zoella language & representation

Cards (19)

  • Typical conventions of social media influencer vlogs
    • Talk directly to camera
    • One camera setup
    • Use of lights
    • Filming on phone, handheld shots, point of view shots
    • Encourage audience interaction (comments, likes, shares, subscriptions)
  • Intertextuality
    Constantly referring to other media products (makeup, films, music)
  • Collaborations with other influencers

    Borrowing ideas, cross-promoting channels
  • Postmodern conventions in Zoella's online media

    • Self-awareness of being a media product
    • Fragmented, jumpy narratives
    • Contradictory elements of realism
  • Continuity editing

    Editing technique used in TV/films to create smooth motion, hide cuts
  • Jump cuts, dips to black, fades, dissolves, wipes
    Editing techniques commonly used in vlogs to be more noticeable and relatable
  • Informal, colloquial language

    Zoella uses this to create a sense of personal relationship with audience (parasocial interaction)
  • Zoella's video settings
    • Personal, intimate spaces like bedrooms, bathrooms
    • Overtly feminine aesthetic (pinks, purples, glitter, fairy lights)
  • Zoella's website also echoes the feminine, glittery aesthetic of her videos
  • Zoella's video setting
    • Often features her personal spaces like cars, homes, bedrooms, bathrooms
    • Very feminine with pastel pinks, purples, golds, glitter, fairy lights
    • Adds to representation of her as a person
  • Zoella's website
    • Feminine colours, glitter, gold
    • Feminine font
  • Zoella's main focus

    Makeup and hair tutorials
  • Zoella's on-screen behaviour

    • Touches her face a lot
    • Flicks her hair around
    • Feminine actions associated with looking good
  • Zoella's video content

    • Features normal, relatable activities like cleaning, cooking, makeup
    • Shows her with no makeup or messy house
    • Adds to idea of her being a real, relatable person
  • Zoella has posted videos about mental health issues like depression and anxiety
  • Audiences may make assumptions that Zoella's videos show reality, but there is editing and construction involved
  • Typical gender stereotypes of women being represented in domestic or sexualised ways

    May apply to Zoella's representation, but she avoids overtly sexualised content to maintain a family-friendly image
  • Zoella's representation of gender

    • Reinforces feminine identity through performances like hair, makeup, cleaning, cooking
    • Presents traditional ideas of masculinity with male friends doing activities like going to the gym
    • Also shows metrosexuality with male friends doing feminine activities together
  • Zoella challenges gender stereotypes in some of her blog content, celebrating strong, powerful women