As we approach the last few topics of this A level course and before we look specifically at the 3 New Media CSP’s: The Voice, Teen Vogue and The Sims Freeplay, we should briefly consider what we can understand about New Media in relation to Old (legacy) Media that we looked at in the previous half terms (ie TV, PSB, eg BBC, radio, Newspapers etc)
New media is a broad area of study which needs to be more closely reframed in terms of a specific case study or text (which we will do with The Voice, Teen Vogue and The Sims Freeplay and we have done with Tomb Raider and Metroid); a particular form technology (hardware or software), or (as in the case of this A level course) a specific area of study (language, representation, institution or audience).
So let’s start by listening to a conversation between a human and a robot.
ROLAND BARTHES – Concept 1: Denotation and Connotation
Barthes’ tells us by using a ‘denotative reading’ is how viewers decode media products. This occurs when a reader recognises the literal and physical content, e.g. an older man with his fist in the air, the style and colour of clothing. After this, readers quickly move beyond the recognition of the product and engage with what he calls ‘cognitive decoding.’ This refers to the deeper understanding prompted by advertisers to the emotional, symbolic/ideological significances, e.g. the older man’s fist may suggest defiance or aggression, the clothes may suggest a class.
WHEN LOOKING AT A MEDIA TEXT:
Image Features:
Look out for:
POSE (Subject positioning, stance or body language)
Breaking the 4th wall creates: confrontational/aggressive or invitational feel. Off screen gaze: Right side – adventure/optimism. Left side – regret/nostalgia. Body language: strong/weak/passive/active/open/closed Subject Positioning: Where the person/people stand. Proxemics: Their distance from people/things.
MISE-EN-SCENE (Props, costume and setting)
Symbolic Props: rarely accidental Pathetic fallacy: weather connotations to add meaning – character’s thoughts/tone Costume Symbolism: Stereotypes help to decipher a character’s narrative function
LIGHTING CONNOTATIONS
High-Key lighting: no shadows – positive and upbeat with a lighter feel Low-Key lighting: Serious/ sad/moody connotations. Chiaroscuro lighting: contrast lighting (light sharply cuts through darkness) – hopelessness/mystery Ambient: infers realism
COMPOSITIONAL EFFECTS (Shot distance, positioning of subjects in the frame)
Long shots: dominated their environment Close-ups: intensifies emotions/impending drama Open/closed frames: open- freedom, closed – entrapment
POSTPRODUCTION EFFECTS
Colour control: Red- anger, white – innocence High saturation: Vibrant colours – cheerful Desaturation: Dull colours – serious/sombre
Barthes’ recognised that text also gave meaning. He says it helps to ‘anchor’ image meanings in advertisements. Without anchorage, media imagery is likely to produce polysemic connotations (multiple meanings).
“a vice which holds the connotated meanings from proliferating”
Concept 2: The media’s ideological effect
Barthes’ suggests media replaces/replicates functions of myth making. The press, television, advertising, radio – convey the same sort of authority as myths and induce similar ideological effects. Anonymisation of myths shows it’s a collective view rather than singular –> media replicates this.
Naturalisation: Media products present ideas as natural/fact/common sense. When a range of media texts repeat the same idea, audience believe it is a fact rather than perspective, social norm.
Media myths are reductive: Media simplifies and reduces/purifies ideas to make it more digestible. – message reduction discourages audiences to question and analyse thoroughly.
Media myths reinforce existing social power structures: “the oppressor has everything, his language is rich, multiform, supple.” Those who have power tend to control the myth making process through the privileged access – maintain illusion that the system that benefits the powerful is naturally ordered and unchangeable.
C.S PEIRCE:
Peirce did not believe that signification was a straightforward binary relationship between a sign and an object, he viewed this innovative part of his triad as how we perceive or understand a sign and its relationship to the object it is referring to. The representamen in Peirce’s theory is the form the sign takes, which is not necessarily a material or concrete object. Peirce theorised that we interpret symbols according to a rule, a habitual connection. ‘The symbol is connected with its object because the symbol-user and a sign exists mainly due to the fact that it is used and understood. Peirce’s triad of signs concludes of:
Icon – A sign that looks like an object/person, e.g picture of a lamp.
Index – A sign that has a link to its object, e.g smoke and fire.
Symbol – A sign that has a more random link to its object, e.g colour, shape
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE:
According to Saussure theory of signs, signifier and signified make up of signs. A sign is composed of both a material form and a mental concept. The signifier is the material form, i.e., something that can be heard, seen, smelled, touched or tasted, whereas the signified is the mental concept associated with it. C.S Peirce based his research off of Saussure.
Lara Croft is the dominant signifier on the front cover
Paradigm of signifiers relating to action, adventure and violence
Iconic signs such as a gun, rope, gloves and a backpack create connotations of a more masculine woman which counteracts the stereotype of women and femininity. – the gun also implies the basic stock types of ‘Good guy vs Bad guy’
Use of the colour gold could be a symbolic sign linking towards treasure and wealth whilst also implying theft
The coding engraved into the stone on the back cover could be representing a different language – typically a non-English speaking country This also creates the sense of ‘the other’ without specifically othering a specific country
The age rating is a denotation as it warns customers the game may be inappropriate for ages younger
Language links to Roland Barthes, C.S. Pierce and Ferdinand de Saussure
Representation:
The dominant signifier is a reactionary representation of women as the lack of clothing worn represents the over-sexualisation of women and women in all media platforms. Her features are also exaggerated and accentuated through the use of tightly fitted clothing which creates unrealistic standards and ideologies of women for both genders to look up to. This can increase anxieties around body image and be damaging for young girls growing up. This also teaches girls and women to base their worth off the validation they receive from their body appearance, as both genders will learn that is socially acceptable to objectify women and to compare women to others. Furthermore, this will create and even bigger gender divide as it creates a lack of understanding for other connections other than physical. Camera positioning also contributes to the way in which women are perceived, women within video games are often seen with their features in shot at all angles whilst men are not. The characteristics also vary as women are seen to ‘saunter’ with some sassy walk and men are seen to walk ‘normally’ which shows that even within a video game woman are ‘seductive’. (Feminist frequency videos) However, Tomb Raider also provides a contrasting representation of women as the dominant signifier is female rather than male. Which countertypes to the usual ‘damsel-in-distress’ stereotype of women in video games- or even sometimes they are the ‘trophy’.
Representation links to Laura Mulvey (Male Gaze) and John Berger (Ways of Seeing) + (Feminist critical thinking)
Genre:
Tomb raider’s genre consists of action and adventure. Steve Neale talks about the repetition and differences within genre and weather they follow the typical conventions. Whilst Tomb Raider does follow the typical genre conventions featuring themes of violence however it does challenge the stereotypical male lead by utilising a main character as female, which serves to maintain interest in an evolving genre. The game utilises a third-person perspective which allows the audience to look around the character without her moving.
Narrative:
Perhaps the most poignant action code is the fatal battle between Lara and Larson. In this quick time event, the player takes limited control of the character and follows the on-screen prompts to shoot Larson. Each button press seems more intimate than the last. It’s clear from the softer music and Lara’s facial expressions that she regrets having to kill the henchman.
While these hermeneutic and proairetic codes provide the internal chronology of the narrative, the representation of the hero and villain is the most obvious example of Barthes’ definition of a symbolic code. Of course, Natla is dressed in a black suit – the colour code connoting her evil intent – and Lara is in her blue top. This simple binary opposition is also established by their different hair colour and accents.
When the player takes control of the avatar we are already in the disequilibrium stage. The player must overcome obstacles, puzzle and fight beasts in order to repair the disequilibrium and create a new equilibrium linking to Todorov’s narratology theory.
Audience:
Albert Bandura’s investigations demonstrated a link between young people watching violence on television and then expressing deviant behaviour in real life. The psychologist called this process symbolic modelling “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” is an action-adventure game which rewards violence because the players use their weapons to overcome the obstacles and save the planet. That final conflict with Larson is quite direct and emotional because it is performed as a quick time event where you make a clear and conscious decision to kill the character.
We can also link this to George Gerbner and his cultivation theory and mean world index as Tomb Raider exposes players to a series of violence. Where children may be at risk of perceiving the world as more violent then reality.
Industry:
[The original “Tomb Raider” was the first game developed by Core Design. The independent company was acquired by Eidos Interactive 1996 who helped finance their projects. After further mergers and acquisitions, Eidos Interactive is now a British subsidiary of Square Enix – a Japanese entertainment conglomerate.
This level of consolidation is typical of the concentration of media ownership identified by David Hesmondhalgh who was eager to highlight how the cultural industries were dominated by a very small number of firms. Although this gives the conglomerates incredible power, some critics would also argue this business model enables the creation of increasingly complex and financially risky games. For example, Core Design needed substantial funding to complete “Tomb Raider” or the game would never have left the design board.
It is also worth noting Eidos and Sony worked together to make “Tomb Raider” exclusive to the new PlayStation console rather than developing the game for the Nintendo or Sega platforms. This marketing strategy, which Hesmondhalgh called artificial scarcity, certainly helped the PlayStation brand to dominate the industry.
The computer game industry is one of the largest sectors in the entertainment business. It might be bigger than Holywood, but there are still lots of financial and legal pressures. “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” is a good illustration of the three formatting techniques used by companies to improve their chances of success.
First, it uses the iconography of action-adventure which will appeal to audiences who are already familiar with the genre. Third-person shooters are also incredibly popular with players. Lara Croft has developed into a cultural icon with her own fanbase, so the game can rely on her star power. Finally, franchises are easier to promote because the intellectual property is firmly established and there will an audience eager for the next instalment.
Square Enix reported the game sold 1.3 million copies worldwide, falling short of the return from the previous Tomb Raider games. It’s a risky business.]
Title of the game suggests themes of space and/or science fiction – Pun for ‘meteoroid’
The iconic sign of a gun, like Tomb Raider, also implies violence
The dominant signifier is a girl (Samus Aran); however, this isn’t obvious as on the main cover she is disguised in an over-sized space suit.
Indexical signifiers such as mathematics related coding, numbers and diagrams and shapes, create a myth that displays links to action, suspense and a quest.
The symbolic sign of the white-like highlight that contours the dominant signifier, could symbolise innocence or power and goodness. – connotating to the fact that she is the ‘Good guy’
Language links to Roland Barthes, C.S. Pierce and Ferdinand de Saussure
Representation:
This character counteracts the stereotypical representation, demonstrating a radical presentation of women and video games. The character’s appearance is not revealed until the last part of the game which helps to enhance a sense of freedom from the player as they can imagine/perceive the character to fit themselves. It is also implied the relationship between fictional characters and our factual lives are to do with the influence of media from a young age. Alike Tomb Raider, the dominant signifier is female which is a radical representation of women as it shows women in a more masculine dominated area. It helps to break the stereotype of women being the weaker gender or at least less capable in comparison to men. However, at the end of the game, Samus Aran is revealed wearing a blue body suit, in which, her body is majorly exaggerated and enhanced. Presenting an idealistic and non-realistic body type. This refreshing presentation is snatched away and the game, like so many others, fall into the archaic ways of appealing to the Male Gaze as a sales strategy.
Representation links to Laura Mulvey (Male Gaze) and John Berger (Ways of Seeing) + (Feminist critical thinking)
Genre:
Metroid is a hybrid genre due to its feature of action and adventure, horror and sci-fi. Steve Neale says there’s an ‘interplay of codes’ which refers to all the features connoting to a genre which help to convey attitudes and beliefs on an ideological world. An example in Metroid is ‘If you weren’t afraid of the dark before, you will be.’ which was a tagline used in marketing the game. It is reassuring for the audience to be able to recognise these codes within the game, such as violence, fictional worlds, powers, and parallel universes are all genre conventions of sci-fi and action. However the differences within this game also helps to entice/engage audiences.
Narrative:
The main character, Samus Aran, serves as the stock character of the hero as she goes on a rescue mission to find her missing troops. Here we can see Todorov’s narratology theory containing the structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition, resolution and new equilibrium. The threat posed by the bad guys is the disequilibrium, she then flies across three planets to collect a light and return it to it’s rightful place which serves as the repair that will create peace and a new equilibrium. The game also shows Levi Strauss’ binary oppositions between the characters. As in order to have Samus Aran as the hero that foreshadows there must be a villan which interweaves with Propp’s stock characters.
Audience:
Scanning through the game, most people would assume the target audience is mainly male because of the stereotypical representations of male and female games and the symbolic link between colours such as blue and pink that are associated with gender. An advert that was used to market the game also only featured two young boys playing the game, this also connotes that the primary target audience is male. Nintendo also called their controller the ‘Game Boy’ which would also suggest a gender bias. However, an industry historical review reported that more females were becoming “video game fans” and that 27 per cent of NES players in 1988 were female. The video game is regulated by PEGI and rated a 12 due to the features of violence.
Although we are exploring a virtual world full of ridiculous signifiers, audiences are still learning values and behaviours from a game which celebrates violence. In the development of his cultivation theory, George Gerbner included cartoon depictions of violence in his research because they resonated with the audience. He says the more someone is exposed to something the more they start to recognise it and believe the world is a far more dangerous place then it really is which links to his second theory of mean world index. Aether is a fictional planet. There was no catastrophic meteor. But the violence in the game feels real to a player immersed in that experience especially as it is played through first person which still creates the same tension and adrenaline as someone living in that experience. Here we can see the links to hyperreality and simulation that connotes to Baudrillard’s theory. Albert Bandura also drew attention to television as a socialising agent. Through a process of symbolic modelling, we copy the behaviour we see on the screen, especially if there is positive reinforcement. “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes” rewards players for their skill, gaining power ups and bonus content to defeat the bosses.
Industry:
As a Nintendo game Metroid is the product of one of a handful of conglomerates which dominate the video games industry, a context which means that the study of the industry raises issues which are central to contemporary media studies: • The structure of Nintendo as a company and its control of production, distribution and circulation • The use of digital platforms to expand the output and reach of the games demonstrates how institutions have responded to the impact of new technology. • Regulation of games through PEGI • Cultural industries including Hesmondhalgh
Social and Cultural contexts:
Metroid is a Japanese, sci-fi, action adventure video game developed by Nintendo. It is one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises with 11 games available across all of the company’s platforms. Metroid is a culturally significant game in the gaming universe due to its mix of style and tone which combines Super Mario Bros style platforming with darker content, but also due to the representation of the central character, Samus Aran. Aran is a bounty hunter whose gender identity has been the subject of controversy and debate, leading some commentators to identify the character as transgender reflecting contemporary social and cultural contexts.
Article:Why Diversity Matters – Links as to why media should include more diversity in their representations. These quotes are referring to the gaming industry.
‘ The industry traditionally projects an image that is young, white, straight and male’
‘Most games feature white protagonists’
‘A scene in Pakistan displays shop signs written in Arabic, even though Pakistani people speak English and Urdu, not Arabic’
For my newspaper NEA I am going to produce the front cover of a local jersey newspaper, I am going to name it Jersey Local News. Its target audience will be to any age of people who will be interested in local news stories and learning about stories from other parts of the world. My newspaper will be reporting on the topics of, The bill of rights act 2022, The new abortion ban in the UK, it will also includes the cost of living crisis. It will briefly show the topics of breaking news involving the metropolitan police and another which involved a student. I will be using a story that is local but also links to different countries, which will cover my target audience. My story will be based on the New Bill of Rights act which has take out the right to abortion which links to Jersey as jersey could follow their idea on this. We have looked at the theorists of James Curran and Jean Seaton, Habermas which specifically targets newspapers and the ‘liberal press’.
For my production of the newspaper I will be using the editing app of adobe InDesign to create my front page and my double page spread, and I will be using photoshop to create my flyers. Using photoshop I will also be ale to create the adverts on my newspaper using editing software found in the app. The photos in my piece will be original and are recent photos and photos I have taken in the past. The style model I will be following will be the I.
HOW ARE BAUDRILLARD’S IDEAS OF SIMULATION AND HYPERREALITY TO UNDERSTANDING MEDIA-You should refer to the Close Study Products x2 in your answer-
What is hyperreality in media? it is suggested that there is a difference between the media and reality and what they represent. Hyperreality is the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced societies.
Postmodernism is loosely defined and hard to apply- broadly a characteristic in media products that demonstrates a distrust of established rules and theory, often by drawing attention to its own status as a fictional product- for example may feature a camera talking directly to the audience, breaking the rules of cinema, being as trashy or as awful as possible, making no sense, jumping backwards and forwards in time and space, or deliberately challenging philosophies such as religion and cultural hegemony
Hyperreality – “A representation of nothing. A representation of something that does not exist. Through the use of hyperreal imagery, audiences now confuse the signs of the real for the real. And in many cases, the hyperreal is far more attractive than reality itself”
Verisimilitude– the appearance of being true or real.
“Mrs Thatcher and her supporters are in favour of deregulation, competition and choice”- Seaton
The peacock report (richard collins 2009)
ghost town can be seen to exhibit postmodern qualities as the specials question Margaret Thatcher, and do this by criticising the Britain she has created. This idea is seen to be evident as the specials make attempts to have the buildings/city symbolic of her and her supporters. Ghost town – alienation. BBC and Thatchers views opposing, possibly created
Vladimir’s propp characters STOCK CHARACTERS theory to structure stories:
1: Hero
2: Helper
3: princess
4: Villain
5: Victim
6: Dispatcher
7: Farther
8: False hero
Freytag’s theory:
Freytag’s pyramid
Beginning / middle / end
Exposition, Climax, Denouement
Rising action, falling action
Todorov’s theory
Equilibrium, Disruption, New Equilibrium
Frame stories (stories within stories)
Single character transformations: The idea that characters follow a journey that leads to a realisation, changed personality. Linking to Ancient Greek narrative structures:
Postmodernism:
It’s an approach towards understanding, knowledge, life, being, art, technology, culture, sociology, philosophy, politics and history that is REFERENTIAL (in that it often refers to / copies other things)
RE-IMAGINING= To recreate or form a new conception of by recreation
PASTICHE=A work of art, drama, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
PARODY= A work or performance that imitates another work or performance with the use of irony and humour.
COPY
BRICOLAGE= construction of media with a diverse range of available things ‘involves the rearrangment and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning’(Barker & Jane, 2016:237)
Claude Levi-Strauss(Binary Oppositions)
Creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film. However, as mentioned previously, the way in which individual students / audience members decode specific texts, is also contingent on their own individual ideas, attitudes and beliefs
Baudrillard: The theory of postmodernism can be referred to the concept of new production and an approach to understanding life is built from an addition of repetition of elements from past aspects and/or media formats and therefore is referential to existing concepts.
This is predominantly associated with the re-imagination of life/culture through pastiche and parody’s. Pastiches imitate past of the previous artist and parody does this with the use of irony and humour- arguably to create a more entertaining product to consume to promote specific concepts.
A more specific example is a bricolage, which is described by barker and jane as a montage of available information of previously unconnected signs and conventions to convey a newer meaning.
Hyperreality is described by Baudrillard as the inability to distinguish reality from the simulation that media has produced, the idea that reality is represented as an exaggerated version that is unrealistic and thus creating a simulation, the simulation or simulacram is distributed among media products and for the most part widely creates an unrealistic stereotype and conveys a false narrative, and then hyperreality is created from the exaggerated simulation, and therefore can have negative impacts on media and false advertisation.
Media can take advantage of hyperreality as Jameson explains in his book “postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism” that hyperreality is often created to provide entertainment or desire of the product and therefore combining Katz theory of Uses and Gratification to increase consumerism for the postmodernistic outlook being provided to the audience.
Through analysis of the hyperreality of Specific SCP’s we can observe the effects of Postmodernism among media products and how hyperreality and simulation create a false narrative and how this can link into capitalistic ideaologies.
How valid are Baudrillard’s ideas of simulation and hyperreality to understanding the media?
You should refer to the Close Study Products Score and Maybelline to support your answer. [20 marks]
– Both products record simulations, largely of gender but also the benefits of their advertised product in specific historical contexts – This is how hyperrealities are constituted by the movement from representation to simulation, by images based not on reality but other images – This is strictly not representation but rather simulation: they are signifiers without a stable signified: these are essentially hyperrealities: images that refer only to other images – Gender here functions as a simulacrum, an image without an original – These are mythic narratives
[ SCORE ][ MAYBELLINE ]
Score Hair Cream – The advert simulates a male-oriented fantasy of power (common in advertising of the period) – Time makes this once coherent construction of masculinity farcical, but it is essentially simulation, the creation of a world that never has been complete with values we think we once had – Here is the hyperreality: this was never ‘real’ always ‘fantastic’ – The text is empty of all but desperation (a sense it is trying too hard) and ideology (now visible and therefore perishable) – This is a hyperreality awash with intertextual elements which inform setting, narrative, characters, costume and plot (and are revealing about all of these) – The ideological ‘drama’ pits male and female as universal forces – Responses may consider the differences in audiences reading the advert in the 1960s and today and the ways in which this context may shape the response
Maybelline | That Boss Life – The contemporary social and cultural context of gender and sexuality as fluid and postmodern is simulated in the Maybelline advert – The male model subverts traditional gender expectations through appearance, body language, transformation through makeup usually associated with femininity – This subversion is enacted through glamour – Both male and female are equally interested in the product – the mascara which is itself an object of desire: it has symbolic rather than utility value. They are captivated (on our behalf) – The male and female characters are represented as equals and friends which gives a sliver of reality to the spectacle: for they are models/faces/embodiments of the company and its investment: the spectacle is a form of money
