To structure the learning so that all are able to
progress through the stages of each lesson and that all will have the
opportunity to :
•Develop your ability to respond to the idea that A2 is
about WHY texts are constructed
in a particular manner by a careful consideration of their understanding of the
terms implicit & explicit [A-E]
•Deconstruct the
exemplar texts developing your
understanding of the ideology of texts and how to recognise and analyse these [A-C]
•Apply the criteria to evaluating texts that will enable
you to further consider how media institutions attempt to shape [manipulate]
audience understanding [A*-B]
Media debates are a vital aspect of developing our understanding of the media. As we go through the course we will be required to engage critically with ideas and media events and how these illuminate aspects of media and its impact on society. We will start by having a fairly structured sequence of lessons whose objective is to get you thinking about a complex issue - ethics - and by the end of it equip you to tackle this issue across a variety of texts and contexts.
We need to develop some ideas around identity to see how these are constructed. For identity we need to think a little more 'deeply' about what is shown - what do we see? how is media form used [music; captions etc] Representation - how is the subject shown What issues of identity are offered? How is the sense of 'identity' constructed by the text Do the texts exploit identity or celebrate it? How is this achieved? Danish furniture Advert
We are now going to compare the two texts : Made of Black and Sapeurs
You need to consider the issues above regarding representation and how media products construct a sense of identity
A key consideration is that the product Made of Black was targetted at a pan-African audience [it was shown in African cinemas and on African TV] whilst the product Sapeurs was targetted at a western European audience.
The key task is:
Write a response [about 300-400 words]
How do the texts use media forms to construct effective campaign for their product. How is the issue of identity addressed for the differing audiences?
Objective [1] to review understanding of representation
Objective [2] to begin consideration of how media constructs a sense of identity
By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of
reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written,
framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and
that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us.
When studying the media it is vital to remember this -
every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a
representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of
signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is
important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be
very limited, and that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to
mediate our view of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense
of reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers
position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on
its relationship to reality
Extension/Restriction of Experience of
Reality
By giving audiences
information, media texts extend experience of reality. Every time you see a
wildlife documentary, or read about political events in a country on the other
side of the world, or watch a movie about a historical event, you extend your
experience of life on this planet. However, because the producers of the media
text have selected the information we receive, then our experience is
restricted: we only see selected highlights of the lifestyle of the creatures
portrayed in the wildlife documentary, the editors and journalists decree which
aspects of the news events we will read about, and the movie producers
telescope events and personalities to fit into their parameters
Truth or lies?
Media representations - and the extent to which we accept
them - are a very political issue, as the influence the media exerts has a
major impact on the way we view the world. By viewing media representations our
prejudices can be reinforced or shattered.
Generally, audiences accept that media texts are
fictional to one extent or another - we have come a long way from the mass
manipulation model of the 1920s and 1930s. However, as we base our perception
of reality on what we see in the media, it is dangerous to suppose that we
don't see elements of truth in media texts either.
The study of representation is about decoding
the different layers of truth/fiction/whatever.
In order to fully appreciate the part representation
plays in a media text you must consider:
Who produced it?
What/who is represented in the text?
How is that thing represented?
Why was this particular representation (this
shot, framed from this angle, this story phrased in these terms, etc) selected,
and what might the alternatives have been?
What frame of reference does the audience use
when understanding the representation?
Below is the Media Gaurdian article from March 2007 on the banning. this is followed by 2 links to the BBC and to a Creative Marketing website. these both explore : [1] the adverts and reaction [2] the context of the campaign [3] the implications
Trident ad: calls on the nation to join a 'gum revolution'The Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad for Cadbury's Trident chewing gum after more than 500 complaints that it was racist.The ruling against the ad derails Cadbury's £10m marketing bid to break Wrigley's near-monopoly of the UK gum market.The first ad shows a black "dub poet" speaking in rhyme with a strong Caribbean accent in what looks like a comedy club.The series of four TV and one cinema ads, created by ad agency JWT, encourages viewers to take part in a "gum revolution" and try the new Trident chewing gum.The ASA has received 519 complaints about the ad.Viewers complained that TV ads were offensive and racist because they believed they showed offensive stereotypes and ridiculed black or Caribbean people and their culture.Some viewers also challenged that the ad was offensive and insensitive because Trident was the name of the Metropolitan Police's "black-on-black" gun crime initiative. Cadbury Trebor Bassett argued that the campaign had in fact been inspired by revolutionary poets and the lead character had been chosen because he had a "charismatic quality that appealed to the target audience of 16- to 34-year-olds".Further, Cadbury provided research covering the first three weeks of the campaign to show that there was a decline in the number of people finding the ads offensive and an increase in those who found it fun.The ASA noted that while Cadbury had undertaken "careful consumer research" before the campaign launch and consulted members of the British African Caribbean community, its own findings had shown that the ads were likely to result in a polarised reaction from viewers with one in five finding them offensive. Complainants to the ASA included a comment that the ads had a "near Driving Miss Daisy degradation".The ASA noted that from the complaints many viewers had been offended by what they saw as the "negative stereotype of black or Caribbean people and their culture".The ASA ruled that the ads should not be shown again. However, it did not uphold complaints about the Trident brand name and the Met Police initiative.The ad watchdog ruled that the chewing gum brand had existed for over 40 years in global markets and concluded that it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence in this point.
The third and final sequence is brutal, there is to be no happy ending to this story for Ricky, something that the narrative style has made clear to us all along.
Curtis and a friend Rio find Ricky’s gun and, whilst messing around in
woodland, Curtis accidentally shoots Rio who ends up in hospital. After visiting Rio’s parents and by now
convinced that it is only a matter of time before inevitably Curtis - in thrall
to the allure of his older brother - will be drawn into a life of crime, a heart-broken Beverley tells Ricky he has to
leave and that he can never return.
As he packs to leave, Ricky talks with Curtis telling him that he will
always love him and to understand that his departure is the only way.
Sending Curtis to the chip shop, Ricky leaves but is recognised at the
train station and shot dead by Godfrey.
At the conclusion of the film, Curtis throws Ricky’s gun into a
canal. We are left with the hope that
Curtis by this act of independence will have the strength to grow -up leaving
the gang culture alone and make his own way.
The film closes with an enigma - a what will happen now to Curtis? - and invites the audience to make their own judgements on this.
Representations:
The film departs
from the usual [conventional?] story of a troubled youth with a gun lured into
gang violence and crime [a typical - though USA - example of this would be Boyz
‘n the Hood]. Such representations have often mythologized the black
urban experience for mainstream consumption.
The issue
when presenting such concerns as urban crime is in glamorising the violence, of
equal concern is in providing a narrative arc and story that fits into the
Classic Hollywood Realist tradition.
Characters fulfilling certain narrative types, familiar plot devices –
all aimed at making the issues palatable and accessible to wider audiences.
The film’s
focus is centred on how contemporary [2005] urban gun culture affects the
family unit – mother, brother, girlfriend – which takes the representation of
the issue into a wider sphere, encouraging the audience to see the issue as
having ripples and impact way beyond the immediate participant or the
traditionally seen ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ roles.
Representations of the
narrative:
Despite an
impression of despair, on closer investigation the film avoids most of the
‘easy’ stereotypical, predictable or clichéd targets of [lesser?] films such as Kidulthood. The narrative
unfolds without explicit examples of racist behaviour. On the streets we see aggression, violence
and confrontation but there are no
National Front skinheads or prejudiced employers. The events occur without any background of
crime or drug-dealing from the main characters
or even those around them. Aside from Curtis and Rio’s truancy and some
low-level dope-smoking, the only crimes we see are those committed by young
black men intent on upholding their reputations
The school is
represented as concerned and informed about their pupils, the probation officer
is compassionate but pushed into issuing the warning to Ricky because of his
own inability to organise his life, sort his priorities. The one example of aggressive institutional
action – the armed police raid - is conducted in response to the shooting at
Godfrey’s house which the police react to and Ricky then denies any knowledge
of.
In sequence 2 we find Ricky's 12
year old brother Curtis is battling his own pressures, caught between this
world and his mum Beverley's competing aspirations for him. Ricky is at a
turning point - his mum and girlfriend Shea are struggling to help him stay out
of trouble but he owes a debt of allegiance to Wisdom who some years previous
took a knifing for him. Wisdom has
little hope of escaping the world of gangs and guns.
Unaware of
his intentions Ricky is dragged along when Wisdom shoots Godfrey the rival gang
leader’s dog. Ricky attempts to make peace, declaring that he is not part of
any dispute the rival gang may have with Wisdom but there is a return attack in
which Wisdom’s car is smashed and threats made on his life. Sensing that
violence is unavoidable, Ricky is an accomplice in Wisdom’s attempt to kill his
rival, an attempt that goes hopelessly wrong. Ricky tells Wisdom that the debt
he owed him has now been repaid and he wants no more part in Wisdom’s life.
Narrative
& Genre
These two elements
are what are known as ‘meta-concepts’ – sometimes called macro
concepts. These two are the elements
of a text that create an arc that encompasses all of the other so-called micro-concepts
of editing, shot choice, music, lighting, costume etc [the mise-en-scene]. In writing about these macro concepts you
will need to draw upon the ideas and understandings constructed by the micro
elements of the film.
To some extent, the
fact that a film belongs to a particular genre – such as ‘crime’ – will dictate
the story being told [the plot/script/narrative]. It also dictates the director’s use of the
micro-elements to reveal that narrative in the manner that audiences of that
genre would expect. The deploying of
mise-en-scene elements such as music and lighting will be key elements in
creating the conventional atmosphere appropriate to the genre – the
high-pitched violins in the shower scene in
Psycho, the theme that heralds and underpins the early
shark attacks in Jaws. How audiences ‘read’ a film is based on
their understanding of its genre [their
anticipation as to what they are going to see and what it will be about] and
the narrative is the means by which the ideas of the film are revealed. The narrative, in effect shapes how we
understand the events that are presented to us, how we feel about a character
and their actions. In the crime
genre our approval or our judgement on a character depends on ‘how’ their story
is told to us - what are we shown.
How we are shown it – the micro-concepts – is the thing that determines issues
such as whether we see it as real or our levels of appreciation and enjoyment
of the film.
Narrative, along with the key concept of representation,
is key to the ideological intention of a film.
Released in
2004 the film revolves around the stories of 18 year old Ricky, recently released from a Youth
Offenders prison and his much younger brother Curtis.
The area of
London where they live is shown as one where even a minor street clash over
damage to the wing mirror of a car is able to escalate into a cycle of
violence with tragic repercussions.
In pursuing its story, the film explores
diverse themes of family, relationships, friendship, rivalry and revenge. At
its core, the focus is on a group of boys who represent a generation of young men for whom guns have
become a fact of life.
Ricky’s story
follows a number of conventions -
released from a Youth Offenders Institute he desperately wants to avoid
falling back into his criminal past. The
tragedy that the narrative path follows
is a familiar one – in his claustrophobic world pressure to conform proves inescapable.
The story
opens with Ricky’s release from prison.
We see his return home and his attempt to re-build relationships with
his mother, his girlfriend, his brother and his close friend Wisdom. The homecoming is spoilt by two things –
firstly, his preference for seeing his girlfriend and Wisdom taking priority
over seeing his mother who has arranged a party for him and secondly, a
road-rage incident in which the wing mirror of a car is accidentally smashed.
Wisdom, who was driving and the local gang rival [Godfrey] whose car is damaged
are not prepared to compromise over the incident. What was a minor confrontation quickly
develops into a series of tit for tat reprisals that spiral out of control.
TASK:
What do we learn of the character of Ricky? [where does this evidence come from?]
What do we learn of the character of Wisdom? [What is the evidence for this?]
What defines their relationship? [Find examples that support this].
How are we positioned to see that things will not end well? Is there anything other than our previous experience of such stories?
The second sequence - from 20 minutes to 50 minutes - gives us an understanding of the narrative issues of the film. we 'see' the initial talk where Derek tells Kelly that she has to procure a young girl for Duncan Allen a local crime lord and Kelly's initial resistance to the idea. We see the way that Kelly finds Joanne and the way that Derek is able;e to play on Joanne's weakness to persuade her to go to Duncan's house for sex. We also in present time are shown Kelly's attempts to put right the damage she feels she is responsible for by trying to raise the money to send Jo to her grandmother in Devon. The details fill in gaps in the story but do not answer the key question that Derek finally confronts Kelly with when he arrives in Brighton and catches Kelly and Jo. 'What happened?' The use of a non-linear narrative allows the director to control what we see and when as much as it does how we see it and he uses it to create further enigmas, particularly around the key question of what happened at Duncan Allen's house and why Stuart is so keen to find them. Such a technique heightens the idea of how the story will play out especially now they are prisoners of Derek. TASK: Which other film's do you know that use a non-linear narrative? Why do you think they did so? what differences would it make if they had chosen a linear structure?
