LANGUAGE ANALYSIS

1. Mise-en-scene analysis

• everything infront of the camera, eg lighting, actors, set design

1. Production values and Aesthetics

• technical quality of methods and materials used to make a media product such as a film or advert
• aesthetics is how pleasing something is to look at

1. Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings

• the nature and culture of an advert and sometimes hidden messages in adverts are shown through semiotics

1. How advertising conventions are socially and historically relative

• the way media products are advertised has changed over time and advertisement of different types of products (eg films vs magazines) is different
• advertisement can aim to target a specific group of people to attract a certain target audience

1. The way in which media language incorporates viewpoints and ideologies

• people’s views can be altered by what they read (suggested by Althusser, can be changed without knowing it and over time, Chomsky and Gerbner)
• hegemony (gramsci) – ideoloiges can be changed by using power eg big media conglomerates changing the way their audience thinks

Narrative

1. How does Score construct a narrative which appeals to its target audience

1. How and why audience responses to the narrative of this advert may have changed over time

• over time ideologies shift as people learn more about the world and how the media changes the way it feeds info to the public

1. How does this advert create desire for the product

1. Techniques of Persuasion

1. Students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the persuasive techniques used in the advert and issues surrounding brand values, brand message, brand personality and brand positioning should inform the analysis

Media Representations

Discussion of the Score advertisement will focus mainly on representation of gender including

1. The processes which lead media producers to make choices about how to represent social groups
2. How audience responses to interpretations of media representations reflect social, cultural and historical attitudes
3. The effect of historical contexts on representations
4. Theories of representation including Hall
5. Theories of gender performativity including Butler
6. Feminist theories including bel hooks and van Zoonen
7. Theories of identity including Gauntlett

HISTORICAL, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS

• Score hair cream, 1967
• 1967 – period of slow transformation in western cultures with legislation about changing attitudes to the role or women (and men)
• year of decriminalisation of homosexuality
• colonialist values can be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of Empire

Media Language –

Mise-en-scene – ‘Mise en scene is the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play. Translated from French, it means “setting the stage” but, in film analysis, the term mise en scene refers to everything in front of the camera, including the set design, lighting, and actors’

The use of props such as the outfits, the gun, the trees and the animal skin in combination with the stances of the women and the higher positioning of the male all force the audience to believe that this product is able to give uses this form of superiority and dominating or dangerous power.

Language Analysis – Semantic field of masculinity – ‘Men’ ‘Masculine’ ‘Scent’ ‘Groom’, almost animal like. Also use of repetition in order to reinforce the product and force readers to think about it.

Production values and Aesthetics – ‘Exotic’/ ‘Tropical’ aesthetic reinforces the idea of animal like behaviour. The use of the ‘adventure-esq’ outfits is used to reinforce the language used, referring to adventure and animal like behaviour as well as more glorifying more ‘exotic’ cultures that contrast to Western societies.

Semiotics: how images signify cultural meanings – Could be interpreted as a form of cultural appropriation. The outfits resemble that of famous adventurers such as Indiana Jones, it also uses a similar technique used towards Lara Croft in Tomb Raider as the females outfits are short and easily sexualised in order to suit and capture a stereotypical male Gaze.

How advertising conventions are socially and historically relative – In contrast to more modern social norms and dominant ideologies, this piece may be viewed as quite sexist as it glorifies women’s bodies purely for male satisfaction and benefit.

The way in which media language incorporates viewpoints and ideologies – Laura Mulvey – Male Gaze Theory

Narrative –

How does Score construct a narrative which appeals to its target audience – Takes the POV of a Male gaze, sexualising women and giving the ONLY male in the ad power and domination, represented through ‘animal’ like semiotics to describe the product he is using as well as his overall positioning in the shot.

How and why audience responses to the narrative of this advert may have changed over time – Social norms, dominant ideologies as well popular political opinions vary and change within cultures over time, following popular norms or as a way to adapt to an adjusted socio-economic climate. When this ad was created in 1967, ideas on the role of women were very different to now, women were seen more as objects that were disposable to men rather than independent individuals with the same capabilities as men.

How does this advert create desire for the product – This product has a target audience of adult men, therefore the representation of loads of women seemingly inferior to the ONLY male in the ad allows for the target audience to believe that this product may bring them some form of sexual gratification.

Techniques of Persuasion –

• Representation of Women
• Figurative Language techniques – repetition/ Semantic Fields
• Cultural appropriation – suggests exotic product
• Weapon – signifies power and authority
• Higher positioning of Man – Also to signify dominance and power of men (in society too)
• Heteronormativity – ‘the belief that heterosexuality, predicated on the gender binary, is the default, preferred, or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.’

Students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the persuasive techniques used in the advert and issues surrounding brand values, brand message, brand personality and brand positioning should inform the analysis

Media Representation –

Representation of Gender –

The processes which lead media producers to make choices about how to represent social groups – in terms of a late 1960s perspective, the representation of social groups, especially gender, is an accurate representation for society IN THE 1960S, sharing very different beliefs to modern society.

How audience responses to interpretations of media representations reflect social, cultural and historical attitudes – Depending on when an analysis of the product was conducted, the response of the audience would be different. For example in terms of the Theory of preferred reading, those from the late 60s or early 70s may have a preferred reading towards the piece as it is appropriate with their cultural and social norms. However, from a modern perspective, I have more of an opposition reading of the texts due to the difference in dominant ideologies between 1967 and 2020.

Theories of representation including Hall –

‘Hall is very closely identified in media studies with an approach
known as “cultural studies,” and he starts with one of its central concepts: representation. The usual meaning of this term is connected with whether the depiction of something is an accurate or distorted reflection. In contrast to this, Hall argues for a new view that gives the concept of representation a much more active and creative role in relation to the way people think about the world and their place within it. This new view of representation is central to thinking about communication in much more complex ways. Hall shows that an image can have many different meanings and that there is no guarantee that images will work in the way we think they will when we create them.’

In other words, the audience has to be active in order to decode the messages of a piece of media. Due to this and the different beliefs people may hold, their understanding and reading of the product may be completely different.

The effect of historical contexts on representations –

Historical views on gender typically place men as the superior and women as the inferior, which contrasts to todays climate as there due to previous and continuous fight for gender equality.

Theories of gender performativity including Butler –

She describes gender as a ‘stylised repetition of acts’ therefore meaning that the stereotypes forced upon people are likely to influence the way that they view and present themselves. For example, a common negative stereotype of men would be that they should show less emotions as this is viewed as a feminine trait that signifies weakness.

Theories of identity including Gauntlett –

Gender Fluidity – The idea that whilst in the past the media tend to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offers us a more diverse range of icons and characters from whom we may influenced by. Gender identity is less constricted. This idea isn’t really represented in this CSP though as in the 1960s, although there was an increased amount of feminism and fight for gender equality, men were still viewed as the superior.

Jean Kilbourne –

Ted Talk – The Dangerous ways Ads see women – 2014

Second wave of feminism – late 1960s

Second-wave feminism of the 1960s-1980s focused on issues of equality and discrimination. The second-wave slogan, “The Personal is Political,” identified women’s cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand how their personal lives reflected sexist power structures.

Jean Kilbourne’s film “Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Images of Women” shed light on the ways in which women are negatively portrayed and often objectified in advertising, paving the way for larger conversations about media and gender research.

Jean Kilbourne has transformed the way in which organizations and educational institutions around the world address the prevention of many public health problems including smoking, high-risk drinking, eating disorders, obesity, sexualization of children, and violence against women. In the late 1960s, she began her exploration of the connection between advertising and its impact on several public health issues, most notably violence against women and eating disorders. Ms. Kilbourne launched a movement to promote media literacy as a way to prevent these problems – a radical and original idea at the time that is today mainstream and an integral part of most prevention programs.

Feminist theories including bel hooks and van Zoonen –

The advert was produced and released in 1967 which is the same period of time where equal pay act was introduced 1970.

Both men and women wore clothes for the jungle however the woman had more revealing clothing which depicts the sexualisation in that period.

The setting of the jungle is a tough environment which requires a tough male character.

It is also important to note that all of the models seem to be British and are all white. This is probably due to the fact that racism was still around around the time of this advert. Furthermore, the male model has muscular, hairy arms which further creates an extremely heterosexual advert.

• FACTS:
• Created in 1967 – swinging 60s (60 years ago)
• Reactionary – Rep of male and women
• Social changes; abortion legalized, homosexuality decriminalized, feminism (2nd wave)
• Dated – context of reception
• 50-70 disappearance of empire – commonwealth creation – post colonialism (jungle/exotic)

• ANALYSES:
• Traces of hypermasculinity (psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behaviour, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality) are evident in this CSP.
• The over emphasis on the male protagonists as being domainte over the inferior women.
• Examples:
• Sitting on a stretcher covered in tigers skin (masculinity/strength)
• Carrying a rifle (masculinity/power/fighting/war/control)
• Jungle setting (wild/power)
• Surrounded by women being lifted by them (inferior/sexual/idolizing/power over)
• Women wearing lots of makeup/ hair styles
• Thin women, wearing minimal clothing
• Man smiling – women poising
• Semantic field of masculinity – ‘masculine sent, groom, action’ etc
• FEMINISM:
• Jean Kilbourn talks about the representation and effects that advertising has in society. Such as the affects it has on women’s self esteem, body image and goals in life and how it affects men’s perception of women.

• made in late 60s early 70s
• advert about hair creme
• sexist “masculine scent
• This was seen as a period of change in the UK in regards to the changing attitudes towards the role of women and men in society. 
• The equal pay act was introduced in 1970
• homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967
• this period was known as the swinging 60s, where drugs and sex were at their peak
• the representations in the advert can be read as signalling more anxiety might might first appear
• reinforces traditional stereotypes and traditions in order to calm those individuals who did not like the drastic changes that were occurring
• both female and male models are wearing clothing suited for camping
• women wearing short skirts – revealing = sexualised in these times, perceiving as objects
• makeup is heavy and smokey – creating a seductive nature, reinforcing the male gaze
• in 60s,70s, you had the disappearance of the British empire – setting of jungle links to Britain trying to keep hold of power once the empire was deteriorating

• An advert from 1967 for hair cream
• Roles of women were evolving and attitudes were changing.
• The advert was released the year that homosexuality was decriminalised – the advert shows a strong message of heterosexuality which could present an element of anxiety
• Women’s clothing depicts how women were sexualised in the 1960’s
• The advert is hyper masculine
• The setting of the jungle links to Britain trying to keep hold of power once the empire was deteriorating
• This represents Britain’s colonial values and the British Empire that was slowly starting to fall apart at the time of the release of this advert. Perhaps the producers chose to set it here to reassure the public that Britain is still in power of many other countries when it really wasn’t.

curran and seaton present the view that a free press relies on a free market where induvidual newspapers can compete through their political points of views.

Analyse the way that The i and the Daily Mail attempt to establish a distinctive identity within this free market. To what extent has this been successful? Refer to the specific edition of your case study. As well as online versions.

Curran & Seaton’s theory is called the Liberal Theory and this is the freedom to publish in the free market to “ensure that the press reflects a wide range of options& interests in society” a quote taken from ‘the liberal theory of press freedom’ written by curran. This is the idea that anyone can publish whatever they choose, therefore creating diversification within the media for the audience to encode, decode or negotiate. Although the cost of publishing used to be high (making it difficult to publish) the advances of technology means that it is possible for almost anyone to publish whatever they like for a smaller sum of money. Curran & Seatons theory is that there is not enough diversification and this is proved as in the 80’s new technology was developed, and it should have increased the number of newspapers being produced however it didn’t. This relates to both newspapers and current American election as the press can impact who the people vote for. For example on the front page of the Daily Mail the headline reads on Thursday the 5th of November ” Trump calls results a ‘frued’ and sends in his lawyers.” By making this the headline on the front page it may have an impact on who the people vote for. This idea thinks to Althusser’s theory of interpellation, the idea that individualsare influenced by others around them.(For example the media, family,friends and education.) This theory relates to the Daily Mail as it is owned by The Daily General Trust & owns many other meaning the editor(George Greig) has control of different platforms and can create a dominant idea among the audience. By continuously creating the same dominant idea this allows the newspapers to establish themselves a distinctive identity in which reader become aware of. An example of this is on page 7 of the Daily Mail it shows a cartoon of both Donald Trump and the Statue of Liberty stating ‘ which part of go away don’t you understand’. This implies that American does not want Trump as their leader as the statue struggles to get out of his grasp. This cartoon was drawn by Justin Webb may play a role in who the Americans vote for. The press is important when it comes to the ISA aa it informs the public and is the ‘peoples watchdog, scrutinising the actions of the government” Again an example of this is the daily mail on the online version on thursday 5th november “The View host Sunny Hostin slams 69 million ‘un-American’ voters for ‘looking the other way’ and backing ‘racist, homophobic and misogynistic’ Donald Trump” showing that the Daily Mail is informing its readers and acting as a watchdog.

Another theorist that can be linked to this is Habermas and his theory of the public sphere and can be applied to the i as it allows for the spread of information between the public without the government interfering. The public sphere is the idea that the public opinions can be shared among a society and individuals and can come together to form a ‘public’.

Demographic classifications in the UK refer to the social grade definitions, which are used to describe, measure and classify people of different social grade and income. The Daily Mail has an average daily circulation of 1,134,184 copies (February 2020) most of these being middle classed females, the newspaper uses this information of the circulation to develop the content they feed into the media as they know who is most likely to read the paper. The Daily Mail is also a tabloid format making it easier to read when people are commuting to and from work in the morning, this is because the tabloid formate is more compact and smaller than the average size newspaper making it more appealing. However is is known that Lord Rothermere was the chairman of daily mail and was also friends with Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. He was known for using the newspaper for propaganda his political statue was far right, this could have been carried down and throughout the newspaper. This could explain why the newspaper has been deemed unreliable for sources of information after providing ‘fake news’ to manipulate and influence the audience.

The idea of uses and gratifications was developed by the theorists Gurevitch, Haas and Katz. This is an approach to understanding why people seek out specific media to satisfy their needs. They created the media order of preference for satisfying needs, including A: personal needs (understanding self, enjoyment and escapism) and B: Social Needs (Knowledge about the world, self-confidence, stability etc.) The daily mails shows both knowledge about the world and enjoyment and escapism. The newspaper swings more towards the right wing and helps them to establish an identity within the free market.

Both newspaper can be seen as successful as both newspapers as they both have such high circulation numbers, and the Daily Mail have won multiple awards including the National Newspaper of the Year award from the The Press Awards eight times since 1995. However the circulation numbers only mean how many people have purchased the physical newspaper there is a theory of the 2- step flow theory( by Paul Lazarfel) of communication meaning messages are not directly injected into the audience, but while also subject to noise, error, feedback etc, they are also filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.

The daily mail bought the i for 49.6 million pounds, although the Daily mail is seen to be right wing police, the i is seen to have a more balanced view on things it is known to be more informational and to give straight facts rather than mocking or judging. There is a section on the Daily Mail called ‘female’ which talks about the stereotypically ‘female thing’ like hair, nails and beauty this backs the idea that the newspaper is sexist and stereotypical, however is acting on the fact that its readers are mostly female and is trying to cater for that specific gender.

Therefore to conclude both newspapers are successful in which they establish themselves within the free market however the daily mail as a higher circulation than the i as it is known to be the highest circulated newspaper in the UK. Both papers have established themselves in different ways and the i has a more neutral perspective whereas the Daily Mil is more right wing.

Released in 1967

Equal pay act in 1970

The male gaze is pulled by the short tied up clothing revelling lots of skin and heavy makeup

The use of adventurer clothing and jungle décor make shows a dangerous setting forcing the women to go to the man for “protection”

It also has connotations to Britain’s colonial past to attempt to show power although many colonies where leaving around this time and after

The only person with a gun is the male continuing the notion of protection of the women by the man. The stereotypical male, strong independent brave, gets emphasised with the outfit and gun

The women carry the man showing the subservient nature expected of women at the time. And there political and social position in the UK at the time

The 5 women to 1 man ratio attracts a male audience and the male gaze and hints to the ability of the cream to get you women

The muscular hair man aids the heterosexual notion of the advert and society at the time ; along side the gathering of admiring women

The lack of POC gives us an insight into the rampant racism at the time

“Get what u always wanted” targets the dominant ideology of the male audience at the time to be swarmed by women and to be more powerful then them.

“made by men” The product has no hint of female interaction as that wouldn’t be masculine.

Curran and Seaton present the view that a free press relies on a free market where individual newspapers can compete through their political stances and points of view.

Analyse the ways that The i and the Daily Mail attempt to establish a distinctive identity within this free market.  To what extent has this been successful? Refer to the specific edition of your case study – for both papers – as well as, on-line versions of these publications.

James curran and Jean Seaton came up with the theory of the liberal free press – this is the idea that the media should have the right to be exercised freely. In order to have a free press there must be no government interference. They argue that the media should work for the public’s interest to inform them with correct information (especially to do with the government, authority and control) and not purely in a commercial interest. Beveridge suggested ‘the work of broadcasting should be regarded as a public service for a social purpose’, which Curran and Seaton are known to support. The public wants a free market when it comes to the news, however laws have to be implemented to prevent them from publishing or broadcasting untrue or offensive information. Curran stated in his book Media and Democracy Revisited ‘The media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality, and became a further means by which the public was sidelined’. However, if the government implements too many laws then the news becomes controlled by the state. Therefore it can be argued whether we have a free market or if we don’t have a free market.

Regardless, newspapers can still operate and compete through their political stances. For example, the Daily Mail, the UK tabloid news paper is known to lean to the right of the political spectrum supporting conservative ideologies. The daily mail was founded in 1896, their average daily circulation is 1,134,184 copies in addition to having 218 million website visits, making it the most highly circulated UK news paper. They are a middle market newspaper that has an audience with an average NRS social grade of ABC1, which is also the same average social grade as people that vote conservative. They are owned by a company called DMGT who also own other news platforms, one of which being a newspaper called the i. The i is a less popular broadsheet  newspaper with an average daily circulation of 221,083. It was founded in 2010 but was bought by DMGT in 2019 for £49.6 million. The i writes its articles from both left and right wing perspectives, claiming to have a political stance in the middle of the spectrum. Nick Clegg, former UK prime minister and Lib-Dem leader is a columnist for the i, along with conservative columnist John Hawkins – which shows the paper provides different perspectives in current affairs. For example, the headline on the front page of the i newspaper for the 9th of november read ‘Hello, Mr president’ referencing the new US democratic president-elect Joe Biden, they are referencing the results of the election in a positive way which is considered left wing.  This demonstrates that using political stances in the newspaper market has helped different companies to establish a distinctive identity.

This concentration of ownership (DMGT owning multiple newspapers) raises further questions on whether we have a free market or not. 71% of UK major newspaper tiles are owned by 4 companies, with fewer people owning many assets in one industry the public are at risk of being manipulated. As Chomsky and Said explain in their agenda setting model, the media filter and shape reality and consent is manufactured for social, economic and political policies. This concentration of ownership in the UK newspaper market can also be applied to Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, he presents his ideas on how certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than others, usually in line with the dominant ideas, the dominant groups and their corresponding dominant interests. 

In conclusion, the i has proved successful in establishing a distinctive identity because it is unlike others as they have a neutral perspective. We know it is successful as they have a daily circulation of 221,083 which results in a profit of 1million GBP per month. The daily mail have also proved successful competing through their right wing stance, as they are the most highly circulated UK news paper.