Wednesday, 12 March 2014

i found this absolutely hilarous!!!

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/12/frozen-gay-propaganda-christian-pastor-colorado

apparently the Disney film Frozen is blasphemy and promotes gay and lesbian ideology upon 5 year olds.

i understand the points they bring up like Elsa's song Let it Go as it can be seen to discuss the freedom given when coming out and being comfortable with your identity (sexuality). 
yet it is just an innocent children's cartoon!  

Monday, 10 March 2014

articles about popular culture practices and products which allow individuality

The constant battle between British and American styles of music -

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/mar/07/blurs-girls-boys-britpop-american-grunge



Singer Kesha has dropped the $ from her name after coming out of rehab - 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/10/kesha-rehab-eating-disorder-new-name



our love of celebrities taking one step further: Famous Rich and Hungry (new documentary for Sport Relief) 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/05/benefits-street-poverty-porn-celebrity-bbc



the need for constant news and the status of celebrity blurs with criminal or sportsman?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/10680027/Oscar-Pistorius-bet-Congratulations-Paddy-Power-youve-offended-130000-people.html
- this is just so beyond wrong. How can you bet on the outcome of a murder of a young woman?

Sunday, 9 March 2014

semiotic and process analysis of images (homework)

3-


the sender is Spotify and the teenagers.
the receiver is us as we are the camera but we are not addressed by the subjects in the picture.

the message is telling us that music allows you to be who you want 

but the semiotics can tell us more than that:

- its clearly young people in the image so we can tell who the advert is targeted at.
but why are they topless? is it stereotyping teenagers: they get drunk at parties and strip and dance to seemingly rubbish music. 

is this saying that you shouldn't listen to others who judge you and just listen to the music that you want and dance how you want (no matter how stupid you look) 

of course music can't judge but its a signifier to young people who feel judged that they should use spotify to get music and block out the disapproving (usually parents) 

semiotic and process analysis of images (homework)

2 - 


the sender is Nikon and Ashton Kutcher 
the receiver is us as he is looking and pointing the camera at us.

the message is telling us there is a camera for everyone but what else can it tell us?

the semiotics are harder to see:

- by having a man hold the same camera that is captioned "power" does it somehow imply by having that particular camera men will be seen as more powerful?

- the cameras all have a caption that tell us what they do but does it also tell us who unconsciously would buy each product because of the social label attached to it.  

e.g. the creativity camera would appeal to the aspirers as it implies your pictures would be higher status as they have more effects etc 

- the camera labeled joy seems to be held by a woman so does that imply is it a camera for more feminine photos because it is smaller and delicate. Stereotype?


semiotic and process analysis of images (homework)

1 -

the sender is a brand of razorblade 
the reciever is men 

the message is on a simple level saying that a man wouldnt kiss his partner if they had a beard so he should shave his.

however the semiotic signs infer many more things;

- it is not accepted for women to have facial hair yet its convention for men to have beards, so this advert is going against the convention by persuading men to shave their facial hair in order to please their female partner. 
but why should they have to bow to pressure to get rid of a sign of their manhood? is it a stereotype that the woman controls the relationship?

- the context of the image also has semiotic signs: the plush cushions, the bed, the uniform of the woman and the selective lighting in the image implies the gesture of shaving your beard will get you more action with women.
but does this stereotypes women as easy?



print ads for analysis














Reading images and products

toolkit to answering question 3:

key concepts - culture, communication, identity, value, representation, code, power, context

communications model - sender > message > receiver 
(message is different depending on the sender and receiver
for example: Beethoven's Ode to Joy is used by communists and fascists

things that affect the receiver - age (adverts that are for kids/adults)
                                                  - social class
                                                  - gender (toys r u aisles pink & blue)
                                                  - culture/ ethnicity 
Angela Barry tells of 3 representations of non-white: 
1 dependant (needs help-charity adverts)
2 entertainer (Beyonce, Usain Bolt have to have an identifier cant just be talented)
3 troublemaker (stereotype -MTV, ill manors)

representation- how is the world portrayedin texts through words and pictures
stereotypes - a version of representation usually negative
genre - type of text
conventions - rules about the ways these types of text are organised
mode of address - how the text talks to us

process approach looks at what the sender meant and any problems which prevent this 'meaning' being transmitted  BARRIERS 

semiotic approach looks at signs and codes which are used to get the message across 

purpose of adverts are to sell commodities and the ideology behind it. 

the product says something about us:
semiotic - paradigm, anchorage, denotation, myth, ideology, icon/symbol, sign/code, motivated/arbitrary, signifier, syntagm

process - sender,message, receiver, barrier, register, intention, effect, feedback, semantic/psychological/physical