Erins Media Studies Blog

Representation is the study of... 1.The group, place or issue on which a media product is focusing. 2.The media language the media product uses in order to present these groups or issues. 3.The ideological perspective about the group or issue being created within the product. 4.The impact of this ideological perspective on the target audience.  What is it and why is it important? - Helps display the producers ideology, representation is the construction of the producers ideology Character study  - None of the characters are sexualised in these pictures, all have a serious expression - Bomber Jacket, black, leather. "Cool guy". - Black slightly wavy hair (French), bigger eyebrows (French) - French eyes  - Early twenties - Attractive - Button up blue pattern shirt with grey cardigan, more conservative - Au natural - Teenage girl - Long auburn hair, young, free? - Pale, young, sheltered life(dead?) - Flow...

Introduction - DAC - Definition : Define media language and key terms - Argument : Point of view you will have in the exam - Context : Background information (Channel? Date of creation? Author? Producer?) Paragraphs - PEA  - Point : Relating to the question, based on some element of media language - Evidence : Key scenes from the text - Argument : Using evidence link to argument/POV from introduction Heavy Hitters Terminology Polysemy - Multiple meanings   Negotiation - Audience interpretation, negotiated meanings  Hegemony - Rules and regulations we follow everyday with consent. Hegemonic codes                           e.g. women should wear makeup Intertextuality - Makes reference to another media product. Could be very literal (e.g.                               Texas Chainsaw Massacre in ...

Background: - French supernatural drama television series created by Fabrice Gobert - Based on the 2004 French film  They Came Back  ( Les Revenants ), - Directed by Frabrice Gobert - Debuted on 26 November 2012 on  Canal+  and completed its  - First season, consisting of eight episodes - First season won an  International Emmy  for Best Drama Series. - The second season, also comprising eight episodes, premiered on 28 September 2015 on Canal+ -   Pr e miered in the UK on 16 October 2015 on  More4 ,  and  - in the US on 31 October 2015 on  SundanceTV . Canal+ is a huge French television company comparable to the BBC in the UK.  International distributor was Universal Studios.  Genre: 'French supernatural drama'. I would say it is also a horror (creepy child e.g. the shining) e.g. when mother see's her daughter thinks she is going mad pleonastic sound stereotypical horror genre. Les Re...

Differences: - Allegorical of migrants, dont know much English, work lowpaid jobs and factory work - 'Huubots' all look like barbies, a lot more plastic look - Lot's of different rolls, like a retail store for hubots, consumer products, each has specific qualities.  - Huubots have USB charging ports, almost comedic. - When Anita is being sold is a lot more brutal. Sex trade allegorical. Naming prices over her body.  -

FANDOM - HENRY JENKINS  Fandom refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise Unlike the generic audience or the classic spectator, fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers ("textual poaching") Examples of this may manifest in conventions, fan fiction and so on. Rather than just play a videogame or watch a TV show, fans construct their social and cultural identities throguh borrowing and utilising mass culture images, and may use this 'subcultural capital' to form social bonds. For example, through online forums like Reddit and 4chan. 

Textual Poaching  Kirk / Spock - Mirrors  - An example of 'slash fiction' or 'shipping' Original footage never intended for Kirk and Spock to be in a relationship however there is the negotiated reading that some people want them to be. This is an example of taking the footage and giving it their own meaning - that they are in love. Takes the footage and makes it their own.  FANDOM - HENRY JENKINS  Fandom refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise Unlike the generic audience or the classic spectator, fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers ("textual poaching") Examples of this may manifest in conventions, fan fiction and so on. Rather than just play a videogame or watch a TV show, fans construct their social and cultural identities throguh borrowing and u...

Concerns for televison / regulation  Televison is easily accessible to anybody. Its easy to watch, no sneaking around. The regulation is primarily done by parents, if they aren't around there is no limit and if they are they can decide what to show you.  It is an open audience.  Watershed - 9pm. The time after which everything including sexual imagery, drugs, abuse and violence is shown. It is not illegal to show it before this time however it is generally accepted that this is the time that should be allocated to this content.  This is to prevent from upsetting/traumatising the audience (especially children). However, extremely disturbing content is prohibited. 'Ofcom is required to assess he likelihood of material encouraging or inciting the commission of crime or leading to disorder' - Hypodermic needle theory (kids are vulnerable)  Regulatory issue - female masturbation - in America it is an NC-17 whereas a male masturbat...

HUMANS and Audience Demographic: Age - 25-35 Gender - Male Location - London / East of England Nationality - White British Sexuality -  Heterosexual Psychographic -  Socio-economic class - Middle class / upper working class  Occupation - Middle class - teacher, admin, mother, journalism? University educated. Hobbies -  TV channels/producers sell audiences.  Show has a complicated narrative. Going for a broadly educated white middle class audience. In what ways does this scene target and maintain audiences? Scene: Hawkins at breakfast - Mise-en-scene, fluffy dressing gowns (comfortable), intertextual reference to British sitcoms stereotypical waking up scene but relaxed e.g. Outnumbered   is always frantic breakfasts trying to get kids ready etc- Anita causes less stress.  - set breakfast table "is it a party" "no this is what breakfast is meant to be like" implying they don't have a perfect breakfast usually - relatable...

HUMANS and Marketing  Television is a specialised industry. "In what ways are the tv shows you have studied (HUMANS and Les revenants) an example of a specialised industry?" Television industry is a fractured industry. The way in which we watch television is totally different. There are catch up and streaming services (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu). Shows which were made to be watched weekly are now able to be 'binge watched'. All because of digital technology. This also leads to an increase in pirating content due to the segregation of the streaming services which all cost money to access.  The BBC is a television company funded by the TV License fee. They are a community television service. To inform, to educate, to entertain. Because of this they don't have to have spot adverts.  HBO is an American television company which has global success. One of their shows Game of Thrones is the most pirated TV show of all time.  Broadcasting - casting a big net, w...

POSTMODERNISM In postmodern culture the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and the world of the media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between what is reality and what is simulation. In fact, it really doesn't matter which is which! Therefore, in this postmodern age of simulacra, audiences are constantly bombarded with images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’ Because of this, we are now in a situation that media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent. This concept is referred to as 'hyperreality' "It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, or even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real" - Jean Baudrillard Representations of the real are more real than what they're representing. E.g. creating a new sphinx of the best version of it, not a recreation of the reality Postmodernism text can be described as wilfully br...

Hyper (beyond) Reality "It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, or even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real" - Jean Baudrillard Representations of the real are more real than what they're representing. E.g. creating a new sphinx of the best version of it, not a recreation of the reality HUMANS and Simulacra? The synths themselves may be seen as human simulacra - copies of "perfect" humans which do not really exist. The parallel world to our own is a hyperreality - it is the present or near-future re-presented from a mediated perspective. Consider how this is constructed. It may be argued that the entire series is based on how the attraction of the hyperreal over the real - e.g. Joe and Toby's sexual attraction to Anita. After Joe has sex with Anita the hyperreal is broken because it wasn't what he expected and the illusion was broken.  Jean Baudrillard - Postmodernism • In postm...

According to Claude Levi-Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of HUMANS [30] In HUMANS binary oppositions play a key role in the telling of the story. One of the biggest binary oppositions is that of Human vs Robot. This is personified in the conflict between Anita (the synth) and Laura (mother of the Hawkins family). In one scene in the first episode of HUMANS Anita is reading a book to the young daughter and Laura feels disturbed and let out in this situation. This creates conflict as she see's Anita as an invading force trying to take over her position as a mother which leads to questions about the purpose of the synths and their ability to replace humans. As their synth, Anita is owned by the Hawkins family and make their lives easier by doing cleaning, cooking and looking after the children which are stereotypical housewife roles. Laura, as a lawyer, is often away from ...