We have completed some excellent work on our Advertising and Marketing CSPs. We now need to create an index to ensure we haven't missed any vital notes or tasks.
As you know, keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. This keeps the vital CSP information fresh in your mind and also highlights if you've missed anything for any reason.
Advertising and Marketing index Your Advertising and Marketing index should include the following:
For your index, it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work and revision notes quickly and easily. This also means if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in future assessments/exams due to gaps in your knowledge.
You will have an assessment on the Advertising and Marketing topic when we return after Easter. This will feature questions on an unseen text and a 20-mark essay on your Advertising and Marketing CSPs. Use your index to help revise the key theories and CSPs for this topic. The assessment is likely to be in your first double lesson after Easter depending on the timetable.
Our second Advertising and Marketing CSP is the 2017 Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1' mascara video advert. This gives us an opportunity to explore the idea of gender fluidity in society and the media - plus compare the changing representation of masculinity in advertising. Notes from the lesson are here: Gender fluidity Gender fluidity is when gender expression shifts between masculine and feminine. Indeed, gender identity has become a major media and social issue in the last 10 years. Young (and some older) people are increasingly identifying as gender fluid – and some have credited the internet for this change. They suggest that millennials grew up with the internet so can easily find information on topics like gender expression and supportive communities online. You can read more on this view and gender fluidity in this CNN article here.
Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1'
The Maybelline ‘That Boss Life’ advert was part of a digital campaign for their ‘Big Shot Mascara’ product. It has been removed from YouTube officially but is available for Greenford students at this link (you'll need to sign in with your Greenford username and password) and below on YouTube at the time of publishing:
The campaign was significant as it was the first time Maybelline used a male brand ambassador and digital influencers. The use of YouTube stars Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell meant the brand could reach their combined (at the time) 5.1 million Instagram followers and 2.5 million YouTube subscribers. In addition, Gutierrez (‘MannyMua’) is Mexican-Spanish-American and openly gay, offering a very different representation of masculinity and sexuality to the 1967 Score hair cream advert.
Blog tasks: Maybelline 'That Boss Life' case study Work through the following tasks to make sure you're an expert on the Maybelline CSP and particularly the wider social and cultural context.
Complete the following questions/tasks: 1) Why was this campaign such a landmark for beauty product advertising? 2) What do the articles suggest regarding the changing representation of sexuality and masculinity?
3) Why do you think Maybelline chose to use MannyMUA and MakeUpShayla to feature in this campaign?
4) What does the WWD article suggest is the crucial factor for brands regardless of whether they use influencers or more traditional celebrities?
Maybelline 'That Boss Life' Media Factsheet
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #181: Close Study Product - Advertising - Maybelline - That Boss Life. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can download it here if you use your Greenford login details to access Google Drive. Answer the following questions:
1) Why was 'That Boss Life' a change from how Maybelline had traditionally advertised their products?
2) Why are digital influencers so attractive to companies? 3) How does the advert use media language to construct meanings for the audience?
4) How does the advert use postmodern elements?
5) What narrative elements are discussed in the factsheet for 'That Boss Life'?
6) The factsheet discusses several interesting aspects of representation in the advert. Write three bullet points on aspects of representation and gender fluidity linked to the advert.
Media Magazine: The Changing Face of Masculinity Finally, go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature 'The Changing Face of Masculinity' in MM63 (page 15). This will allow us to compare our two advertising CSPs - the Score hair cream advert and the Maybelline digital campaign. Answer the following questions: 1) What message does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert is trying to communicate to the 1967 audience? 2) How does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert uses narrative to sell the product? 3) What 1967 stereotypes does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert reinforces? 4) Applying Stuart Hall's reception theory, what does the article suggest the preferred and oppositional readings could be for the Score hair cream advert? 5) Moving on to the Maybelline advert, how does this use narrative and what is the message of the advert? 6) The final section of the article focuses on masculinity. What do the Score advert and the Maybelline advert suggest regarding the changes in society and media between 1967 and 2017? Due date on Google Classroom.
We have completed excellent in-depth studies of Capital and Deutschland 83 alongside important work on political and postmodern theories.
We now need to create an index to ensure we haven't missed any vital notes or tasks. As you know, keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. This keeps the vital CSP information fresh in your mind and also highlights if you've missed anything for any reason.
TV index: Capital & Deutschland 83 Your TV index should include the following:
For your index, it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work and revision notes quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in the upcoming assessment and end of Year 12 exam due to gaps in your knowledge.
The television industry has changed significantly in recent years and we need to explore some of these industry contexts to go alongside our analysis of Capital and Deutschland 83. As an in-depth topic, we could be asked any kind of question on television - language (e.g. genre or narrative), representation, audience or industry. Aspects of the industry context include the rise in foreign-language television and the impact of digital media (the internet and streaming) on the TV industry.
The rise in foreign-language television
Through globalisation and developments in technology, the way we watch television is completely different to even 15 years ago. We need to explore the rise in popularity of foreign-language television and work out why audiences like it and what is behind the recent surge in interest. Foreign-language television Foreign-language television is becoming increasingly mainstream with the rise of on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime alongside UK digital channels such as BBC4. Audiences are now accustomed to 'binge-watching' TV drama and seem increasingly open to content from around the world. This perhaps reflects the global nature of the internet and the fact younger generations are more likely to see themselves as global citizens. It also reflects the global nature of the television industry with a small number of international media conglomerates owning the vast majority of TV production companies.
Walter Presents ‘Walter Presents’ is a video-on-demand (VOD) service from Channel 4, available through their online streaming site All4. The service presents international TV drama curated by Walter Iuzzolino. The service aims to avoid so-called arthouse programming in favour of more mainstream productions, aimed at competing against Netflix and Amazon Prime. Walter Iuzzolino stated any selected show must be popular in its native country and it must be “award-winning or critically acclaimed”. Watch the trailer for the ‘Walter Presents’ service and think about the following questions:
Close-textual analysis: how does the trailer use film language to encourage the audience to watch?
What conventions of TV drama are highlighted in the trailer?
How many clips from Deutschland 83 can you spot?
What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer?
Meet Walter promo clip Channel 4 created a short introductory video for ‘Walter Presents’. Watch the clip and think about the following:
How is Walter introduced?
What target audience is this aiming at?
What audience pleasures are suggested from the promo?
What does Walter say about TV drama?
The impact of new and digital media on television
New and digital media - the internet - has had a huge impact on the television industry in the last 10 years. Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have fundamentally changed the way we watch television. Remember - in just 15 years, Netflix has gone from a mail-order DVD company to a giant in the television content production industry. Netflix now spends upwards of $8 billion a year making original TV programmes - more than the budget for the entire BBC.
Watch Newsweek magazine's short video on how Netflix changed TV: TV Drama One of the key genres for Netflix and Amazon Prime is TV drama. Many of these dramas now have the budgets and production values of Hollywood movies and many top actors are choosing to work in television rather than film. In addition, the increase in streaming services has created a worldwide distribution network for acclaimed foreign-language TV dramas such as Deutschland 83.
Streaming services and audiences
For audiences, streaming has changed the way we watch television. 'Event TV' (also known as 'appointment-to-view') is far less common now. This is when millions of people around the country would tune in to watch the latest episode of a drama at a set day and time. Many people now 'binge-watch' TV dramas by watching multiple episodes back-to-back.
Television industry contexts: Blog tasks To finish our work on television, we need to complete some tasks exploring industry contexts around foreign-language TV, the changing audience for television and how streaming impacts the way audiences consume TV. Indeed, when answering these questions, consider the issues from both an audience and industry perspective. Independent: British viewers can't get enough of foreign-language dramas Read this Independent feature on foreign-language dramas. If the website is blocked or forcing you to register you can access the text of the article here. It features an in-depth interview with Walter Iuzzolino who curates Channel 4's Walter Presents programming. Answer the questions below: 1) What does the article suggest regarding the traditional audience for foreign-language subtitled media? 2) What does Walter Iuzzolino suggest is the key appeal of his 'Walter Presents' shows? 3) The article makes an interesting claim for the popularity of subtitles in the multi-screen age. What does it suggest? 4) What are the other audiences pleasures of foreign TV drama suggested by the article?
Film School Rejects: The foreign TV dramas you're missing out on Now read this Film School Rejects feature on the foreign TV dramas you're missing out on. This contains some particularly useful background on Deutschland 83's reception internationally. If the website is blocked, you can access the article text here. Answer the following questions: 1) What does the article tell us about Deutschland 83's release schedule? 2) The article contains important statistics on viewing figures in different countries. What were the German viewing figures for the first and last episode? What were Channel's 4's viewing figures for Deutschland 83? 3) Who are the two production and distribution companies behind Deutschland 83 and what did they announce in October? 4) How does Walter Iuzzolino use social media to engage audiences in new international TV dramas? How does he suggest this has changed the reception of foreign productions in the UK?
The Guardian: How tech is changing television Read this Guardian feature on how tech is changing television. This has some particularly useful aspects from an industry perspective - how TV is made, the different formats of TV drama and more. Answer the following questions: 1) How have streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime changed the way TV drama narratives are constructed? 2) Why has the rise in streaming led to more complex storylines and an increase in cliffhangers? 3) How have the "economics of production" kept TV drama largely sticking to the 45- or 60-minute episode format? 4) How has "permanent 24/7 connectivity" changed both the production and consumption of TV drama?
Media Magazine: Netflix and the Cultural Industries
Finally, go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on Netflix and the Cultural Industries (MM63 - page 45). Answer the following questions: 1) What does David Hesmondhalgh argue with regards to how the creative industries have changed since the 1980s? 2) What is technological convergence? 3) How are technology companies challenging traditional broadcasters in the TV industry? 4) The global nature of modern television means producers are having to consider international audiences when creating content. What example from Netflix does the article use to explain this?
There is a fair amount of work here - the questions are not too challenging but there is plenty to read. Feel free to answer the questions in bullet points if you find it quicker. Remember, this reading and notetaking will prepare you brilliantly for the extended essay question in Media Paper 2 - particularly if the question focuses on industry or audience.
Due date: on Google Classroom
Extension tasks
If you're particularly interested in this industry, you may want to read the following articles or take on the following tasks that go into more detail on the TV industry:
How do changes in technology influence the creation of TV dramas such as Capital or Deutschland 83? Try and make specific references to the two TV CSPs in your answer.
We have studied the changing representation of women and men in advertising and now we need to apply those ideas to our first advertising CSP. The 1967 Score hair cream advert provides a compelling case study for the representation of both men and women and allows us to explore how historical contexts inform representations in the media. A reminder of some of the notes from recent lessons: Hypermasculinity in advertising Hypermasculinity is defined as: a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behaviour, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality. Advertising in the 1950s-1980s often featured a hypermasculine representation of men – and some representations in the media today still continue this.
Masculinity in crisis? David Gauntlett
Media theorist David Gauntlett has written extensively on gender and identity. He disagrees with the popular view that masculinity is ‘in crisis’:
“Contemporary masculinity is often said to be 'in crisis'; as women become increasingly assertive and successful… men are said to be anxious and confused about what their role is today.”
Instead, Gauntlett suggests that many modern representations of masculinity are “about men finding a place for themselves in the modern world.” He sees this as a positive thing. (Gauntlett, 2002) Gauntlett: three key ideas Idea 1: Identity is becoming more fluid Idea 2: There are generational differences Idea 3: Things change over time
Score hair cream advert: CSP context The Score hair cream advert is an historical artefact from 1967. It should be examined by considering its historical, social and cultural contexts, particularly as it relates to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques. Context: 1967 can be seen as a period of change in the UK with legislation on (and changing attitudes to) the role of women – and men – in society. Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality and three years before the 1970 Equal Pay Act, the representation of gender could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of Empire.
Blog task: Score advert and wider reading Complete the following tasks and wider reading on the Score hair cream advert and masculinity in advertising. Media Factsheet - Score hair cream Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can download it here if you use your Greenford login details to access Google Drive. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions: 1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns? 3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image? You may wish to link this to relevant contexts too. 4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert? 5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in the 2020s? 6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience? 7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler? 8) How could David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert? 9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)? 10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context? Wider reading The Drum: This Boy Can article Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions: 1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"? 2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity? 3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"? 4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products? 5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity? Due date: on Google Classroom.
This is a reminder that all Media students who are free must attend the Speakers for Schools talk by advertising Creative Director Danny Brooke-Taylor on Wednesday 23 March at 9.25am. This is a brilliant opportunity to hear from a leading voice in the creative industries. His Speakers for Schools introduction:
"Danny has been lucky enough to be Creative Director at some great agencies, including TBWA and Mother.
"He’s bagged lots of awards at British Arrows, Cannes, The One Show, Creative Circle and D&AD. His Hovis commercial “Go on lad” was voted “Ad of the Decade” by ITV viewers in 2010."
Make sure you prepare a question to ask Danny in the Q&A that will follow the talk. This may involve the skills required to work in the media industries but also think about the your key media issues and debates this year: How has new/digital media affected the advertising industry? How aware is the advertising industry of gender stereotypes and reflecting changing social attitudes? Is the mass media (as David Gauntlett suggests) responsible for promoting liberal or 'woke' values?
You can find out more about Danny from his agency - Lucky Generals website. Your Media teachers will be at the talk and taking a register so make sure you are there on time. The details: Danny Brooke-Taylor - Speakers for Schools visit to Greenford High School Wednesday 23 March Time: 9.25am Lecture Theatre Enjoy the talk!
Postmodernism is one of the more challenging concepts in A Level Media but fortunately Deutschland 83 provides a brilliant case study as a postmodernist media text. We need to be able to look for postmodern ideas in the media texts we study - and some of that we've done already in our work on advertising and marketing, intertextuality and genre. Notes and definitions
Postmodernism: a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories. (Source: Dictionary definition) A brief history Postmodernism is linked to the premodernism and modernism eras. Pre-modernism: up to late 19th century. Religion dominates society. Modernism: late 19th century to mid-20th century Science dominates; religion questioned; distinct difference between high culture (e.g. art) and low culture; industrialisation. Postmodernism: mid- to late-20th century to present Blurring of high and low culture/art and popular culture; media-driven hyper-reality; style over substance.
Postmodernism and the media Postmodernism is often defined by scepticism, irony, self-referentiality or intertextuality. What does that mean? The Simpsons provides an example. The structure is a classic family sitcom but the content ridicules authority (including its media conglomerate owner) and is full of intertextual references to other films, TV shows and popular culture.
Further examples of postmodernism An example in architecture would be Las Vegas; in art, Andy Warhol's pop-art of the 1960s. Award-winning 1998 German film Run Lola Run (‘Lola Rennt’) is credited with revitalising German cinema with a postmodern take on crime drama that features a repeating narrative and a blurring of genres.
Postmodernism: theory and terminology Strinati
Dominic Strinati identified five ways to define postmodernism: 1. ‘Media-isation’ of culture – we make sense of reality using media texts 2. Emphasis of style over substance e.g. celebrity, reality TV 3. Breakdown of difference between art and popular culture 4. Confusion over time and space – modern society is built on the instantaneous 5. Decline of meta-narratives or grand narratives (e.g. religion or political theories such as communism) Key terms There are some key terms we need to learn when studying postmodernism in media texts: Bricolage The juxtaposing of old and new texts, images, ideas and narratives to create new meanings. Hyper-reality Jean Baudrillard argued that audiences view the ‘copy’ of reality in the media as more real than the original. Fredric Jameson discussed the idea of ‘historical deafness’ by suggesting the media-isation of history means we only understand historical events through their media representation.
There are some key terms we need to learn when studying postmodernism in media texts:
Pastiche
This refers to media products that imitate the style of another text, artist or time period. Pastiche is an example of intertextuality and takes a positive view of the original source.
In contrast parody is similar but ridicules the original source (e.g. Scary Movie parodies horror).
Fredric Jameson on parody and pastiche
“Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody’s ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter.”
Jameson suggested pastiche does not offer up comment on society or history – it is simply done because it is ‘stylish’. He marks this as an example of ‘historical deafness’.
Deutschland 83: a postmodernism text
The following scenes of Deutschland 83 provide excellent examples of bricolage, hyper-reality and pastiche:
Opening scene: 0.00 – 3.00
Title sequence followed by archive footage: 8.10 – 9.15
Running/supermarket scene: 17.10 – 18.10
Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog task Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #54: Introduction to Postmodernism. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can find our factsheet archive here (you'll need to use your Greenford login). 1) Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)? 2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83? 3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'? 4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83? 5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83? 6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.
7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task. 8) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning? 9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why? 10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?
There is a lot of challenging work here - you will have plenty of time to complete it so take it slowly, read around the subject and re-watch the scenes from the first episode on All4 to help develop impressive academic answers to these questions. Due date on Google Classroom.
David Gauntlett has written extensively about gender, identity and the mass media and is a key theorist for A Level Media Studies. The Advertising and Marketing topic is a great opportunity to apply some of these ideas and give us some degree-level knowledge and theory. David Gauntlett: Media, Gender and Identity
There is a huge amount we can take from Gauntlett's work across the mass media but these are three key ideas that we can apply to our Advertising and Marketing CSPs. Idea 1: Identity is becoming more fluid David Gauntlett writes that there is a “decline of tradition”. “The mass media is a force for change… The traditional view of a woman as a housewife or low-status worker has been kick-boxed out of the picture by the feisty, successful 'girl power' icons. Meanwhile the masculine ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self-reliance and emotional silence have been shaken by a new emphasis on men's emotions, need for advice, and the problems of masculinity.”
Idea 2: There are generational differences Gauntlett highlights the differences in views on identity between young and old – e.g. on homosexuality or masculinity. “The mass media has become more liberal, and considerably more challenging to traditional standards… and this has been a reflection of changing attitudes, but also involves the media actively disseminating modern values.
Idea 3: Things change over time Gauntlett talks positively about the media and audiences changing over time. “Views of gender and sexuality, masculinity and femininity, identity and selfhood, are all in slow but steady processes of change and transformation. “These things are not stationary. To discuss gender and media is to aim arguments at moving targets - which, again, is just as well.”
Gender, identity and advertising: blog task Read this extract from Media, Gender and Identity by David Gauntlett. This is another university-level piece of academic writing so it will be challenging - but there are some fascinating ideas here regarding the changing representation of men and women in the media. 1) What examples does Gauntlett provide of the "decline of tradition"? 2) How does Gauntlett suggest the media influences the way we construct our own identities? 3) What does Gauntlett suggest regarding generational differences? Is it a good thing that the media seems to promote modern liberal values?
4) Why does Gauntlett suggest that masculinity is NOT in crisis? 5) Does advertising still reinforce the "conventionally rugged, super-independent, extra-strong macho man" that Gauntlett discusses? Offer examples for both sides of the argument from the wider advertising industry. 6) Gauntlett discusses the idea of 'girl power' and offers examples from music and film. Does advertising provide evidence to support the idea of 'girl power' or is the industry still reinforcing traditional representations of men and women? 7) Do you agree with Gauntlett's argument under 'Popular feminism, women and men' where he suggests that younger generations are not threatened by traditional gender roles and are comfortable with social changes? Does advertising provide examples either reinforcing or challenging this idea that younger generations are more comfortable with changing gender roles?
8) What examples from advertising does Gauntlett provide for the changing nature of gender in society (from the section on Judith Butler's Gender trouble)?
9) Why is advertising such a good example of the 'contradictory elements' that Gauntlett discusses with regards to the mass media? In other words, how does advertising continue to both reinforce and challenge gender stereotypes? 10) Finally, Gauntlett makes a clear case that things change and modern identities are increasingly fluid. What is your opinion on this debate - do you agree that the media reinforces the changing attitudes towards gender and sexuality in society? This is a significant amount of work but you'll have an extended deadline to give you time to complete this. Due date on Google Classroom.
The representation of women in advertising is a vital area of study. We need to be able to discuss how representations have changed and apply these ideas to both unseen advertisements and our CSPs. The notes from the lesson are below. Jean Kilbourne: Killing us softly
Activist and cultural theorist Jean Kilbourne has been studying the image of women in advertising for over 40 years. Her series ‘Killing us softly’ highlighted the negative representation of women in advertising. She went on to make further documentaries studying this issue and whether it was changing over time. Liesbet van Zoonen: Feminist Media Studies
Liesbet van Zoonen was one of the first theorists to explicitly link gender, feminism and media studies. Writing since the 1990s, van Zoonen is a key figure in third wave feminism alongside theorists such as Judith Butler and she also develops Mulvey’s work on the ‘male gaze’. Looking specifically at the representation of women in advertisements in the 1970s and 80s, van Zoonen questioned how much things had really changed. For example, women in adverts may be shown to have jobs but their appearance was usually still the vital element.
Liesbet van Zoonen: third wave feminist
In the 90s, van Zoonen was interested in the pleasures female audiences took from the women’s magazines that were heavily criticised by more radical 1970s-style feminists. In a similarity with Butler, van Zoonen sees gender as negotiated and dependent on social and historical context. She suggested that the meaning of gender is a “discursive struggle and negotiation, the outcome having far-reaching socio-cultural implications.” (van Zoonen, 1994)
Liesbet van Zoonen: constructing meanings
van Zoonen also built on Stuart Hall’s reception theory with regards to how gender representations communicate their meanings to audiences. She suggested the media’s influence in constructing gender is dependent on:
Whether the institution is commercial or public
The platform (print/broadcast/digital)
Genre (e.g. drama/news/advertisement)
Target audience
How significant the media text is to that audience
Blog tasks: Representation of women in advertising The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks. Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions: 1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s? 2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s? 3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising? 4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to? 5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s? 6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years? 7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power? 8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up? Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54) Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above. 1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign and why was it controversial? 2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign? 3) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 4) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies? 5) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years? There is a fair amount of work here - you will be given some lesson time to do it but will need to finish for homework. Due date on Google Classroom.
Adverts - both print and moving image - use a range of persuasive techniques to try and positively influence their audience. We need to learn a range of these techniques and later apply them to the two CSP adverts we need to study for the exam. The notes from the lesson are below. Persuasive techniques Advertisements are generally trying to persuade their target audience to:
Buy a product or service
Believe something or act in a certain way
Agree with a point of view
There are many persuasive techniques used in advertising. A selection include:
Slogan – a catchy phrase or statement
Repetition – constant reference to product name
Bandwagon – everyone is buying it
Testimonial/association – e.g. celebrity endorsement
Emotional appeal – designed to create strong feelings
Testimonial/association – FIFA18 ‘El Tornado’ / Ronaldo
Emotional appeal – WaterAid ‘Dig toilets not graves’
Expert opinion – Max Factor ‘The make-up of make-up artists’
Case study: Marmite
Marmite has a long history of unusual advertising based around the idea ‘You either love it or you hate it’. How many of the persuasive techniques can you spot in these adverts?
Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Persuasive techniques'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54 (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here. Answer the following questions on your blog: 1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’? 2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to? 3) How was Marmite discovered? 4) Who owns the Marmite brand now? 5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to? 6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this? 7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’? 8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?
Complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom.
Our second television close-study product is critically acclaimed German cold war spy drama Deutschland 83. Just like our work on Capital, we need to know everything about Deutschland 83 - from textual analysis of key scenes to how it was funded, distributed and promoted. The notes from the lesson are here: Historical context: The Cold War The Cold War was a political dispute between the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union – Russia and 14 other states) and the Western Bloc (USA and NATO allies including the UK). It took place from 1947 to 1989. There was never large-scale fighting between the two sides but on at least two occasions the world came close to a fully-nuclear World War 3.
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War, constructed after the Berlin crisis of 1961.
It divided Communist-controlled East Berlin and NATO-supporting West Berlin. East Germans were not allowed to cross the border for a better life in the West – many were shot trying to climb over the wall.
The East German government eventually allowed people to freely cross the border on 9 November 1989.
1983: a critical year in the Cold War
The Cold War almost boiled over into nuclear war in 1983 when a NATO exercise called Able Archer caused some politicians in East Germany and the Soviet Union to believe the USA was planning a nuclear first-strike.
Deutschland 83: case study blog tasks Work through the following tasks to build a detailed case study for Deutschland 83. This will give you plenty of background information to use in an exam question. Remember, for this CSP the question could be on any of the key concepts: language, industries, audiences or representations. Introduction: Reviews and features Read the following reviews and features on Deutschland 83: The Guardian - Your next box set: Deutschland 83 The Guardian - Deutschland 83 Pity the Germans don't like it 1) Find one positive aspect and one criticism of Deutschland 83 in reviews. 2) Why does the second Guardian article suggest the Germans didn't like the show?
3) Find three 'below the line' comments from either of the Guardian articles. What did the audience think of Deutschland 83? Do you agree with the comments? Promotional interview Channel 4 News: Matt Frei interviews Jonas Nay 1) What does Jonas Nay say about growing up in a united Germany? 2) The Channel 4 News interview is conducted in German with English subtitles. How does this reflect Channel 4's remit as a public service broadcaster and their target audience? (Clue: revise your work on Channel 4 and Public Service Broadcasting here!) 3) Interviewer Matt Frei asks about the current political situation in Germany. Why might this interest the Channel 4 News audience?
Textual analysis: Audience pleasures and representations We need to consider the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 alongside various representations created in the first episode.
Type up your analysis from the lesson using the headings below. You may want to watch the key scenes again and develop your notes in further detail - the more specific and memorable your analysis, the better it will serve you when writing an essay on TV drama. Here's a Google doc we have worked on together in Media lessons on this topic - feel free to use these notes alongside your own. You'll need to use your Greenford Google login to access this.
Scene 1: Garden/BBQ scenes (East & West Germany)
4.58 – 8.20 and 34.00 – 37.20
Make notes under the following headings:
Technical codes – particularly mise-en-scene
Representation of East & West Germany / Family / Gender
Scene 2: Martin/Moritz first sees the West German supermarket
14.30 – 20.25
Make notes under the following headings:
Technical codes – particularly mise-en-scene
Audio codes – particularly music
Representation of East & West Germany / Communism & Capitalism / Historical accuracy
Audience pleasures
Scene 3: Training montage scene when Martin/Moritz learns how to be a spy
20.40 – 22.40
Make notes under the following headings:
Technical codes – particularly camerawork and editing
Audio codes
Audience pleasures
Intertextuality
Scene 4: Briefcase scene when Martin/Moritz is stealing the NATO nuclear plans
31.13 – 33.30
Make notes under the following headings:
Technical codes – particularly camerawork and editing
Audio codes – diegetic and non-diegetic sound
Audience pleasures
You will do the majority of this textual analysis work in class - this section of your case study simply requires typing up your notes in an easy and memorable way (bullet points are fine).
Production and industry contexts Deutschland 83 was produced by German production company UFA Fiction and distributed internationally by Fremantle International. It was broadcast on RTL (Germany), SundanceTV (US) and Channel 4 (UK) as well as many other broadcasters around teh world. 1) What kind of company is UFA Fiction and what shows have they produced? 2) What kind of company is Freemantle and what do they produce? 3) How does Deutschland 83 reflect the international nature of television production? Walter Presents Watch this Channel 4 trailer for their Walter Presents international drama:
1) How does Channel 4 introduce 'Walter'? 2) What audience are Channel 4 trying to appeal to with the 'Walter Presents' series? 3) How does the 'Walter Presents' series reflect the changing nature of television in the digital age? Marketing and promotion
Trailer 1) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer? Think about Uses & Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz). 2) How does the trailer use action and enigma codes (Barthes) to encourage the audience to watch the show? 3) The only words heard in the trailer are in English. Why do you think the UK trailer avoided subtitles or German dialogue?
Press pack Read the Channel 4 press pack interview with writer Anna Winger. (If the link doesn't work, you can find the text from the interview here). 1) How did she use the historical context and real-life events to create a successful drama? 2) Anna Winger discusses the use of music. Why might the soundtrack attract an audience?
International marketing Look at these two different marketing campaigns - the UK DVD release (left) and the American Sundance TV advert (right). 1) How does the UK DVD cover communicate the sub-genre of the drama? 2) How do these use font, colour and graphics to appeal to an audience? 3) Why might the distributors Freemantle International have used different marketing campaigns in different countries? There is a lot of work here - allow at least three hours to get through everything. Remember: this is an in-depth CSP so you need to know every aspect in real detail.
