Media (Eduqas A-Level)

• Print media includes newspapers, magazines, and books.
• The advert used messages to attract the audience and encourage them to buy more.
• The Tide advert targeted housewives as the main consumers of soap powders.
• Hyperbole and exclamation marks were used to make the product seem essential.
• The advert used a conversational mode of address and colloquial language to mimic how women of the era would talk to each other.
• The advert may reinforce a stereotypical patriarchal view of 1950s society.
• The advert had a strong visual impact with primary colors and large font size.
• The advert appealed to the ideal of a clean and perfect home.
• The woman in the image was portrayed as attractive and happy, implying that using Tide would lead to happiness.
• The advert used facts to create credibility.
• Judith Butler – Queer Theory: “Gender is what you do, not who you are with the theory contesting the categorization of gender and sexuality – identities are not fixed and they cannot be labelled e.g. potentially androgynous representations like Gok Wan.
• Baudrillard – Hyper Reality: “Some texts are difficult to distinguish in terms of the representation of reality from a simulation of reality e.g. Big Brother. The boundaries are blurred as codes and conventions create a set of signifiers which we understand but in fact the representation is a copy of a copy”.
• Stuart Hall – Dominant, Oppositional and Negotiated Readings of Representation: “Stuart Hall’s theory (see audiences) is also useful in understanding how some representations reflect the dominant culture e.g. patriarchy, women in The Sun and in Men’s Magazines like FHM. However, some representations can be negotiated or even misunderstood (oppositional) as in Four Lions which was accused of being a racist text due to its representation of British Pakistani Muslims”.
• Laura Mulvey – Male Gaze/Female Gaze: “Women on the front cover of FHM are sexualized and objectified for the male audience while the same can be said for male models in perfume adverts, sexualized for a female demographic”.
• Tessa Perkins – Stereotyping has Elements of Truth: “Although stereotyping can have negative effects often it is based of some degree of reality but distorted and manipulated for the purpose of entertainment values”.
• Levi-Strauss – Binary Oppositions and Subordinate Groups: “Levi-Strauss’ theory (see narrative theorists), like Dyer is a way of understanding how representation are deliberately placed in binary opposition to ensure the dominant culture is maintained and the minority representations is seen as subordinate and marginalized.
• David Gauntlett – Producer as Consumer (Prosumer): “Media Studies students regularly make their own short film productions but are also regular consumers of the media – in doing so they are both producer and consumer blurring the boundaries of traditional media consumption”.
• George Gerbner – Cultivation Theory: “The cultivation theory suggests that the more you look at television, the more you are likely to believe in the reality of the representation e.g. believing everything you see and hear on BBC News 24 and not challenging the nature of a constructed text”.
• Roland Barthes – Cultural, Semantic, Symbolic, Hermeneutic, Proairetic Codes (5 Narrative Codes)
• Hero (can also be the initial victim)
• False hero (perceived as good but turns out evil)
• Princess (a reward for the hero and much sought after)
• Her Father (gives, sometimes metaphorically the princess to the hero)
• Donor (gives the hero a magical gift to help him with his quest)
• Dispatcher (sends the hero on his way)
• Todorov – Four-Act Structure: an equilibrium or normality for the audience, disruption, while resolution is established. A new equilibrium suggests nothing will ever be the same again (a new beginning) although this is only implied in narrative closure”.
• Henry Jenkins – Genre constantly ‘Breaks Rules’ e.g. evolving hybridization: “Hybridization is now commonplace to maximize audience appeal but also to offer a unique selling point by appearing to break the rules
• Steve Neale – Genre as Repetition and Difference: “Genre is familiar to audiences through the repetition of conventions like a physically strong, dynamic, violent, male hero in Action Adventure Video Games like Assassin’s Creed and GTAV but is challenged by a female lead character in Tomb Raider and Beyond: Two Souls. Other conventions are the same however, despite this key difference and serve to maintain interest in an apparently evolving genre”.
• The advertisement was created to promote the 2020 Paralympic Games
• It was devised and created by Channel 4's in-house creative agency 4Creative
• The advertisement explores the sacrifices made and the trials endured by Paralympic athletes
• The advertisement uses media language to convey its message:
• The advert uses stylised sequences, such as a dream sequence edited with a news clip, to convey meaning and show the impact of the Games' postponement.
• Humour is used, such as the image of a hamster on a wheel and a "puke bucket," to convey information and insert comic relief into the gruelling regime.
• Clothing is used as a signifier to place athletes within their sport and create realism, contrasting with their everyday lives.
• The advert challenges the creation of myths around disability through the use of signs and codes.
• Binary oppositions are used to contrast gruelling training regimes with celebratory images of success and dreamlike sequences with reality.
• Animated and archive footage are used in opposition to real-life actions to introduce humour and reinforce the narrative.
• The on-screen graphic "To be a Paralympian there’s got to be something wrong with you" creates a conceptual binary opposition between audience perception and the reality of Paralympic athletes.
• Channel 4's campaign aims to present Paralympians in a way that emphasizes their humanity and mental determination rather than focusing solely on their disability.