super.human

• gun shot transition?


  -gun shot (from a race track) transitions to a radio alarm

  -juxtaposes dream sequence with reality
• significance of kadeena cox wearing bonnet

  representation for Black audiences whose hair is often misrepresented/underrepresented in the media
• montage of many different athletes

  -men and women from lots of different ethnicities & backgrounds, all with different disabilities

  -adds diversity and provides good representation for many different social groups
• montage of joints/body parts being taped & strapped up

  -heightens intensity of preparation, as if they are going into battle

  -reinforced by hyperbolic sound effects eg. lots of heavy breathing, ripping of tape etc

  -audiences recognise how gruelling the preparation is for athletes, especially paralympians who have to carry it out with disabilities, emphasis on their humanity
• jump cuts of ellie simmons' races

  -(heightened by costume changes) we recognise how many races she has won

  -low angle shots establish her power

  -wearing all her medals at once, her success is represented -> showing that disabilities aren't a barrier to success (also seen later on in montages of cheering crowds & paralympians celebrating)
• match cut during kylie grimes rugby match

  -clash of wheelchair followed by a shot of planets colliding

  -signifies athletes' strength and power

  -also adds a sense of danger & intensity
• mr puke bucket


  -adds a sense of comedy

  -but audiences also see how gruelling this job is; they are required to train until they are ill
• significance of child birth sequence

  -creates a comparison; training is just as stressful and painful as child birth, heightened by screams

  -signifies that paralympians are normal human beings dealing with everyday issues, like pregnancy and childbirth -> more relatable to audiences and fresh representation of disabled people who are often misrepresented in the media
• Jody cundy daughter


  - shot reverse shot of him training and his daughter on ft

  -> annoyed gesture code from daughter (he's missed her bday party)

  -> display of sacrifices athletes make
• montage of blisters, bruises and other 'gross' shots

  -can be engaging for audiences

  -again shows the pain that paralympians go through in order to prepare for paralympics

  -we see the dangers of the sports
• Hamster?


  graphic match cut btwn wheel of a training bike and hamster wheel

  -> monotony of training
• kylie grimes unable to enter cafe in her wheelchair due to step at entrance


  -we are exposed to the real life struggles of disabled people, especially in terms of day to day discrimination & accessibility issues that able-bodied people may be ignorant to/ don't have to worry about

  -advert invites further consideration for disabled people, hopefully encouraging change

  -'****'s sake' -> maintains light hearted mood & again shows disabled people as human
• shot of boris johnson saying 'you might as well quit'


  -manipulated audio may reflect Channel 4's anti-establishment standpoint

  -may suggest that the gov aren't always supportive of those with disabilities

  -relatable to all audiences who experienced lockdown - understanding of restrictions/ being held back but also wider consideration for the impact COVID had on the paralympics
• to be a paralympian there must be something wrong with you'


  -plays on negative stereotype that being disabled is somehow wrong

  -instead emphasises how 'crazy' you have to be in order up put yourself through all the stress of being a paralympian

  -online comments suggested that some viewers were uncomfortable with this messaging
• music 'so you wanna be a boxer' from bugsey malone

  -large following/very popular

  -adds relatability to some older audiences

  -also adds some comedy
• going from 'superhuman' to 'super.human'

  -doesn't ostracise disabled people or make them seem inhuman

  -this advert focuses on their successes, similarly to previous ad, but it also represents their humanity & the reality of their situations -> more balanced & realistic representation

  -emphasised by 'super' being cracked at the end
• to be a Paralympian there's got to be something wrong with you'


  -conceptual binary opposition between audience perception of Paralympic athletes and the reality

  -> challenges how language is used towards disabled people set against the reality of the positive images in the advertisement

  -play on words; we see how difficult it is to be a paralympian (there must be something wrong with them to choose this career) but people often consider them to have something physically 'wrong'

  
  

  -also encourages audiences to reflect on any outdates language they use to categorise disabled people
• personalisation


  -ad deals with real, human stories focusing on the day-to-day struggles of being an athlete in training and disabled

  -> individ. narratives are constructed to encourage the audience to identify with the athletes and their lives
• what % of the UK pop were reached by Channel 4's Paralympics marketing campaign?

  81%