The Daily Mail, launched in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, is an award-winning newspaper that aims to deliver the latest headlines and compelling content to its millions of readers every day – the highest circulation in the United Kingdom.
Jurgen Habermas defined the public sphere as being an imagined community that doesn’t exist in any identifiable space. In its ideal form, the public sphere is “made up of private people gathered together as a public” and articulates “the needs of society within the state”.
According to James Curran and Jean Seaton, between 1927 and 1937, the Daily Mail “almost halved” its coverage of political, social, and economic news in its total output because “the most-read news in popular daily papers were stories about accidents, crime, divorce, and human interest” in comparison to “categories of public affairs news” which had “only an average or below-average readership rating”.
Media Language Media Representations Media Industries Media Audiences
Cultural
Paper 2
Media Language
Media Representations
It could be argued that the iconic protagonist from the Tomb Raider franchise, Lara Croft, is a positive role model for young girls because she is an athletic action hero who ventures through mysterious environments, defeating enemies and saving the world. However, some believe that her entire design is made to satisfy the male gaze.
The preferred reading of Tomb Raider celebrates the main character’s strength and her significant role within the game’s narratives. It’s likely that some girls might use Lara Croft‘s positive representation to help construct their own identities.
The oppositional reading rejects the female empowerment message, viewing the character’s representation as an exaggeration of the female body that appeals to adolescent fantasies. It’s possible that some girls may become insecure or dissatisfied with their own bodies because the representation of Lara Croft creates a false consciousness that they too need to be perfect.
The negotiated reading recognises both interpretations of the text and positions itself in the middle. Although there is a need for diversity and realistic representations of women in video games, Lara Croft is a strong female character who the audience should continue to enjoy playing as.
Media Language Media Representations Media Industries Media Audiences
Social Political Economic Cultural
Paper 2
The Voice, first published in 1982, is a British newspaper committed to celebrating black experience and delivering a positive change by informing the black community on important issues with its news stories, in-depth interviews, opinion pieces and investigations.
The paper is owned by GV Media Group Limited and aimed towards an African-Caribbean audience. It is based in London and was published every Thursday until 2019, when it became monthly. It is available in a paper version by subscription and also online, and remains Britain’s most successful black newspaper.
Media Language
Media Representations
Paul Gilroy
Stuart Hall
Media Industries
David Hesmondhalgh believed that most companies involved in cultural industries were motivated by profit rather than a duty when it came down to public service broadcasting. No one would invest in a newspaper unless it was going to make money, however, the social and political context of the early 1980s allowed The Voice‘s founder, Val McCalla, to secure £62,000 from Barclays Bank who had attempted to counteract the negative publicity they had gained from investing inSouth Africa, where racial segregation was institutionalised in a system known as apartheid, by showing support for African-Caribbean causes. McCalla obtained the money with the backing of the Loan Guarantee Scheme which was part of a series of initiatives set up by Margaret Thatcher‘s government to help the unemployed begin their own businesses. The Voice was a success and the bank loan was paid off within five years.
Media Audiences
Clay Shirky argued audience behaviour has progressed much further from the passive consumption of media texts to a more active consumption, interacting with both the products and each other.
Stuart Hall‘s reception theory describes how producers use various signs to encode a programme’s meaning, according to their ideologies and resources, which the viewers then decode, to interpret the message through their own framework of knowledge, shaped by their age, social class, ethnicity, geography, and a myriad of other factors.
The circulation of the paper peaked at 55,000 in the early 1990s with young women being a substantial majority of its weekly buyers.
Context
Post-Colonialism
In 1978, Margaret Thatcher had a concern that the UK would become “swamped by people of a different culture”. This led to ‘Operation Swamp‘ in 1981, where the Metropolitan Police used their authority to arrest innocent members of the public, with a disproportionate number of people from the African-Caribbean community being taken into custody, prompting accusations that the police were motivated by racism.
Media Language Media Representations Media Industries Media Audiences
Social Cultural
Paper 2
The Sims FreePlayis a strategic life simulation game developed by EA Mobile and later with Firemonkey Studios. It is a free version of The Sims for mobile devices and was released for iOS on December 15, 2011, Android on February 15, 2012, BlackBerry 10 on July 31, 2013, and Windows Phone 8 on September 12, 2013.
In the game, players build and design houses and customize and create virtual people called Sims. Players are able to control the Sims to satisfy their wishes and complete actions to earn in-game currency, which can also be obtainable by spending real money. There are 55 levels that the player must progress through to unlock content, such as furniture, which can be purchased with the virtual currency. The Sims are able to procreate, yet there is a limit of 34 Sims a player can have in their town. This restriction can be removed if the player becomes a VIP.
Media Language
Jean Baudrillard
Media Representations
Liesbet van Zoonen
Paul Gilroy
Stuart Hall
David Gauntlett argues that the media and technology play a significant role in shaping our identities and provide us with new ways to express ourselves and connect with others. For example, the variety of skin tones available at the customization stage of The Sims FreePlay is a recognition of the racial diversity of the audience. Whilst the gender options follow the binary of male and female, the players themselves are able to reject traditional gender roles when exploring the virtual world. This allows the town to become a place that reflects the player’s identities and values.
Media Industries
Sonia Livingstone
Peter Lunt
Media Audiences
Albert Bandura
George Gerbner
Stuart Hall
Henry Jenkins suggested that fandoms are social entities with distinct dimensions. The Sims FreePlay has a dedicated group of players known as ‘Simmers‘ who exchange tips and ideas on online forums where they develop a social community around the game to both praise and protest against aspects of the gameplay.
In a 2020 survey from The Entertainment Software Association found
Media Language Media Representations Media Industries Media Audiences
Social Political Economic Cultural
Paper 2
Teen Vogue is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenagers. Like Vogue, it included stories about fashion and celebrities.
Media Language
Media Representations
The preferred reading would accept Teen Vogue‘s celebration of celebrity culture and fashion, and agree with its political stance. This group would likely subscribe to the daily newsletter to stay “stylish and informed”.
The oppositional reading understands the encoded message but completely rejects the text, perhaps disagreeing with the political ideology.
Media Industries
Teen Vogue is owned by Condé Nast, which produces “some of the world’s most iconic brands” with the aim to “entertain, surprise and empower” in the largest markets around the globe.
James Curran and Jean Seaton argued these powerful conglomerates dominate cultural industries and reduce the amount of choice, creativity and diversity available to the audience. Since Condé Nast owns both Teen Vogue and Glamour, there are identical articles that appear in both articles. By contrast, other critics might argue that only large conglomerates have the financial and technical resources to produce quality content, whereas smaller-scaled creators may not have the means to achieve the same standard of output.
Media producers must respond to changing social and cultural contexts to maintain audiences. To what extent does an analysis of the online Close Study Products The Voice and Teen Vogue support this view? [25 marks]
The target audiences for video games change because of the historical and economic contexts in which they are produced. To what extent does an analysis of the Close Study Products Tomb Raider: Anniversary and The Sims FreePlay support this statement? [25 marks]
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 or The Sims FreePlay in your answer. [25 marks]
Media products are shaped by the economic and political contexts in which they are created. To what extent does an analysis of your online, social and participatory Close Study Products The Voice and Teen Vogue support this view? [25 marks]
New technologies allow for improvement with time, space, speed, control, rate, access, quantity, non-linear, collaboration, quality, opportunity, revenue, commercialisation.
SHARE
ACTIVE
CREATIVE
HOST
example/comment
I shared a news article to my parents
STORY
RECONNECT
PERSONALISE
STREAM
example/comment
I saw a gaming stream on Twitch
EXPERIENCE
STORE
SCALE
IMMERSE
example/comment
I tried a virtual reality experience
I store photos and videos on my phone
INTERFACE
LIVE
ADAPT
BINGE
example/comment
I watched a football match live on my phone
I binge watched all of Game of Thrones
CONVERSATION
RE-PERFORM
CIRCULATE
ENDLESS
example/comment
I had a text conversation with my friend
Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher who proposed in 1964 that “the medium is the message“, basically meaning that the medium was more significant than anything else in determining meaning over companies, organisations, governments, individuals and representations.
Aleks Krotoski
TOPIC
NOTE / COMMENT
The Printing Press (Gutenburg) in the Medieval period mid 1400’s
the impact of new technology
Impact of new technology in South Korea as a result of promoting greater digital interaction (speed, connectivity, spread etc)
mental health internet addiction? Choices made? ‘A world without consequences’ ‘Senses over meaning’
The Dunbar number suggests that connectivity for individuals, communities or groups is typically 5 o 6, with an upper limit of 150. So who benefits from greater connectivity? Companies, organisations, institutions – ‘small elites dominate’ (Andrew Kean)
associative not linear thinking the demise of long form reading So changing rules for logic, rationality, truth, understanding, knowledge. Baudrillard implosion (a culture imploding in on itself rather than expanding and developing?)
the inventor / creator of the World Wide Web – developed and given to everybody for free?!! Why? What did he hope it would achieve? Is he satisfied or disappointed with how it has developed and made an impact on society?
Marshall McLuhan
The Global Village – ‘a sophisticated interactive culture’
The impact on political and economic decision making
Conclusions, suggestions, reflections and predictions
According to 24 Hour Movement Guideline they recommend 2 hours per day online, from 2018.
In a 2021 report, Jersey was the number 1 for internet speed and connectivity.
Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky is pro-technology and believes audience behaviour has progressed from the passive consumption of media texts to a much more interactive experience with the products and each other. New digital technologies and social media has made connecting and collaborating incredibly easy.
B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner believed that the concept of free will was an illusion and, instead, thought that all human action was the result of conditioning.
Remember to focus on key issues around new media – privacy, knowledge, understanding, education, friendship, behaviour, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, politics, economics, employment, war, conflict, food, the environment, space, science (essentially social change)
Overview: New media always creates change (printing press, telegram etc)
Q: so how has recent technology changed (society, individuals, organisations, ideas, beliefs etc etc)
CSP 1 – show knowledge of CSP
characteristics of new media (in reference to CSP 1)
theoretical / conceptual analysis of new media (loop theory, network theory, Dunbar number, McLuhan, Krotoski)
Critically thinking about new media (Baudrillard, McLuhan, Krotoski, B. F. Skinner, Zuboff, Lanier – are all essentially critical of new media technologies. But Gauntlett, Shirky, Jenkins are all very positive about new media technologies)
CSP 2 – show knowledge
Draw parallels and conclusions
Suggest future pathways / developments
Some themes and discussion points from The Great Hack:
The Exchange of Data – big companies (e.g. Facebook) buy/sell personal data
Search for Truth
Behaviour Management
Propaganda / Persuasion – they use the data to target certain communities to sell a message, passive media consumption
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
a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.
Peripeteia – a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances.
Anagnorisis – where a character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or true nature.
Catharsis – the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
The Three Unities
– Action: a tragedy should have one principal action – Time: the action in a tragedy should occur over a period of no more than 24 hours. – Place: a tragedy should exist in a single physical location.
Tripartite Narrative Structure
Equilibrium – a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.
Disruption – disturbance or problems which interrupt the balance.
New Equilibrium – a new and possibly different state of balance.
Freytag’s Pyramid
first three lines – demonstrate that you know what postmodernism is
postmodernism is a shift in society in terms of culture and people
next few lines – knowledgeable that these two terms come from Jean Baudrillard – define
next half of a side – cherry pick some examples from the csp about what postmodernism is
end line – conclusive sentence on what you think of postmodernism
half a page on simulation / half a page of hyperreality
9 marks – 12 mins
Analyse Figure 1 using the following postmodern ideas: • simulation • hyperreality. [9 marks]
Indicative content This question assesses the ability to apply knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework of media language to analyse media products, particularly focusing on: • how the different modes and language associated with different media forms communicate multiple meanings • how the combination of elements of media language influence meaning • how audiences respond to and interpret the above aspects of media language. Baudrillard’s ideas and theories on postmodernism: • simulation • hyperreality. In the analysis of the video game cover for Gears of War students are expected to apply ideas of simulation and hyperreality to analyse the meaning of the images in the product. Answers in the higher bands are likely to deal critically with the ideas in the question whereas answers in the lower bands are likely to only offer examples from the product. There is no requirement for students to deal with both ideas equally. The content below is not prescriptive and all valid points should be credited. It is not expected that responses will include all of the points listed. In their analysis of the Gears of War cover, students may discuss: • the cover is an example of hyperreality constructed through a series of simulations of armed forces • the visual codes and construction as they relate to concepts of hyperreality and simulation (mise-en-scène constructed of exaggerated human/robot figures, war-torn setting, costumes and weaponry) • the relationship between the title and the imagery – the dehumanising of soldiers as gears, a simulation of the real world • the blurring of the line between fantasy and reality is evident in the representation of armed forces as machines, drawing on a mix of mediated images (sci-fi) and reality (implosion) • the human element of the soldier – foregrounded by the direct address to the audience – contrasts with the robot-machine construction of the body. Accept any other valid analytical responses. Answers must link to the focus of the question.
