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| Knowing what utensil to use for each course is an excellent example of sophistication in the real world, but how can you write a sophisticated essay? |
In the context of the exam, sophistication is knowing exactly what you want to say, and phrasing it in the clearest way possible. However, if you want to get an 'A' grade in the final exam, here's how you can do it.
The 'A' grade criteria for the MS4 pretty much reads like this:
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
- Sophisticated media language
- Sophisticated understanding of media products
- Detailed and relevant examples
- Coherent and well established point of view
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
- Analysis of relationship between text, industry and audience
- Sophisticated meanings and responses
This is basically the same things you need to do to get a B grade or a C grade. But now you must also be 'sophisticated' and 'coherent'. What you are saying must clearly demonstrate your knowledge, and it must make perfect sense as well. So how can you demonstrate sophistication in an exam? You must use sophisticated language.
SOPHISTICATED MEDIA LANGUAGE
Here are a few terms that potentially indicate sophistication. You will notice that these are all terms we have used throughout the media course. We are going to try and apply them to a key scene.
- IDEOLOGY - the beliefs and values of the producer of the text
- HEGEMONY - the norms and values of society, which are enforced through consent . Reinforced through media products.
- ENCODING and DECODING - Refers to how the producer of the text 'puts in' (encodes) an ideology in to a text, using MEDIA LANGUAGE
Let's pick a representation question. Remember, all the past paper questions can be found on the blog.
Explore the different representations of either men or age within your three main texts.
Given the texts we have looked at, let's go for 'men'. However, we could certainly look at the representation of 'age' (Youth in The Selfish Giant, older and younger women (Madeline and Lucia) Spectre, and the elderly women in Mad Max 4).
In order to get an 'A', you will definitely need an argument. Here's an example of a clear, straightforward yet sophisticated argument related to the representation of men:
Argument - In my chosen texts, men are represented in a variety of complex ways. In some cases, the representation of men reinforces stereotypical beliefs of patriarchal hegemony, but in some cases, most notably Mad Max: Fury Road, the representation of men intentionally subverts these values.
And finally, let's pick a scene. Spectre is dominated with images and themes of hegemonic masculinity, so any scene would do, but the very first bit of the train fight scene between Bond and Hinx will be perfect. The following suggestions were all made by students in the revision class.
Text - Spectre - Key scene - the train fight
- Group being represented - Men are represented as being stereotypically hypermasculine and powerful. Additionally, British men are represented as more powerful and sexually desirable than 'foreign' men.
- Technical elements that construct this representation - use of fast paced editing and use of jump cuts creates suspense and confusion
- Madeline lacks screen time, taking up only a tiny fraction of shots
- MS of Maddy lying on ground, performance closed eyes
- MES of the broken glass has connotations of fragility, emphasising the ideology of the producer, and reinforcing patriarchal hegemony
- Message encoded about the group. A binary opposition is formed between her and Bond. An action code, reinforcing her status as princess.
- Hinx - extremely powerful, stereotypically ugly, his size emphasised through the consistent use of comparative mid shots, and the connotations of his bulging, tight suit. This also emphasises his foreign qualities, encoding his status as a villain. This presents the producer's ideology, that foreign men are less desirable than British men.
- Impact on target audience - target audience for this film is white, middle class heterosexual men aged 30 - 50. Consistently men are represented as the dominant gender. For the white heterosexual male target audience, this further reinforces the ideological perspective of a patriarchal hegemonic society.
SOPHISTICATED PHRASING
Sophisticated language does not just mean cramming in a load of big words and feeling smug. In series ten of Friends, Chandler and Monica ask Joey to write a reference to show they are suitable to adopt a child. Predictably, this happens:
Monica: It doesn't make any sense.
Joey: Of course it does. It's smart! I used a thesaurus!
Chandler: On every word?
Joey: Yep.
Monica: All right, what was this sentance, originally?
Joey: Oh. "They're warm, nice people with big hearts."
Chandler: And that became, "They're humid, pre-possessing homosapiens with full-sized aortic pumps?"
The issue here is that Joey has assumed that every word with the same definition can be used interchangeably. This is of course wrong, for reasons we'll skip for now (but if you want to look in to it, check out David Chandler's excellent Semiotics for Beginners and jump down the rabbit hole of language!). However, Joey was right in the sense that certain words hold more power than other words.
Consistently men are represented as the dominant gender. For the white heterosexual male target audience, this further reinforces the ideological perspective of a patriarchal hegemonic society.
There's nothing actually particularly complicated about this sentence. If you said to a non-media student that men are more powerful than women in Bond films, and the director wants the audience to agree that men are in charge, they would probably think it was pretty obvious. The sophistication here comes through the correct use of key media terminology. Every media student can write a sentence like this. For most of you it's going to require a bit of practice. So make sure you complete a range of past paper questions, and give them to your teacher for feedback!