A-level June 2023

Component one 

SECTION A: ANALYSING MEDIA LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION

Media Language

Question 10 is based on the audio-visual resource. It is an advertisement for Dolce & Gabbana, an Italian fashion brand. It is filmed in Italy: in the city of Milan and on the island of Sicily.

• You will be allowed one minute to read Question 10.
• The advertisement will be shown three times.
• First viewing: watch the advertisement.
• Second viewing: watch the advertisement and make notes.
• You will then have five minutes to make further notes.
• Third viewing: watch the advertisement and make final notes.
• Once the third viewing has finished, you should answer Question 10.

10 - Explore how this advertisement uses media language to communicate meaning. [15]

Representation

Question 20 is based on both of the following:

• the print resource: All Day and a Night film poster (2020)

• the set music video you have studied: Formation or Dream.

Study the print resource carefully and use both the film poster and music video when answering the question.

In this question, you will be assessed on the quality of your written response, including the ability to construct and develop a sustained line of reasoning that is coherent, relevant, substantiated and logically structured

20 - Compare how representations in the film poster and music video convey values and beliefs. [30]
In your answer, you must:
• consider the similarities and differences in how representations convey values and beliefs
• consider how stereotypes are challenged or reinforced
• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far representations reflect social and cultural contexts.

SECTION B: UNDERSTANDING MEDIA INDUSTRIES AND AUDIENCES

Media Industries

31 - Briefly explain what is meant by distribution in the video games industry. [2]

32 - Explain the impact of digital technologies on video games. Refer to the Assassin’s Creed game you have studied to support your points. [8]

In question 33 , you will be rewarded for drawing together knowledge and understanding from across your full course of study, including different areas of the theoretical framework and media contexts.

33 - Explain how video game producers maintain global audiences. Refer to the Assassin’s Creed game you have studied to support your points. [15]

Audiences

41 - Explain how radio programmes appeal to specific audiences. Refer to Late Night Woman’s Hour to support your points. [12]

42 - Explain how audience responses to advertisements reflect social and cultural circumstances. Refer to the WaterAid advertisement you have studied to support your points. [8]

Component two

SECTION A – TELEVISION IN THE GLOBAL AGE

Answer one question in this section on the option you have studied.

Either,

Option 1: Life on Mars and The Bridge

10 - How useful are structuralist theories for exploring television products? Refer to Lévi-Strauss’s structuralist theory of binary oppositions and the set episodes of Life on Mars and The Bridge in your response. [30]

Or,

Option 2: Humans and The Returned

20 - How useful are structuralist theories for exploring television products? Refer to Lévi-Strauss’s structuralist theory of binary oppositions and the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response. [30]

Or,

Option 3: The Jinx and No Burqas Behind Bars

30 - How useful are structuralist theories for exploring television products? Refer to Lévi-Strauss’s structuralist theory of binary oppositions and No Burqas Behind Bars and the set episode of The Jinx in your response. [30]

SECTION B – MAGAZINES: MAINSTREAM AND ALTERNATIVE MEDIA

Answer one question in this section on the option you have studied.

Either,

Option 1: Woman and Adbusters

40 - To what extent can audiences interpret the same magazine in different ways? Explore the set editions of Woman and Adbusters in your response. [30]

Or,

Option 2: Woman’s Realm and Huck

50 - To what extent can audiences interpret the same magazine in different ways? Explore the set editions of Woman’s Realm and Huck in your response. [30]

Or,

Option 3: Vogue and The Big Issue

60 - To what extent can audiences interpret the same magazine in different ways? Explore the set editions of Vogue and The Big Issue in your response. [30]

SECTION C – MEDIA IN THE ONLINE AGE

Answer both questions in this section on the option you have studied.

Either,

Option 1: Alfie Deyes and gal-dem

71 - Explain how media production and distribution have changed in the age of YouTube and the Internet. Refer to Alfie Deyes in your response. [15]

72 - Discuss the influence of social and cultural contexts on the representations on the gal-dem website. [15]

Or,

Option 2: Zoe Sugg and Attitude

81 - Explain how media production and distribution have changed in the age of YouTube and the Internet. Refer to Zoe Sugg in your response. [15]

82 - Discuss the influence of social and cultural contexts on the representations on the Attitude website. [15]

Representation, media language and representation - TV industry ultrapost

Please note: this is a big old post combining lots of disparate aspects about the TV industry. However, there's lots of excellent material here that is perfect for revision material! 

Explore how representations can position audiences

• The complex representations used throughout these TV shows are highly effective in positioning audiences, in order to maximise audience engagement 
• Audience positioning refers to the many ways in which audiences are placed within a media product by the producer to further anchor and align the audience, and to help them relate to complex themes. Representation refers to the re-presentation of a particular group, issue or event, by the producer, in order to reflect their ideological position. In this essay, I shall argue that the producers of TV shows often use complex and even challenging representations in order to engage and position audiences who expect more from television in the 21st century. In order to explore this idea, I shall refer to San Junipero, an episode of the British sci-fi anthology show Black Mirror, originally created by Charlie Brooker and subsequently internationalised and distributed by Netflix. I shall also refer to Les Revenants, a French horror/drama hybrid, produced and distributed by French conglomerate Canal +, primarily targeting an alternative and niche audience.
• An excellent example of how representations can position audiences in les revs can be found in the highly postmodern representation of the town itself. In the open credit sequence, a hyperreal representation of a French rural town is constructed through the alarming MES of…
• ..in fact, due to being funded by a notable French tourist board, in many ways it is significant that the episode resembles an advert for the Rhein Cotes Alps region, with the montage…
• The audience is positioned in a confusing mode of address, through the hyperreal representation of the middle class Seurat family. Their muted reaction to these extreme and bizarre events is stereotypically French, and may puzzle and alienate British audiences 
• One way representations can positions audiences 
• One excellent way in which a producer uses a highly stereotypical representation to position audiences
• A further way in which a complex representation can position audiences 

Judith Butler argues that gender is constructed through a series of performative actions. Evaluate this theory of gender performativity. Make reference to the TV shows you have studied to support your answer

What is the difference between sex and gender? 

• Sex = a biological categorisation, eg male/female/intersex
• Gender = a cultural categorisation, based on personal identity 
• Gender fluidity = the idea of an individual’s gender changing over time, or gender as a concept eg gender stereotypes changing over time 
• Gender performance = the rituals performed on a day by basis that act as a performance of gender. For example, men may on any given day, visit the gym, attend their masculine job, go to the pub, wear trousers, watch football, shave, spit on the floor, swearing, regularly get a haircut
• Gender performativity: how the world is shaped by your performance of gender. Gender performativity gets its strongest results when an individual challenges dominant hegemonic ideologies 

Examples of gender performativity in the set TV episodes

San Jun

• Kelley is overtly feminine. Her costume codes are highly feminine, and her makeup and jewellery demonstrate a glamorous and extroverted personality. She is able to make people nervous through her confidence, in particular Yorkie, who in a particularly effective montage, frets and panics over her own gender performance 
• Yorkie dressed as a range of different intertextually related feminine characters from a variety of different films and music videos from the 1980s, including the ‘weird girl’ from The Breakfast club and the seductive and glamorous makeup from the backing dancers from Addicted To Love . By trying out a range of different feminine performances, Yorkie is attempting to investigate her own identity, and her own performance as a woman. Ultimately Yorkie decides to ‘be herself’, and dresses in oversized glasses and a cream coloured cardigan. 
• In the opening club scene, Kelley assertively rejects the attention of a pushy man, before pushing herself assertively on Yorkie, sitting directly next to her in a scene reminiscent of many 80s comedies. However, Kelley chooses instead to romantically engage herself in another woman, a subtle difference from the largely heteronormative romantic narratives of the 1980s. Instead of their sexuality., the overwhelming binary opposition that exists between Kelley and Yorkie is their respective sexual experience 

Les Revs

• Julie dresses in an unconventionally masculine way for a woman. As a result, she is never the object of an intradiegetic gaze (where one character looks at another character), and her role is not romantically encoded 
• Camille is not romanticised or eroticised, which is unconventional for a TV show. For example, she is fixated on eating a sandwich. An unconventional representation of a teenage girl 
• Lena is conventionally attractive and fits many stereotypical assumptions of teenage girls. She assertively demands Simon to buy her a drink, and flirts in an over the top way that challenges conventional hegemonic assumptions about women 
• Simon is hegemonically conventionally attractive, and dressed in a fashionable suit. Simon has an immediate effect on Lena, yet shows no interest in her romantically. This highly complex representation of gender performativity subverts traditional assumptions about romantic narratives. 

Paragraph starters

• In San Junipero, an excellent example of how characters performatively assert their gender can be found in the dressing up scene
• This contrasts somewhat with Les Revenants, which presents often subversive presentations of gender. A perfect example of this can be found in the character of Julie, who..
• A further example of a subversive gender performance can be found in San Junpero through the stereotypical feminine performance of the character Kelley. 

Henry Jenkins argues that audiences are ‘textual poachers’, and actively manipulate media products in ways which best suit them. Evaluate this theory of fandom. Make reference to the Black Mirror episode San Junipero and Les Revenants to support your answer. [30]

• San Junipero - t-shirts (unofficial)including the San Junipero logo, presumably made by fans. Audiences can poach images from the TV show, use photoshop to recontextualise it and then construct a fictitious brand identity that audiences can then use to reflect and to reinforce their own identity. This highly complex and active form of fan mediation is actively encouraged through the structure of the TV show. The mainstream potential of Black Mirror, which has grown from its initial niche audience to a show which is now distributed on Netflix demonstrates its potential . Furthermore the mode of the episode is reliable and hopeful, with a positive representation of a queer relationship that is both surprising and unconventional. 
• Les Revs - fan art including moody portraits of the main characters. There are comparatively few active audience examples for Les Revs, partly because it is so niche and partly because ideologies of the show are so resolutely ambiguous. Furthermore, it is much harder for the audiences to root for or identify with any of the characters. The show has a mature mode of address, and potentially targets older audiences who may deal with the themes in a more serious way. A perfect example of this is the limited availability of Les Revs fan fiction, which focuses on expanding the narrative, as p=opposed to ‘shipping’ characters for sexual gratification

An analysis of the final montage

• The selection of the song, ‘Heaven is a place on earth’ by Belinda Carlisle, is highly symbolic and poignant. Both diegetically and non-diegetically situated, the song plays pleonastically over the montage. The lyrics ‘heaven is a place on earth’, vehicle in actuality a trashy and meaningless pop song here hold a special poignant that is emphasised through the opposition between empty pop aesthetics and intense, almost religious emotion.  
• The overtly science fiction shot of the MES of a robotic arm placing a component into a circuit board presents an intensely emotional response to the science fiction fan audience. While it is not made explicit, we can contextually deduce that one of the nodes represents Kelley, and the other represents Yorkie. This shot is placed in stark opposition to Kelly’s name being etched on the family grave of her husband, which itself represents traditionalism, conservatism and heteronormativity. This extremely complex and conflicting set of narrative constructs a highly subjective and personal mode of address for the target audiences. 
• Additionally, the intense themes of suicide, euthanasia, the illegality of gay marriage...
• The final sequence of San Junipero is masterful not only in its technical and narratological perfection, but also in its unprecedented ability to encourage active fan responses. Like many works associated with Charlie Brooker, the episode interweaves the end credits with the final narrative flourish, a technique that he has been using since the broadcast of Nathan Barley and Dead Set on Channel 4 
• The MES of the scenery constructs an explicit intertextual reference to 80’s arcade games, most notably Sega’s 198 racing game Outrun. While the vast majority of audiences will not explicitly get these references, fans of arcade games and retro games will do, and will enjoy this exclusive and highly gratifying mode of address. Brooker is vocal in his love of video games, and his public persona as a nerd and fan himself is essential for many fans' enjoyment.
• The politics of the final sequence are both provocative and highly likely to encourage debate. The clear representation of euthanasia as a positive and affirmative act directly positions the audience in a highly uncomfortable mode of address. Anchored by the exceptional use of editing, the audience sees the montage of a car driving down the highway and of liquid flowing down a tube, together combining to create a powerful ideological message about death being a release. This beautiful mode of address further emphasises the discomfort, and constructs a particularly emotional and overwhelming set of meanings for the dedicated science fiction fan. 
• Additionally, the audience can also interpret the scene as a straightforward escapist fantasy of cheating death and overcoming trauma
• The ending is open, which means in the minds of the fan, there is no clear conclusion and lots of opportunities for both shipping these characters and imagining their relationship develop beyond the end of the narrative. This is a classic example of fan theory, where simply watching until the end of the product is just the beginning
• Fulfils the social interaction aspect of uses and gratifications, by encouraging audiences to actively debate the ending. For example, Yorkie manipulating Kelly into killing herself to spend her (after)life with her is the very definition of a toxic relationship, and is cult-like in its unpleasantness. This deliberately ambiguous ending is designed to polarise audience
• The final song, Heaven is a Place On Earth by Belinda Carlisle is not only a poppy and anthemic 80’s song, the lyrics also help to construct and to anchor a cyclical narrative. It helps to explain to the audience the cruel and complicated narration of the conclusion, by using the throwaway binary of ‘heaven is a place on earth’ constructs a hyperreal fantasy where a meaningless lyric suddenly has a deep and complex meaning. Further anchored through the use of neon and utopian colours that connote a hyperreal, almost imagined 80s, a fascinating representation of pop songs as salvation is constructed. 
• Finally, we are entered into a dialogue with the ultimate fan, Charlie Booker himself, who shares through intertextuality his own favourite films, songs, and videogames. We are encouraged to identify with his enthusiasm and to engage with what he loves 
• The sequence focuses on notions of overcoming trauma, a powerful and affirming experience. The MES of Yorkie confidently jumping into the sports car demonstrates her symbolic conquering of a trauma that can only come through her assisted suicide. The sense of the real world being a hellish obstacle while the simulation is a heavenly manifestation of freedom presented in the form of of a glorified version of America presents a complicated relay of information for the target audience 
• Themes of existentialism are introduced and emphasised through the blunt and nightmarish binary opposition between the bright and glorious Tuckers and the nightmarish hellscape of the server room in the bleak grey warehouse. Making explicit intertextual relay to simulation narratives such as The Matrix. However, the symbolic code constructed through the rotating and blinking LED lights construct, through a highly sophisticated montage, now represents dancing, romance, sex, and life
• Yorkie, now wearing a combination of blue and pink, has gravitated towards a more stereotypically feminine costume, while Kelly’s costume has also changed subtly 
• The ending is deliberately problematic by presenting a number of contentious ideologies. Essentially, the scene ideologically communicates that true love is only attainable through death. Additionally, we are led to believe that true love only exists as a hyperreal representation of an eternally young couple dancing forever. With no limits on time, or no threats of illness or other issues, is true passion even attainable? Ultimately these thoughts do not matter, because “heaven is a place on earth”

How does the opening sequence construct a hyperreal simulacra? - A representation of something that never even existed in the first place

• The scene constructs a hyperreal and even idealised version of a club. Completely lacking bouncers and security, the establishing shot constructs a perfect club night. Patrons are drinking alcohol, and every individual is both young and hegemonically attractive, as each individual is able to construct their own avatar. A completely unified sense of community is constructed, where no one is excluded. People are behaving appropriately, the club is adequately populated

A bit of theory, as a treat

• Roland Barthes - semiotic theory - the study of meaning
• Connotations and denotations - the deeper meaning and the surface meaning of an element 
• Symbolic codes - What something symbolises, the deeper meaning of something. A red rose is symbolic of love! The MES of the curtains billowing in the breeze is symbolic of an orgasm 
• Proairetic codes - Action codes, something that suggests that something is going to happen. For example, the CU of the liquid flowing down the medical tube is a proairetic code for Kelly’s imminent death 
• Hermeneutic codes - enigma code a mystery or a question posed by media language. For example, the sudden use of 90s iconography constructs a hermeneutic sense of mystery for the audience. The preferred reading of this montage is that audiences ask themselves why this is happening, and an answer is quickly given
• Referential codes - Intertextuality, where a product makes reference to another product. This episode, being fixated on nostalgia, makes extensive use of referentiality 
• The function of myths - A myth is an established story that teaches us a lesson about the world. Barthes argues that the world is built on myths. Eg, SJ is a love story about two women who cannot be together 
• Claude Levi Strauss - Structuralism - the idea that everything has an underlying structure
• Binary oppositions - two concepts in total opposition that make meaning  
• How binary oppositions construct narrative - Tuckers and The Quagmire, creepy guy and Kelly, Kelly and Yorkie, life and death, simulation and reality, night and day, men and women, gay and straight…
• How binary oppositions construct ideological perspectives
• All narrative is conflict

Mock exam January 2024

 

Section A: Analysing Media Language and Representation

Time allowed: one hour

Representation

Question 1 is based on the unseen print resource and the Daily Mirror front page you have studied. You can find this below.

The print resource consists of the front page to The Observer, dated Sunday 1st November 2020, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced measures to mitigate the covid pandemic.

1 - Compare how audiences are positioned by the representations in The Observer front page and the Daily Mirror front page you have studied.

In your answer you should:

• consider how the representations construct versions of reality,

• consider the similarities and differences in how audiences are positioned by the representations, and

• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the representations relate to relevant media contexts. [30]

Click image to view full size. After the image opens, right click and 'open image in new tab' to zoom in on details 

Postmodernism - how to actually refer to the hardest theory in media studies

• Postmodernism in  media studies has a variety of different definitions
• One aspect of postmodernism is hyperreality, which is a representation which is more real than the thing that is being represented 
• What does this even mean? Reality is exaggerated, and reality is  subjective. What is real and what is not is unclear.
• But in our modern world, we can take this one step further, and declare that nothing is real.
• For Jean Baudrillard, life is a simulation, i.e. a constructed version of reality. Everything we do, say and believe is based on things which are not real. What makes it more confusing is that we all realise this. We all know that social media provides us with a highly mediated world based on constructed assumptions and that newspapers utilise biased modes of address to manufacture consent. But ultimately, we go along with it because it would be so much harder to actually interrogate this. 

Examples of hyperreality

• Avatar - the ‘perfect world’ of this film obsessed fans and created very intense fan relationships 
• The Met Gala - the exiting extreme fashion and watching beautiful people wear insane costumes is completely at odds with events going going on in the world at the moment, for example the genocide in Gaza
• The ordinary lives of people in films are romanticised. However, the lives led by film characters are objectively unrealistic. For example, we very rarely see characters using the toilet. That would be weird and gross and would FEEL unrealistic 
• The Hunger Games - the representation of poverty as something that can be overcome in exciting ways, and the representation of the ruling class as an elite, evil, group of bad guys simplifies the world in to a straightforward group of haves and have nots. 

Our lives are boring, and they also make no sense. However, media products are complicated, exciting, and give our lives purpose. This is hyperreality, where the representation makes WAY more sense than the thing it is supposed to represent! So how can we refer to this complicated concept for all of the set texts in component one?

1. Tide advert - the perfect picture, the perfect housewife. Beautiful, happy, and living an exciting life, this is completely different from the reality that everyone has accepted. But to admit that washing and cleaning is essentially state mandated slavery is too difficult to come to terms with
2. Kiss of The Vampire - the glamorization of murder and death as something exciting and sexy presents a hyperreal and escapist mode of address to the target audience 
3. Super.Human - the representation of disabled people is hyperreal. The rapid fire montage editing constructs an ideology that to be disabled to to face exciting challenges 
4.  Black Panther - the death scene presents a violent death as exciting and noble and promotes the idea that to be heroic in the face of death is the right thing 
5. I Daniel Blake - a heavily narrative story, where every word is relevant, and contributes to the plot. However, the film uses numerous techniques to make the film seem ‘real’, for example using cheap cameras, a complete lack of special effects, highly relatable costume, constructing a completely hyperreal mode of address
6. The Daily Mirror  - the highly biased news presented by this left leaning newspaper constructs a hyperreal worldview for the working class audience and reinforces their political ideologies 
7. The Times - the ideologies covered target a middle class audience, for example the hyperreal representation of the yoga woman on the front page asks the audience to align with the values of the newspaper. Additionally, the damning representation of Johnson reflects public opinion at the time, and reinforces the fact that newspapers will frequently change their ideology in order to minimise risk and maximise profit.
8. George’s Podcast - George’s delivery is perfect and clearly edited, yet there are a range of sound effects and unconventional cuts that construct a sense of realism. The relationship of the diegesis is particularly complicated, and constructs a complicated hyperreal mode of address 
9. Assassin’s Creed - the idea of being an ‘assassin’ is presented as a noble and positive choice, and the representation of violence is fun and exciting. The world of AC Unity allows audiences to live out their escapist fantasies, climbing buildings and punching strangers
10. Riptide - the representation of women and violence against women is represented in a hyperreal and stylish which constructs a confusing mode of address for the target audience
11. Formation - Beyoncé laying on the police car creates a hyperreal representation of dissent and opposing the ideologies of the police in a way which is unlikely to cause too much controversy. 

Jean Baudrillard argued that we live in a world where hyperreal representations exist which are more real than the thing that is being represented. Evaluate this postmodern theory. Make reference to the Black Mirror episode San Junipero and Les Revenants to support your answer. [30]

Welcome to the cleanest, quietest club in the world!

• A perfect example of a hyperreal representation that is significantly more real and more reliable than the thing being represented occurs early in the episode, where Yorkie enters the club. 
• The music is not extremely loud, but instead is at a comfortable volume which allows everyone to talk to each other in reasonable manner 
• Yorkie leaves her drink unattended at the bar which not only opens her to being spiked, but also is a complete waste of money and suggests that neither of these two issues exist in this world 
• Yorkie dips her hand into her pocket and is surprised and delighted to find she has money. Clear, financial poverty is no issue in this world 
• Everyone is clean, attractive, and having a good time. Everybody is reasonably good at dancing, and no one is in anyone’s way
• “Don’t make me red light you’. Presumably, this refers to a way of blocking unwelcome attention in the simulation, and suggests in this world, even  unwanted sexual advances can be ignored or completely removed, thus making this a perfect, hyperreal construct 
• The lighting is dim, yet adequate, and allows the viewer to see every detail perfectly
• This scene is reminiscent of club scenes in 80s films and suggests that Yorkie has chosen to engage in a hyperreal fantasy of 1980s films rather than from her own memories.  For Yorkie, the ultimate in reality is not her own life, but the 80s movies and music that she escaped in to. This is a perfect example of postmodernism ,and reinforces the idea that we live in a world that ultimately means nothing, and that fancy is more real than supposed reality 

Audience and industry - digitally convergent media, economic factors and the magazine industry

Explore how Adbusters uses digitally convergent media to appeal to and to address niche and non-mainstream audiences [15]

The majority of our proposed answer to this 15-marker comes from the Adbusters website itself. A great way to revise is simply going on the website, and then picking out specific examples to answer specific questions. 

• Digital convergence refers to the coming together of previously separate media industries thanks to digital technologies. While sales of print magazines have long declined, particularly among certain, younger demographics, innovative campaigns using synergetic and digitally convergent technology have led to magazines remaining relevant in a digitally convergent world. Adbusters makes heavy and innovative use of digitally convergent media in order to both appeal to and to address their niche, anti-capitalist and radical target audience. This anti-capitalist magazine uses the logic and aesthetic of detournement to position its audience in a radical mode of address. 
• The lack of anchorage in the magazine actively encourages active audiences to use digitally convergent technology to research the deeper themes and contexts of the magazines. This not only addresses the audience as someone already deeply involved in global activism, but also positions the audience in a deeply respectful mode of address, and does not insult the intelligence of the target audience.
• The home page of the website instantly links to the Tiktok account of Adbusters, using the snappy title ‘meme warfare’ . This highly politicised language actively engages and includes the activist target audience. Moreover, the selection of Tiktok as the primary social media account also potentially engages younger audiences. This is anchored through the selection of images of young and hegemonically attractive radical activists in the process of being arrested. By promoting this act of dissent, it cultivates the ideological perspectives that adbusters wishes to promote to its constructed younger target audience. Younger people tend to skew more heavily to progressive, left wing ideologies, and are also potentially more easily manipulated. Using the language of social media, in particular repeated images and ideologies, Adbusters presents a simple, straightforward and attractive representation of global activism where the target audience can feel they are making a difference
• The aesthetic of the website is messy, rugged, and takes a mixed media approach combining scribbles, photographs and scans. The website specifically resembles the magazine, especially the landing page, which cultivates an explicit and easily identifiable brand identity. This ugly and rugged address particularly appeals to younger and socially active audiences who wish to challenge the dominant hegemonic ideologies of capitalism
• The website also includes commonly repeated symbols, squiggles and calls for political activism and campaigns. These include the famous ‘buy nothing day’, ‘digital detox week’, a campaign encouraging audiences to let down the tyres of SUVs, and most famously occupy wall street. These high profile campaigns attract a younger, politically motivated audience who wish to push for change, and also position the target audience as political activists who are changing the world 
• Reception theory - the dominant ideological perspective is encoded through the codes and conventions of the magazine and the website, constructing a coherent brand identity. However, a commonly held oppositional reading of how adbusters targets its audiences is that it uses the language of capitalism in order to cultivate a certain ideological perspective. Audiences are encouraged to ‘cancel’ the Adbusters brand on incendiary articles about the Israel Palestine conflict. However, even this link links to the online shop, only providing the audience with the straightforward response of subscribing to the magazine. This is a perfect example of utilising digitally convergent technology to distribute the physical, old media edition of the magazine to a predominantly middle class audience who normally would not engage in such a product 

How have economic factors shaped the production of Woman magazine? [15]

The second half of the lesson took the form of research and a discussion, so there are only a few notes. If you want the whole story, you must attend the revision lessons :) 

Two further in depth articles about Woman and the magazine industry can be found here, and here

Simple straightforward sexist ideology

Hyperrealistic adverts

Power and profit 

Mass audience

Sexualisation

Aspirational mode of address

Patriarchal values

Cultivation of patriarchal ideologies

Hegemonic expectations 

Mass produced, mass distributed 

Many black and white pages minimise production costs

Sexist language “because you’re a woman’

Direct mode of address

The cultural industries IPC horizontally integrated to specialise in magazine production

Major manufacturer of magazines

Discriminatory values, reflecting dominant ideologies of the time