How significant is the role of individual producers in online media industries? Make reference to Zoella to support your argument [15]
Knee jerk
individual users extremely important for online media industries, and increasingly so as digital media becomes ever more covnvergent. However, while zoella presents herself as an amatuer internet user who is relatable to her fans, in actually she is part of a...
Plan
- Clay shirky!
- Opposite of industrially produced media
- Uses digitally convergent media
- Tanya Burr's lifestyle blog
- James Charles - loss of 2 million subscribers, scandals!!
- Merchandising
- My Little Pony/Assassins creed mashup - Henry Jenkins/Clay Shirky
- Amateur
- Zoella's book ghostwritten
- Clear examples of Zoella collaborating with producers
- Mistakes left in! Hyperreal construction of identity
- £50 advent calendar: hurt her brand
- Both vertically integrated and an example of multimedia integrated industry
- 11 million subscribers!
- Over 1 billion views!
- 50% of 15-24yo have watched a vlog in the last month: a young and digitally active audience
- - high levels of expendable income
- Second channel: provides target audience with a different brand identity
- Brand endorsement: significant number of blogposts are 'advertorials'
- Curran and Seaton: solely motivated by power and profit
- Paid wage by Youtube: £15,000 a month!! However, a vast majority of individual producers are paid absolutely nothing
- £4000 a month from ads on zoella.co.uk!!
- Motivated by a capitalist ideology, with a massive focus on commodity fetishism, consumerist ideology
To what extent do the representations in Attitude make claims about realism? [15]
- Gauntlett
- Start Hall
- Gerbner
Knee Jerk
While representations often make claims about reality, it is worth noting that representations can never be real, simply because they are a reflection of the ideology of the producer. However, the representation of a certain group will also affect not only the target audience of a media product, but also the people being represented.
1 - Who is being represented?
2 - How is this representation constructed?
3 - What message is presented to the target audience?
4 - How does this representation affect the group represented?
Attitude presents a hyperreal representation of gay, young men to their target audience of gay, young men. By making claims about reality, this raises many issues.
i - Gay people are represented as affluent and young
ii - Gay people are represented as being out, proud and confident
- One way in which the representations of gay men in Attitude make claims about realism is through the representation that gay men are out, proud and confident with their sexuality.
- For example, in the article "TARON EGERTON AND SIR ELTON JOHN TEAM UP FOR BRAND NEW SONG ‘(I’M GONNA) LOVE ME AGAIN’", Elton John is represented as a proud and confident gay icon.
- Flamboyant costume
- Direct mode of address
- Status as a celebrity
- Article creates a sweeping and stereotypical representation of gay men for the target gay audience. Hall considered stereotypes, which through constant repetition can cultivate a self-fulfilling prophecy. Additionally, over time stereotypes can change...
- 70's, homosexuality seen as mental health issue, now homosexuality more widely accepted
- However, there is a discrepancy between the representation and the reality. A hyperreal and perfect 'reality' is constructed for the target audience. Yet this is unlikely to be the reality for every audience member. The front cover of Attitude magazine takes a completely different perspective, and through it's confrontational lexis shines light on the significant problem of coung gay people being bullied at school. While there are more hard hitting articles on the website, the majority of content is focused on positive and normalised stories. The menu bar in particular offers the gay target audience an escapist fantasy, where they only need be interested in 'entertainment' , travel' and 'boys'.
iii - Gay people are represented as being particularly interested in style and fashion
iv - Gay people are represented as hypersexual, and only interested in a very singular and specific body type. Presents an unattainable beauty standard.
Why?
- Escapist fantasy for a marginalised and discriminated group
- Confidence through normalisation
- A sense of identity and a way of living your life