Consider the front page of the Broadsheet The Daily Telegraph.
Write around 250 words on how the publication has undergone the process of construction.
You will be partly graded on your use of professional terminology.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Friday, 4 October 2013
Representation of Sexualities
Sexuality on TV
- Sexuality tends to still be represented in terms of stereotypical characters. For example:
- Gay Men – camp, feminine, funny, outrageous OR very attractive, and sleep around
- Lesbian Women – Butch, manly, blunt, man haters
Despite changing equality laws and a wider acceptance of different sexualities within much of society, TV has always remained quite conservative as they are scared of offending their viewers. Heterosexual (straight) characters are represented as the “norm” and homosexual (gay) characters are often represented as being different, strange, or separate from mainstream society. Some critics say that when TV does feature gay characters, they are never just characters that “happen to be gay.” Their sexuality always plays a key part in their storylines and they don’t seem to have any issues outside of their sexuality.
I If you get “sexuality” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:
· Can I identify what the sexualities of the characters are?
· Are people of different sexualities shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours? If so, how?
· Is their sexuality represented as being important in their life?
· Are particular sexualities represented as being normal / powerful / better? If so, how?
· Are particular sexualities represented as being abnormal? If so, how?
Don’t forget that “straight” is a sexuality too. Don’t ignore the straight characters as they need to be analysed too!
· What is the message the clip is trying to portray about sexuality?
Good clips to watch to practise analysing sexuality:
Gimme GImme Gimme - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv8Cz0i_VZY
Flash Forward - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-ayQfoNBEk
REPRESENTATION OF DISABILITY
DISABILITY ON TV
Disability tends to still be represented in terms of stereotypical characters.
For example:
· Physically Disabled / Disfigured – often shown as outsiders, unable to do normal things
· Mentally disabled – Often shown as strange, odd, childlike, outsiders
· Able Bodies / Minded – often shown as “normal” and “ideal”.
Characters with disabilities are often portrayed in TV Dramas as being outsiders, strange, unable to do everyday activities, immature, weaker than “able bodied, able minded” characters, less attractive etc.
Traditionally in films, villains were often given a disability or deformity to make them seem scarier or more evil. Although our association of disability with “evil” has since declined, society often still links disability to weakness and makes disabled characters objects to pity.
If you get “disability” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:
· Can I identify who is able bodied / disabled in the clip?
· Are people with disabilities shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours from people who don’t have disabilities? If so, how?
· Is their disability represented as being important in their life?
· Are people without disabilities represented stereotypically as being normal / better / more
powerful? If so, how?
· Are people with disabilities represented stereotypically as being abnormal /weak/ pathetic?
If so, how?
· How do other characters in the clip treat the characters with disability?
· What is the message the clip is trying to portray about sexuality?
Examples of disability in TV drama that you can analyse for practise:
Secret Diary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auSAGvpM7W8
Touch Of Frost http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gl8jVX9WWM
The Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80K5P1qqQOI
A whole collection of film and tv clips that feature disability
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
THEORY - LAURA MULVEY; MALE GAZE
Relegating the status of women to objects has a proven strong visual impact. Sex sells.
However, this can have a very negative effect, especially when ads use violence against women to sell their products. violence against women is still considered an appropriate way to market products to consumers. Consider this sampling of disturbing images used by prominent fashion brands to advertise in women's magazines.
One of the pictures from a spread from a Bulgarian fashion magazine.
A recent Calvin Klein ad showing a man creeping up on an unsuspecting woman.
An image dating back to 2010 when America's Next Top Model televised a photo shoot where models were instructed to play dead.
An ad for Istanbul's Beyman Blender, in a magazine in Instanbul.
One of the bloody Lindsey Lohan portraits that hung at London's Tyler Shields exhibition in 2010.
Advertisers may think it's OK to deliberately perpetuate violence against women, but here's the truth about violence against women that every one of these companies needs to hear, courtesy of feminist writer Soraya Chemaly: Every nine seconds in the U.S., a woman is assaulted or beaten. Someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in the U.S. (overwhelmingly women). One-third of women murdered each year in the U.S. are killed by an intimate partner. At least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime around the world.
violence against women is entirely preventable. According to the WHO, the very fact that violence against women varies so much amongst and within countries is evidence that the problem is the result of nurture, not nature.
Preventing this kind violence begins with changing the very attitudes that perpetuate it.
A UN report found that we can reduce the incidence of gender-based violence simply by making violence against women unacceptable and by promoting non-violent and caring ways to be a man.
Ads that promote masculinity through the violent repression of women really are unacceptable and dangerous.
Task: Watch the trailer for the feature film Charlie's Angels and considering Mulvey's Male Gaze theory describe how visual codes and conventions have been used to show sexiness even when this has little to do with the narrative. Also note down examples of female empowerment and how this has been encoded.
COLOUR CONNOTATIONS
- Red: Passion, Love, Anger
- Orange: Energy, Happiness, Vitality
- Yellow: Happiness, Hope, Deceit
- Green: New Beginnings, Abundance, Nature
- Blue: Calm, Responsible, Sadness, Trust
- Purple: Creativity, Royalty, Wealth
- Black: Mystery, Elegance, Evil, Sophistication
- Gray: Moody, Conservative, Formality
generally conservative and formal, but can also be modern. It is sometimes considered a color of mourning. It’s commonly used in corporate designs, where formality and professionalism are key. It can be a very sophisticated color. Pure grays are shades of black, though other grays may have blue or brown hues mixed in. In design, gray backgrounds are very common, as is gray typography.
- White: Purity, Cleanliness, Virtue
- Brown: Nature, Wholesomeness, Dependability
- Tan or Beige: Conservative, Piety, Dull
- Cream or Ivory: Calm, Elegant, Purity
Task 1:
Watch the clip below and see if the colour of the costumes suggests the type of character.
Is there any other colour symbolism evident in the settings?
Watch the clip below and see if the colour of the costumes suggests the type of character.
Is there any other colour symbolism evident in the settings?
Facial Expression
- Marjorie Ferguson (1980) identified four types of facial expression in the cover photos of British women’s magazines:
- Chocolate Box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.
- Invitational: emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera. Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.
- Super-smiler: full face, wide open toothy smile, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown. Projected mood: aggressive, ‘look-at-me’ demanding, the hard sell, ‘big come-on’ approach.
- Romantic or Sexual: a fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female ‘two-somes’; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible ‘available’ and definitely ‘available’.
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