Exam Questions

Paper 2

Q: Media products are shaped by the economic and political contexts in which they are created. (2022)
To what extent does an analysis of your online, social and participatory Close Study Products (The Voice and Teen Vogue) support this view?:

Teen vogue was originally a print magazine and it grew from that to it only being online. The same goes for The Voice, however they still have a newspaper. Teen vogue has been seen as a left wing approach to media by promoting things such as the LGBTQ+ community and talking down on people like Donald Trump who is a right wing republican. Teen vogue somewhat reduces the risky business with David Hesmondhalgh’s theory by them being a branch of Vogue, the main magazine of Teen Vogue owned by Conde Nast, they hope that readers of Teen Vogue will move onto Vogue when they are older to keep profits consistent and reduce the risk. However Teen Vogue also goes against this idea of reducing the risk as they usually have quite radical approach’s to news and articles with them having sections such as Politics, Environment and Immigration. The Voice, a newspaper for the black community, was first created in 1982 whom at the time, Margret Thatcher was the current prime minister of Britain and was apart of the conservative party. There was a lot of racism in this time against the black community in Britain, so this could be seen as rebellious and quite a radical approach at the time.

Q: The target audiences for video games change because of the historical and economic contexts in which they are produced. (2020)
To what extent does an analysis of the Close Study Products Tomb Raider:
Anniversary and The Sims FreePlay support this statement?:

Sims FreePlay is a game created by EA a conglomerate, who is a horizontal and vertical integration. Their main target audience is women who are 18 to 40 years old who tend to use tablets and phones. The game attracts this type of audience due to its vast range of current economical and historic time period its in, for example it simulates real life economics with you being able to purchase things such as houses, and work jobs for money in game. And with it being historic to our time period by being able to dress characters and have the jobs and furniture to our current time period, about the last decade. With the players being able to do this gives them a sense of being able to play “god”. The point of women being the target appeal is further backed up by the fact that you can nurture and care for humans as well as being able to raise children and watch them grow. Although you can be limited of the game and how you play “god” with it, with the currency being limited by how much time you play, this can be bypassed with in app purchases of the game using real life money however players have figured you can mod the game to give yourself infinite money and play it how you want to and create the dream home similar to the time period of what your dream how may look like offering the audience a fantasy escape from their boring lives as there pre-cautions don’t cause real harm.

Q: Media effects theories argue that the media has the power to shape the audience’s box thoughts and behaviour. How valid do you find the claims made by effects theories? You should refer to two of the:
Close Study Products (Tomb Raider Anniversary, Metroid: Prime 2 Echoes, Sims
Freeplay) in your answer

Theorists Practice:
The Signified of The newspaper the Voice is that its about black culture in Britain.
The Icons in Teen Vogue are the people on the website.
The Denotation of Sims Freeplay is that its an innocent mobile game.
The binary oppositions are seen in Sims Freeplay with you being able to play as a man or a woman.
The Sims Freeplay is a game that gives sacramental reality, this is done by living lives in the way humans do, by going to work etc.

Jean Baudrillard – Simulacrum, Simulation, Hyperreality
Roland Barthes – Connotation, Denotation, Myth
Judith Butler – Gender Roles
Curran And Seaton – Power without Responsibility
David Gauntlett – Fluidity of Identity, Constructive identity, Negotiated identity, Collective identity.