be regulated in the UK. All of it please!

After you've finished reading the article, come up with at least five significant issues with this proposed regulation. You may be able to come up with many more.

This case study will be especially useful in the exam, as it underlines how ineffective the regulation of online media is, and how difficult it is to regulate online media!

Mini task : harm and offense 

Read the below and copy it in to your notes on your blog

The internet is largely regulated in a “patchwork of regulation and voluntary initiatives”. This means that, in the UK, the internet is regulated in radically different ways depending on the site, but ultimately, it is up to the distributor of content to voluntarily regulate themselves. Therefore the internet is largely self-regulated. There are a number of reasons for this approach, including the rapid advancement of technology, and the simple fact that much of the internet is hosted in completely different countries with completely different laws and restrictions. You must communicate in the exam about the potential harms and problems the internet may present its users.

From your own knowledge, and with examples if possible, what are five potentially harmful aspects for users of online media?

Main task 1: Zoella/Zoe Sugg and regulation

With all this talk of harm and pornography, it is important to note that Zoella/Zoe Sugg is very different from much content on the internet... However, we must discuss the potential harm and offense that she may provide her target audience. This may be a bit of a reach...

Access the website zoella.co.uk, and click around for a bit. We've discussed how it appeals to it's audiences, but what potential issues of harm and offense are here? Please remember the age of the target audience before jumping to any massive conclusions... MAKE REFERENCE TO FIVE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES

("she talks about sex" is NOT an explicit example. Make reference to media language where appropriate!)

Main task 2: Zoella and regulatory controversies

Harm and offense is not just limited to 'explicit content' and so on. It also refer to deliberately misleading a vulnerable audience.

This next task is best done with a friend, but can be easily done alone!

Find five examples of how Zoella/Zoe Sugg has potentially mislead her audience, or other controversies that may have caused harm, offense or so on. Please make sure these examples are DETAILED, and not just 'she said mean, harmful things'. 

There are quite a few examples out there, but here are a few hints for what you could look for...

• Old tweets
• Offensive comments
• Undisclosed advertising
• Advent calendars

Online media 1: Zoella/Zoe Sugg and industry concerns

Second year students reading this in 2022: the online media question this year will definitely be industry based! This means there's only so many questions that can come up! We cover half of them right here, but remember, the wording will be very different, and the question may ask you to make reference to a theorist (most likely either Hesmondhalgh or Livingstone & Lunt).

So this stuff is REALLY important to know!

Zoella has rebranded herself as Zoe Sugg, and now adopts a far more mature, yet still relatable and approachable mode of address for her new, 18-40 target audience

How is this media product produced, distributed and circulated, and by who?

• Produced directly by Zoella/Zoe Sugg (early in career), and a small team of editors/promotors (especially following rebranding)
• Her videos were initially distributed through YouTube exclusively
• Breezy and excitable mode of address maximises the potential for this video to be shared by fans
• Relatable content: eating pizza, Primark and decorating her baby's room 
• Boyfriend tag video demands audience interaction, providing the opportunity to share the video
• Video has almost 7million views, which demonstrates a significant success
• Sugg represents a vertically integrated and a multimedia integrated industry
• Sugg offers her audiences a multimedia experience through her website, with links to books, apps and her video content, still hosted on YouTube
• Deliberately low production values, with very straightforward editing and jump cuts
• Zoella has used her YouTube empire in order to build a specific brand identity. She has recently diversified, and now targets a significantly different audience

How have recent technological changes in this industry changed production, distribution and circulation?

• Broadband internet has allowed greater capacity for streaming and effective distribution
• Official Russian subtitles allow Sugg to appeal to and to promote to a vast target audience
• Sugg discusses topics such as Primark to appeal to a working class target audience
• Blog uses web 2.0 standard design, with a modern clean interface, with easy to see and identify hyperlinks
• Menu bar has a range of sophisticated topics, such as 
• STYLE
• BEAUTY
• LIFESTYLE
• RECIPES
• BOOKS
• SEX AND HEALTH
• SHOP ZOELLA
• A clear example of hyper-modality 

What economic factors have affected this product? How financially successful was it? Was it made commercially or not for profit?

• YouTube videos can be monetised by producers who have an exceptionally high follower count. At least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours over the last year are essential to actually applying for monetisation 
• Zoe Suggs has significantly diversified her output in order to maximise her profit potential
• Relatability ensures success. The deliberately low production values make Sugg appealing to a younger target audience (for her 'Zoella' YouTube)

Industry key terms

Distribution: the way in which a media product is given out. For online media, we are exclusively talking about digital distribution!

Circulation: how many audience members engage with the digital product, which can be measured through view counts for example

Regulation: the rules media products must follow. Online media is not effectively regulated!

Digital convergence: the coming together of previously separate industries thanks to digital technologies

Conglomeration: where an organisation becomes bigger by buying more companies. Google is an excellent example! 

Vertical integration: where an organisation buys out others in different sectors, meaning they own both distribution and production

Horizontal integration: the same but in the same sector

Multimedia integration: any form of integration which involves digital technologies

Censorship: the practice of removing content for ideological reasons 

Diversification: where a producer branches out in to different sectors/media/etc

Specialisation: where an industry or a producer does one thing particularly well

Monopoly: where one company controls all of a market

Brand identity: where a brand has a specific identity different from any other

Advertorial: an article in a magazine, blog or newspaper, which is paid for by an advertiser. These legally MUST be labelled as adverts!

"the online media industry is a specialised industry"

David Hesmondhalgh - your man for talking about the cultural industries

The following information is cribbed from exam board resources

Hesmondhalgh argues that major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success. In relation to online products, he argues that major IT companies now compete with the more traditional media conglomerates within the cultural sector: ‘Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon are now as significant as News Corporation, Time Warner and Sony for understanding cultural production and consumption.’

 

The domination of online media by a limited number of tech giants, Google/YouTube/Facebook has arguably hijacked the web’s capacity for audience activism, and, in the process, has arguably asserted a more passive viewing experience. 

A bit of website discussion 

• Aesthetically pleasing layout, neatly organised with a range of hyperlinks to click on
• Enormous banner advert suggests Sugg has aggressively monetised her website
• Clearly, Sugg has been involved in search engine optimisation. Zoella.co.uk is the top result for searches for 'Zoella'
• Blog is regularly updated
• Content has changed dramatically since Sugg started vlogging, and now actively targets a much older audience

Using Woman magazine to answer possible exam questions

Q block had an extra lesson this week, so they used their time wisely, by creating revision resources for their future selves to use. Doing little posters like this is a great way to revise, and makes a fun (!) change to just copying notes from notes. 

Remember: if revision is boring, you're doing it wrong! try something else!

Extra Special on Men!

How does Woman construct and appeal to it’s target audience? What choices have been made as to how women are represented?

• The main image is particularly striking, and depicts an extremely hegemonically, stereotypically attractive model pushing her bare foot in to the head on a man, wearing a suit and looking exaggeratedly  annoyed. The mode of address that this image adopts is jokey and not serious. 
• This image could be appealing to women at the time, as it symbolically represents a woman in a position of power. However, another reading could be that the woman is not being taken seriously, and the jokey mode of address infers that such a power dynamic is in fact hilarious. 
• This image is highly polysemic (which means it has many meanings), which may appeal to multiple audiences
• Additionally, the image has fetishistic connotations, by showing an attractive woman in a position of power over an attractive man. A fetish is an obsession with a particular aspect. Therefore, some audiences may take sexual pleasure from this image.
• This is a classic example of a negotiated reading, and also an example of the pick and mix theory where audiences can pick whatever ideology suits them
• The lexis of the phrase "getting to know them" constructs a binary opposition between men and women". This reinforces the idea that men are different and hard to understand, and this is potentially pleasurable for audiences, as it infers that if the female target audience upstands men, they may even have power over them
• The advice given is often highly sexist, and even makes the assumption that if a man talks about a woman, it will be in a disrespectful way
• MES of woman's costume is modern, stylish, classy and exciting, which contradicts traditional 1960's representations of women! However, it also presents aspirational and exclusionary representation of women for the target audience
• Men are overwhelmingly represented as well dressed, dressed in suits, ties and shirts. This may be symbolic of belonging to a higher class, and again is highly aspirational, and reinforces the ideology that in order for women to succeed in contemporary society, women must attract the attention of a rich and high status man

Advance information of A-level media exams (Summer 2022)

Component one

Section A: Analysing media language and representation (unseen section)

One media language question analysing an unseen music video

Possible theorists: Barthes and Levi-Strauss

One representation question comparing the Kiss of the Vampire poster to an unseen film poster

Possible theorists: Hall (representation), Gauntlet, Liesbet Van Zoonen, hooks, Gilroy 

(it is likely that one of the above questions will be worth 30 marks, and the other will be worth 15 marks)

Section B: Understanding media industries and audiences (shorter answer questions)

Industry/context questions on the newspaper industry: The Daily Mirror and The Times. There will be at least one question that will reward you for "drawing together your knowledge and understanding from your full course of study"

Possible theorists: Livingstone and Lunt, Curren and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh

Audience question(s) on the WaterAid advert

Possible theorists: Gerbner, Hall (reception)

Component Two

A: Television

1) An audience question on Humans (15)

Possible theorists: Jenkins and Hall

2) A representation question on Les Revenants/The Returned (15)

Possible theorists: Hall, Van Zoonen, hooks, Butler

B: Magazines

A media language question on both Woman and Adbusters (30)

Possible theorists: Barthes and Levi-Strauss

C: Online media 

An industry/context question on Zoella and Attitude (30)

Possible theorists: Livingstone and Lunt and Hesmondhalgh 

The original information as presented by the exam board is presented below:

The Alfred Hitchcock interview: quotes and analysis

 Quotes

"Britain, of course, is a male dominated society" - a clear admission of patriarchal hegemonic norms. Audiences are, of course, supposed to accept this dominant ideology

"I've come to these conclusions after years of selecting and grooming some of the most beautiful women in the world" - the symbolism of the word 'grooming' is problematic. While it may OK to groom a horse, this is a clear example of objectification. Additionally he sees his job as more finding, raising and rearing women that anything to do with film making...

"naturally I chose an English girl for a wife..." - Hitchcock referring to his older wife as a 'girl' is condescending and potentially predatory. It also infers and reinforces the idea that men have the power in selecting a wife... another example of patriarchal hegemony

"this variety of sex appeal provide the ideal complement to the other thrills" - clear example of sexualisation!

"they're like snow capped volcanoes" - here, Hitchcock is inferring that British women are sweet and innocent on the outside, yet are sexually promiscuous and daring on the inside. An example fetishism, an obsession with race and nationality

"Personally, I find this far more intriguing than the Latin brand of sex appeal that puts everything in the shop window" - here Hitchcock suggestions that Latin (presumably Mediterranean women?) are far more overtly sexually promiscuous than British women, which is an explicit example of stereotyping 

"The time I've spent grooming actresses has never been wasted" - lexis of the word 'grooming' creates a connotations of a predatory, and at least dismissive relationship with women. It reinforces the significant position of power that Hitchcock is in. This is a clear example of objectification (a process of comparing a person to something that is not human, usually used to belittle)

"perhaps it's because I'm such a happily married man I can look at women objectively" - an admission of objectification? 

• The anchorage provided by the caption reinforces the view that Kelly's success was purely down to being discovered by Alfred Hitchcock
• Grace Kelly is represented as being powerful, and even intimidating. 
• A direct mode of address is presented, with Kelly literally 'looking down' on the audience, inferring her superiority and status
• Grace Kelly was at this stage a princess, a glamorous role that only really be achieved by marrying a certain man
• MES of makeup, the shininess of the lip-gloss and the pouting open lips are symbolic of sex, and a proairetic code, inferring that she is about to kiss someone 
• Kelly is an aspirational figure of sexuality and glamour for the target audience
• This reinforces the notion that in order to be successful, women should be hegemonically beautiful and sexually available to appeal to rich and powerful men (like Alfred Hitchcock)