Go With The Flaw (2017) click here to see the advert
Unfortunately I can't come in today due to being run over. If you cycle, please wear a helmet! However, you can still prepare for your upcoming first year mock exam while my broken collar bone heals.
For this task, you'll be practicing Planning a response to an UNSEEN Text. Planning is very important in exams. You'll receive marks for your plan, and they'll help you to structure your answer.
First, click the above link, and watch the advert TWICE IN A ROW.
Next, on a new blog post, under the heading MEDIA LANGUAGE, please list the examples of media language that stick out for you. For example, shot types, editing, camera movement, costume, setting, mise-en-scene... everything on the TEXTUAL ANALYSIS TOOLKIT!
Below are some examples that Q block (your rivals) came up with. Feel free to capy and paste them in to your own post to get started.
Initial analysis: media language
- Close up shot: oranges being stuffed down a top
- C/U of woman's bottom in stereotypically dilapidated trailer setting
- Binary oppositions between high key and low lighting
- Flickering film distortion creates an eccentric mise en scene - edgy!
- C/U shot of girl's monobrow - stereotypically not attractive - subverts hegemonic rules regarding female attractiveness
- C/U shot of another model's bottom which reinforces the sexual objectification key to this advert
- L/A shot of dancing model: emphasises his power and dominance
- C/U model's face: cataract in left eye. Another obvious 'flaw', and a binary oppostion between the non-functioning eye and the skill involved in editing
- Iconography and aesthetic: clothing is edgy, subversive, revealing, emphasising both vulnerability and confidence
- Stylishly dirty...
- Fast paced, frenetic editing, messy and exciting
- Eding both conventional of adverts and music videos
- Male gaze: stereotypically attractive women, encoded through consistent closeups of naked flesh
- Gesture: disrespectful baring of teeth: binary oppostion between girl and authority
Next, watch the video a third time. What are the MESSAGES AND VALUES OF THE PRODUCER? What is this advert actually SAYING? What is it even SELLING? Remember what John Berger said about advertising : that it works by making the audience "dissatisfied with [their life]". What's the perfect lifestyle presented by this advert?
Make a list of messages that the advert presents. Two examples are:
Be yourself
Being different is cool
Finally, you're going to write a paragraph.
In media studies, we use PEA, or POINT, EVIDENCE, ARGUMENT. This paragraph will answer the question "how are ideological perspectives encoded in this advertisement?"
The POINT is a single sentence at the start of the paragraph. It needs to link to the question. In this case, it's best to link to an ideology.
The EVIDENCE always comes from MEDIA LANGUAGE. That's TEXTUAL ANALYSIS TOOLKIT language.
The ARGUMENT is a little more complicated. This is where you present a point of view, and discuss WHY the media product is presenting this ideology. For example you can argue this advert is constructed for financial reasons, to promote hegemonic norms, or simply to sell a luxurious and exciting lifestyle. You might argue that it uses blunt binary oppositions (Levi-Strauss), crude sexualisation (Van_Zoonen) or straightforward stereotypes (Hall) to manipulate the target audience.
Remember, there's no 'wrong' answer in media studies, only a badly argued one. If you have a strong point of view about how men and women's bodies are used to sell jeans, you need to get this across.
Again, Q block came up with a sample paragraph as a class. If in doubt, you can use this as a structure.
Sample paragraph
A significant ideological perspective presented by this advert is to accept one's flaws no matter what. One iconographic aspect that encodes this ideology is the leather jacket and revealing silver bra worn by the outlaw in the prison cell towards the end of the advert. The mise en scene of the leather jacket has clear symbolic connotations of dominance and rebellion. This is further reinforced by the silver bra, which demonstrates the ideological perspective that she is not going to hide her flaws. The intradiegetic male gaze of her cell mate anchors her hegemonic stereotypical attractiveness for the target audience. This excellent example of Van-Zoonen's assertion of the male gaze firmly confirms her presence within the advert as to be looked at by heterosexual men. This in turn confirms the ideology of the producer:that women's bodies are a spectacle for financial profit.
Ultimately, the Go With The Flaw advertising campaign sells the audience an elaborate and confrontational lifestyle if they buy Diesel jeans...