A level media mest 3

Friday, 28 April 2017

Revision task

Task 1:

1. Black Dolls: 'From controversy to empowerment: the history of black dolls'

The article discusses the perception of black dolls in years and how it had varied due to the of representations the dolls.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/apr/25/black-dolls-collection-african-american-history

2. Moonlight's Ashton Sanders: 'Moonlight's Ashton Sanders: 'America isn't made for the black man'

The article discusses how difficult it was for the young actor to embrace his artistic persona to the black community he lived in as it was unusual. Plus, he had to face racism and bullies to become an upcoming talent on this generation .

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/apr/22/moonlight-ashton-sanders-america-isnt-made-for-black-man

3. XL models/clothing: 'Big guys don't want to be treated like freaks: the plus sized menswear revolution'

This article deciphers how clothing companies have evolved in the sizes they are now offering and the models they use on their websites to give a better reflection of all their customers not just the lean built people.

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/apr/22/big-guys-fashion-plus-sized-menswear-revolution

4. Racism in sport: 'Serena Williams accuses Ilie Nastase of racially abusing her and unborn child'

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/25/serena-williams-accuses-ilie-nastase-of-racially-abusing-her-and-unborn-child

5. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/identities-and-wider-media.html
Edgy - i like blog posts on piercing, tattoos and edgy clothing. For example, they like ripped jeans.
Pleasure seeker - they search for joy in life for example, travelling or living life on the edge
Fashionable - they like magazines and the latest trends and stay up to date with gossip
Witty and fun - enjoy watching comedy shows
Cutting edge - up to date with social media

6. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/identities-applying-feminism.html
Judith Butler - believes tradition feminists are WRONG to divide society into 'men' and 'women' and says gender is not biologically (Liberal feminist)

Angela McRobbie - highlights the empowering nature of magazines such as cosmopolitan and glamour, taking a different perspective to traditional feminist like radical (post modern feminism)

Laura Bates - she discusses the issues of feminism with the consideration of experiences of females who have been discriminated because of her gender (post modern feminism)

7. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/identities-and-media-feminism.html
What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)?
culture

The theory can be applied to suggest that male audiences are still viewing women for pleasure reinforcing the 'male gaze' theory Mulvey has created. This is through the media text from Beyonce which is displayed as being seductive in her music video.

8. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/identities-and-film-blog-task.html

Go back to your favourite film (as identified in the lesson). What does this choice of film say about your identity? Are there any identities within the film (e.g. certain characters) that particularly resonated with your values and beliefs?

Training day - this film is about corrupt police who constantly are displayed exploiting the public. This choice of film would suggest I am interested in action and violence from media texts and possibly real life. This is because of the way characters are presented in the film with the constant use of guns, violence and drugs. Denzel Washington plays the role of the corrupt police man and he is portrayed as being cold blooded. Usually I enjoy his character in films but in this film I kind of swayed towards the other cop as he was presented as hard working which I can relate with.

9. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/identities-feminism-and-newdigital-media.html
Every day sexism

10. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/1-how-might-this-video-contribute-to.html
McRobbie

Task 2
1. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-rupert-murdoch-takeover.html
Rupert Murdoch

2. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-companys-performance-in-digital-age.html
Takeover - Murdoch

3. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-white-house-and-russia-vs-fbi.html
Whitehouse, Russia and FBI

4. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-trumps-media-ban.html
Trump Media ban

5. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-uk-news-rupert-murdoch.html
FOX SKY merger

6. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-wiki-bans-daily-mail.html
Wiki bans Daily Mail

7. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-fake-news.html
Fake news

8. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-twitter-finance.html
Twitter finance

9. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-21st-century-bid.html
Rupert Murdoch

10. http://mest3sharifeanderson.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/ndm-snapchat-finance.html
Snapchat finance

Friday, 17 March 2017

NDM: Sent messages

I know they've seen my message - so why haven't they replied?

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/17/i-know-theyve-seen-my-message-so-why-havent-they-replied

This article is about the issue people are facing on social media where they aren't getting replies even though messages have been sent. With messages sent to people, they will eventually have their message delivered to the recipient and its up to them to reply once they view it or the person who had sent the message will be aware that they have been ignored. This has become an issue as society are questioning their worth when they are ignored. These people sending messages never picture the other person doing something else keeping them occupied meaning they wouldn't be able to view messages. It has caused some people to protest against the actions of some social networking sites to remove the feature of turning off the 'read' option.

I believe these social networking websites may actually be under threat by some of these protesters if they want to take this further. This is because they may eventually decide to boycott these social networking sites that allow their family and friends to hide the fact that they don't want to speak to them. Perhaps the feature isn't that major to take away than to maintain so it would be ideal to remove the feature because after all if you want to ignore someone and do it discreetly then you have the option of not opening the message so it won't show you have viewed the message.

Identities and the wider media

1) The Factsheet discusses how identity is a complex subject. What does it suggest defines our identity?

Its based on a complex set of relationships but we can think of the idea of self'

2) Complete the task on page 2: suggest media texts that could reinforce that someone is non-mainstream; edgy; a pleasure seeker; fashionable; witty and fun; cutting-edge.

Non - mainstream - i used products and social media sites that I am actually interested
Edgy - i like blog posts on piercing, tattoos and edgy clothing. For example, they like ripped jeans.
Pleasure seeker - they search for joy in life for example, travelling or living life on the edge
Fashionable - they like magazines and the latest trends and stay up to date with gossip
Witty and fun - enjoy watching comedy shows
Cutting edge - up to date with social media

3) What examples are suggested for a case study on urban youth?

A case study like Jeremy Kyle
4) What does Hebdige argue with regards to youth culture?

Media theorist Richard Hebdige says that youth cultures show their resistance to the dominant culture through their style choices. Urban youth can show itself to be outside the mainstream by adopting the uniform that is feared by mainstream culture and they learn about this fear in the media representations.

5) What other theorists are referenced alongside Hebdige? How do they link to the issue of youth identity?

Acland claims that the media is what makes the representation of youth as deviants.
Perkins states that representations of the youth are created by though outside of the 'youth' group and is rather a reflection of the adult's fear of youths.
6) How can we link our Year 12 case study on Ill Manors to youth and identity? What specific examples from the case study could be used to discuss Hebdige’s theory that youth culture challenges mainstream culture and dominant ideologies?

Ill manors reinforces Hebdige's theory as the youths are constantly getting up to no good and reinforcing all of the typical stereotypes made of them. E.g being deviants. For example when the youth are getting into fights and dealing with drugs. Also in the Ill manors music video the youths are shown rioting the streets.
7) What does theorist David Gauntlett suggest regarding the media’s influence over the construction of identities?

He claims that the media have influence on identity construction and so the way the media stereotypes groups may become part of how individuals see themselves and media institutions are able to use this to sell their products.

8) Do you agree that Hebdige’s view that youth culture will always seek to resist mainstream culture and challenge dominant ideologies?

I disagree. I personally think that there will not be a big change of the behaviour of youths in this society they will always somehow reinforce the typical stereotypes made of them. I think that only a small percentage of the youth population will actually challenge these dominant ideologies.

Monday, 13 March 2017

NDM index

Identity NDM stories

1) Reading the riots

2) Post-colonialism: theories and Destiny Ekaragwa film analysis

3) Post-colonialism: Orientalism theory and Yasmin clip task
4) Post-colonialism: Media Magazine articles and questions

5) Feminism: post-feminism and No More Page 3 research
6) Feminism: Feminist theory and Beyonce video analysis

7) Feminism: waves of feminism and online activism
8) Feminism: Applying feminism - Media Factsheet
9) Identity and Film - Media Factsheet
10) Identity and the wider media - Factsheet

11) Collective identity and the media

Friday, 10 March 2017

NDM: Rupert Murdoch takeover

Rupert Murdoch unlikely to spin off Sky News in takeover battle

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/13/rupert-murdoch-unlikely-to-spin-off-sky-news-in-takeover-battle

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is not expected to offer Sky News as a regulatory pawn to secure an £11.2bn takeover of Britain’s largest pay-TV broadcaster. Under a previous acquisition attempt in 2011, Murdoch struck a deal to spin off the loss-making Sky News in a bid to appease concerns raised by Ofcom, the media industry watchdog. However, it is understood that Fox believes that the industry landscape has changed significantly since then and that there should be less concern over the impact of a deal on the diversity of viewpoints across the media.

I believed Rupert Murdoch wasn't going to do a spin off because he is still probably planning to buy Sky. There are current articles informing us on Murdoch's plans of taking over Sky so I doubt they would copy them.

NDM: company's performance in digital age

Sorrell: companies that offend good governance tend to perform better

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/03/martin-sorrell-wpp-rupert-murdoch-fox-facebook-snap-forecast-2017

WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell has said that companies with dominant shareholders or owners such as Rupert Murdoch’s Fox, Facebook and Snap that 'offend' good corporate governance practices take more risks and tend to perform better financially. He said this the day after Snapchat revealed its share price rise which is more than 44% on its first day of trading. He said that WPP has found over a decade of measuring brand valuations that when markets hit tough patches it is companies with dominant shareholders or owners that tend to continue to invest perform best. 'The strongest innovators and strongest brands generate the strongest total shareholder returns,' he said. Perhaps surprisingly, corporate structures that seem to offend customary good corporate governance may deliver better long-term results.

This article is how markets generally operate. I do believe companies with strong brands and dominant shareholders will survive through declines because they are able to provide funds that the highly skilled employees at Snapchat or Fox can use to innovate their product. This is why multinational corporations are difficult to compete with because they are constantly innovating making it hard for competitors to stand out.