“In this essay I am going to apply a semiotic analysis to both the Tomb Raider and Metroid video games covers.

I will argue that the Tomb Raiders game cover and Metroid cover display the same relationships, similarities and differences between signifiers. I will also argue the challenge of the way females are being represented and their place in society today. I strongly believe Tomb Raider doesn’t represent women in a positive or productive way in the gaming community as both covers are extremely sexist and degrading to women with the way they are dressed and the way certain features of their bodies are enhanced.the way women have been presented in these games covers creates unrealistic ideals of a female to the males eye, creating stereotypical standards that they believe all women must look like. Although people may think that Lara Croft has was defeating gender stereotypes buy being a strong main female character, she does not rely on a male character to complete her quest which then creates an influence on the males who play these games allowing them ton think it is okay to be encouraged to be more open minded in the way females should be perceived in games then to how they really are in real life.

 This reflects upon Laura Mulvey’s notion on the male gaze in that the dominant signifier is designed in such a way that she appears sexualised. In the words of Mulvey, she is a character whose “appearance is coded for a strong visual and erotic impact” (“Visual and Other Pleasures”, 1989). Laura states that women are presented as sexual objects for heterosexual male gratification, she believes this due to the abundant mass of females in the media being objectified to please men and to entice them to buy products.  

From the game Metroid, the main character who is seen as a rather large robotic character is known a radical character in the media as she is defeating the gender stereotypes (enlarged butt and boobs, smaller torso) by being a main character who has not been sexualised for the male gaze. The way she is not sexualised is a good way towards making a change in the media as the dominant signifier suggests a sense of power and independence the character brings out on her own. 

in conclusion, both Metroid and Tomb Raider describe two  representations of female protagonists in a way that they are both presented as radical roles due to the bravery and independence they are portraying. 

I intend for my product to be aimed towards females aged (15- 30). My product is the Lady Million fragrance, for my advert I will be having a solid background to ensure that all attention is on my product, the perfume will be affordable and good quality. I will also be using a female in my advert as it is the ‘Lady Million’ perfume in contrast to the mens ‘ 1 Million’ fragrance.

	Research Product 1	Research Product 2	My Product
Understanding self	–	–	Product may make you feel and smell how you want
Enjoyment	Enjoy driving the new car	Moment of bliss from the first sip	If you smell nicer, you may enjoy life more
Escapism	Escape from reality on an open road	Moment of bliss from the first sip	–
Knowledge about the world	Drive to see the world	–	People like others who use this product
Self confidence, Self esteem	Have more confidence whilst driving an Audi	Famous people drink coke	You will feel cleaner and smell cleaner
Strengthen connections with family and friends	Go on drives or trips with family and friends	Something you can enjoy with others	–
Other category or theme	–	–	–

dominant signifiers-shayla and Manny	The use of well known influencers gains more publicity for the product and therefore more sales. Their heavy influence will convince others that they also need this product.
anchorage-‘ that boss life’ in the first shot of the ad	The strap line not only tells us what the product is, but it also signifies the effect this product will have on a consumer – they will become more confident.
code- gold sparkles special effects and glistening sound effects	have connotations to magic and portray the mascara tube as a magic wand. This creates the idea that by using this product you will magically become more beautiful and more confident.
symbolic sign, paradigm- the colour gold	Gold packaging, gold suitcase, gold outfits, gold lighting has connotations of wealth and luxury

This Maybelline advert promotes it being okay for men to wear makeup and this advertisement for Maybelline was the first of many of a gay man selling the product. Promoting their product with the first gay male is widely making their advertisement more known and potentially promoting the product to reach more people.

Having more diversity with the promotion of the product is much better for creating a positive side to the brand and not labelling who and who cannot wear makeup, having a women of colour also being in the advert promoting the product is also a positive act as that is also not very commonly seen nowadays.

Having well known people in an advert is a very good way of selling the product as other competitors normally find it harder to compete.

The advert does have some cringey parts but that is a good way of it getting stuck in your head so you end up being the product out of spite. The colours that are also used in the ad are gold, this represents wealth, satisfaction, pleasure and happiness symbolising how the buyers may feel after using the product.

For my print advert I plan to use a can of Lynx. I will use a black can for the modern ad and a white can for the old ad, by doing this I’m attempting to demonstrate the progression of racism since the 60’s. In other words, I plan to do one ad representing a modern outlook and the other being an ad with more outdated values. I intend to make both look professional by using style models for similar products that were/are used in the time which both ads are set. The ads will be aimed at a younger male audience, being between ages 12-25.

Focusing more on the semiotic aspect of it, I can use my style model (Calvin Klein DEFY) to distinguish the signs and conventions which are used in professional print products to therefore improve my product by making it look more professional. By attempting to look at the print as a potential consumer I can immediately spot a paradigm of blue/denim imagery which emphasises the colour of the aftershave

patriarchy, dominant ideology, hegemony, audience positioning, P+N stereotypes.

David Gauntlett: Fluidity of identity constructed identity.

for my advertisement page i will be using aftershave as my product that i will be using for my ad i will be my own model in a suit jacket as well as a white buttoned shirt i am gaining my own ideas from the Hugo boss advert where it has Ryan Reynolds as man of the year i want to mimic some of the quality’s of the ad where i want to say something similar to the ad im getting my ideas from where the poster says “confidence makes the man of the year” i want to make something similar towards it i am wanting to wear a buttoned shirt with a blazer or something similar my audience is for the “elite” those who buy expensive things like fast cars and the so my age range is those who are 25 and upwards. this advertisement will be my modern day poster where my other poster will be a funk pop 90s poster with a wig and bright vibrant colours where my strap line will be “peace and love within a bottle”

focusing more on my modern poster i have used the hypodermic model within my strap line talking about how charisma and confidence makes the man of the year making my audience believe that if they have those quality’s they will become the man of the year…

within my poster i have an indexical sign where my model is wearing a suit representing wealth and money within my work as well as an iconic sign of wealth an maturity as a sign. The word man suggest he is powerful and mature and wealthy this could also be classed as a symbolic sign

in my poster my strapline has anchorage within it the words confidence and charisma have word connotations that link to something more than just adjectives it provokes the thought of quality’s that women want within a man

the dominant signifier within my work would be the word man suggesting that hes the definition of the word man as well as all the myths and stereotypes that follow the word man

the signified concept behind my poster is to sell a product that is aimed at those who are elite

my product refers to the male gaze where it shows of the male status as well as the components of what a man is this also reinforces the patriarchy within modern day times it also creates the stereotype that all men will rule the world by the strapline when it says charisma and confidence make the man of the year signifying that those quality’s are those who are the best. This also positions the audience to believe that this product will imbue these quality’s through the product that they are seeing and buying.

the poster uses all three identity’s that David Gauntlet came up with. such as the fluidity of identity like the construction of showing of masculinity through the use of words

, counter types , positive and negative stereotypes , dominant ideology ,

david gauntlet – constructed identity , collective identity

hypodermic model – lasswell

noise , error , feedback

two step flow

uses and gratifications

katz,….,…..

I intend to make two product adverts, one that is historical and one is contemporary, for the mascara made by Maybelline called Falsies Lash Lift. I aim for my historical product advert to resemble that of an old 1960s advert, which will be targeted at women of the age 12+, whereas I intend for my contemporary product to be targeted more towards the male gender as well as the female gender. This is to imply the difference between discrimination of genders from 1960’s compared to now male gender. In the past it was not seen as acceptable for men to wear makeup as it was believed that the purpose of makeup was solely for women, however now in the more modern times discrimination against the genders have decreased and it is more acceptable for makeup to also be targeted at men. Therefore, for my modern, which can be described as radical, advert I am going to use Liv as a model to represent a member of the male gender and then for my historical advert, which can be described as reactionary. I am going to use Liv as a model to represent the female gender, this is to emphasise the difference in how times have changed between the roles of genders.

In both of my adverts, I am going to have Liv applying mascara, however, for the first advert she is going to represent the female gender giving the suggestion that she loves herself by making sure that she looks confident and bold. In order to do this, I will have the dominant signifier (Liv) wearing a bright red wig to represent the bold colours of the 1960’s. The adverts colour palette will mostly consist of red/ gold/ nude shades because these colours are usually associated with the 1960’s. The strap line will be ‘a dramatic mascara for dramatic lashes’, this will create anchorage for potential buyers as it insinuates to the audience that if they buy the mascara they can feel as if they are someone they’re not or feel more confident within themselves.

Whereas, in my second advert, I am going to have Liv as my model to represent the male gender, in which she is going to have a moustache and wig on. She is going to give the impression to the audience that the male character is in awe with the look the mascara has given him.  The adverts colour palette will mostly consist of pink / nude shades because these colours are usually associated with femininity, even though I am representing a male in this advert I would like femininity to also be represented, in order to emphasise that in our modern times people can be who they want to be and wear what they want to wear no matter their gender.