Attitude online, audience and fandom

Targeting a specific audience

Possible exam question: To what extent does attitude targets multiple audiences?

Audience targeting refers to how a producer addresses a particular audience. Every media product will have a target audience, and these should be as specific as possible.

There are two explicit reasons why producers must target a specific audience rather than anyone and everyone:

1. To allow the target audience to identify with, and to engage with the media product. This means that he will hopefully keep buying it, and
2. To sell advertising space to advertisers who will be able to target this audience

This second point is particularly important to understand. It is often said that media products are not in the business of selling a product, they are instead in the business of selling audiences. If a media producer can say to an advertiser "Attitude online's audience are gay men, working class, aged 25 - 50, aspirational, interested in holidays, fashion and the theatre, and with a larger expendable income than average", then advertisers can use targeted adverts with confidence.

Task - open Attitude Online (you must be very familiar with it by now!)

find specific examples of how Attitude online targets the following audience:

• "Gay men, working class, aged 25 - 50, aspirational, interested in holidays, fashion and the theatre, and with a larger expendable income than average"

You can and should make reference to anything and everything from the textual analysis toolkit, and, in particular, to advertisements and advertising features

Audience theory activity

In order to test your knowledge of audience theory, match the following statements to the following theories.

15 - Media effects - Albert Bandura
16 - Cultivation theory - George Gerbner
17 - Reception theory - Stuart Hall
18 - Fandom - Henry Jenkins
19 - ‘End of audience’ theories - Clay Shirky

• Audiences are likely to be influenced by an ideology after being exposed to it over time
• Audiences can form an intense bond with a media product, and use it to define their life
• Audiences can increasingly 'speak back' to a media product, and are more of a producer than an audience member
• Media products can easily manipulate the ideology of an audience member
• Audiences can chose many different ways to how they respond to the ideology of the producer

You can check your answer in the theories and theorists section of this blog

The othering of gay audiences and queer readings

Audiences can negotiate with media products in many different ways. Last time, we considered the fact that we live in a heteronormative world, where it is assumed, by and large that people are heterosexual. This cultivates and normalises heterosexuality as a dominant ideological discourse, while also othering gay people as being different and 'abnormal'.

Below is an LGBT DVD display from FOPP in Covent Garden

• What assumptions, messages and ideological values are constructed by placing 'gay' films separate from other films?
• This section includes historical dramas, documentaries, comedies, romance films and hard hitting dramas. Why are all in the same section? What assumptions does this make about gay audiences?
• If I were to ask you "what is your favourite heterosexual film", how would you answer?
• How can we apply postcolonial theory to this display?
• Why do we arguably need LGBT sections? You may wish to check your notes on visibility from the previous session

Gregg Araki (possibly the greatest living film director in the world, fyi) makes fun of heteronormativity in his absolutely incredible post-apocalyptic homoerotic road movie The Doom Generation (1995) by announcing the audience are about to watch "A HETEROSEXUAL MOVIE". It draws attention to the assumptions that we make about films, and how we unwittingly use sexuality as a genre convention. It aso indicates the frustration that queer audiences feel by not being represented on screen. 

Many television networks, particularly in America, which tends to be more conservative in its representations, have previously avoided depicting gay characters for fear of upsetting and alienating straight audiences. The 1994 TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, while mainly depicting heterosexual relationships later on depicted a same sex relationship, and became on of the first network TV shows in America to depict two women kissing. It hardly seems noteworthy now, but Buffy is still talked of fondly by LGBT audiences

Task - read the following article, and make notes on how Attitude is targeting it's gay audience, and how Buffy is important for queer audiences

Riptide: symbolic readings and the representation of women

Symbolism and the representation of women

Last time, we looked at the idea that Riptide is exploring 'the logic of dreams'. We can use Roland Barthes's notion of symbolic codes to explore Riptide, and to try ad pull out a deeper meaning from it

Task - Slowly watch the video to Riptide, and make a screenshot EVERY time a woman is on screen

This is going to take some time, there are a lot of women in this video! (If you cannot make screenshots, you can simply watch the video and write written descriptions)

Now make notes under the following headings:

• How are women represented in this video?
• What is the symbolism of the mise en scene of the rope and the dental brace?
• In what ways are we positioned as an audience?
• What links all the women in this video?
• What message about women is constructed in this video, and what hegemonic expectations does this reinforce?

Genre conventions

While the music video to Riptide may be a promotional video to an indie pop song, the video itself has many references to other genres of film. We saw in the last session how the video shares many thematic and visual similarities with the surrealist genre. However, the video also makes explicit reference to the horror genre, in particular classic horror films from the 1970's.

Task - watch the trailer to Suspiria (1977), and then rewatch the video to Riptide. Make notes of all the similarities between the two videos

It would be ideal if you could make side by side screenshot comparisons between the two films.

Does the video to Riptide make explicit reference to Suspira? Probably not. But it is making reference to this style of european horror cinema, as well as italian crime films.

But why?

Postmodernism

Riptide combines a range of startling images, including images that are symbolically violent and sexual. We have explored the violent and negative representation of women, but there is another possibility: the director has chucked lots of things together in order to make a cool video!

Task - Click this link, and read all about postmodernism. Make notes under the different aspects of postmodernism, and give one example for each from Riptide

This is a difficult concept to get your head around, but for the time being, it helps to think of the video for Riptide as offering 'style over substance' . We can argue it offers a deliberately meaningless experience for the audience, and instead combines a range of visually interesting and confusing images. And what is the only reason for a media product to exist? To make money!

Bonus - exam question: Explore the ways in which Riptide uses intertextuality to  make meaning for it's audiences. 

You can use everything from this session, from genre conventions, the representation of women and postmodern theory to answer this question. So give it a go!

Exploring how representations position audiences in Attitude

Today's task - analyse the following articles, clips and extracts, and use them to answer the final exam question at the bottom

Exam link - you're combining context with textual analysis and getting first hand exam practice. This is direct preparation for the exam!

Attitude magazine and the changing representation of gay people

Task - Check out this article, posted in The Guardian in 2014, which has a gallery of Attitude front covers since the start of the magazine.

Then make notes under the following question headings

• How has the representation of gay men changed since Attitude was first published?
• What representations of gay men are presented?
• What is Attitude's target audience (beyond being gay men), and how does it target them?

Context

"Feminism is for everyone" wrote bell hooks. This is because the way in which women are treated in society also affects everyone else. If there is an expectation that women are emotional and are better at giving care than thriving in a difficult work environment, it is conversely expected that men are emotionless are will be terrible at looking after children.

We can take this idea further, and assume that the representation of any given group will in fact impact others, including gay men.

Read the below passage:

“Stereotypes tell us men are strong and emotionless, women meek and emotional. And to place value on the physical difference between male and female is to say our place on this planet is dictated by our breeding potential. It’s why LGBT+ rights have always stood on the side of challenging gender stereotypes, and why I get angry when gay men show misogyny.
Gender division is the most violent thing to ever happen to humanity. It’s suppressed the voices of millions of queer and gay people for millennia. Anybody who challenged the binary was silenced, often violently: from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, to the recent purge of LGBT+ people in Chechnya, and barbaric Islamic State executions.
Encouraging outdated ideas of masculine/feminine is buying into the ideals of murderers who believe that a man loving another man should be punishable by death. To them, gay love is unnatural and against God. Male dominance is born of violence and oppression, not anything remotely biological or "natural." What many understand as masculinity is too often a regressive by-product of this desire to dominate. Maybe we should aspire to be matriarchal by nature, like elephants, bees and ants.
All this is why I have, on occasion, donned a wig and thrown on a dress for a mad night out with my sistas. It’s why drag is so powerful; it’s not about men ridiculing women, it’s about men undermining the oppressiveness of masculinity.
I’d love to do away with all the labels and expectations of how a man should act and dress. Imagine having a conversation with another gay man and not worrying if they think you’re masc enough, or if that straight guy is judging the way you talk... This is the root of my frustration with the idea of gender differences. You see, I despise what men have done to this plan - Cliff Joannou, editor in chief of Attitude magazine

Task - Then make notes under the following question headings

• Why might there be an expectation for gay men to appear more masculine than heterosexual men?
• Joannou is discussing gender stereotypes here, as well as stereotypes surrounding sexuaity. This is something we've looked at extensively. Why are stereotypes harmful? Make reference to Gerbner and Stuart Hall.

Top tip: forgotten about a theorist? You can access details on ALL of them from the key resources section in the top right of the blog. Or in this case, just click here. 

Stereotypical representations of gay men in the media and the demonisation of camp

Camp refers to many things, including a trashy, deliberately awful aesthetic, and a flamboyant or over the top style of performance. Susan Sontag's classic essay Notes On Camp explores this notion, and remains essential reading even today. 

In Hollywood films and other forms of media, one common way of signaling to the audience the fact that a character is an antagonist or a villain is by giving them camp attributes. In James Bond films, the villain is often represented in a stereotypically homosexual and  'camp' manner.

James Bond is a stereotypical, archetypal representation of a 'perfect' heterosexual British man. He is hegemonically attractive, knows how to dress and speak charmingly, and will have sex with a range of exotic women in each film with little effort.

However the villain tends to speak with a pronounced foreign (i.e. non-British accent), will dress in a surprising or tacky way, and will have little interest in conventional secual relationships with women, often treating them aggressively. Most of all, however, the villain will be presented in an over-the-top and camp way, unnaturally and even obsessively compelled to torture Bond in a cariety of cruel and exen sexualsied ways.

In the James Bond film Casino Royale, the villain Le Chiffre kidnaps Bond in desperation after his master plan (to win a game of poker and get lots of money. This is literally the plot of the film) falls through.

Task - Watch this scene on YouTube, and make notes on how Le Chiffre is represented. What is he doing? What does he say? What is he looking at? How is he torturing Bond? Please note, this scene is very violent, and although the film is rated a '12' by the BBFC, by taking the scene out of context, it may be particularly powerful.

This scene is particularly good to refer to in the exam as an example of how in modern cinema, gay people are still demonised and made the villain. Yes, Le Chiffre is technically straight. He has a girlfriend, who he incidentally clearly hates. Yet his obsession with Bond, his body, and the general mise en scene of this scene clearly identifies Le Chiffre as a  sexual deviant, and this anchors him as the villain.

How do representations of gay themes position the audience of Attitude Online?

In the last lesson, you explored how the stereotypical representation of gay men can create an imbalance of power in society.

There is an argument that is sometimes brought up in the gay community that any form of representation is better than no representation at all. Even token representations and stereotypical representations lead to more visibility for the gay community in a heteronormative society.

Key term - token representation - where a minority character, for example a gay person or a black person, is placed in to a media product for the producer to 'tick a box'

Key term - visibility - a concerted effort to be more 'seen' 

Task - Read this article, titled 'JUNGLE CRUISE' TRAILER GIVES ANOTHER GLIMPSE AT JACK WHITEHALL'S GAY CHARACTER - WATCH'

Make notes under the following headings

• In what ways are gay men represented in this article?
• In what ways are the gay male audience positioned in this article?
• For what reasons are Disney including a gay character in their film?
• A quote in the article suggests Jack Whitehall's character will be “hugely effete, very camp and very funny”. What assumptions about gay men are being made here?

Task - 'Explore the ways in which Attitude uses representations of gay men to position the audience'

Use the Jack whitehall article to write a single PEA paragraph answering this exam question. Make reference to the ideology of the producer, of visibility, and the role of stereotypes.

Extension 

Write an entire response to this question (25 minutes, 15 marks) under timed conditions. Make sure to email your teacher to get them to mark it!

Riptide - analysis, themes and concepts

The first set music video you will study is Riptide by Vance Joy. Riptide is an indie pop song written and performed by Australian artist Vance Joy, and was released in 2013. The song was a hit in Australia and abroad, particularly after being featured in a Gopro advert. All you really need to know about the song itself is that it's straightforward, run-of-the-mill pop music. The video however is MUCH more interesting...

Today's task - analyse and apply semiotic and structuralist theory to the video Riptide, and research the video's intertextual influences

Exam link - close analysis of the set music videos is essential in the exam, and knowledge of intertextual references will help to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding

What is a music video?

You looked at music videos extensively for the last task.  You will be identify a music video instantly. But what makes a music video if they're all so very different?

A music video is not a film. This is so very obvious. But what makes a music video it's own, specific media product if both films and music videos are essentially visuals and sound?

Task: draw two columns, and list ALL the differences between music videos and films. Here's one to get you going:

FILM: approximately 90 minutes long
MUSIC VIDEO: approximately three minutes long

Celebrity and the music video

Most music videos focus on the performer as a celebrity.

Key term - celebrity - "The attribution of glamorous or notorious status to somebody in the public sphere" (Rojec, cited in Abercrombie & Longhurst, 2007:54)

Celebrities are clearly different to normal people like you or I (no matter what we may like to think). They wear different clothes, do different things, are frequently glamourous and controversial..

Task: watch the video to Stupid Love by Lady Gaga. In what ways is she constructed as a celebrity? Make reference to shot types, camera angles, mise en scene, and anything else off the textual analysis toolkit

If you haven't got the textual analysis toolkit open in a new tab right now, then do it!

Riptide: initial analysis

The video to Riptide is VERY different from a typical pop video. For starters (and here's something you MUST refer to in the exam), the performer is not in it at all! This makes the video highly unconventional

Task: watch the video to Riptide. Keep the video open in another tab. You'll be watching it LOTS!

The first time you watch it, try to switch off your brain and just watch it like a non-media student would.

Task: analyse and make notes on the video to Riptide

Watch it again, all the way through. Make detailed notes to the video under the following headings. Try not to think too much about what the video means (spoilers: it really doesn't mean anything. Or does it?)

1. Codes and conventions – performance/narrative/experimental features
2. Camera work (framing – shot types, angle, position, movement)
3. Editing – beat-matched?
4. Elements of continuity/montage
5. How does the video interpret the music and/or lyrics?
6. Structure/narrative
7. Intertextuality
8. Sound
9. Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up

When you've completed your analysis, with an explicit example or two under EACH of the nine headings listed above, then check out this post, which gives a straightforward initial analysis of the music video, made by media students two years ago. 

Extension: context and intertextuality

Key term - intertextuality - Where a media product or text makes reference to another media product or text

While riptide may seem completely confusing and without precedent, it makes sense if we view it instead as a surrealist product

Key term - surrealism - an artistic movement that tries to depict the logic of dreams and the unconscious

If we see Riptide as a surrealist text, then suddenly the dream imagery starts to make more sense. Sigmund Freud suggested that dreams represent our deep and subconscious fears... and desires. Many of the themes in Riptide are commonly reported in dreams, including:

Sex and sexualisation
Teeth and violence
Suddenly jumping from one location to another (technical term: it lacks spacial continuity)An unseen threat
Half remembered scenes from old films

A classic surrealist film, and perhaps the most famous of all, is Luis Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou (1929). Bunuel and his collaborator, the surrealist painter Salvador Dali, attempted to make a film adaptation of a dream Bunuel had where he saw the moon being cut "like a razor blade slicing through an eye".

The film jumps from subconscious desire to desire, and is at once a criticism of religious indoctrination in early 20th century Europe, as well as a compelling exploration of the futility of romance in modern civilisation. Or, frankly, it's a load of cool scenes strung together. It's your call.

You can check out the film on Youtube. Please be warned that the film contains extremely upsetting scenes that saw early viewers fainting in the cinema. The film is rated 15 by the BBFC. If you choose not to watch it, it's absolutely fine. 

If you do choose to watch it, think about how Riptide makes reference to surrealist conventions and dream logic it its own structure.

The Evolution of Beyoncé

Some context to the study of Beyonce for Component 1 can be found in this video.