The magazine cover production task was a brilliant introduction to Photoshop and the kind of work we will be doing for coursework next year. Thank you for your patience in receiving feedback on this - we've been snowed under with coursework marking and exam preparation!
Depending on lesson timetabling and staff availability, you will receive this feedback either via email or verbally/handwritten in class. It will be marked out of 15 using the NEA (non-exam assessment) mark scheme. This divides up your mark using the different Media concepts: Media Language, Media Representations, Media Industries and Audiences. For this front cover assignment, we are only using the mark scheme for Media Language:
Magazine front cover - Learner response
Create a new blogpost called 'Magazine cover learner response' and complete the following tasks:
1) Add your finished magazine cover as a JPEG image.
2) Type up your feedback from your teacher. If you've received this by email, you can copy and paste it across - WWW and EBIs. You don't need to include a mark or grade if you don't want to.
3) Consider your mark against the mark scheme above. What are the strengths of your production based on the the mark scheme? Think about magazine cover conventions and the media language techniques you have used to communicate with your audience (e.g. mise-en-scene, camera shot etc.)
4) Look at the mark scheme again. What can you do to move your mark higher and, if required, move up a level?
5) What would be one piece of advice you would give a student about to start the same magazine cover project you have just completed?
Complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom.
Our music video CSPs give us a great opportunity to further our understanding of postmodernism. These ideas are difficult to get our head around but once we understand postmodern references it gives us a much deeper understanding of how media products are constructed and consumed - particularly in the digital age.
Ghost Town and Postmodernism
The hybrid mix of references and music video forms – an experimental combination of narrative (the journey), performance and concept – means that the video can be read through a postmodern approach with reference to intertextuality and hybridity. We can see examples of bricolage and pastiche – a merging of British film genres such as social realism and hammer horror in order to create something new (as music videos were in 1981). The lighting, colour and camerawork also create intertextual references to these film genres. Arguably, the narrative offers an example of bricolage - a postmodern take on the 'road movie' but with no destination or quest to complete (which is perhaps why the video ends with them aimlessly throwing stones into the River Thames). Finally, it could be argued that the combination of an arthouse film-style with a popular genre of music (the song reached #1 in the British chart) provides an example of Strinati’s definition of postmodernism as a blurring of art and popular culture.
Old Town Road and Postmodernism
Audience theorist Henry Jenkins coined the term textual poaching for sampling or re-editing existing texts – a classic postmodern signifier. The original song was created from a riff Lil Nas X bought for $30 from someone he saw on YouTube. It became famous from Tiktok memes and the ‘Official Movie’ contains many elements designed to be shared separately or imitated online.
The video also taps into celebrity culture. As well as featuring country music legend Billy Ray Cyrus and superstar Chris Rock, the video also stars various names from the music industry such as Diplo, Vince Staples and Rico Nasty. This creates intertextuality and further encourages rewatching and sharing.
Yeehaw movement, bricolage and pastiche
The initial release of the song attached itself to the then emerging Yeehaw movement that was reclaiming the cowboy aesthetic for Black fashion and culture. This could be viewed as a combination of bricolage and pastiche.
Lil Nas X also used footage from the popular Western-genre videogame Red Dead Redemption in promoting the song on TikTok and other social media platforms. The song became a meme on TikTok with viral videos and Yeehaw challenges. The controversy about whether it was a country song then kicked off further debate regarding hybrid genres and what makes something ‘country’.
Playing with reality
Finally, Old Town Road plays with our understanding of reality. With the text on screen announcing ‘Old Town Road 2019’ there is the suggestion it is now based in the present. But is the video offering a genuine representation of modern-day reality or a comment on the lack of racial equality and harmony in American society?
Postmodernism in music video: Blog tasks Media Magazine Theory Drop - Postmodernism Create a new blog post called 'Postmodernism in music video: blog tasks'. Read ‘The Theory Drop: Postmodernism’ in MM66 (p26). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Answer the following questions:
1) How does the article define postmodernism in the first page of the article?
2) What did media theorist and Semiotician Roland Barthes suggest in his essay 'The Death of the Author'?
3) What is metatextuality?
4) What is the repeated phrase on the cartoon on postmodernism on page 28?
5) How does postmodernism link to media representations and reality?
Music video CSPs and postmodernism Now apply postmodern ideas to our music video CSPs by answering the following questions:
1) How does the music video for Ghost Town incorporate elements of postmodernism?
2) What film genres are alluded to in the music video for Ghost Town? Which scenes in particular created these links?
3) How does Old Town Road use postmodern elements in its music video?
4) How does the Old Town Road music video reflect technological convergence and modern digital culture?
5) What do YOU think Lil Nas X was trying to say about reality and American culture in the music video for Old Town Road?
The TV assessment was your first test on an in-depth area of study - with a tough postmodernism question thrown in for good measure. This is an excellent example of the type of question AQA can hit us with and developing our skills in responding to such questions will help us massively in the actual two-hour exams. The first part of your learner response is to look carefully at your mark, grade and comments from your teacher. If anything doesn't make sense, ask your teacher - it's crucial we're learning from the process of assessments and feedback. Your learner response is as follows: Create a new blog post called 'TV assessment learner response' and complete the following tasks on your coursework blog: 1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential). 2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify at least one potential point that you missed out on for each question in the assessment (even if you got full marks for the question). 3) The first question demanded a response using postmodern terminology. Write a definition here of the three main terms: Bricolage: Pastiche: Intertextuality: 4) Read this exemplar answer for the 25-mark question in the assessment. Select a quote from the essay for each of the following aspects from the mark scheme:
a) analysis of the products that focuses on contexts and ideological positioning
b) use of media theory
c) a judgement or conclusion on the question
d) examples from the TV CSPs
e) use of media terminology
5) Based on this assessment, write three things you need to revise before the upcoming end of Year 12 exams.
If you do not finish your learner response in the lesson your work is returned, this needs to be completed at home by your next coursework lesson.
The second part of our GQ case study explores Audience and Industry contexts.
Audience
To explore the Audience context for GQ we need to explore who reads GQ and what audience pleasures might be linked to the brand.
GQ: numbers
GQ (UK edition) had a circulation of around 85,000 in January 2022 (a slight decline on the 89,000 in 2021) which included 33,000 free copies (e.g. provided to airport lounges/Eurostar). GQ’s total readership is around 200,000 meaning each copy is read on average by 2 or 3 people.
Definitions: Circulation is the actual number of copies printed and distributed. Readership is an estimate of how many people read the magazine in total (also known as readers-per-copy). For GQ, copies in an airport lounge may be read by many different people.
Circulation figures are provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) and readership estimates by the National Readership Survey (NRS).
Demographics and psychographics
GQ has a largely middle class readership:
ABC1: 61%
With an average household income of £138k, GQ attracts wealthy readers with money to spend. This encourages top-end brands to advertise with the magazine.
The GQ Media Pack focuses on products that reflect a certain lifestyle such as fashion, watches, grooming and cars. This would suggest targeting the Aspirer and Succeeder psychographic groups.
Audience pleasures
There are many potential audience pleasures for GQ readers. Applying Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory, two in particular would be:
Personal identity: Readers enjoy having their lifestyle reflected and endorsed through reading the magazine.
Surveillance: GQ focuses on offering a range of content to help their readers be informed about the world – particularly in terms of politics, fashion and culture.
Industries
To explore the Industries context for GQ we need to study publisher Conde Nast and look at the impact of digital media on the print magazine industry.
This means interrogating why the internet has had such a devastating effect on certain print brands and why some other magazines are continuing to survive in the digital age. We also need to spend some time on the GQ website and study social media and video content to see how the brand is expanding beyond print. GQ publisher: Conde Nast
Condé Nast was founded in 1909 in New York. It describes itself:
“Condé Nast is one of the world's most renowned media companies creating and distributing every type of media today — print, video and film, digital, audio and social – widening our influence through technological innovation and by fully leveraging the global infrastructure we've built for over a century.”
Its revenue was just under $2billion in 2021 but in previous years had been losing $100m a year.
Condé Nast is owned by Advance Publications which makes it a case study in conglomerate ownership. Advance Publications is also a major shareholder in website Reddit and Warner Bros. Discovery.
The impact of digital media on the magazine industry
Suggestions for SWOT analysis of the impact of digital media on magazines:
Strengths: Magazine brands are well established to diversify online, audiences already know and like them.
Weaknesses: Print publishers do not have the expertise or knowledge of digital – it is a very different medium.
Opportunities: Magazines can find new audiences online.
Threats: Audiences will stop buying paper products and expect everything online for free.
Ultimately, it is this threat that has had the most devastating impact on the industry:
Print sales fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017.
Back in 2000, sales were over 30m – signalling a 55% decline in just 17 years.
Advertising in consumer magazines fell from £512m in 2010 to £250m in 2017.
Google and Facebook now dominate online advertising (they account for 65% of the UK digital ad market).
As a result of these changes, many magazines have closed.
GQ and diversification
The decline in print media has meant traditional print publishers like Condé Nast have had to diversify on to digital platforms and live experiences.
This means social media and video and streaming content is crucial to the GQ brand alongside the GQ Heroes summit held in Oxfordshire each summer. It is described:
“GQ Heroes is a premier event for top-tier business and creative minds, bringing together some of the world's most influential figures to discuss the evolving nature of industry and creativity in a world that's changing by the second.”
GQ - Audience & Industries blog tasks
Audience
Look through the GQ Media Kit and answer the following questions:
1) How does the media kit introduction describe GQ?
2) What does the media kit suggest about masculinity?
3) Pick out three statistics from the data on page 2 and explain what they suggest about the GQ audience.
4) Look at page 3 - brand highlights. What special editions do GQ run and what do these suggest about the GQ audience?
5) Still on page 3, what does the video and social series section suggest about how magazine audiences are changing?
Media Magazine feature: GQ
Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on GQ (MM82 - page 12). Answer the following questions:
1) What are the elements that go into choosing a cover stars for GQ?
2) How is the magazine constructed to serve the target audience?
3) What does the article suggest about GQ's advertisers and sponsorships - and what in turn does this tell us about the GQ audience?
4) What is GQ Hype - and how does it reflect the impact of digital media on traditional print media?
5) Finally, what does the article say about additional revenue streams for print magazines like GQ?
Industries
Your industries contexts are divided into three areas - Conde Nast, GQ's website and social media content and the impact of digital media on print industries.
Condé Nast Read this Guardian news article on editorial changes at Condé Nast and answer the following questions: 1) Who was previously GQ editor for 22 years? 2) What happened to the 'lads' mag' boom magazines such as Nuts, Maxim and Loaded? 3) What changes have been taking place at Condé Nast in recent years and why?
1) How is Condé Nast moving away from traditional print products?
2) What examples are provided of Condé Nast's video and streaming content?
3) What does the end of the article suggest modern media audiences want?
GQ website, video and social media content
Visit the GQ website, Instagram and YouTube channel. Note that some of these may be blocked in school. Once you have looked over GQ's online content, answer the following questions:
1) What similarities do you notice between the website and the print edition of the magazine? 2) Analyse the top menu of the GQ website (e.g. Fashion / Grooming / Culture). What do the menu items suggest about GQ's audience?
3) What does GQ's Instagram feed suggest about the GQ brand? Is this appealing to a similar audience to the print version of the magazine? 4) In your opinion, is GQ's social media content designed to sell the print magazine or build a digital audience? Why? 5) Evaluate the success of the GQ brand online. Does it successfully communicate with its target audience? Will the digital platforms eventually replace the print magazine completely?
1) What statistics are provided to demonstrate the decline in the print magazines industry between 2010 and 2017? What about the percentage decline from 2000? 2) What percentage of ad revenue is taken by Google and Facebook? 3) What strategies can magazine publishers use to remain in business in the digital age? 4) What examples from the Guardian article are provided to demonstrate how magazines are finding new revenue streams?
5) Now think of the work you've done on GQ. How is GQ diversifying beyond print?
Our second Music Video CSP is The Specials - Ghost Town. This is a culturally significant British music video text from 1981. It reflects the social and historical contexts of the early 1980s including youth unemployment, race riots and the rise of far-right racism. Notes from the lesson AQA introduces this text with a simple statement: “Ghost Town is a product which possesses cultural, social and historical significance. It will invite comparison with the other CSP music video allowing for an analysis of the contexts in which they are produced and consumed.” Social, cultural and historical context Ghost Town by The Specials conveys a specific moment in British social and political history while retaining a contemporary relevance. The cultural critic Dorian Lynskey has described it as ‘’a remarkable pop cultural moment’’ one that “defined an era’’. The video and song are part of a tradition of protest in popular music, in this case reflecting concern about the increased social tensions in the UK at the beginning of the 1980s. The song was number 1 post-Brixton and during the Handsworth and Toxteth riots. The aesthetic of the music video, along with the lyrics, represents an unease about the state of the nation, one which is often linked to the politics of Thatcherism but transcends a specific political ideology in its eeriness, meaning that it has remained politically and culturally resonant. The Specials: redefining genre The Specials played a type of ska music known as 2-Tone - named after The Specials' record company. A hydrid mix of Jamaican reggae, American 1950s pop and elements of British punk rock, it was popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was also notable for its mixed race bands - the Specials had both black and white members - and its stand against racism at a time of racial tension in the UK. Margaret Thatcher had been elected in 1979 with the warning that Britain was being "swamped" by non-white people. In constrast, Ska and 2-Tone was prominent in anti-racism campaigns in the 1980s. You can watch part 2 of the Two Tone story here - recommended as it gets more into the culture and includes more from our theorist Paul Gilroy.
Ghost Town: social and historical contexts
Ghost Town conveys a specific moment in British social and political history while retaining a contemporary relevance. The cultural critic Dorian Lynskey has described it as ‘’a remarkable pop cultural moment’’ one that “defined an era’’. The video and song are part of a tradition of protest in popular music, in this case reflecting concern about the increased social tensions in the UK at the beginning of the 1980s. The song was number 1 post-Brixton and during the Handsworth and Toxteth riots. The aesthetic of the music video, along with the lyrics, represents an unease about the state of the nation, one which is often linked to the politics of Thatcherism but transcends a specific political ideology in its eeriness, meaning that it has remained politically and culturally resonant.
The Specials: Ghost Town video analysis The video combines eerie shots of a deserted East End of London with the band in a 1962 Vauxhall Cresta lip syncing. The mise-en-scene and cinematography seem to reference a range of film styles including British social realism, thriller and horror genres, with the expressionist lighting drawing attention to the different meanings of the lyric ‘ghost town’. The strong political message of the video is a challenge to the audience with a direct mode of address which is both angry and plaintive. The video was unusual for the time in conveying a strong social message (in contrast to the dominant style of pop music in the charts at the time), meaning that the audience of the time might well have been shocked or discomfited by it. Conduct a close-textual semiotic analysis of the video focusing on how meanings are created. Think about the following areas in particular:
Narrative
Mise-en-scene: setting, lighting, colour, actor placement/movement, costume and props
Camerawork and editing
Ghost Town and media theory Applying Neale’s genre theory Music video was still a very new media form in 1981 so it’s therefore difficult to find ‘repetition and difference’. However, the video clearly uses recognisable genre conventions of film genres such as social realism and horror to create something familiar to audiences and yet new and different as it was in the form of a music video.
Applying Gilroy’s diasporic identity The representations in the music video are racially diverse. This reflects its musical genre of ska, a style which could be read politically in the context of a racially divided country. This representation of Britain’s emerging multiculturalism, is reinforced through the eclectic mix of stylistic influences in both the music and the video. The song and video offers evidence of Gilroy’s Black Atlantic diasporic identity theory – that black culture is forged through travel and hybridity, a “liquidity of culture”. The Specials are representative of ska – itself an international hybrid music genre blurring reggae and American 1950/60s pop and later elements of punk rock – which brings in working-class British culture (linked in part to Coventry in the Midlands where they were formed).
Industry contexts
Ghost Town video director Barney Bubbles said: "A good video can sell a record which might not do so well," Bubbles told Smash Hits magazine in 1982. "The record companies know that. I think Chrysalis would agree that The Specials’ 'Ghost Town' video helped sales a good deal. This year I intend to make videos which are really inexpensive but really inventive. It can be done, you know."
In 1981 opportunities for revenue directly from music videos were very limited and their economic value came as a marketing tool to advertise the single. This function was particularly important pre-internet, with the popularity of broadcast pop shows such as Top of the Pops (MTV was launched in 1981 but had limited availability in the UK initially). However, the Ghost Town video is now on YouTube with revenue opportunities through viewing and advertising. It also provides a link to The Specials YouTube subscription channel which has opportunities to purchase their back catalogue and new material. The Specials - Ghost Town: Blog tasks Background and historical contexts Read this excellent analysis from The Conversation website of the impact Ghost Town had both musically and visually. Answer the following questions
1) Why does the writer link the song to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition? 2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s? 3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981? 4) Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video? 5) Look at the final section (‘Not a dance track’). What does the writer suggest might be the meanings created in the video? Do you agree?
Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release. 1) How does the article describe the song? 2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981? 3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain? 4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town? 5) The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on? Ghost Town - Media Factsheet Watch the video several times before reading Factsheet #211 - Ghost Town. You'll need your GHS Google login to access the factsheet. Once you have analysed the video several times and read the whole factsheet, answer the following questions:
1) Focus on the Media Language section. What does the factsheet suggest regarding the mise-en-scene in the video?
2) How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?
3) What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?
4) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.
5) What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.
6) How can we apply genre theory to the video?
7) Now look at the Representations section. What are the different people, places and groups that are represented in the Ghost Town video? Look for the list on page 4 of the factsheet.
8) How can Gauntlett's work on collective identity be applied to the video?
9) How can gender theorists such as Judith Butler be applied to Ghost Town?
10) Postcolonial theorists like Paul Gilroy can help us to understand the meanings in the Ghost Town music video. What does the factsheet suggest regarding this?
Bonus content! Ghost Town - Media Magazine feature There is an interesting article on the Ghost Town music video in Media Magazine MM79. It includes an interview with one of the founding members of the group plus an analysis of the video itself.
Our first Magazine Close-Study Product is men's lifestyle magazine GQ. We need to study this across all four key concepts but will begin with a focus on language and representations. Notes from the lesson
GQ was launched in the UK in 1988 as a monthly men’s lifestyle magazine.
The magazine evolved from two American magazines: Apparel Arts was launched in New York in 1931 and later evolved into Gentleman’s Quarterly – which was then shortened to GQ.
It is published by international media giant Condé Nast.
GQ: cultural significance
GQ represents a notable social and cultural shift in expectations of contemporary masculinity (compared for example with the Score hair cream advert).
For example, the influence of fashion, consumerism, diversity, body image and changes in what society deems acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to masculinity.
Will Welch – new editorial direction
GQ’s global editorial director Will Welch introduced significant changes to the magazine’s approach. He placed less emphasis on print and instead focused on web, social media and video content.
Welch also championed the concept of ‘New Masculinity’ and explored of how traditional notions of masculinity are being challenged and overturned. GQ has since featured a number of celebrities, including Brad Pitt, Pharrell Williams, and Robert Pattinson, in cover shoots that defy gender stereotypes. He also said that the magazine has been moving from giving general style advice to offering examples of self-expression.
Representations
GQ's new editorial direction gives us plenty to think about regarding representations and masculinity. Revise the theories we have covered:
David Gauntlett on masculinity
“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.”
“Views of gender and sexuality, masculinity and femininity, identity and selfhood, are all in slow but steady processes of change and transformation.”
Raewyn Connell: hegemonic masculinity
Hegemonic masculinity is a concept of proposed practices that promote the dominant social position of men, and the subordinate social position of women. According to Connell, hegemonic masculinity is:
“The configuration of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination of women.”
Does GQ magazine contribute to maintaining the dominant position of men in society?
bell hooks: “normalised traumatisation”
Feminist writer bell hooks has highlighted the corrosive, damaging effect of toxic masculinity on both men and women.
She builds on Judith Butler’s work, agreeing that gender roles are constructed, not ‘natural’. In fact, she suggests that patriarchy (a male dominated society) indoctrinates people from an early age so “gender becomes a set of connotations that have become naturalised”.
This then results in “normalised traumatisation” – meaning the damage caused by these representations is simply accepted as part of society.
Van Zoonen: “sex role stereotypes”
Liesbet van Zoonen suggests that the media reinforces sex role stereotypes, helping to construct gender roles. She gives examples of reinforcing sex-appropriate behaviours and the use of airbrushing to change appearances.
She accepts that the media sexualises both men’s and women’s bodies but highlights key differences. The representation of women’s sexuality is generally submissive and disempowering. In contrast, representations of male sexuality are based on strength and power.
Some of GQ's video content is clearly inspired by the 'new masculinity' that Will Welch has pushed such as this Netflix Heartstopper feature. Does this mean that GQ challenges the gender theories we have learned?
GQ - Language & Representation blog tasks
Create a blogpost called 'GQ: Language and Representation' and complete the following tasks: Language: Media factsheet
1) What are the different magazine genres highlighted on page 2 and how do they link to our magazine CSPs?
2) Look at the section on GQ on page 2. How do they suggest that GQ targets its audience?
3) What does the factsheet say about GQ cover stars?
4) Pick out five of the key conventions of magazine front covers and explain what they communicate to an audience.
5) What is a magazine’s ‘house style’? How would you describe GQ’s house style?
Extension tasks: Look at the final pages of the magazine factsheet that focus on creating magazine pages for coursework. What can you take from this to help future coursework projects?
1) Write a summary of our annotations on the media language choices on the cover of GQ - e.g. colour scheme, typography, language, photographic codes etc. 2) Identify three specific aspects/conventions/important points (e.g. cover lines, colour scheme, use of text, image etc.) from each page/feature of the CSP that you could refer to in a future exam. Explain why that particular aspect of the CSP is important - think about connotations, representations, audience pleasures, reception theory etc.
Front cover: Robert Pattinson image - Art & Fashion issue
Inside pages: Jonathan Bailey feature and fashion shoot
3) Apply narrative theories to GQ - Todorov's equilibrium, Propp's character types, Barthes' action or enigma codes, Levi-Strauss's binary opposition. How can we use narrative to understand the way the cover and features have been constructed? 4) Analyse the cover and inside pages of GQ. Does this offer an example of Steve Neale's genre theory concerning 'repetition and difference'?
Representations: applying theory We have already covered many relevant theories in our work on Advertising and Marketing (for example, David Gauntlett's writing on Media, Gender and Identity). We now need to apply these theories and ideas to GQ and specifically the CSP pages allocated by AQA. 1) How can Gauntlett's ideas on masculinity, gender and identity be applied to the GQ CSP pages we have analysed? 2) How could van Zoonen's work on feminist and gender theory be applied to GQ? Does the magazine challenge or reinforce these ideas? 3) Does bell hooks's work on 'corrosive masculinity' apply to GQ?
4) How does the Jonathan Bailey feature represent masculinity and sexuality? Representations: wider reading - GQ and the new masculinity Read this CNN feature on how GQ is redefining masculinity and answer the following questions: 1) Which GQ issue is discussed at the start of the article and what was notable about it?
2) How did Will Welch view GQ when he took over as Editor-in-Chief and what did he want to offer readers?
3) How has publisher Conde Nast responded to changes in the magazine industry and how did this impact GQ?
4) What did the GQ New Masculinity edition feature?
5) What did journalist Liz Plank say about toxic masculinity?
6) How did Welch respond to suggestions GQ was responsible for toxic masculinity?
1) What does the article suggest masculinity involved at the start of the 20th century?
2) What social change occurred from the 1930s?
3) What is suggested about masculinity today?
4) Why does it suggest these changes are important?
A/A* extension tasks
Read more of GQ's New Masculinity issue - you may need to register (for free) with the GQ website to access this. How is masculinity and identity discussed? Can you link it to any of our theorists?
There is also a New York Times interview with Will Welch which covers GQ's new approach to masculinity. The New York Times has a paywall but you can usually read the first article you click on for free.
There are a range of important postcolonial theories we need to learn as part of our A Level Media course. We studied an introduction to postcolonial terminology earlier in the course and now can add some significant theories and ideas from postcolonialism. Paul Gilroy: The Black Atlantic
Paul Gilroy is a key theorist in A Level Media and has written about race in both the UK and USA. In The Black Atlantic (1993), Gilroy explores influences on black culture. One review states: “Gilroy’s ‘black Atlantic’ delineates a distinctively modern, cultural-political space that is not specifically African, American, Caribbean, or British, but is, rather, a hybrid mix of all of these at once.”
Gilroy is particularly interested in the idea of black diasporic identity – the feeling of never quite belonging or being accepted in western societies even to this day.
For example, Gilroy points to the slave trade as having a huge cultural influence on modern America – as highlighted by Common’s Letter to the Free.
Diaspora: A term that originates from the Greek word meaning “dispersion,” diaspora refers to the community of people that migrated from their homeland. [Source: facinghistory.org]
Watch the opening to this Tate gallery video on the Black Atlantic:
Gilroy on black music
Gilroy suggests that black music articulates diasporic experiences of resistance to white capitalist culture.
When writing about British diasporic identities, Gilroy discusses how many black Britons do not feel like they totally belong in Britain but are regarded as ‘English’ when they return to the country of their parents’ birth e.g. the Caribbean or Africa. This can create a sense of never truly belonging anywhere.
Gilroy: “double consciousness”
Gilroy has also discussed the concept of “double consciousness”. This develops the idea of not feeling a sense of belonging and suggests that black people have to view themselves through the eyes of others – usually a white-dominated media.
This means that black audiences experience representations in the media that do not accurately reflect their actual lives.
Additional postcolonial theories Stuart Hall: race representations in media
Stuart Hall suggests that audiences often blur race and class which leads to people associating particular races with certain social classes. He suggests that western cultures are still white dominated and that ethnic minorities in the media are misinterpreted due to underlying racist tendencies. Indeed, non-white people are often represented as ‘the other’.
Hall outlined three black characterisations in American media:
The Slave figure: “the faithful fieldhand… attached and devoted to ‘his’ master.” (Hall 1995)
The Native: primitive, cheating, savage, barbarian, criminal.
The Clown/Entertainer: a performer – “implying an ‘innate’ humour in the black man.” (Hall 1995)
Alvarado: Black stereotypes in media
Manuel Alvarado (1987) suggested there are four key themes in black representations in the media:
Exotic: models/costume, music artists, food etc.
Dangerous: crime, gangs, socially dysfunctional etc.
Humorous: comedians, film sidekicks etc.
Pitied: poverty, charity adverts etc.
He suggested these stereotypes were an example of ‘otherness’ and were drawn from other media texts rather than reality.
bell hooks: intersectionality
hooks suggests that social classifications (e.g. race, gender, class, sexuality) are interconnected. She argued that the convergence of sexism and racism meant that black women had the lowest status in American society.
The concept of intersectionality can be applied to the Old Town Road music video by focusing on race, gender and sexuality.
Representations of ethnicity in Old Town Road
Representations of race and ethnicity in Old Town Road deliberately play with stereotypes - both reinforcing and subverting them. The landowner and his daughter in the opening scene suggests a fear of 'the other' - a classic racist trope. Yet there is a black sheriff which subverts traditional stereotypes.
In the modern day part of the video, Lil Nas emerges into a world of black Americans going about their daily lives behind the white picket fence of the American Dream. Similarly, after initial shock, the white line dancers all seem to admire and accept Lil Nas - presenting a very different representation of race to much of American media (and perhaps reality?)
Postcolonial theory: blog tasks Wider reading on race and Old Town Road
1) What are the visual cues the article lists as linked to the western genre?
2) How did the Yeehaw agenda come about?
3) Why has it been suggested that the black cowboy has been 'erased from American culture'?
4) How has the black cowboy aesthetic been reflected by the fashion industry?
5) Read the section on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. What does it suggest about race and the country music community?
6) What elements of the song and music video are suggested to be authentically country and western?
7) What genres of music does the article suggest have been shaped by black influences?
8) In your opinion, what do you think has been the driving force behind the Yeehaw movement?
Applying postcolonial theory to Old Town Road
Revise the postcolonial theories we have studied and apply them to the Old Town Road music video:
1) How does the Old Town Road music video both reinforce and challenge black stereotypes in the media?
2) How could you argue that the Old Town Road video challenges Gilroy's theory of double consciousness?
3) How does Lil Nas X and Old Town Road provide an example of Hall's theory of race representations? Alternatively, you could argue against this if you prefer.
4) Are there any examples of Alvarado's theory of black stereotypes in the Old Town Road video? Why/why not?
5) How does Lil Nas X provide a compelling case study for bell hooks's theory of intersectionality?
A/A* extension task:
Media Magazine - This Is America: Music, Politics and Protest Read This Is America: Music, Politics and Protest in MM65 (p14). You can find this in our Media Magazine archive. This is a great article on the power of music video in American culture.
The Advertising & Marketing assessment was a great opportunity to keep learning the skills we'll need in next year's exams. The first part of your learner response is to look carefully at your mark, grade and comments from your teacher. If anything doesn't make sense, ask your teacher - it's crucial we're learning from the process of assessments and feedback. Learner response blog tasks Create a new blog post called 'Advertising assessment learner response' and complete the following tasks: 1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential). 2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify at least one potential point that you missed out on for each question in the assessment. 3) Look at your answer and the mark scheme for Question 1 (Diamonds advert unseen text). List three examples of media terminology or theory that you could have included in your answer. 4) Look at your answer and the mark scheme for Question 2. What aspects of the cultural and historical context for the Score hair cream advert do you need to revise or develop in future? 5) Now look over your mark, comments and the mark scheme for Question 3 - the 9-mark question on Sephora Black Beauty Is Beauty. List any postcolonial terminology you could have added to your answer here.
If you do not finish your learner response in the lesson your work is returned, this needs to be completed at home - due date on Google Classroom.
Our first Music Video CSP is Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road.
This is a culturally significant song and video that allows us to explore everything from narrative and genre to race representations and postmodernism. Notes from AQA AQA introduces this text as: "Old Town Road explores the relationship between genre and race, specifically in the country music industry but also, through the use of film genre conventions, the media more widely. The exclusion of Black artists from the US’s country billboard charts has been controversial and Old Town Road crystallises those concerns. Lil Nas X, known as a media influencer before his music career, came out as gay in 2019, which has also affected the way in which the music video has been understood.
"The music video reflects aspects of society and contemporary cultural issues in its discourse on race, gender and musical categorisation. An interesting area of discussion might be to what extent the music video as a form can transmit political messages. The economic context would include the ways in which artists make money from music videos, in this case the different iterations of video and song can be seen as a strategy to maximise the audience and profit."
Source: AQA Close Study Product booklet.
Introduction
Old Town Road is the debut single of American rapper Lil Nas X and was first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity on TikTok, it was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019 followed by the music video ('Official Movie') in May 2019 featuring country legend Billy Ray Cyrus.
The song has been classified as 'country rap' - a hybrid genre not usually seen in the mainstream. The Billboard magazine country chart disqualified in on the grounds it was not country, sparking debate about genre-bending records. The song eventually peaked at number 1 in the US charts and is one of the highest selling songs of all time.
Social and cultural contexts: Yeehaw movement
Lil Nas X and Old Town Road are seen as a significant moment in the Yeehaw Agenda. This is a social movement started by online pop culture archivist Bri Malandro. She created an Instagram account to celebrate black cowboy aesthetics in popular culture and reclaim black identity in a notoriously white genre.
The movement is an attempt to highlight how the black cowboy has been erased from American culture. Despite the fact around 25% of cowboys were black in the 1800s, media representations depict cowboys as almost exclusively white.
1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?
2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?
3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society?
Old Town Road textual analysis
Watch the video again and answer the following questions. Use your notes from our in-class analysis to help you:
1) How is the narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.
2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?
3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.
4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?
5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture.
Old Town Road Media Factsheet
Finally, read Media Factsheet #262 - Old Town Road. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) Who are the celebrities that appear in cameos in the video?
2) Choose three of the key terms defined on the first page of the factsheet and write the definitions here. Focus on terms you are unfamiliar with.
3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?
4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video?
5) How does the video begin?
6) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the modern-day part of the video?
7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream?
8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality?
9) How is masculinity represented in the video?
10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful?
