His name is Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn but his artist name is Common.

Born: March 13, 1972 (age 47 years), South Side, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

 In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for best R&B song for the Erykah Badu single “Love of my life”.

Music video – letter to the free

About slavery of black people and unfair treatment

Trying to make us think about all the people who got killed as a result of slavery.

He references the bible when he says ‘forgive them father’ because Jesus said ‘ father, forgive them.’

repertoire of elements- key elements of a film that are consistently repeated throughout a genre.

hybridization- merging and combining different elements of media together.

corpus- when genres evolve as new texts are added to the body of similar texts.

historic specificity- genres that are associated with certain specific time periods.

repetition and sameness- the action of repeating something and something being the same.

variation and change- changing something from how it is or how it has or should been.

narrative image- telling a story in the moment or how it’s going or sequence of events unfolding over time.

expectations and hypothesis- how something is expected or believed to be and as proposition made as a basis of believing.

suspend disbelief- temporarily allow someone to believe something that isn’t true, especially to enjoy a work of fiction.

generic regime of verisimilitude- refers to what is likely to happen in a genre.

What is it about?- Tony and Emily Hughes go to France on a holiday with their five-year-old son Oliver. However, when their car breaks down one night in a small town, Tony suddenly loses sight of his son.

Tertiary audience: is when a person is only listening to the station because they are familiar with the guest that is on. This could also be a friend, sister, a particular celebrity and others. Primary audiences are those who receive the communication directly and are also known as the target audience. The person is also usually the decision maker. Secondary audiences are those readers who are not the primary addressee, but are still included as viewer

The Missing is an international co-production between the BBC and Starz. The first eight-part series, about the search for a missing boy in France. It’s fiction.

Theorist	What does it mean (in your own words)	How does it apply to the advert (in your own words)
Equilibrium	The state of being at equilibrium is being constant and fine with nothing bothering you e.g all stories will have a exposition, complication and resolution. Equilibrium would be at the beginning then the complication happens and ruins it but the resolution brings it back to equilibrium.	The advert starts off at equilibrium when they’re happy and feel comfortable with what they’re wearing and how they look then the mascara is the complication because they want to be ‘bossed up’ and once they’ve used it they’re happy and comfortable again therefore at equilibrium.
Binary Opposition	Binary opposition is a pair of related concepts that are completely opposite e.g white&black, North&South or the could be a neutral balance e.g a product only for women and not for men has been made available to both genders.	This advert has made a product genuinely associated as a product only for women and made it neutral for men and woman by having both genders in the same advert. They have also used a black woman and a white man to make it neutral. The opposites are they’re in New York to show how extravagant they are as opposed to St. Helier a small Jersey parish that isn’t very glam.
Character Types	There are certain types of characters which are always within stories e.g they may have different personalities but they play a role like a hero, villain, victim, princess, dispatcher.	The heroes were MannyMUA and MakeupbyShayla as they’re the main characters and they use the product and are magical and special. The suitcase man is the dispatcher as he gives them the product and the other makeup brands are the villains as they’re trying to defeat and beat them.

Technical Code	Denotation (ie what is it – simply describe what you see / hear)	Connotation (ie what does it signify)
Setting	New York apartment	Wealth and luxury and fame
Clothing	Plain and normal everyday clothing at first but once they’re bossed up their clothes are gold and glam.	That one you wear the mascara you look rich and super glam
NVC	Suitcase man had a smirk and shrugged his shoulders	He knows how amazing the mascara is and he knew it wouldn’t disappoint
Dialogue	The words ‘bossed up’	That the mascara will make you look a ‘boss’ which is usually associated with the best therefore you’ll look great
Sound Effect	Twinkle sound effect	Implying that this mascara is magical and will transform your looks
Music	Upbeat hip hop style music	This mascara will make you look cool and the music catches your attention
Camera shot size	Wide shots of room	Showing how expensive and good your life will be once you buy the mascara and showing product in the background
Camera movement	Zooms into eyes and mascara	Showing the audience how great this mascara is and how nice your lashes will look and how great and expensive and golden it looks
Editing

In this essay I am going to analyse how Tomb Raider and Men’s Health present gender in a radical yet also reactionary way and whether it supports the dominant ideology. I’m going to evaluate the dominant signifiers which are Lara Croft and Vin Diesel, i’ll also look at the two pages within the Men’s Health magazine and the article about Lara Croft by Lauren Hall. I’ll focus on how each gender is presented and how it makes the audience feel, how the publishers want us to interpret it, their take on body image and how it’s presented in ‘ pop culture and society.’

I believe that Men’s health is presenting a negative stereotype of how males should look, this is what makes the magazine cover reactionary, the dominant signifier is what producers want us to associate with good health and this dominant ideology isn’t good because it’s setting unrealistic ideals which aren’t attainable. This negotiated identity is making today’s males believe that this is how they should look or how they should act because these kind of negative stereotypes are being shown everywhere, making them have a negative opinion about themselves because they wished they looked like that. There is also a significant attention drawn to the muscles on Vin Diesel’s arms because they’ve been selected to represent what the magazine is trying which is ‘Men’s Health’ ‘New Year New Muscle’ and ‘Shortcuts to T-shirt Arms’ therefore indicating that this is what you need to look like to be considered healthy as this is a magazine discussing ‘ Men’s Health’ and the title is reinforcing this negative stereotype. The audience isn’t aren’t aware of the constructed reality that editors and producers have created as they’re making it seem like this is a social norm and actually achievable even though the photo is manipulated ; however what makes this image radical is the fact that nobody actually looks like this and this isn’t what men look or should look like.

Similarly Tomb Raider is also following the dominant ideology presenting negative stereotypes on what woman should like making this game reactionary. The creators of the game have strategically positioned the audience to make them see what they want us to see and interpret Lara’s beauty with what a good game should consist of as we usually associate attractiveness with how good someone or something is, this could be why Lara looks the way she does. The creators have made a constructed reality and allowed us to believe her appearance is normal and what we should look like, however that is not the case. Lauryn Hall stated that Lara’s ‘ breasts were increased by 150%’ , there was direct focus on her very detailed and emphasised butt , her neck was incredibly long, knees so thin that if she were a real human she wouldn’t be able to walk and this was done just to make the game sell well in a male dominated market and to satisfy the ‘male gaze’ and follow the dominant ideology. The creators have made Lara’s body impeccable according to today’s ridiculous societal expectations yet again making the females of this generation set unrealistic goals for themselves and this has a negative impact on their self esteem, they’ve done this just to please the target audience (males) despite how it made woman feel. On the contrary its a counter-type on the stereotypes on how females should act or what they’re associated with which is what makes it radical. Females are usually presented as the victim or evil seductress or just as someone who needed saving but here Lara is the hero which we associate with a stereotypical male position therefore challenging the dominant ideology.

Men’s Health doesn’t just have negative views on what a male should be like, it has a very positive counter-type which challenges our typical stereotypes associated with age and masculinity therefore challenging the dominant ideology. On page 3 we have the dominant signifier ( ‘The Marathon Man- Phill howells’), this is a 69 year old man with immaculate health and still very fit and active. We generally associate older men with sitting at home and relaxing all day but this challenges these stereotypes and proves to us that anyone can be fit and healthy despite age or how manly and muscular you are despite that being the message on the front cover. Phill stated that the only thing his age changes is that he has to ‘ go slower now’, he still runs and trains despite his ‘ atrial fibrillation’ and this presents him to the audience as heroic and just as manly and healthy as Vin diesel on the magazine cover. Page 3 spreads and encourages acceptance of all men; however the audience positioning makes you question how genuine this really is. The creators could’ve put this positive body image older man on the front cover spreading positivity and challenging the dominant ideology yet despite all the good they’ve still put Vin diesel as the front cover reinforcing negative stereotypes and conforming to the dominant ideology just so their magazine sells well as this is what us consumers expect to see.

To conclude Men’s Health and Tomb Raider both present negative and stereotypical views on body image and how each gender should look and be like. They both follow the dominant ideology and accept and go along with societal expectations despite how it affects each gender and person just so that their game/magazine sells well. They both also challenge the dominant ideology in certain ways, Tomb Raider presents Lara as a hero and strong independent woman who doesn’t need recusing and Men’s Health tells the story of a 69 year old fit and healthy older marathon runner, but how genuine are both media platforms about the positive gender representation because in each of these texts, you have to look deeper and analyse these texts deeper just to seek out the good while the negative stereotypes are what stands out and they’re the message people see and spread.

Positive and negative stereotypes : A stereotype is the general way people expect things to be, specific beliefs on looks, personality, behavior , good or bad. E.g blondes are stupid.

Counter- types : This is when the opposite of a stereotype occurs. E.g stereotype= woman needs rescuing Counter- type = woman is the hero

Misrepresentation : to give false or misleading representation with intent to deceive. E.g A really skinny model advertises weight loss tea and makes you believe drinking it will make you look like her but in reality she is edited.

Selective representation : Choosing to only show certain parts of an image or issue. E.g war info, only see what the opposition has done to make you dislike them but not show the bad things your country has done so they seem heroic and good.

Dominant ideology : It agrees with what we believe should be in place or happening or agreeing with certain stereotypes. E.g a hero should be a handsome kind man saving the day.

Constructed reality : The way we present ourselves or things to the world in a way we want those things to be seen either because that’s what we think we should be or look like or because we’ve been influenced by other factors. E.g what we post on Instagram creating our social identity we post what we want to be seen as.

Hegemony : the dominance or authority of certain aspects in life E.g student government leadership in a school.

Audience positioning : the techniques used by the creator to control how the audience sees and understands the ideology of the media form presented.

Fluidity of identity : our identity is fluid and distinctively our own and is shaped by our culture, race, how we were raised and educated etc and can change all the time

Constructed identity : forming of a person by the way a certain society feels and the culture they believe in. E.g a christian mother will stay at home and look after her children and always take them to church on a Sunday.

Negotiated identity : changing someones beliefs and identity by the use of cultural beliefs and the mass media. E.g someone who thinks they like apples watches lots of TV about apples and now they love apples.

Collective identity : a persons feeling of belonging within a certain community or group. E.g a football player feeling like they’re part of their team and feeling valued within that team.

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