TV industry revision MEGAPOST

media language

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of semiotic approaches to television analysis. Refer to Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics and the set editions of Black Mirror and The Returned in your response. [30]

Knee jerk reaction - Barthes theory is generally extremely useful to the analysis of TV, though there are some alternatives that help analysis 

Barthes’s theory:  a deep dive

• Codes are aspects of a media product that create meaning

• For Barthes, everything is a code. Gesture, costume, narrative, queer…

• Barthe’s symphony of codes include

• Symbolic codes (a deeper meaning)

• Proairetic code (something is about to happen)

• Hermeneutic (mystery, ask question)

• Referential code (intertextual, references something else)

• Myths - a device used to impart a lesson. Help us to understand the world. Eg: the patriarchy, religion, marriage, the TV industry, beauty standards… etc…

Why is Barthes so important to the analysis of media?

Explains the way we perceive the world and how important media is in this 

His theory of codes is incorporated into many other theories. In works with binary oppositions, and forms the foundation of Neale's genre theory, postmodern theories of gender, and especially Stuart hHall’s theory of representation 

It is relatively straightforward, and can be used almost anywhere

Barthesean convention	Eg from San Junipero	Eg from Camille
Referential codes	The dress up montage utilises a stunning range of referential codes to not only appeal to the young, intertextually aware target audience, but also to distract from the upcoming plot twist. The first song selected is Girlfriend in a Coma by The Smiths. This tiny snippet of music was extremely expensive to licence, yet the symbolic function proairetically tips the target audience off for many upcoming events. Simply put, Yorkie IS the girlfriend in the coma. However, the rapid fire montage also refers to The Breakfast Club, the video for Addicted To Love and so on, constructing a rich intertextual tapestry, allowing the target audience to understand Yorkie's intentions and inner struggle	The sequence makes extensive use of classical horror archetypes in order to construct a series of important and exciting meanings for the audience. Firstly, Camille is a young girl, stereotypically cast as a terrifying threat in horror films. In Heredity, Poltergeist, The Shining, The Exorcist and many more, little girls function as terrifying symbolic codes, as they subvert stereotypical expectations of the role of young women in patriarchal society. Indeed, Camille subverts gender expectations through her practical costume and her incessant chatter
Symbolic codes	The costumes that Yorkie wears are symbolic of nostalgia and desire and aspiration. In particular the fetishistic black dress worn in the montage references the video to Brian Palmer’s Addicted to love. Yorkie here plays the role of a highly hegemonically attractive backing dancer, performatively utilising her gender in order to seduce Kelly. This helps us to understand Yorkie’s internal thoughts	The upper middle class, elegant, and performatively rich kitchen not only symbolises the wealth and status of the Seurat family, but it is also segregated into two sections through the MES of a stylish concrete pillar. This functions as a symbolic code, dividing both the characters and the diegetic realities that both of them exist in. Simply put, Camille should not be, a fact that is subtly stated through set design
Proairetic	The montage itself functions as a proairetic code, suggesting that Yorkie intends to impress Kelly. Yorkie’s motives are sexual, positioning the target audience as a gay woman. This surprising situation challenges hegemonic and heteronormative assumptions of sexuality, positioning the target audience in an exciting and interesting mode of address	The sequence uses proairetic codes in a variety of highly manipulative and ultimately misleading ways. Firstly, the extremely suspenseful soundtrack, composed by Scottish metal band Mogwai is highly atypical, situating the target audience in a highly unpleasant and anxiety producing mode of address. The editing anchors this sense of anxiety through a montage of CUs of Claire's face, positioning us with the middle aged, middle class French woman, and therefore in a position of vulnerability. However, our proairetic expectations are subverted when Camille launches into a disarmingly normal monologue about her day. The confusion for the audience is emphasised.

In San Junipero, the mirror is used as a symbolic motif for introspection and the consideration of the self. It also draws attention to the hyperreal, of an idealised projection of the self that can never live up to scrutiny. In the dress up montage, Yorkie rejects various intertextual simulations and instead assumes the role of ‘herself’. Yet, demonstrating the alarming complexity of the episode, the Yorkie we see in San Junipero is herself a simulation, a digital and idealised avatar of a long disabled and elderly woman… Here, Barthe’s notion of semiotic analysis, in combination with ideas of the postmodern, helps us to understand exactly how complex notions of identity and selfhood truly are!

While Barthes’s semiotic theory is extremely important in understanding Les Revenat’s often obtuse usage of the symbolic, it is through the binary opposition that we truly begin to understand this esoteric and complex narrative. Here, the symbolic code constructed through the MES of the dividing column constructs a visual dimatric opposition not only between mother and daughter, young and old, but also between different genre expectations. The emergence of Camille from the roadside, apparently ‘from the dead’ and the mother’s stultified, frightened reaction utilises the generic codes of the horror film.The panicked confusion contrasted with Camille’s nonchalant teenage boredom situates the audience in a highly confusing mode of address, where the traditional interpretations of the symbolic order no longer impart the meaning that they should do.

Representation

How useful are feminist theories for analysing the representations in The Returned and San Junipero? Refer to at least one of the following theories in your response:

• van Zoonen’s feminist theory

• bell hooks’ feminist theory [30]

Knee jerk reaction - due to both episodes being predicated on notions of the female experience, both of these theories are extremely useful 

Representations reconstruct reality 

Deep dives 

Van Zoonen’s feminism

• The role of women in media products

• Women function as spectacle for perceived heterosexual male audience

• Men and women are represented and reconstructed through media language 

• Heavily based on Roland Barthe’s theories of semiotics 

• Gender expectations have shifted over time. They are fluid

bell hooks’s feminism 

• Intersectionality: the idea that there are lots of different parts of our identity, not simply ‘male/female’

• Rejects gender binaries

• Some groups more vulnerable than others eg queer black disabled women 

• Experience of women will be different

• Feminism is political. We should challenge

• Feminism is for  everybody: toxic expectations of women also apply to men 

• Beyonce is a terrorist. Media images can cultivate manipulative ideologies, and can even damage audiences. 

	San Junipero	Camille
Women as spectacle for a male gaze	Yorkie is constructed as a spectacle for the male gaze in the opening montage, when she is approached by a stereotypically nerdy guy. His glasses, his intense fandom of arcade games and his timid, unconfident performance all construct him as such. Yorkie is constructed similarly, with glasses, non-gender conforming outfit (connoting awkwardness), and her performance as she excitedly plays the game. However, this example of a classic meet cute is subverted when Yorkie is triggered by the image of a violent car crash. This extremely complex representation of gender expectations positions the audience as Yorkie, an atypical positioning as Yorkie is a queer female protagonist.	The audience are positioned not as Simon in this sequence, but instead as the female characters. As Simon and Lena walk through the underpass, we are positioned as Lena, feeling frustrations as ASimon rudely rejects her advances. Furthermore, as Adele stands in her new build house admiring herself in her wedding dressing, we are positioned as her as Simon emotively bangs on the door. This positioning as two heterosexcual women and their relationship to a mysterious and hegemonically attractive man subverts traditional notions of the male gaze.
Gender is constructed through media language	THe deep focus tracking shot that follows Yorkie around the room constructs a binary opposition between the stereotypically awkward and distant Yorkie, and the integrated, excited, happy, and exclusively hegemonically attractive dancers. The club itself ios a hyperreal version of reality. Yet Yorkie clearly does not fit in to this perfect world, constructing a reality where Yorkie feels ostracised as she she lacks the hegemonic normative qualities of a woman	Adele’s reaction to her ex husband apparently coming back from the grave is conventional, even stereotypical. The CU of her face emphasises her distress, anchored through the ECU of the door handle being rapidly pulled. This intertextual reference to the horror film situates Adelle as apparently the emotional victim. Simon, conversely, is constructed as stereotypically masculine, the MES of his black suit anchored through the ECUs of his hegemonically dark and mysterious face. However, Simon simultaneously is subversive of this stereotypical assumption. Simon is hysterical, possessive, intense and hyperemotional, all subverting stereotypical assumptions of a hypermasculine man.
Gender roles and expectations	Both episodes explore themes of gender roles, in particular stereotypical and archetypal female roles that exist in media. For example, Yorkie dresses up as a range of different female archetypes from popular culture who have all functioned as spectacle for a hegemonic heterosexual male audience. Additionally, Les Revs uses classic slasher archetypes to situate women in a context of threat and danger against a powerful, aggressive and sexually coded male threat. Therefore, both shows use these stereotypical assumptions to subvert and challenge hegemonic, patriarchal expectations of women.

In the opening montage, as in the rest of the episode, Yorkie performatively demonstrates a complex and intersectional representation of female identity. By simply playing videogames and wearing glasses, she is constructed as a stereotypical ‘nerdy girl’ archetype, which in turn has a performative effect on our cocktail sipping nerd. However, Yorkie’s perceived performance here is complex and misleading. In actuality, this queer woman has no interest in this particular sphere, and her character is significantly more complex than a simple archetype, as she pursues a toxic, manipulative and ultimately fatal relationship with the obscure object of her desire. This is not only a perfect example of the potentiality for gender roles and values being shifted through modern media configurations, but also the vastness and complexity of the intersectional identity, that extends beyond simple value judgements. 

Les Revenants plays with gender expectations throughout the series. Simon resembles a dreamy fantasy from a paranormal romance narrative. With his sleepy eyes and grumpy attitude, he resembles Edward Cullen from the Twilight narrative. 

Industry

‘Television is a global industry.’ To what extent do Black Mirror and The Returned support this claim? [30]

Knee jerk reaction - Both TV shows very much support this claim, as both are clearly international productions that have been constructed, shaped and marketed to appeal to a global audience

• Hesmondhalgh - international productions minimise risk and maximise profit

• However fans may claim this makes TV shows too mainstream 

• San Jun - mainstream!

• Camille - niche 

• LES Revs - Debuted on More 4, a secondary channel targeting a more niche audience. 

• Les Revenants won an Emmy in 2013 - international critical recognition!

• Mogwai, a scottish postrock band scored both series of LR, targets niche, cult, global audience 

• Budget of approx 6 million dollars million for San Junipero, big budget!

• 1.4 million domestic viewers for Les Revenants

• Black mirror won an Emmy for San Jun!!!!!

• BM moved to Netflix in 2016, previously produced and owned by channel 4 

• Netflix buying BM and commercialising it solely for profit is an excellent example of C+S’s power and profit theory

• LR had such a huge Niche audience a US version was made. Assumptions about American audiences were made, and the remake used American actors, and simplified the narrative

• LEs Revs was dubbed in to different languages, for example Italian, yet remained subtitled in the UK, reflecting different national tastes

• Black Mirror had a ride at Thorpe park, targeting a younger audience 

• Netflix created a poster for each episode in a 1970s style comic book, commissioning a Brazilian illustrator to create the striking images, targeting a niche audience of comic book fans

• Black Mirror & Friends | The One Where Ross Invents San Junipero | Netflix - this video creates a cross media promotion that only Netflix could manage, simply because Netflix has the rights to both Friends and Black Mirror. Additionally, this promotional video also targets a Gen Z audience through its simple and straightforward approach, short runtime and use of subtitles

• Black Mirror | Nosedive Featurette [HD] | Netflix - This short feature explains the episode in simple and straightforward language to a mass, younger and perhaps naive mainstream audience

• In Black Mirror, VR was used to map out the 3d set for Tucker’s Bar. Considerable access to technique 

• LEs Revenants is an adaptation of an earlier film by a different director, a proven cult classic

• LEs Revs has an established cult fanbase in Italy

• It was promoted with a lavish internet campaign, including an immersive 360 degree simulation of the town https://www.commarts.com/webpicks/les-revenants 

• THe budget for les revs was significant, with approx 1million/episode

• A cult TV show, with links to other established successes like Twin Peaks, The X-files, Buffy THe Vampire Slayer, Riverdale, Stranger Things, Smallville…

However, both shows, in addition to their clear international potential, also target a ‘domestic’ American and French audience respectively…

American appeal in San Junipero	French  appeal in Camille (opening credits)
Modeled on America, with an American, hyperreal construction of a town that will be familiar with American audiences  The feeling of nostalgia and vintage media, enticing a target American audience Western coded. The setting, themes, concepts, intertextuality all favouring a particular western cannon of culture	Quintessentially French setting of the French alps. Familiar to French middle class audiences  A chic, classy, stylish opening sequence, appealing to ba sophisticated french audience An exploration of sex and death, le petit mort, with the iconography of the couple making out next to a grave Moody, depressing, serious. Appeals to producers, allows a specific audience to be targeted

Audience

To what extent do social and cultural contexts influence audience interpretations of TV programs? Refer to the set editions of Black Mirror and The Returned to support your answer. [30]

Knee jerk reaction: To a huge extent! Social and cultural contexts are ESSENTIAL in influencing audience interpretations, and Stuart Hall’s reception theory helps us to understand this complex relation 

Plan 

Negotiated readings are affected by audience circumstances

Stuart Hall - reception theory

David Gauntlett - audiences use media products to construct identity 

Euthanasia - themes of a progressive and contraversial ideology, received differently by different audiences 

Jenkins and fandom: organised and motivated!

San Junipero - fan art shipping the main characters

Hegemonic norms

Preferred reading - supportive of the relationship

Oppositional reading - it’s a toxic relationship!

Deliberately polysemic

Themes of afterlife and religion - deliberately polarising 

Queer representations - problematic to some older audiences, challenges hegemonic norms

A circumstantial queer representation 

Representations of teenage sex in LES Revs will again polarise audiences. 

Frank and mature themes 

Les revenants: a representation of migrants explored in a symbolic way 

An allegory of migration, racism, sexuality, small town living…

Potentially highly offensive: oppositional reading: migrants as subhuman, different, other 

Feminist theory - SJ hegemonically attractive characters: Yorkie is constructed as being different, other, yet is played by an attractive actor, reinforcing hegemonic norms of attractiveness

Black Mirror: highly polysemic, allowing for complicated postmodern readings

Hyperreality - the sex scene in SJ is stereotypically constructed through crashing waves, billowing curtains and white sheets will appeal to a mainstream audience

Cultivation theory. Les Revs cultivates ideologies and themes of the supernatural. This unconventional representation challenges religious orthodoxy, conventional horror film narratives and the ways in which we deal with grief. It is deliberately complex…

Deliberately complicated to appeal to a niche and cult audience

However, the use of horror/scifi conventions appeal to a broader audience

Both shows situate themself within a context of popular music (The Smiths and Mogwai)

The horror genre, the crime genre….

Twin Peaks and cult television: a presold audience

Pick and mix: pick and mix the representations of the afterlife. Does it confirm or deny a christian god? 

Pick and mix - in SJ, queer audiences can construct a positive, fashionable lifestyle based on these representations!

Dystopian narrative - in a world with increasing technological invasiveness, SJ presents audiences with a relatable exploration of technology

Butler’s theory of gender performativity: increased freedom of women to challenge hegemonic norms will resonate with a younger female queer audience, and confirms the changing values 

Shirky and end of audience: based around the genre of simulation. A critique of audience agency 

A complex social context that is explored in the opening scene of SJ is that of the simulation. Baudrillard argues we live in a simulated world, with all representations a reconstruction of a reality that never existed in the first place. The nostalgic 80s is a comfortable world for the target audience, where everything was good and there were no problems. Yorkie therefore escapes into a hyperreal simulacrum in order to escape her own circumstances 

LR features a similar bar scene that also functions as a hyperreal simulacrum; an american style dive bar where cool teenagers hang out and shoot pool, just like an American drama. However, The Lake Pub scene in the first episode draws attention to another contextual concern. Firstly, it constructs a reality where young people are represented as fun and exciting only when drinking. Secondly, this scene LEna subverts traditional, patriarchal and hegemonic expectations, as she is the one attempting to instigate a sexual relationship. It constructs a reality where actual, real world issues are 

Paragraphs

One way in which social and cultural contexts influence audience interprets

A further context that certainly influences audiences in San Jun is….

Revision resource 2026

The above is a link to a LIVE document that is being updated lesson by lesson with up to date information, strategies, facts and indicative content for the component one and component 2 exams for the EDUQAS A-level media studies specification.

When it's finished, it would be great to spend some printer credit printing it out and covering it with notes!

It should be used in conjunction with the many, many resources on the blog in order to maximise your potential in the exam and to minimise any potential anxiety you may have.

This resource is collated from student work, discussions and suggestions. It is 'the answers'. It cannot be exhaustive, and certain elements will not be covered (most glaringly the online media unit, which has only just been covered). Additionally, each class has covered different case studies and topics. You've got to check out the resource to get the whole picture!

For exhaustive information about each and every industry and case study you have studied, please see the industries section of the blog.

Below are a few preview images. Click the big link at the top to access the revision resource!

Coursework brief for submission in 2027

The following information is for students completing their NEA (non exam assessment, AKA coursework) for submission in 2027. This information will NOT be correct for any other student group. Please use the blog to find the correct information for your year. 

Brief

A cross-media production for a new artist or band in a popular genre (or sub-genre/hybrid) of your choice.

• Create an original music video and associated print material (a UK tour poster and a double page feature article from a new music magazine) to promote the same artist or band.
• You should create a cross-media production for a UK record label (such as Infectious Music or XL Recordings).
• Your cross-media production should target a twenty-something audience’ audience (even the oldest of this demographic will have typically grown up with digitally convergent media as a cultural dominant. Twenty-somethings may be younger professionals, graduates, and may be involved in club culture, attend gigs, and be active in their consumption of media. This demographic may not yet have children, yet may have access to disposable income)

Additional information

For this project, you will create your own music artist/band. Although you will use a pre-existing song for the music video, all other aspects of the artist/band should be invented by you.

Task 1 - Create an original music video to promote your artist or band.

Learners undertaking this brief should ‘invent’ a new artist or band. For example, they might select a track by an existing artist/band but create a new artist/band and persona, using a classmate (or classmates) to perform as the artist/band.

Length: 3 minutes - 3 minutes 30 seconds. Longer tracks may be edited or faded out to meet the required length.
The music video must construct representations of at least one social group and include the following: 

• Two or more filming locations appropriate to the chosen genre, such as a studio, rehearsal or live performance setting, and other locations to establish the narrative
• A wide range of camera shots, angles and movement
• A range of shots of the artist or band to establish a clear image/identity
• Performance footage (rehearsal and/or live), lip-synched appropriate to the chosen popular genre
• Clear structure with an element of narrative (such as enigma, conflict, resolution or character types) to visually interpret the lyrics
• Editing of original footage to the music track
• Graphics depicting the name of the fictional artist or band and title of the track

Task 2 - Create a UK tour poster and double-page feature article from a new music magazine, written by the artist or band

Three pages. Your print production must construct representations of at least one social group and include at least 5 original images in total.

UK tour poster:

• At least one image (different from the images in the double-page feature article)
•  Name of artist or band
• Name of tour
• Tour dates, cities and venues, appropriate to the genre and profile of artist
• Information about where to buy tickets
• Social media links

Additional elements that are not essential but may help your poster to be more effective include

• Album cover inset into advert
• Record label information inc. logo
• Additional information about production context
• Band website URL

Double-page feature article:

• Article (or beginning of an article) of approximately 200 words written by the artist or
• band
• Headline, standfirst and byline
• Column layout appropriate for a magazine
• One main image and additional images (original and different from the image(s) on
• the poster); these may include photographs of the artist/band on the music video
• set, but ‘stills’ from the music video must not be used
• At least one pull quote
• Page numbers and running headers

How to get an A in the media studies coursework

• Use media language to demonstrate intertextuality and/or generic hybridity
• Convey a complex representation of a social group using media language
• Subvert and challenge typical representational stereotypes
• Present an ideological context typical to your music label
• Create a magazine that demonstrates clear stylistic, thematic and ideological links to your music video 

How to actually get an A in the media studies coursework

• Start shooting the first day you are able
• If someone lets you down, deal with it and shoot someone else
• If your venue falls through or your location shoot is rained off, shoot somewhere else
• If you accidentally delete all your work, take a deep breath and start again
• If your teacher tells you your footage is not up to standard, take a deep breath and go out and reshoot
• You do NOT need ANY technical skills to get full marks in this project, just hard work and resilience!

Exploring narrative and media language in Zoe Sugg's more recent vlogs

Tzvetan Todorov - narrative equilibrium

Narratives work by moving from a state of equilibrium to a state of disequilibrium. At the end of the narrative, the equilibrium is restored. 

In Disney’s Tangled (2011) an equilibrium is established where Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower. Suddenly, a charming rogue infiltrates the tower, and Rapunzel kidnaps him, signalling the disequilibrium. The partial restoration of the equilibrium occurs at the end, where Rapunzel becomes a princess and sexy thief stops being a thief.

Tangled targets an audience of young children. Zoe Sugg now targets an audience of 30something women and aspirational mothers. Yet the narrative for Tangled is vastly more complicated than the narrative for Zoe Sugg's vlogs...

Exploring narrative and media language in ‘cosy Sunday…another visit from the Grinch’

• The Grinch is a copyrighted character who first appeared in children’s book. However, modern audiences are more likely to recognize the Grinch from modern film adaptations This video, as all of Sugg’s videos demonstrates hypermodality. With a single click we can move from one mode to another. We can for example click a hyperlink to access Sugg’s Amazon storefront, providing audiences the opportunity to ‘become’ Zoe Sugg, or at least to be able to relate to her from a consumerist perspective. This complex interaction is typical of vloggers.
• The camera angles are often from the view of her children, having been actually shot by her children. This constructs a personal mode of address. However, this technique is highly unprofessional , and demonstrates noticeably low production values. This is anchored through the low budget Grinch costume, which helps the viewers to engage with this relatable situation.
• Sugg’s Bonne Maman jam advent calendar is potentially out of reach for many of Sugg’s fans. However, this provides the audience with both entertainment and escapism. The MES of the large advent calendar communicates an escapist fantasy to her working class target audience.
• A number of activities are presented in sequence, to construct the reality that the Sugg’s are stereotypical, when clearly they are not. Activities such as building a fort, baking cookies, eating jam and, most excitingly, reading the radio times are depicted in painstaking detail. A shaky, zoomed in camera tracks the MES of Sugg’s finger as she excitedly describes Christmas day television. The symbolic effect is a nostalgic, Christmas videotape feeling, home movies. However, this sequence clearly does not resemble actual home movies, yet is a hyperreal construction. The confusion we feel simultaneously with the cosy comfort is typical of the postmodern condition.
• While the video clearly subverts traditional narrative forms of equilibrium, there is still some form of disequilibrium when the character of the grinch emerges. However, the Grinch demonstrates no conflict whatsoever, aside from the negative reaction of Zoella's child. The video therefore lacks any real sense of problems, imperfections, disequilibrium or any disruption.
• This is emphasised and reflected through the perfectly manicured lawn, the matching Christmas pyjamas, the beige décor, the complete lack of any personality. By presenting such a bland MES, this on trend and agreeable décor can appeal to her target audience and therefore increase engagement
• The editing is extremely simple, with no sound effects, no fade outs, and aside from the introductory montage generally consists of long takes, with little editing. The advantage of this simple editing increases the verisimilitude of the video and makes it seem more real and relatable to her target audience. It also makes it a lot easier to edit, allowing for more effective releasing of content . Shirky argues that we have moved to an amateur model of media production.
• Sugg represents herself as family oriented and working class. Yet her pyjamas are £70, and she buys groceries M&S, constructing a performative middle class mode of address, that seeks to influence and effect her target audience. The preferred reading of this is that we are not supposed to focus on the middle class commercialism, but appreciate her status as a caring mother. Yet also, this is pointed out in the video description, and clearly is important.
• The narrative of the video is simple and straightforward, beginning in the morning, and ending at night in bed. The fact that a child could understand this simple chronological narrative assumes that her target audience lacks the intelligence to comprehend complex narrative.

Christmas Shopping, Spot of Lunch & Surprise Photos | Vlogmas Day 10 - exploring media language, genre, narrative in this vlog

“That’s quite cool isn’t it, with the tree against the wall”

“I’m just getting some shots of you walking”

“We must have walked around 80% of the Brighton lanes”

“What are you getting?” - “I don’t know” 

• The video starts with fast paced montage of the exciting events that will occur in this vlog. It functions as a proairetic code, symbolising the varied content that will be included.
• There are multiple shots of the handwarmers on the buggy: close ups that situate the audience in a direct mode of address, and positioned directly with Zoe Sugg. This constructs a reality where the most important thigh in the world is Sugg, her family and the products that construct them, a deeply consumerist ideology. This consumerist ideology is reinforced through the content of the Brighton montage. The Sugg’s trawl from shop to shop and attempt to buy food at the expense of exploring the sights of Brighton. We have a brief and tantalising long shot of Brighton Pavilion, which is swiftly ignored being not topical to the video
• The video provides many opportunities for the audience to practice hypermodality. We can click on different videos to move to completely different themes and ideas, but we can also click on the affiliate hyperlinks, linking to Sugg’s fashion choices, and allowing the target audience the pleasure of forming a closer bond with Sugg. Of course this bond is meaningless and completely based on consumerist ideologies
• Sugg does not discuss the hyperlinks within her most recent content, allowing the description to hide the mass of hyperlinks, and diverts the audience from these clear consumerist tendencies
• Additionally, there are hyperlinks to Sugg’s social media platforms, including Instagram, which allow the effective targeting of diverse audiences. 
• The sound quality is appalling, and dialogue is sometimes obscured through the sound of the harsh Brighton wind. This ‘mistake’ left in symbolises naturalness and authenticity. However, this is clearly a recording, a hyperreal reconstruction of a shopping trip, editing in such a way to construct a boring, dull and reliable day. This allows fans the opportunity to form a parasocial relationship with the ‘unedited’ Zoella’. The low production values are relatable, and encourage her audience to do the same, building a sense of community. 
• The audience are positioned and situated directly with the Sugg family. Sugg shared explicitly with the audience that she lives in Brighton, and walks us around with an amateurish handheld tracking shot. 
• The lexis “That’s quite cool isn’t it, with the tree against the wall” is a bland, dull and pointless comment. It constructs Alfie as a bland everyman with no interests that he target female audience can aspire to obtain 
• The audience is older, and has a longer attention span. The video is long from, and lacks bright colours, graphics, sound and other elements. The complete lack of any real disequilibrium or content of interest suggests the target audience desires this unedited, raw footage are conservative, unwilling to change their ideas, and unlikely to engage with alternate ideologies. For the target audience the lack of edge and conflict is the unique selling point.

Gender performativity in 'Live Smear Test, Q&A With The Nurse & Office Group Discussion'

Judith Butler and theories of gender performativity.

Gender performance refers to the rituals and routines that we carry out to construct our gender. Butler argues that sex and gender are separate concepts. Gender is fluid, and we can shape our gender performance through our actions.

Gender performativity refers to how our performance of gender affects the world around us. For Butler, gender performance has no intrinsic meaning: it is the REACTION to these elements that reconstructs reality!

Zoe Sugg’s gender performance

• Suggs wears makeup. This makeup is part of her everyday routine, and demonstrates a hegemonic norm. Her makeup is stereotypically 00’s, although she has gravitated towards a more ‘natural’ style
• Her hobbies and interests are stereotypically feminine, for example, jam, kids, makeup, cookies, and bland homeware.
• Her costume is stereotypically feminine, and emphasises a traditional representation of gendered female identity. However, her costume tends to be modest, demonstrating conservative values
• The MES of her costume and jewellery and homeware emphasises, flowers, stereotypical of femininity
• Her voice is affected and middle class. Her sentences end with inflections, symbolic of femininity
• She is often constructed through her relationship with her children, constructing her as a mother
• Her smile is over the top, overemphasised and constructs a reality where women are cheerful, and should fulfil a role of making other people happy!
• Her use of makeup is done in such a way to construct a certain kind of hegemonically attractive. She is attractive in an attainable and relatable way, and clearly not intimidating
• In her videos, she repeats stereotypically feminine routines. Her adoption of the ‘get ready with me’ archetype describes how she puts on makeup and gets ready, constructing a reality where wearing makeup is a part of her life. This constructs the reality that wearing makeup is an essential routine for women, and women are not ready until they’ve achieved this
• Sugg’s costume is feminine, and accentuates her figure. Her crew neck dress constructs a reality of women where to cover skin is to present modesty. It constructs a reality where she does not intimidate women, and fulfils a patriarchal masculine ideation of female desirability. 
• Sugg’s hair is stylish, long, and glamorous. It constructs a reality where hair exists as a signifier of essential feminine beauty 
• Her facial expression is poised and clearly practiced in order to construct the most affect possible 

Live Smear Test, Q&A With The Nurse & Office Group Discussion

Explore how Zoe Sugg constructs complex representations of femininity . [15]

• Sugg uses an informal mode of address, communicating to the female target audience that they should feel comfortable. Examples of informal lexis include ‘foof’, referring to her vagina, which constructs a reality of being comfortable, relaxed and friendly in this situation
• The discussion of something so personal cultivates a parasocial relationship. By sharing information about an intimate procedure, Sugg constructs a reality where we are positioned as her trusted beast friends.
• Sugg constructs a reality where she is a fan of the TV series Game Of Thrones, making intertextual reference to a quote (“I volunteer”), suggesting a surface familiarity with the series. By constructing herself as a GoT fangirl, a familiar friendly MOA is therefore constructed. She avoids discussing the transgressive themes of the show, instead focussing on it’s popular appeal. 
• Sugg is working with a charity that highlights the problem of cervical cancer. This constructs a representation of a strong, impactful woman, drawing attention to an issue suffered by women. 
• Sugg directly addresses a female audience, and excludes men. This video doesn’t feature Alfie, the consultant is a woman, and both members of her team, behind the camera, are women. This constructs a reality where men do not exist in the realm of gendered problems. 
• Her address is appealing to women by being radically open about issues that affect women. However, she does so by excluding men. In fact, bell hooks makes the argument that men should engage with issues that affect women. Yet Zoella constructs a world where this woman’s issue is one that can only be solved by women.
• Sugg is represented in her car on her own, constructing a narrative that she is travelling by herself. Yet by mentioning her production team, clearly suggesting that she is not by herself. This constructs a hyperreal mode of address. 
• The video starts with a warning to audiences about the content of the video. A form of self-regulation, the background of the warning is in pink and utilises the lexis ‘a teensy bit of blood’, constructing a reality where women are stereotypical and naturally drawn to this colour. 
• Sugg uses Lo-fi music in the introduction, that is clearly copyright free, constructing an unprofessional address. This is anchored through the ‘mistake’ of clattering around her car, constructing Zoella as down to earth and reliable. This in turn constructs a deep parasocial relationship.
• The music and her makeup and highly stereotypical and feminine, constructing a realty that women are soft and non-threatening. Here, Sugg constructs a brand identity that is approachable, and completely non-controversial. 
• Sugg’s makeup is stereotypically feminine and on trend. IT’s notable through how noticeable it is, and over time, Sugg has shifted her representation of femininity. This confirms the myth that in order to fit in to society, women must wear makeup. Additionally, the fact that Sugg is so performatively made up for a smear test confirms a reality where hegemonically women are expected to wear makeup to confirm their readiness. Similar to the 1950 Tide  advert, it reinforces a reality where even mundane activities must be dealt with glamorously.
• Sugg repeatedly refers to her vagina as a ‘foof’, a symbolically childish and naïve terminology that reinforces a reality that in order to be acceptable, women must be as sexless and innocent as possible. She knows she is talking to an adult audience, yet still chooses to use the childish lexis.
• Sugg makes a controversial statement that schools simply do not cover smear test and cancer screening, yet backtracks on this, suggesting a lack of research. Additionally Sugg makes intertextual to Game Of Thrones, yet accidentally refers to The Hunger games. These mistakes construct a reality that women are ill educated and unprepared to discuss difficult concepts.
• Sugg presents herself as a woman going alone to the clinic, yet also makes explicit reference to her production team. 
• This fear of referring to female coded products, e.g. tampons and sanitary towels are referred to as feminine products, constructing women as simply their menstrual capabilities. This is an example of...

Metonymy - where an attribute or characteristic is used to describe something in totality. For example,

1. “Number 10 has responded to the Kremlin” - metonymic of the institution 
2. “I love Hollywood films!” - Metonymic of high production values
3. Referring to women through the context of their womb, reproductive capabilities etc is metonymy