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Representation, Sims

The Sims FreePlay

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Representation

Many other video games have limited representation due to only a few playable characters – whereas Sims free play has a wide range of options, allowing the game player (audience) to create their own representation – customizable characters.

  • Wide range of skin tones
  • outfits
  • hair types
  • e.t.c.

potentially more left-wing – modern than previous games due to how much control is given to the game player in creating their world

Straight, bi, gay, trans are all possible.

However, this can lead to game players creating problematic universes – for instance, if a game player wanted to – they could manipulate their world into being racist e.t.c.

Also, although multiple representations are possible – marketing of the game usually shows quite stereotypical representations of women – getting married – having children

It can also manipulate the way that gender is presented – gender is very fluid in sims freeplay.

there is an element of tediousness to the game – very realistic – lots of real tasks have to do – cleaning, e.t.c.

However, some tougher more traumatic things aren’t shown – abortion, miscarriage, e.t.c

European representation of reality – wants to keep things feeling real – whilst also keeping things pleasant.

Audience

female 18-40 casual gamer

You can play God – control everything in the game.

Has maternal appeal

Able to care for / nurture characters

Marketing – creating dream characters – dream home – able to d things that you cant do in real life.

offering audiences a fantasy escape from their lives

Able to find connection – understanding – put characters through dilemmas that you yourself have gone through

freeing – able to put characters in dangerous / weird / sadistic / sexual situations – situations that they cant do in real life.

The inclusive nature of the game means those who may feel isolated in real life – can create characters who have the same struggles as they do

very easy to play – free to buy

complaints: in-app purchases necessary

Industry

Developed and published by EA mobile + Firemonkeys studio

Both are a part of Electronic Arts

EA has a reputation for big-budget triple-A games that have had huge successes, so may have a pre-sold audience of fans

EA is horizontally and vertically integrated – they can develop, publish and market games themselves

EA has over 800 staff in the US just to work on mobile gaming

Lots of gaming companies veering away from consoles – putting more resources into mobile gaming

EA has nearly 10,000 staff, 44 studios across 20 countries, and nearly £6bn income each year.

The game has been downloaded over 200m times – incredibly successful.

Available in 11 different languages in addition to English, helping it to target a worldwide audience.

Mobile games have to have constant updates to cope with the updates released for mobile operating systems.

Regular updates to keep the game exciting – many new improvements – to encourage audiences to keep playing the game – and encouraging in-app purchases – for stuff like clothes.

Sims freeplay mobile – part of an existing franchise of console / PC games – reduces risk.

PEGI rating for the game – 12 – has mild references to alcohol, sex, other adult themes

Although the game shows drinking, sex, and nudity it is shown in a non-revealing way – a blurring filter used to block anything graphic.

Very hard to regulate mobile/online games

The game is banned in seven countries – particularly in Asia -due to LGBT relationships – which are deemed unacceptable and illegal

EA are aware of how important audience is – regularly conduct interviews – take suggestions around how the game could improve – keeps audiences engaged.

Advertising, Audience, Exam Prep, Feminist Critical Thinking, Genre, Narrative, Notes, Postcolonialism, Postmodernism, Regulation, Representation, Research, Revision, Semiotics, Television, Theory

THEORY REVISION

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SEMIOTICS

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 CONNOTATIONSHigh-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 EFFECTSColour 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.

Signifier – Stands in for something else.

Signified -Idea being evoked by signifier.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Essays, Exam Prep, Journalism, Newspapers, Regulation, Representation

ESSAY

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 Ideology can be defined as a collection of values and beliefs. To what extent do media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world?
You should refer to your newspaper Close Study Products, The i and The Daily Mail.

In this essay, I am going to explore the ideological view that the audiences of the media have. Also, the impact and influence that the media has, specifically newspapers. I am going to use two newspapers to do so: The Daily Mail and The i – both dated on Monday 6th June and both owned by Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) which is a British multinational media company, the owner of the Daily Mail and several other titles such as The i, it is owned by The 4th Viscount Rothermere.

Printing press first began in 1440 with the main purpose of sharing knowledge wider and quicker. Nowadays, printing is done much quicker therefore their main purpose is to entertain, inform and educate. There are many tabloids out there all serving the same purpose but have to differentiate who they’re targeting and what they’re spreading.

The i Newspaper launched to pose a challenge to existing ‘quality’ newspapers with low cover price and tabloid format. The i needed a way to stand out from other newspapers as newspapers realistically are dying. They don’t make enough money from the newspaper itself. From Noam Chomsky’s 5 Media Filters, the second filter “Role of advertising” – Media costs more than consumers will ever pay. Newspaper fees do not ever cover the cost of production. Advertising is an important way for newspapers to make money. For example, when you go onto The i’s online website as you start searching, advertisements begin to pop up on the screen. Newspapers thrive off of advertising since it is their main way to make money, this makes the newspaper industry a risky business as said so by David Hesmondhalgh on Cultural Industries.

The Daily Mail newspaper is a right wing supporting newspaper, who in the issue dated Monday 6th June 2022 was heavily supportive of the conservative party and the Monarch. On the majority of pages up to page 17 are all dedicated to the Queen and her Royal Platinum Jubilee at the weekend just gone before the issue was published. On Page 18, a comment was left in favour of Queen Elizabeth herself.  ‘For 70 years. the Queen has put love of country and public service above all else. And, as the last four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations have shown, the people love her for it. For an object lesson in the virtue of loyalty, the Tory rebels need look no further. The Daily Mail including this in their column suggests they have no negative opinions towards the Queen or the conservative therefore enforcing positive opinions onto the audience who is targeted as

notes

Curran and Seaton – Power and Media industries theory

“The free market makes the press a representative institution…newspapers and magazines are to respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business.”

However, since the press has been industrialised, the ‘assumption that ‘anyone is free to start a paper’ is an ‘illusion’.

Power of media institutions and how monopolies can project ideas and messages to large amounts of people.

the press can be used as a propaganda tool to influence the audience. Because there are far fewer newspaper owners than their are readers, an audience only receives a small amount of opinions. Whilst many hoped the internet would make this fairer, due to lower costs, Curran and Seaton believe this hasn’t happened in practice as the big news organisations control the majority of online news.

Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) –

magnificent celebrations,” “joyous jubilee.

Notes, Representation, Research

political compass

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Right wing vs Left wing

Libertarian vs Authoritarian

Key Themes and Ideas:

Globalisation

Business over humans (economy over public health)

A country’s economic stability > Individual unemployment issues (A country’s wellbeing over individual wellbeing)

Patriotism (A blind support of my country)

Racial superiority

Class Differentiation

Militarism and justification of military use

The fusion of entertainment and information

Protectionism and government regulation

Freedom of people

Restriction of immigration

Religion

Charity

Social security

Views on schooling

Older values

Newspapers

Key word / theme / question etcDaily Mail (Textual evidence)Daily Mail (Institutional evidence) The i (Textual evidence)The i (Institutional evidence)
Views on Conservative partyp18 is the ‘Comment’ ie the editorial or voice of the paper ‘Only Starmer gains from this clueless plot’ – ie Labour will gain from Conservative divisions over Boris Johnson

As a right-wing tabloid, the Mail is traditionally a supporter of the Conservative Party. It has endorsed the party in every UK general election since 1945, with the one exception of the October 1974 UK general election, where it endorsed a Liberal and Conservative coalition.Front cover ‘Johnson future turning toxic for Tories’ seems to be against Conservative / Boris Johnson
Business over humansPage 16 – Shows an advertisement of a world issue, but is a focus on charity over business. Can be seen as both business and humanity based. Published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust
GlobalisationThe Daily Mail officially entered the Irish market with the launch of a local version of the paper on 6 February 2006; free copies of the paper were distributed on that day in some locations to publicise the launchThe i was named British National Newspaper of the Year in 2015 in the 2015 News Awards.

At the 2019 British Media Awards, the i won Gold in the Media Brand of the Year category, Silver for the Digital Product of the Year, and Bronze in the Print Product of the Year category.
PatriotismFront page ‘Joyous Jubilee’ – supporting Royal Family

Header above many pages “Our platinum queen” – use of our shows a support for the queen and shows patriotism 		Front page ‘The new Firm’ slightly critical of Royal Family
Racial superiority
Feminism/ Females
women making up 52–55% of its readers
The term “suffragette” was first used in 1906, as a term of derision by the journalist Charles E. Hands in the Mail to describe activists in the movement for women’s suffrage

The Daily Mail’s main target audience is lower-middle-class British women. It was the first newspaper in the UK to write articles targeted at women.
Nationalismpage 10 ‘how the nation came together’ suggest national harmony – we are all together.
Militarism (use of military)Page 18 – Justified use of military against Russia
Authoritarian / LibertarianStill uses an Editorial ie the voice of one over many? Does not have voice of editor, but an ‘Opinion Matrix’ instead ie a range of different voices and opinion – so much more freedom and plurality, in voice and thought?
Has space for many views and different stories in a more fair and libertarian way

Also the main page and master header ‘i’ is interesting as it can be seen to reflect the views and the structure of the newspaper. Can be viewed as a personal pronounal address as an effect to illustrate its more modern values and goals to be a greater newspaper for everyone.

Page 20 – Shows political views against the more authoritarian views of certain parties. “How long before Priti Patel makes it illegal for people to boo someone who they find offensive?” “… showing the Prime Minister as a bumbling spinner of lies.” – The i allows all different ideas and views on its ‘Opinion Matrix’ sections.
“Speaking truth to power” – title – “Thank you to Michael Day for saying what needed to be said about the oppressive Israeli state”
the fusion of entertainment and news / informationPage 9 – Shows a picture story of Prince Louis and his mother in a comedic manner as the 4 year old misbehaves (not relevant but is still in as its own page – shows patriotic values of the daily mail – right side, more authoritarian)

Page 13 – Shows a fictional character beside the queen as in an entertainment aspect, promoting the Paddington film

Facts about the Daily Mail

  1. Publisher: DMG Media
  2. First issue date: 1896
  3. Owner: DMG Media, Daily Mail and General Trust
  4. Editor: Paul Dacre, Stewart Steven, R. D. Blumenfeld, W. G. Fish, Tom Clarke
  5.  It is the United Kingdom’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun.
  6. Morning daily newspaper published in London, long noted for its foreign reporting, it was one of the first British papers to popularize its coverage to appeal to a mass readership.
  7. The Daily Mail’s main target audience is lower-middle-class British women. It was the first newspaper in the UK to write articles targeted at women.
  8. Support of fascism: 1930–1934
  9. Lord Rothermere was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail’s editorial stance towards them in the early 1930s
  10. On 5 May 1946, the Daily Mail celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Winston Churchill was the chief guest at the banquet and toasted it with a speech.
  11. As a right-wing tabloid, the Mail is traditionally a supporter of the Conservative Party. It has endorsed the party in every UK general election since 1945, with the one exception of the October 1974 UK general election, where it endorsed a Liberal and Conservative coalition.

Facts about The i

  1. Owner: Daily Mail and General Trust
  2. Editor: Oliver Duff
  3. Founded: 26 October 2010
  4. Headquarters: Northcliffe House; London, England, UK
  5.  It is aimed at “readers and lapsed readers” of all ages and commuters with limited time
  6.  Published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust
  7. The i was named British National Newspaper of the Year in 2015 in the 2015 News Awards.
  8. The paper had an average daily circulation of 302,757 in March 2013, significantly more than The Independent, though that figure has since continued to decline, and had dropped to 233,869 by February 2019.

9. Editors

  • Simon Kelner (2010)
  • Stefano Hatfield (2011)
  • Oliver Duff (2013)

10. At the 2019 British Media Awards, the i won Gold in the Media Brand of the Year category, Silver for the Digital Product of the Year, and Bronze in the Print Product of the Year category.

11. During an interview for the i in December 2017, then Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn declared himself to be a dedicated reader of the i, saying that its compact size and concise articles suited his busy lifestyle as Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition

Notes, Postcolonialism, Representation, Theory

POSTCOLONIALISM

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Postcolonialism is about where does our identity come from? How is our identity formed? How do we understand our own identity and how is our identity represented in the local, national and global media? 

The slave trade; started in the mid 1400’s as Americans needed workers for the agricultural industry so Africans were sold over to by their own kings. They were brought over by ship and deprived of any legal rights and slave owner had complete power over the blacks. Importation of people ended in the 1800’s but enslavement continued.

postcolonial criticism challenges the assumption of a universal claim

Edward Said

Showed how the West painted a picture of the East

Orientalism is the Link between culture, imperial power & colonialism

“the power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming or emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism“- Edward Said Culture and Imperialism, 1993: xiii

‘the East becomes the repository or projection of those aspects of themselves which Westerners do not choose to acknowledge (cruelty, sensuality, decadence, lazine)’

POSTCOLONIALISM operates a series of signs maintaining the European-Atlantic power over the Orient by creating ‘an accepted grid for filtering through the Orient into Western consciousness‘.

Jacques Lacan- The “other”

we cannot actually see ourselves as whole, we use a reflection to understand who we are / who we are not

Lacan proposed that in infancy this first recognition occurs when we see ourselves in a mirror in media, why we are so obsessed with reading magazines, listening to music, watching films, videos and television because, essentially, we are exploring ‘The Other’ as a way of exploring ourselves.

The West uses the East / the Orient / the ‘Other’, to identify and construct itself. 

REPRESENTATIONS of – the East /the Orient / the ‘Other’ – are CONSTRUCTED through the lens of WESTERN COLONIAL POWER.

Representation

posters analyse

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D0050 Euphoria Zendaya 2019 TV Series Silk Fabric Poster Art Decor Indoor Painting Gift|Painting & Calligraphy| - AliExpress
euphoria- the iconic sign of this poster is the characters emotions, it presents straight away there is a dramatic happening, therefore is a drama. the indexical sign could be the colour palette of the poster and use of glitter as the series is called euphoria and the signs could be seen as ‘euphoric’.
Photography in Film Posters — Musée Magazine
Pulp Fiction | One Sheet | Movie Posters | Limited Runs
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Movie POSTER 27" x 40" Style C - Walmart.com
Movie: Call Me by Your Name | Jericho Public Library

Ghost Town, Letter to the Free, Postcolonialism, Representation, Theory

postcolonialism

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An overview:

This post is for students (and teachers) who would like some resources – videos, quotes, theorists, key texts, key words etc to help them think about the topic of POSTCOLONIALISM, which may appear in a range of creative, media, culture, communications, English, History and other courses.

Overall, this is a topic that concerns IDENTITY and REPRESENTATION. In other words, where does our identity come from? How is our identity formed? How do we understand our own identity and how is our identity represented in the local, national and global media? You can look at another post that looks at identity, representation and the self. But here it is specifically looking at identity and representation through the lens of Empire and Colonialism.

The Shadow of Slavery

Reaction and Reform?

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Notes, Postcolonialism, Representation, Theory

Paul Gilroy – Post cOLONIAL THEORY

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Brought race into the societal divide and changes in the 1980s through his book ‘There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack’ ; he highlighted how black youth cultures represented cultural solutions to collectively experienced problems of racism and poverty

Racial Otherness

  • His book highlights the anxieties of regarding immigrant behaviour in the post war period.
  • He suggests the that the public’s association of the immigrants which the living conditions produced a series of racial representations.
  • `Media Stories began associating the black community with assaults, muggings, and violence during the 1980s and 70s
  • Such representations stigmatised the immigrant black community – constructing them as a racial ‘other’ in the predominantly white world of 1950s Britain

Legacy of the British Empire and Identity

We live in ‘morbid culture of a once-imperial nation that has not been able to accept its inevitable loss of prestige’ – After Empire, 2004 – Gilroy

  • Gilroy argues that the British are undergoing a national identity crisis as a result of the fall of the British Empire
  • The immigrant population has become a symbol that constantly reminds the UK of its loss of global power – they are a visual representation of what Britain once was and once had
Ghost Town, Notes, Representation

Paul Gilroy NOtes

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Racial otherness- black communities are referred to as the ‘other’ race in white terms and see them as the people who commit crimes and incompatible with white british values.

Post-colonial melancholia- the deep rooted shame felt as a result of the loss of the British empire. In media the loss is deflected through nostalgia and anxieties surrounding british identity.

The story of UK race relations post W.W. 2- talks about the worries of immigrant behaviour in the post-war wave of immigration from the West Indies. Public associated these immigrants with the substandard living conditions.

Legacy of the empire- Gilroy suggests we live in “morbid culture of a once-imperial nation that has not been able to accept it’s inevitable loss of prestige”. British are undergoing a crisis of national identity. Empire immigrants and their descendants, is argued to be a visible representation of British power as it once was.

The search for Albion-