Media Studies Induction

Film poster ‘The Help’ and ‘Formation’ by Beyoncé portray key representations that both adhere to and defeat stereotypes. The representations conveyed in both texts are fascinating. Firstly, the representations of black women in ‘The Help’ is a key element due to the connotations of slavery and post-colonisation. The poster hugely promotes binary opposition between the servants and the two white characters. While the servants function is to ‘serve’ their white superiors, the function of the white masters is to exploit the servants and use them to their own advantage. This reinforces Gilroy’s post-colonial theory as audiences are also forced to see the servants as ‘other’ and inferior. The links to slavery are also prominent in the poster and are highlighted by the representations. During the era of slavery, black people were ceaselessly made to perform laborious tasks and were hideously oppressed. This is, to a degree, reflected in the poster in relation to the role of the serv...

Vance Joy, through his brilliant use of literary devices and fragmented narrative, creates a compelling music video that captures the interest of the intended audience. Firstly, ‘Riptide’ uses disjuncture (Goodwin) in order to create a narrative that isn’t very obvious to its audience. The video may therefore be looking for an active audience who will try to decode the hidden meanings in the video. Audiences may not feel a sense of escapism (uses and gratification) or a disjointed emotional connection with the star text due to the use of disjuncture. Despite the underlying meanings in the song, the shots in the video match the lyrics. Additionally, Joy’s use of metaphors establishes an enthralling narrative once they are understood. The video is, in a sense, an allegory of Joy’s relationship to a woman. He describes the positive and negative aspects to this relationship subtly through the lyrics. The title of the song ‘Riptide’ may refer to the gradual destruction of his partne...

Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’, released on February 6 th 2016, established major controversial discussions regarding ethnicity and gender. The video explores notions of gender and race with references to Beyoncé’s cultural identity and celebrity status. There is also reference to historical and contemporary oppression of the black community as well as criticism of a patriarchal society. Formation belongs to Beyoncé’s album Lemonade and was released a day prior to the Super Bowl. It was directed by Melina Matasoukas contradicting the wide population of male directors. The video has won various awards including a Clio award for innovation and Creative Excellence in music at the 2016 Music Video awards. Furthermore, the historical context of the video creates a compelling narrative. There is obvious reference to hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast, where many black individuals struggled due to the loss of their homes and other forms of property. The black community were repor...

The Daily Mirror: Terrorism Image 1:       Frightening image of a terrorist wearing a balaclava          Pointing the knife to the reader as if to say no one is safe and anyone could be attacked       Jihadi John – alliteration – weird as the terrorists are English and white “a brit undergrad”       Readers are almost obligated to feel sympathy for the daughter as she has lost her father in a vile and inhumane circumstance       Her plea is almost like she is begging for someone to do something enhancing the sympathy       The nation is now being divided       Is patriarchy breaking? Image 2:       Similar as image 1 as we see a young girl struggling due to terrorism in the UK       A feeling of unity is also created as the po...

The language in the set texts establish ideologies that shape opinions about Donald Trump. The Sun evidently ridicules Trump by featuring a cartoon version, derived from the Simpsons, on their front cover. The Sun can therefore be described to be left-leaning as it doesn’t see Trumps election as a success but rather foolish.   The animated picture of Trump also provides a denotation of mockery due to the bewildered and angry facial expressions that he often displays. This is a form of entertainment to the audience as they can relate to the encoded messages prevailed. They are likely to perceive Trump in a similar way. If audiences haven’t formed an opinion of Trump, this cover is likely to guide them to construct new viewpoints that are representative of the covers political leaning. Furthermore, the Simpsons creates this scene for comical purposes in order to entertain the audience. The noun “joke” reinforces this idea. Trump still being seen as a “joke” still hasn’t chan...