Woman magazine: initial response and analysing the front cover

 For this session, you will be getting to grips with Woman Magazine, a UK women's lifestyle magazine published weekly for the best part of a century now. The edition we are exploring is from August 1964. Even just reading these basic facts will probably allow you to guess the main argument we'll be making in lessons:

The representation of women has changed significantly in the almost 60 years since this edition was published

Task one - familiarise yourself with the magazine

You can find the pages of Woman we have to study by clicking here. 

Look through it. You don't need to read every word. Briefly answer the following questions in your notes, using SPECIFIC EXAMPLES TO BACK THEM UP. Yes, I know that Woman magazine is targeting women. But how do you know? And what demographic of women?

• Who is the VERY SPECIFIC target audience for this magazine? How do you know?
• What stereotypical representations can you find?
• Who is not represented or is underrepresented in this magazine?
• What genre is this magazine? Is it typical of it's genre?
• What examples of lexis in this magazine may strike you as interesting, or strange?
• What message is the producer of this magazine presenting to its audience?
• Why might a woman in 1964 actually read this magazine?
• What messages about woman are presented in this magazine?
• How might a woman react to this magazine in 1964? How might a woman react to this magazine in 2023?
• How could this magazine be appealing to audiences?
• What uses and gratifications does it provide to it's audience?

Task two - analysis of the front cover

The front cover is the most important page of a magazine. It sits on a shelf in the newsagent and it screams BUY ME! But it doesn't scream to everyone. For example, Woman magazine is not 'talking' to a male audience. 

This process is called modes of address, because the magazine uses very specific elements of media language to address or talk to its target audience. 

Media language is everything on the toolkit. Shot type, camera angle, colour, mise-en-scene, lexis.... all of this is media language. And it CONSTRUCTS MEANING.

This is the front cover of Woman. Know it well. You WILL be talking about it in the final exam!

How does the front cover of Woman magazine make meaning and address it's audience? Make reference to: 

• Codes and conventions – changes over time? 
• 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

Here are a couple of more leading questions if you are feeling uninspired:

What does the purple background symbolise? 

How old is the model? Why is this important?

How can we describe the mise-en-scene of her facial expression?

Why has the producer chosen this particular font for the masthead?

What assumptions does the lexis of the coverlines (coverlines are headlines but on a maazine!!!!) make?

If you do not make notes, this information is lost, forever! Please don't waste your precious time!

A textual analysis of Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation season 2 episode 1: 'Pawnee Zoo'

Representation - what groups are represented, how are they represented, and why?

Gay people 

Positively and stereotypically. Confident, loud, and motivated by partying. In The Bulge , a tightly packed group of gay men excitedly chant Leslie's name, which constructs gay men as over enthusiastic, loud, proud and confident. Exclusively gay men. Use of Lady Gaga as a gay icon reinforces stereotypical representations of gay men. However, this episode arguably perpetuates a simplistic and straightforward stereotype of gay men, which can cause issues for gay men in real life, as it constructs an idea, standard, and stereotype. Gay men in this episode are an accessory and a function rather than being a fully fleshed character attribute. The gay best friend stereotype. Thingy is represented as feminine for the purposes of comedy, which also represents stereotypes surrounding gay people

Middle-aged women 

Awkward and cringy. This also reinforces a stereotypical representation of middle aged women. Lacks knowledge on current life, on LGBT+ lifestyles, is clueless, ditzy, scatty, and barely competent.

Young people 

[The homeless] - creepy, stalker-y, but also, really funny. Homelessness is a joke in this narrative. The MES of the pit in his former garden is a ridiculously over the top aspect MES. The serious issue of homelessness is so unrelatable to working class audiences that it is treated as straightforward.

Media language - close textual analysis

Genre - what genre is this show and what are the conventions that make it?

Genre - comedy

Subgenres and styles - situation comedy, mockumentary

Conventions of the mocumentary -  handheld camera, single camera setup, long take, shakeycam, low production values 

This Country, Modern Family, The Office, Brooklyn 99 (borderline!), Trailer Park Boys, Always Sunny

Generic fluidity - how genres change over time. Genres will evolve to appeal to the tastes of the public

Comedy elements - foolish characters for the audience to identify with, fast paced punchy editing, the use of reaction shots, use of song, dance and movement, use of colour constructing a positive atmosphere

Audience - how does this product appeal to multiple audiences?

Uses and gratifications -the ways in which audiences use and take pleasure from a media product

Uses and pleasures of Parks and Rec - themes of the show provide escapism for the target audiences. The characters provide an escapist fantasy, through being relatable. They make mistakes, but then they solve them by the end of the episode. This is in stark opposition to real life, where being threatened with forced resignation and having to go on local news to defend your job would of course be highly stressful and upsetting.

Subverting representations of women - Julie

Les Revenants = 'the returned'

In the exam, Les Revenants will be referred to as The Returned. But we refer to it as Les Revenants.

Why?

• It’s more authentic and more academic
• It sounds more sophisticated 
• The Returned is a wildly unpopular American remake of Les Revenants. The less we talk about this, the better

Recap

Last time we explored the representation of teenage girls. The French for ‘orgasm’ is ‘le petit mort’, which is a reference to the fact that every time we make love, we are one step closer to death . Life and death is the ultimate binary opposition, and is a fascinating and philosophical contradiction. This difficult and problematic binary opposition presents teenage girls as rebellious, irrational. To be a teenager is exciting, scary, and terrifying. 

What other groups are represented in Les Revs?

• Mothers (Claire)
• Middle aged women (Claire)
• Middle aged men (Camille’s dad)
• Teenage boys (hat guy)
• Young children - Victor
• Parents - The Suerats 
• Elderly people - Mr Costa 
• Women - Julie

What Makes Le Revs 'French'

This is a bit weird to try and say, but Les Revs is really really French. It presents a stereotypical French mode of address for a French audience. This is highly similar to how Humans uses stereotypically British characters, dialogue and settings to appeal to a British audience, and how Real Humans uses Swedish stereotypes to engage a Swedish audience. But what makes Les Revs 'French'?

• French Setting 
• Set in the French Alps, a setting that would only be relevant to French audiences 
• In French
• Dark, dismal moody setting 
• Themes: death, depression, philosophy 
• Stereotypically French actors 
• Architecture: the Seurat family’s house has an Alpine feel

Explore how the TV shows you have studied construct representations of gender. Make reference to Humans and Les Revenants in your response

Gender performativity - Judith Butler - gender is a social construct, and the way in which we perform gender constructs the world around us

Stuart Hall - theories of representation: stereotypes and their function

Liesbet van Zoonen  - representation of women - women in media products have a completely different function to men, often for pure sex appeal

Introducing Julie - how is Julie’s representation constructed through media language?

• Establishing shot of Julies flat shows that she lives in social housing, and is therefore working class
• The setting of Julie’s flat is run down and empty. 
• The use of low key lighting constructs ideologies of loneliness and isolation
• This is further anchored through the cluttered, messy mise en scene of her apartment, which is typified by stacks pf books, magazines, and other objects
• The cluttered nature of the apartment represents Julie as disorganised and untidy, which is a highly unconventional representation of women
• The MES of books also functions as a symbolic code for Julie being an intellectual character
• Julie’s costume is baggy, casual and understated. Dressed in dark colours she is rather atypical in her representation.
• Julie, through her hair and costume and lack of makeup, is not coded as being  hegemonically attractive
• Julie is watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an intertextual reference to a notoriously violent slasher film. This constructs Julie as being edgy, fearless, and different from stereotypical women 
• Julie is a highly complicated representation of women! While her representation is highly relatable and even ‘realistic’, it is not a commonly seen representation in commercial TV
• External establishing long shot of a gritty, concrete apartment block. This has a symbolic connotation, connotations of crime, danger, violence. Julie clearly is a rough and dangerous 
• Julie is stereotypically working class. She lives in a social housing block, which forms a stark binary opposition to the Seurat family 
• The Mise en scene of the set design of Julie’s apartment is lit through low key lighting , and her apartment is littered with stacks of books . This symbolically encodes that julie is educated, and messy
• Julie’s costume comprises of a baggy jumper and baggy jeans, and has connotations of comfiness and relaxation. 
• Despite her costume being highly realtle to the target audience, it is in fact a subversive representation of women . It completely contrasts with Liesbet Van Zoonen’s theory that women in media products are presented purely for the purpose of sexualisation
• Julie is watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a violent slasher horror film that features the torture and torment of many female characters. Julie’s bored reaction to this extremely violent film constructs a highly atypical representation. Not only does Julie not subscribe to gender norms and genre norms are also broken

Julie and Victor come home 

• The non diegetic soundtrack is creepy, eerie, and highly typical of horror films
• This entire montage is highly conventional of the slasher genre
• Slow, POV MS of her face as she gets off the bus positions the audience with julie , and allows the audience to  to see things from Julie’s perspective
• MES of extreme low key lighting throughout these scene connotes mystery and loneliness 
• The light is yellow, dull, menacing and artificial, which has symbolic connotations of fear and misery
• This is further anchored through the completely empty, run down suburban setting, concrete blocks of flats and overgrown weeds is symbolic of crime and danger. This highly stereotypical mode of address will resonate with audiences 
• Julie’s performance is highly atypical. Rather than being scared of her isolation, she appears to be bored. Additionally, by not being attacked, julie breaks this stereotype of women being vulnerable 
• The character Julie presents a highly complex representation of women that demonstrates the ideological perspective of the producer. She is represented most effectively in the montage of scenes that introducts
• Victor is establishes through a series of highly isolating shots. A high angled extreme long shot of victor is presented from Julie’s perspective, which positions the audience with Julie. This action reinforces Julie’s caring persona, and the idea that she is secretly protective of those around her
• The low key used throughout this montage is highly stereotypical of the horror genre, which positions Julie is a dangerous and threatening situation. 
• The lighting is low key, and comes from a lonely bus the light from the bus shelter. This artificial light take s on a sickly yellow quality, which gives the light a cheap, nasty, and threatening quality. This reinforces the stereotypical danger than Julie faces
• Julie’s actions reinforce however that she is clearly unafraid of this situation. This constructs a highly atypical representation of women for the target audience. This confusing and atypical subversion of genre expectations may make the target audience feel uncomfortable and even creeped out. Why is isn’t Julie more scared, and why isn't she behaving like women stereotypically would in this situation???
• However, the soundtrack, which combines a thrumming bass noise with eerie sound effects, which is highly typical of the horror genre. Additionally, the iconography of a creepy child all by himself 

Demonising the working class for a working class audience

Click here to read the article as it was published in the Mirror's online edition before reading any further

Back to basics: the four types of media question

Industry - how a media product makes money 

Representation - how a group is re-presented by the producer to demonstrate their ideology

Audience - how the audience uses or interacts with a media product

Media language - how shot types, camera angles, MES etc make meaning for the audience

Representation

Which group is being represented in this article?

Working class people, specifically lower working class, the struggling working class. 

Who is the target audience for this article?

The target audience for the Daily Mirror is working class people, and it targets a left wing audience through it's political bias. 

What ideological perspective about this group is being constructed for the target audience? How?

That this family are unlikable, lazy, and bad with money. Therefore, it's their fault that they're poor. This ideological perspective is reinforced through the selection of images and the anchorage of MES

• Setting of a car boot sale is a sterotypically a working class environment, which has connotations of poverty and finacnial desperation
• The mother is wearing a handbag, which may suggest that far from being actually poor, she is spending money on hereself. This reinforces the narrative of the article. 
• Additionally, she is wearing the bag round the front, which functions as a proairetic code, suggesting that she is showing off her wealth 
• However, a polysemic interpretation is that the mother is vulnerable, and that she is taking care and control of her money, looking after it by keeping it in plain sight
• The man is wearing an Adidas tracksuit, which is a potentially expesive tracksuit. Once more the inclusion of this image constructs a representation of a family that have made poor finacial descisions
• The MES of the objects of the table further connote wealth. This includes a sterero, a keyboard, football shoes, and protien powder. However, the fact thayt they are selling these things constructs a narrative where the family have realised that these are not necesities, and must do things to make ends meet
• The family are clean, and are wearing nice clothes
• The Addidas trancksuit suggests stereotypical connotations of a working class lifestyle, involving council houses, being bad with money, and even crime
• Sterotypes are a widely held belief about a certain group of people, and they must be reinforced by being repeated multiple times in multiple situatuins
• The MES of the man's balding head and severe features further reinforces his status as a stereoypical working class person
• The MES of the cigarette in the woman's hand yet again further reinforces a stereotype that the working class are uncultured and bad with moeny
• The families car is small, modest and non-descript, which could be connotative of poverty

This entire article takes a highly voyeuristic mode of address which positions the audience in a judgemental position. 

Regulatory issues

• IPSO are the regulatory organisation for UK newspapers
• The Daily Mirror is owned by Reach PLC, a horizontally integrated distributor of hundreds of UK newspapers 
• However, despite being factually incorrect to a level that legally means that the newspaper has to apologise for it, the story is still being hosted, for financial reasons.

Why does the Daily Mirror encourage hatred of working class people?

• If the working class hate other working class people, does it make them feel better about themselves? Yes potentially! But it also means that working class people are more likely to blame other working class people for their issues. However, it is the ruling class, i.e. the government, the rich and those in power who actually cause widespread societal issues. If working class people are blaming the working class, then they are not blaming the people in power for their issues.

Does the Daily Mirror force the working class to fight against each other rather than facing their own issues? Does it reinforce hegemony?

• Marxist ideology - there are two types of people: the working class, and the ruling class. Everything in our society is based on the domination of the working class by the ruling class. 
• George Gerbner: cultivation theory
• Intertextuality: where one media product makes reference to another media product

Considering the representation of Camille and Lena

In what ways is age represented in the TV shows that you have studied?

In what ways does this scene construct an uncomfortable mode of address, and what message does this construct about teenage girls?

Les Revenants uses fantasy and horror conventions to emphasise and to allegorically draw attention to the issues that young women may face

Representation refers to how something is re-presented by the producer of a media product using media language to reflect their own ideology. Therefore, when a producer choses to re-present middle class teenage girls, they are not strictly re-creating reality, but instead are reinforcing and re-presenting certain ideologies about teenage girls. This process is extremely complicated, and must be analysed in detail. 

Representations construct reality. They reinforce and communicate to audiences what something ‘should’ look like, or how someone ‘should’ behave’. 

One way in which teenage girls is represented in Les Revenants is through the deliberately uncomfortable and potentially problematic final sex/death scene. 

• A close up birds eye view shot is shown for an extended period of time, deliberately positioning the audience not as a casual observer, but in the bedroom, right next to the couple as they have sex. This uncomfortable mode of address is anchored through the lack of musical/non-diegetic soundtrack, forcing the audience to confront the sounds of the couple. This is further emphasised through the characters whispering loudly, again positioning the target audience in an intrusive and intimate mode of address. Finally, this is yet further anchored through the deeply off-putting dialogue from Lena, as she discusses her resemblance to her twin sister during sex. 
• Awkward performance
• The MES of the hat...

What message about teenagers is being constructed through media language in this scene?

While the scene is highly uncomfortable and highly atypical in terms of how it represents sex, it arguably represents teenagers in a stereotypical way. Lena is represented as being rebellious and independent. We are positioned with her rather than her lover in this scene, which is highly relatable to the secondary teenage female audience. It reinforces a not often seen stereotype that sex is often awkward, especially if it's for the first time. 

However, it also reinforces a further ideological perspective, that sex is dangerous as has hidden implications. Throughout this scene, we cross cut from the Sexually active, rebellious Lena to the stereotypically innocent Camille. 

In cross cutting between this two highly dichotomous scenes, a binary opposition in constructed between life and death. Sex is typically symbolic of reproduction, as in creating new life. However, this scene presents an ironic symbolic code, where sex instead is symbolic of death. A symbolic bond is constructed between these two sisters which constructs a highly confusing and upsetting mode of address for the target audience, which reinforces a stereotypical representation of the confusion and upsetting nature of being a teenager

How does this scene position it’s audiences? What is the intended response? 

• The sex scene positions the audience in a deeply uncomfortable mode of address. This is constructed through a variety of different ways:
• The apparent age of the characters is very young. Lena (the character) is 14 years old, which may mean that some audiences may feel uncomfortable by this. 
• The use of close up BEV shots position the audience literally on top of the young couple as they have sex, which again is a deliberately uncomfortable mode of address
• A highly voyeuristic mode of address, where the audience are essentially seeing something that they shouldn’t see
• The MES of the duvet completely obscures the audiences vision, and heightens the voyeuristic mode of address. Additionally the performance is very innocent, awkward and naïve 
• Lena makes explicit reference to her own sister in bed, which is highly innapropriate, and a little creepy
• The pleonastic sound of the characters whispering construct a deeply voyeuristic, intimate and off putting mode of address for the target audience. 
• Ultimately this sex scene is potentially relatable for teenage audiences, who may be going through similar things
• Lena loses her virginity in this scene. To loose one’s virginity is symbolic of losing one’s innocence, and in this scene, this is symbolically occurring with both Lena and Camille.
• Le petit mort - the little death. This oxymoronic term is confusing considering one ‘function’ of sex is to create life. It could refer to the death of one’s childhood and innocence, and the vulnerability that one has in such in a situation. 
• However, Camille, experiencing what her sister experiences, has a violent panic attack in confusion, and ultimately this Camille and all her friends. 
• This scene makes a profound and symbolic comment on what it is like to be a teenager. It is uncomfortable, strange, awkward, scary, terrifying and confusing 

An analysis of the Daily Mirror set edition double page spread

This article has been compiled from the responses of three separate classes, and therefore contains some repetition. Repeat, revise, remember!

Headline, centre spread image etc

• Front line workers are constructed through the MES of the hospital setting and the MES of surgical masks. These elements of media language construct the enormous pressure that frontline workers are under, and constructs a message that frontline workers are heroic and hard working
• However, a binary opposition is constructed between the heroic frontline workers and Boris Johnson. Johnson is pictured with the MES of a glass of prosecco in his hands, which has connotations of wealth, fun, and relaxation. This damning representation is further anchored through the lack of MES of a mask, the MES of his suit and his smug facial expression
• The lexis of the headline reinforces an ideology that Boris Johnson does not care about Britain or frontline workers. The word ‘shame’ in particular has connotations of not caring, but it also accuses Johnson of being guilty of something, in this case a potentially serious crime 
• This story would resonate with nurses and other medical professionals, as well as the general public, who would be aware of viral campaigns by NHS workers discussing the pain and discomfort of wearing masks for long shifts 
• Caption: rule breaking Boris Johnson took us for fools’. Caption reinforces the ideology that Johnson has fooled the public. The use of the term ‘us’ is more intimate, and it allows the audience to identify not only as those being exploited, but also it reinforces the ideology that the Mirror is ‘one of us’ 
• A binary opposition is formed between the picture of Johnson and the picture of the NHS workers. 
• The Mis en scene of Johnson’s alcoholic beverage as connotations of wealth and status. Champagne is a stereotypically wealthy drink, and it has symbolic connotations of celebration
• However, immediately to the left of this picture, the surgical setting and the MES of surgical masks and eye shield has connotations of suffering, death and danger. Clealry, these two images are a strong contradiction
• The facemasks present a highly relatable mode of address to the target audience, as the vast majority of the audience would have experience of wearing a a facemask. 
• However, Johnson is not wearing a mask, which could be symbolic of carelessness, superiority and a sense of social hierarchy. Johnson is wearing a suit, which is symbolic of superiority. The tone of his shirt is similar to that of the key workers, yet they are clearly from different parts of society. The use of a mis shot here does not create intimacy, but instead positions him too close to the audience, indicating that he is not ‘social distancing’ 
• Lexis: ‘man’ connotes that Johnson is a human like anyone else, and it is highly hypocritical that he is getting special treatment. ‘Man’ here suggests he is a man like any other, and should bare responsibility for his crime.
• Man with no shame is a (weak) pun, and symbolically encodes that johnsons crimes are a joke and ridiculous. The word ‘shame’ clearly has significant negative connotation. The shadows on his face, along with his smug and sarcastic facial expression even have connotations of villainy and ‘evil’
• Lexis of headline, in particular the word ‘shame’ has connotations of a negative nature. It heavily insinuates that Boris Jophnson is guilty of something
• The layout is busy and exciting with a big emphaiss of the colour blue. This has connotations of cold, death, misery and a hospital setting
• The mise en scene of Johnson’s cheeky smirk forms a symbolic code of villainy and guilt. This is confirmed and anchored through the lexis of the enormous word ‘shame’ hanging above his head. This combination of media language confirms a negative perspective of Johnson. 
• The caption immediately beneath Johnson reinforces the ideological perspective that Johnson’s presence is negative. “rule- breaker”, which clearly demonstrates the newspaper’s opinion
• The MES of the champagne flute has symbolic connotations, parties, wealth, and celebration. It’s presence forms a powerful binary opposition with the hospital setting immediately to the left, where the MES of machinery, the chaotic arrangement of people, and the MES of surgical masks all construct a stressful and exhausting mode of address
• The chaotic and frantic nature of the hospital scene positions us in an up close and personal mode of address
• An unflattering image of Johnson holding a champagne flute is selected, which constructs a highly biased representation of the former PM. By constructing him almost as a Bind villain, the producer is making intertextual reference to James Bond films

Body text - Keir Starmer addresses Mirror readers

• The ‘dear mirror readers’ first sentence is in larger font, and is in italic, which has connotations of handwriting, and has the connotation of it being more personal and relatable to the target audience
• Use of emotive language, including lexis such as ‘missing funerals’ has the effect of remind the target audience of what they suffered. Sacrifices…
• An informal mode of address is adopted, which might be surprising given the status of ‘sir kier starmer’. He uses contractions such as i’ts’, and uses emotive speech, a direct mode of address, and the use of the word ‘we’ suggests a collective response that both we (the audience) and he (stramer) were involved in. His language heavily infers that we all (he included) were as affected as one another!
• Letter singed off as ‘yours, Kier Starmer’ 
• The mug shot of Starmer’s face leaning over and directly addressing the audience has connotations aof a friendly pub like setting, where he is enjoying a pint with us. His lack of tie has connotations of infomrality, which allow the audience to relate to him more effectively
• The colour red has connotations of love, affection, power, and is also the colour of the labour party, and therefore the colour of revolution
• Use f ‘the British people’ evokes patriotism, pride in Britain. The use of the lexis ‘we’ symbolically constructs a sense of togetherness, the country 
• Missing off the ‘sir’ is more informal, but makes him more relatable
• The italic (comic sans?) font has connotations of handwriting, constructing an informal mode of address
• Starmer’s mugshot seems candid, caught off guard, and relatable for the target audience. He is slouched, and directly addressing the audience in an informal and welcoming way. 
• By referring to the audience’s intelligence, he is flattering the audience, and the use of the term sacrifice infers that the target audience have followed the rules. this is highly emotive language, and infers that the entire audience (and British public) are all in this together
• Italic, serif font of ‘Dear Mirror Readers has connotations of being handwritten. This clearly presents a relatable mode of address to the target audience of working class labour voters. 
• Starmer’s serious facial expression is further anchored through his relaxed yet firm body language,that positions us in a serious, yet friendly mode of address. His lack of tie is symbolic of his casual laid back nature
• Use of definite language constructs a mode of address which is clear and precise to the target audience. The use of language is appropriate to an audience with little or no education.
• “He insulted your intelligence” suggests the target audience are intelligent, and presents a flattering mode of address
• The word ‘sacrafice’ is highly emotive, and constructs a sense of unity and togetherness

Editorial: voice of the Daily Mirror

• Lexis ‘voice of the’ suggests that this newspaper is a spokesperson for ‘the people’ the general public, which heavily infers a sense of consent from the general public. If we disagree with the ideology of the daily mirror, then we are clearly on the same level as Johnson, the ‘villain’ of this narrative
• The use of patriotic language ‘our great nation positions the audience as British and proud and powerful. However, Boris Johnson is represented as an other, as different, and as destructive to the British way of life
• The word stain has connotations of being messy, disgusting, corrupt, and hard to get out. This reinforces the ideological perspective that essentially Boris Johnson is less than human. He is a traitor to our country. Clearly the Mirror does not say this explicitly, but it heavily infers this
• The lexis ‘charlatan’ is an old fashioned word with connotations of being upper class and well spoken, which presents an authentic and compelling mode of address
• Patriotic mode of address is constructed through the lexis ‘our great nation’ that positions the working class target audience as British, proud, and patriotic
• The symbolic connotations of the word stain include being dirty, and less than human. This is an aggressive and insulting mode of address

Political cartoon

• A satirical joke is one that criticises stupidity of those in power 
• Political cartoon humorously infers than Johnson is actually worse than Putin. Satirical comedy is often very harsh, and draws attention to public figures and political figure’s idiocy 
• The joke is heavy handed, and clearly argues that Boris Johnson is worse than Vladimir Putin!

Les Revenants initial discussion

The following notes were pulled from two different classes as a starter activity. As ever, if there's repetition, this means it's a good point worth making twice!

• The link between Lena and Camille is bizarre! Camille essentially crashes a bus killing everybody because her sister has an orgasm 
• Les Revs is an extremely unconventional show!
• But what genre is Les Revs? A drama? A zombie horror??? Is Camille a Zombie?
• Use of soundtrack: eerie soundtrack 
• A highly confusing narrative featuring a range of different characters. A flexi narrative or multi strand narrative
• A deliberately confusing narrative that forces us to engage with the topic of death 
• An extremely confusing use of time and space deliberately positions the target audience in a confusing mode of address, and will lead to confusion as to the relationship between Lena and Camille (actually twin sisters!)
• The use of long takes: continuous shots with no editing create a deliberately slow and awkward pace
• The narrative is highly unorthodox. There is not traditional typical build up to the bus crashing off the cliff, and this is potentially very unsatisfying to the target audience
• The final sex scene takes place between two 15 year olds having sex, which is below the age of consent in the UK. However, this scene clearly does not breach any UK guidelines, beyond offending certain audiences. This scene clearly reflects the differences in values between France and The UK
• The aesthetic: very dark, very gloomy 
• The show is set not in Paris or a major city as the audience might expect , but instead in the French ALPS, deep in the countryside
• Metaphysical: something beyond the physical realm and our understanding
• The concept of death itself is broken in this TV show, which constructs a highly confusing mode of address for the target audience
• Les revenants is a mysterious show. It makes extensive use of hermeneutic codes to position the audience in an inquisitive 
• The entire show is completely predicated on hermeneutic codes. It is reliant on them to an extreme degree, as many of the mysteries never get resolved?
• For example: 
• how did Camille come back to life?
• Why is it so jarring? This isn’t normal?
• How isn’t Camille eating anyone’s brains
• What are our expectations of this show? Because it is targeting a niche audience, it is very likely that audiences that stumble across this show rather than seeing advertising for it for example. 
• Audiences may choose to watch this show because of the music, which was composed by a band called Mogwai, an instrumental rock band from Glasgow. But why did they do the soundtrack? It acts as a unique selling point, and allows the show to target a pre-sold audience. Their music is also loud and mysterious, which suits the theme and the aesthetic of the show 
• It’s very creepy! The central theme is quite horrifying! Camille coming back from the dead, not as a zombie but as an identical girl to how she died is extremely unsettling to the audience. It completely subverts our expectations of the zombie genre, as none of the zombies/les revenants seem to be in any way aware of what’s going on, which is highly creepy, in a far more subtle way
• Deeply confusing narrative can be completely off putting to the audience, leaving them confused, overwhelmed, and even bored 
• The narrative is actually extremely straightforward, and for much of the episode, characters act in an off putting and emotionless way, which can be pretty distancing for certain audiences 
• A focus on ‘normal’ and relatable people. There is no struggle for life, there is no barricading in a house. In fact, ‘normal’ and relatable things happen, such as having sex, picking up guys, trying to find a house, and grieving over the death of a daughter. 
• However, there are two moments of shocking violence in this episode, including a scene where Mr Costa ties up and burns alive Mme costa, the bridge suicide, and the waitress being stabbed to death in the underpass. 
• Les Revenants is highly atypical in every conceivable way

UK newspapers: how representations reconstruct reality

Introduction: the sticky relationship between UK newspapers and UK political parties

As you leaned in the last session (and if you didn't do the last lesson, click here to do it now!), UK newspapers are EXTREMELY biased. This is for a number of reasons:

1 - Demonstrating a clear and biased political ideology allows the newspaper to target audience members who share the same ideology

So The Guardian is broadly a centrist newspaper. Not too left, not too right. Audience members who have a similar political ideology will feel right at home with this kind of newspaper. And a clear audience allows the newspaper to minimise risk and maximise profit!

2 -  Demonstrating a clear and biased political ideology allows the newspaper to manipulate the ideology of the target audience

This one is a bit trickier. As we saw with George Gerbner's cultivation theory,. audience members are not just sheep. But, if they see the same thing over and over and over again, the audience may agree with this ideology! So, if the newspaper tells the audience over and over again that there is mass immigration in this country, and we are running out of space, then they are more likely to believe this, and therefore buy the newspaper that tells them this 

3 - Demonstrating a clear and biased political ideology allows the newspaper to manipulate who the audience will vote for

This is closely related to the last point, and it works along the same principal. If a 'Labour Voter' feels at home reading the Daily Mirror, then they are more likely to buy it. And if a Conservative voter feels more at home with the Daily Mail, then they are more likely to buy this one. 

Additionally, if a newspaper sides with a particular political party, then the newspaper themselves gets certain benefits and privileges. For example, access to exclusive interviews, articles, editorial byline and 'off the record' gossip.

This might seem like a wild conspiracy theory, but the relationship between the UK media industry and politicians is well documented. An excellent example is former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, who started his career writing for The Times, The Telegraph and The Spectator, where he wrote often politically incorrect articles about ethnic minorities. He then became a conservative MP, arguably utilising the same ideological perspectives he previously 'sowed' (see Gerbner) to garner public support.

You can check out this Wikipedia page and the pages it links to for more information. It's surprising what information is sitting out there in the open!

Constructing reality

Nothing in a media product is 'real'. It is a representation. This means a 're-presentation' of pre-existing concepts by the producer. So, if for example you see 'an old white man' in a music video, this person doesn't exist. However, the producer has chosen (casted) an actor, and has used shot types, camera angles, editing, colour grading, soundtrack and so on to 're-present' this old white man, according to their own ideology. 

Basically, this makes whoever makes media products extremely powerful, because the producer gets to argue what is 'really real'.

Task 1 - How is Boris Johnson represented in both the front page of the Daily Mirror and the front page of The Times set editions?

Access the front pages by clicking on this link and then pasting them in to your blog post.

Now answer these questions, first for the Mirror, then for the Times. Yes, this is a little repetitive! That's the point!: 

• Who is Boris Johnson? What groups does he represent? I'll get you started: he is white, he is middle aged... 
• How is the representation of Boris Johnson constructed through media language? You can and should run through the following points for both newspapers:

• Point of view and ideology 
• Codes and conventions of news products/newspapers/type of newspaper
• Layout and design 
• Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up
• Graphics, logos 
• Language – headline, sub-headings, captions
• Copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

• What elements of political bias are evident in both front pages? Remember, The Mirror generally favours a left wing/labour audience, but The Times generally favours a right wing, conservative audience... So what is going on here?

Exploring the representation of women in The Mail Online's 'sidebar of shame'

The 'sidebar of shame' is officially called the 'Don't Miss' bar, and can be found by scrolling down a bit on the main page and looking to the right.

I'm going to be frank with you: this next task makes me uncomfortable. But it's an important one. The Mail Online is the most read online English language news source in the world. It is absolutely massive. The Daily Mail (the newspaper) is a newspaper with a significant right wing ideology, that targets an older, right wing UK audience. The Mail Online targets a similar audience, but it targets a significantly larger female audience than many news sources. The Mail Online has a significant focus on gossip, which is generally crammed in to the 'don't miss' bar to the right of the website. This is sometimes refered to as 'the sidebar of shame' (obviously not by the paper!) for reasons which may become apparent as you read it!

Task 2 - Analyse the representation of women in The Mail Online 'don't miss' bar

Go to The Daily Mail website which can be found by Google searching for 'daily mail' (or save time by using the images below!)

Find the 'don't miss' bar (scroll down, two the right)

Find three stories on this bar featuring sexualised representations of women. This may sound like a subjective task, but you may quickly realise it's rather straightforward. Scroll down a bit to find stories and representations that you may find striking. 

Click on the story, and make screencaps. 

• What language is used to represent women? 
• What images are selected to represent women?
• What anchorage is constructed through the se of captions?
• Why are these images included?
• How do these images appeal to a heterosexual female target audience?
• What information is included about these women?
• Where have the images been sourced from?
• In what ways do these stories utilise stereotypes?
• What messages about women are constructed through the combination of images and copy (text)?
• What values and ideologies are reinforced through the representation of women in these stories?
• And (this is the most important question) why is the producer expressing these ideological perspectives?

Note: since a few students have mentioned that they are uncomfortable with accessing the Mail Online, and to save time for students who just wish to jump in to the analysis, I have included a range of highly selective and leading images found on The Mail Online on 01/12/22. You can use these to complete the questions above

Criticisms of tabloid newspapers

The Daily <ail presents it's audience with a highly compelling and clearly successful mix of highly sexualised representations of women in the public sphere, and often scandalous, high impact news stories from around the world. We will be investigating this mode of address on audiences as we progress through this unit, but in the meantime, check out this cartoon, published in UK adult comic Viz and made by Lee Healy and Barney Farmer.

Task 3 - Read this comic

This comic contains 'adult themes which may offend some audiences'. But then so does the Mail Online I guess. 

What are some criticisms of tabloid newspapers as raised by this comic?

Les Revenants: considering genre

Starting with the conclusion: Les Revenants is atypical

In this absolutely bizarre scene, Claire is absolutely terrified by her long dead daughter Camille seemingly returning from the grave. However, Camille to have no idea what has happened. This engrossing scene captures the appeal of Les Revenants, an arguably fascinating show that expertly blends expectations of genre with a highly confusing and involving family drama

By now you will have watched the first episode of the French TV thriller/horror/zombie/drama/tragic romance/surreal/whatever show Les Revenants (AKA The Returned). Les Revs is very very different from the other TV show we have studied (which is either Humans if you are taking the exam in 2023 or Black Mirror if you are taking the exam in 2024 and beyond. In fact, we can take a second right now to present a specific and straightforward argument that you will use in the final exam:

Les Revenants is highly atypical

or

Les Revenants is particularly subversive

or

Les Revenants is extremely unconventional

So if you found Les Revenants difficult, impenetrable, weird, confusing, subversive or just plain odd, then good! Your argument will be that this show clearly does things different. How and why are the questions we need to answer here.

Les Revenants is extremely unconventional in terms of generic conventions 

Most of the things we have looked at so far, with the exception of Adbusters have been extremely conventional in terms of genre. However, it is clear the Les Revenants is very unconventional in terms of genre. It doesn't really fit clearly in to one genre. 

Task 1: generic conventions

Below are a number of genres and subgenres that Les Revs could fit in to. This is all highly debatable. For each of these, make a list of conventional elements and unconventional elements. These should all be related to the textual analysis toolkit, for example shot types, camera angles and so on. Please use the episode itself as guidance for this task.

Genre: Horror

Subgenres: psychological horror, zombie, supernatural horror, folk horror

Genre: Drama

Subgenres: thriller, psychological thriller, soap opera, romantic tragedy, paranormal romance

Examples:

Psychological horror: themes of madness and confusion are encoded through the use of long takes, and through the isolated and nightmarish setting. Further examples include...

Psychological thriller: The use of over the top performances, particularly in the scene when Lena is reunited with Camille emphasise the intense psychological trauma experienced by the main characters. This is further anchored through...

Les Revenant is extremely unconventional in terms of narrative

Task 2 - what narrative techniques does Les Revenants utilise

Consider the following narrative techniques, and explain to what extent Les Revenants uses these elements. Remember to check the glossary (or just google) if there's anything you need a refresher on!

• Todorovian equilibrium
• Multi-strand/flexi-narratives
• Character arcs

Les Revenants is unconventional with it's cinematography

Let's tie together the elements of cinematography and narrative with editing. 

Task 3 - watch the scene where Camille comes home

This is the scene where Camille returns to the Seurat family household and meets with her mum. A very alienating, confusing, and potentially satisfying scene is played out, making full use of a variety of different elements of media language. But what does it mean? Why is Claire freaking out? Why is Camille so chilled? And how can we make sense of this scene?

Task 4 - watch this video 

And make notes on how the 'Camille comes home' scene creates meaning for the target audience.... whoever that may be! 

Negotiating Humans

The common consensus regarding 'the media' and how audiences are affected through media, is that media 'brainwashes' us. This idea is what we refer to as a passive model of audience interaction. When someone is passive, they go with the flow, and agree with whatever they are shown. However, in media studies, we generally argue that things are a lot more complicated than this. Stuart Hall's reception theory helps us to explore this idea. 

Stuart hall - reception theory

Reception theory refers to the many different ways that audiences can decode, or make sense of a message within a media product.

Every media product has an ideology, message of belief encoded in it by the producer. However, audiences can decode this meaning in many different ways. This process can be referred to as audience negotiation. In other words, a compromise is reached.

There are three broad ways to interpret a media product:

• The preferred reading - where the audience agrees with the ideology of the producer, and decodes the product in the way they 'should do' 
• The oppositional reading - where the audience disagrees with the ideology of the producer
• The negotiated reading -where the audience agree to some extent, but disagree with other elements of the producer's ideologies

Audiences can negotiate a media product in almost infinite ways. This can be mediated through the audience's

• Morals
• Personality 
• Social groups
• Social class (working class, middle class)
• Upbringing 
• Influence of others 
• Body type 
• Age
• Gender identity 
• Sexual preference
• Ethnicity 
• Race
• Religion 
• Level of education

Applying reception theory to the final montage sequence of Humans

The ending montage of humans constructs a highly inviting and highly polysemic mode of address to it's many target audiences, encouraging a range of wildly different negotiations

• East Asian audiences may have a complicated reaction to the character of Anita. these audieces may take exception to Anita's stereotypical representation as an emotionless sex slave, which frankly reinforces racist stereotypes that exist regarding East Asian women. However, Anita is the protagonist, and East Asian audiences may simultaniously take pleasure from seeing an East Asian Brit in the main role, as she increases visibility. 
• Themes of remembering may be both compelling and deeply stressful to older audiences, as it will bring up themes of dementia and aging
• Audiences who have grown in non-traditional household, for example without a mo0ther figure, may find the character Anita as compelling. Additionally, families who are unable to have children may find Anita's desire to have a child compelling and relatable
• Leo has lost Mia/Anita, and is desperate to find her, which calso could be a relatable situation for the audience
• Exclusive representation of heterosexal relationships may of course appeal to heterosexual audiences, but may also alioenbce gay audiences
• Gemma Chan's casting as Anita is clearly becuase she is a hegemonically attractive woman, and many audience memebers, will find her attractive
• The character of Mattie is encoded as hegemonically attractive, and may appeal to teenage audiences in particular. This idea of Mattie being a relatable character is anchored through the MES of her staring into her device in bed, which may connote inteleigence, seriousness, but also ecodes her as a stereotypical teenager. She represents teenage girls, and may appeal to a teenage secondary audience who would not engage with this show otherwise
• The man who visits the brothel is represented as a stereotypical working class man. His appearance is highly stereotypical, being a bald, hegemonically unattractive white man in a tracksuit, all of which reinforce a highly leading and stereotypical representation of working class men. His costume has connotations of blue collar manual work. Working class people may react negatively to this scene, and be angry at the use of stereotyping. However the middle class target audience may simply have their worldview reinforced
• The representation of the scientist is also potentially problematic. He is a stereotypically nerdy east Asian man, who is presented in this context to be as easily identifiable to audiences as possible. East Asian audiences may take offense at this straightforward and lazy stereotype. Even positive stereotypes can be problematic, and arguably even this apparently straightforward scene can be decoded as racist and highly alienating

Exploring the ideological implications of newspaper mastheads

The selection of font is suggestive of a middle class target audience. It is very fancy, and very serif, which has connotations of wealth and luxury. However, it also is heavily connotative of Germanic font, and clearly has significant historical allusions. This reference to established history anchor's the Daily Telegraph's perceived quality and status as an authority. The word 'telegraph' is a highly old fashioned word for communication, which suggests not only the authority and reliability of this established newspaper, it also makes clear the newspaper's traditional and conservative values

Conservative - straight laced, potentially wealthy, privileged, and highly resistant to change

Basic font, basic of colour, suggests a working class target audience. A basic audience? Red has connotations of sexual passion, bold, blood (!?), gossip and excitement. Use of the term 'star' has connotations of celebrity, and this reinforces the gossipy potential of the colour red. The font makes intertextual reference to comic book fonts. The basic, comic book font could suggest the reading age of the target audience is low, which makes this newspaper appealing to less educated working class adult audiences. 

Light blue background has connotations of innocence, fun and positivity. Blue and white are also the colours of the Israeli flag, a country that will be important to many British Jewish people. Simple and straightforward, which suggests a simple and straightforward subject matter. The use of the term 'Jewish' indicates a specific Jewish target audience. However, the sans serif font is bright and inclusive.

Mass media - media that is made available to the widest possible audience. Radio is an excellent example of mass media

A tabloid newspaper - A smaller format newspaper that traditionally has less writing, more images, simple lexis, use of slang, traditionally targets a working class audience. Cheaper.

Simplistic sans serif masthead connotes a simplistic and straightforward read. Sans serif is informal, and may appeal to slightly younger and less educated audiences. Takes an assumption the target audience are less educated. The masthead communicates that it is easily readable even to a less educated audience, which may make the audience feel included and intelligent. Italic font could infer fun, importance or simply make the masthead stand out. Bright, positive, fun connotations of the word 'sun'

Navy blue backdrop infers a more formal mode of address. Serif typeface anchors it's formal nature, and suggests a well respected news source. Dark blue has connotations of royalty and luxury. Potentially slightly younger target audience, and the font also infers a more modern perspective

Broadsheet - Traditionally a larger paper, with less focus on images and a more complex lexis, appeals to a highly educated middle class audience. Much more expensive.

Newspaper initial analysis

Barcode  - Used to scan the newspaper when purchasing. It is an optical, machine-readable, representation of data and contains information such as price

Body Text - Also known as copy. Written material that makes up the main part of an article

Byline - The line above the story, which gives the author’s name and sometimes their job and location

Caption - Brief text underneath an image describing the photograph or graphic

Centre Spread - A photograph, often in full colour, that runs across the middle two pages

Classified Ad - An advertisement that uses only text, as opposed to a display ad, which also incorporates graphics

Edition - Some newspapers print several of these every night, these are versions with some changes and maybe additional late stories

Folio - Top label for the whole page. Can relate to the area covered in the paper for example, National or a big news topic such as Social Media, Syria

Gutter - The blank space between margins of facing pages of a publication or the blank space between columns of text 

Headline - A phrase that summarises the main point of the article. Usually in large print and a different style to catch the attention of the reader

Lead Story - Main story, usually a splash

Main Image - Dominant picture, often filling much of the front cover

Masthead - Title of the newspaper displayed on the front page

Page furniture - Everything on a page except pictures or text of stories

Page Numbers - A system of organisation within the magazine. Helps the audience find what they want to read

Pull Quote - Something taken from within an article, usually said by the person in the main image

Skyline - An information panel on the front page that tells the reader about other stories in the paper to tempt them inside

Stand First - Block of text that introduces the story, normally in a different style to the body text and headline

Standalone - Picture story that can exist on its own or on a front page leading to a story inside

Target Audience - People who the newspaper aims to sell to