1. COLONIALISM – Colonialism occurs when a country or a nation takes control of other lands, regions, or territories outside of its borders
2. POST COLONIALISM – the academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism
3. DIASPORA – a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have since moved out to places all over the world
4. BAME – Used to refer to members of non-white communities in the UK
5. DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS (GILROY) – the internal conflict experienced by subordinated or colonized groups in an oppressive society
6. CULTURAL ABSOLUTISM / RACIAL ESSENTIALISM – cultures do not differ in honesty or intelligence levels 
7. CULTURAL SYNCRETISM – distinct aspects of different cultures blend together to make something new and unique
8. ORIENTALISM (SAID) – the way the east is viewed 
9. APPROPRIATION – is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture
10. CULTURAL HEGEMONY – domination or rule maintained through ideological or cultural means
11. THE PUBLIC SPHERE (HABERMAS) – A place where the public can come together and discuss opinions freely 
12. THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING IN TERMS OF FAIR REPRESENTATION OF MINORITY GROUPS / INTERESTS – PSB is mostly biased when referencing minority groups of society resulting in stereotypes 

Draft 1;

Draft 2;

Draft 3;

Habermus and the Public Sphere

Habermus argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate. Habermus traces the evolution of the “bourgeois public sphere” which is a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and “popular” supervision of government was established. He argues, the public sphere came to be dominated by the expanded state and organized economic interests. Although Habermas was careful to argue that participation in the public sphere, in its classical phrase, was restricted to the propertied class, he has come under attack for idealizing, this period of history. He also has been criticized for his characterization of the media and the public sphere in the subsequent period

Media Watchdog

Classical liberal thought argues that the primary democratic role of the media is to act as a public watchdog overseeing the state. This is usually defined as revealing abuses in the exercise of state authority. The watchdog role is said to override in importance all other functions of the media, and to dictate the form in which the media should be organised

Quote

“Once the media becomes subject to public regulation, it will lose its bite as a watchdog and may even be transformed into a snarling Rottweiler in the service of the state”

Habermas identifies three such media: speech, money, and power. Speech is the medium by which understanding is achieved in communicative action, while money and power are non-communicative media that coordinate action in realms like state bureaucracies or markets.

Public Sphere

Jurgen Habermas and his concept of the ‘Public Sphere‘,basically arguing that the developments in education and the mass media allowed for a greater access to information particularly with regard to government, authority and the exercise of control.

“a public sphere between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and popular, supervision of government was established”

Media shouldn’t be controlled by the government and that freedom is needed

Mass Media in the Public Interest

Mass media is not the same as any other business or service industry, but carry out some essential tasks for the wider benefit of society, especially in cultural and political life.

A simple definition, drawn from the field of public planning is that something “is in the public interest if it serves the ends of the whole society rather than those of the sectors of the society” (Banfield 1995)

There is conflict between public control and deregulation

The representation of gender in both Men’s Health and Tomb Raider portray different interpretations, through the use of semiotics and print language. In this essay, I will be exploring how each media sources portray this, explaining how they interpret it in their front covers, back pages and in the magazine (men’s health). I think that for both of these media sources they come across very different with gender representation through radical and reactionary ideas.

First of all, the representation of gender in Men’s Health and Tomb raider comes across both as very different especially through the use of images and semiotics. Tomb Raider represents traditional gender roles, sexual objectification and stereotypes, where women have a significant role of being cast as supporting characters because of gamers preferences, meaning for boys. Lara Croft (the main girl character) is portrayed differently to what the majority of females that are played in games. This allows the gaming industry to widen, allowing women to be presented as strong, powerful and equally as powerful as males that are in video games. There is evidence of this as seen on the covers of the game of Lara being seen as powerful. She is holding a gun with passion and confidence which creates a sense of power and danger in her. In other images on the back cover, she is shown fighting, climbing and jumping to keep this stimulus of Lara up. She is the dominant signifier of this game who is positioned sideways. This is done to show off her “unrealistic” body type, this is done on purpose to be sexualised, this proves Lara is designed to attract men, as her athletic physique would be attractive to many men who would describe as perfect. On the other hand, Men’s Health has a target audience for men, it creates an ideology of being the stereotypical man, staying fit and being a particular way in which society expects. The dominant signifier is a strong, tall and built man, this intention is carried on throughout the pages of the magazine. But there is a widen target audience accepted of older people, this is created through the interview and image of the 69-year-old man talking about his fitness “your only limit is yourself better”. Images are carried on the sense of fitness for men. Such as images that say “best fitness classes for men 2017”, “flour power” and “feel the benefit” all these quotes in the magazine show a key representation of gender which is men. I know this because there is no say or sign in images of interviews with women in.

Another way in which each media source represents gender is through the use of denotation and connotation of their sources. They both use the typical product styles such as a header, font type, size and colour, plugs, colour and many more. Tomb Raider uses signs and symbols (signifier and signified) to show the use of gender representation such as guns, Lara Croft herself and the different images on the back cover of the featured gameplay. These signs show the use of power and shows that games like this do not need a main character as a man to create this stereotypical gameplay. The main colours of the covers are black, yellow, red and brown. These colours are in some way good as it shows that having a main girl character doesn’t need typical girly colours such as pink etc. But these colours draw men in even more as the red symbolizes danger and it shows the character as more of an athletic figure, making them want to buy the “perfectly” designed character. The use of denotation in Man’s Health is quite different from Tomb Raider. Man’s Health screams the stereotypical man magazine. There is evidence of this through the title of the magazine “Men’s Health” this shows it is mainly for men and is the easiest way to keep females aways for the magazine. It is also due to the main image of the strong-looking man, this shows the main ideology of this magazine, fitness in men. The text size, shape and style help the magazine show this. The text is bold and uses man colours, blue and black. The magazine includes an interview in the format of columns about a man’s fitness “how has your fitness developed over the years”. This makes the magazine more attracted to men as the interview is about a man’s transformation of fitness. The use of text and phrases used in the magazine implies it is more for men “shortcuts to t-shirt arms” “lose 8kgs fast”.

In conclusion, gender representation in both sources suggest different ideas. Tomb Raider is based on showing that perfect women to men. Men’s Health shows how a stereotypical man should be presented. I think Tomb Raider has a radical response due to the presentation of women in this game. I think Men’s Health also has a radical response as all men do not need to be presented as strong. I think both the target audience for Men’s Health has been presented in a good way in such but Tomb Raider has not.

Positive and negative stereotypes– Positive Stereotypes are subjectively favourable beliefs about a group while negative stereotypes are subjectively unfavourable beliefs held about a group. 

Counter-types– When a producer tries to break stereotypes. For example changing the main signifier

Misrepresentation– When a certain group is presented in the wrong way

Selective representation -This when one group of people or things are represented more than others in order to get a message across and put an idea into peoples heads

Dominant ideology– The main idea/concept that is most widely believed by a large amount of people

Constructed reality– This is the idea that we present ourselves to others in certain ways because of the media and what we are exposed to from that

Hegemony– This is the leadership or dominance by one group over others

Audience positioning– Media places audiences in a position in the media form/text and makes them accept the dominant meaning

GAME COVER SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS – TECHNICAL CODES​

GAME COVER SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS – SEMIC CODES​

Statement of Intent

Working Title= “High Score”

Target Audience= My magazine is targeted for girls between 13-20 years old for all levels of gaming. I chose to focus this magazine for girls because most gaming magazines are stereotypically aimed at boys and I wanted a magazine just based on girls. I chose this age range because it is quite a big scale from early teenagers to going into early adults so more people can buy it and the content can be more widespread.

Niche Interest context= My intention for this magazine was to not only to focus it on girls but to have a widespread of gaming content such as competitions and exclusive interviews for example. I put a girl playing a video game as my main image on my front cover to make her the main focus of the magazine, by doing this is allows the readers (girls) to feel more included in this type of media. I used colours such as pink to draw girls in and used black and white to make the text stand out.

Why is this a variable magazine title?= This is my title because it symbolizes that by reading this magazine it will guarantee the readers to achieve the best score and results. It gives the readers confidence by reading the title that they can do this. I made the master head big and bold by using a standing out text and using the colours black and white.

Proposed use of language= My front cover and my magazine will include informal language and codes to support the age group of 13-20 years old. By doing this it matches the generation and the readers can relate more to the text. But I will include some formal language to make it look more professional.

Proposed representation form for the audience= I aim to present my magazine to girls aged 13-20 years old. This magazine is for all classes and races so there is no stereotype for girls who can buy it, upper or lower class, it doesn’t matter. I made it for all girls to brauch out the interest of it because it is stereotypically for boys but by having a girls gaming magazine it allows girls to feel more excepted.

Where will I get my content from?= I know quite a few girls who like to game, so I can take photos of them for my magazine just like the girl on the front of my magazine. By doing this it gives the readers examples of people who like to game. All my content I include will be original and all my own.