Fish Tank Clip 3 Analysis

How typical is your chosen text of its genre?

The purpose of the social realism genre is to make the audience empathise with the under-represented and focuses upon a hard, realistic look at contemporary Britain. Character roles within this film are shown as the following; the main protagonist is usually a typical working class hero that strives for an improved life. The moral of social realist films are often based around a non nuclear, dysfunctional broken family. This is shown through various technical codes and narrative themes throughout this film.   Conventions of the social realism genre often include a negative representation of females which 'Fish Tank' conforms too. This film addresses family issues and plays on the ideology of escapism throughout.

As this film tries to gain empathy from the audience the main protagonist Mia is represented as 'trapped' and alone. Throughout the whole of this film we see rap music videos being shown on the TV's in the houses, as Mia is subjected to this behaviour everyday she believes that she should imitate their actions and aspires to be a dancer in order to attract male attention or could be argued that she uses it as a method of escapism from the outside world.

District 9 Exam Response

'Most texts today mix genres' How true is this of your three main texts? [30]


District 9 conforms to this statement as it is a hybrid. District 9 is a post modernist text and can be considered as a hybrid as the text mixes the science fiction genre and has documentary style conventions included. The concept of genre relates and fits within the post modernist theory which is similar with District 9. This text has re-accuring conventions recognisable of the science fiction genre, common conventions and themes running throughout the sci- fi genre including alien species, psychological/biological changes to man brought about by scientific changes and often questions the difference between human and alien. This film focuses on the apartheid that was occurring in Johannesburg at the time and addresses this through the use of human vs alien.
Typical genre conventions portrayed in District 9 are shown through the use of transformation and body horror. The main protagonist Wikus represents the issue of body horror through transformation from human to alien. The transformation occurs when Wikus comes into contact with 'alien black fluid' and shows the different stages of his transformation. The audience can easily identify the genre of this text as there are obvious conventions used throughout district 9 such as the use of interviews at the beginning of the film to introduce characters and stock footage such as news companies reporting issues in District 9 which conform to the documentary style. Most science fiction texts today address the issue of capitalism and power and show human life to be unimportant, which is shown throughout this film as Wikus is considered as an experimental object when his transformation begins. This text conveys a distopian view of society and shows an imperfect world where people in positions of power tend to abuse this and many issues/people are corrupt. When Wikus' transformation begins to take place in the restaurant, the technical codes represent the issue of horror. The camera angle in this scene is at eye level in order for the audience to empathise with Wikus through the portrayal of body horror and psychical discomfort as the audience can clearly see the transformation beginning to take place represented by the black nose bleed which is similar to alien species. The camera movement is shaky throughout this scene which could be argued represent Wikus' emotions when he realises his change, the use of diegetic sound portrays the issue of body horror through the use of typical horror conventional music in order to address something bad is happening. These conventions all link and pay homage to the science fiction genre.
Documentary style conventions are also shown throughout this text through the use of stock footage. One particular use of stock footage in District 9 is the use of CCTV, this is used deliberately in order to suggest to the audience that Wikus is trapped in a distopian world, as Wikus is filmed everywhere he goes the audience can identify documentary style conventions. Wikus is even being watched in his office in the MNU which is shown by CCTV footage. The mise en scene shows Wikus sitting at his desk and later his fingernails begin to fall off. The high camera angle used suggests dominance over Wikus and the idea that he is always being watched and controlled by the MNU. The low key lighting is another convention of the horror genre, and similar conventions are shown through the sci-fi genre to again represent body horror. The use of diegetic sound from Wikus shouting in pain also conforms to the representation of body horror and transformation, in this case when his fingernails begin to fall off.
The use of dialogue in this text also represents the issue of 'Apartheid' that was happening in 1982. There is a specific line in the text which says "this is our land, you must go now" this is a clear representation of black and whites shown through human and alien. Themes of racism and xenophobia are shown through the use of the alien species in District 9 and the evacuation of aliens from their home to be separated from humans. Regardless of this, Wikus transformation shows the similarity between the black and white and plays on the ideology that they feel the same emotion regardless of their race/species.

District 9

District 9

Main Protagonist- Wikus

Genre Conventions:

• Transformation/Body Horror- Transformation of human to alien. Enables the audience to question their own humanity. Empathise with protagonist through the portrayal of body horror- loss of teeth and fingernails helps the audience to empathise with Wikus through the use of psychical discomfort. Humans and aliens co existing. 
• Distopian View- Imperfect picture, human life is not important. Humans used for experimental purposes. Corrupt society. 

Representation of black and white through the use of human vs alien. Themes of racism and xenophobia are shown through the use of 'species'. Wikus' transformation shows the similarity between black and whites and that idea that they feel the same emotions regardless of race/species. The dialogue used in the film, for example "This is our land, you must go now" clearly references the apartheid that was happening in Johannesburg in 1982. 

Protagonist's Father in Law- Piet Smit

Christopher Johnson(Alien)

Obesandjo- Psychopathic Nigerian 

Tania Smit- Wikus' wife, Piet Smit's daughter 

Research Links

Research Evidence Links

Miss Representation 

1. Teenagers on average, spend 10 hours 45 minutes a day consuming Media.

2. 53% of 13 year old girls are unhappy with their bodies, by 17 the statistic is 78%

3.  Girls learn from a very early age, the most important thing is how they look

4. The ideal image of beauty is becoming more extreme and impossible than ever before – Jean Kilbourne

5. 97% of publishing companies are owned by Males

6. In the 1990’s studies found a steady increase in explicitly sexual images in advertising

7. The exploitation of female bodies sell products

8. Females are not represent in the Media for doing something, they are represented for how they look

9. As a culture woman are brought up to be fundamentally insecure

10. A lot of advertising is based on making people feel anxious and insecure – Jean Kilbourne

Scoop It

Kilbourne (1995)- this media representation presents women as mannequins: tall and thin, often US size zero, with very long legs, perfect teeth and hair, and skin without a blemish in sight. Wolf notes that the media encourage women to view their bodies as a project in constant need of improvement.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3020948/watch-photoshop-turn-a-woman-into-a-completely-different-woman

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IswzUll_jPIC&pg=PA9&dq=representation+of+women+in+advertisement&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cAV4Usm5N8qo0wWR6YDADg&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=representation%20of%20women%20in%20advertisement&f=false

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RfBHUXRCXfAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=representation+of+women+in+advertisement&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rQZ4Us2gFumf0QX6iICoAw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=representation%20of%20women%20in%20advertisement&f=false

'Everyday people are bombarded by visual advertisements that encourage them to buy a particular product. However, the images used also act as socializing agents that influence our attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours (Lindner 2004). 

'Moderate sexual content in advertising is rated by viewers attention- getting, engaging, appealing and interesting' (Reichert & Walker 2005)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaB2b1w52yE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY

http://www.advertisingcritic.com/nicole-kidman-ad-for-chanel-no-5-perfume/

http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/book_excerpts/data/2476

Craig (1997) concluded that advertisers structure the gender images in their commercials to match the expectations and fantasies of their intended audience. (Chanel No5).

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CHQQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aber.ac.uk%2Fmedia%2FStudents%2Fdde0302.doc&ei=Vbx8Us_UF8e60QXRyYDgAw&usg=AFQjCNGerG1VIM4irupm-CoTGIf-a49Jmg&sig2=guD96hTKV0z5c_xb9FgqRw&bvm=bv.56146854,d.d2k

Taflinger - Women desire relationship and romance. Thus, the cycle of advertising follows the rule of attraction. 

http://www.justluxe.com/fine-living/health/feature-1803733.php

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1872

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/nsfall01/FinalArticles/TheNatureOfHumanAttractio.html


Radway claims that romantic fantasy is a form of regression in which the reader is imaginatively and emotionally transported to a time ‘when she was the center of a profoundly nurturant individual’s attention’- Cultural theory and popular culture.

http://introsociology.net/brittneyw/tag/objectification-of-women/

Research Investigation

To what extent do perfume campaigns differ according to the stereotypical representations of women in advertisements dependent on the target audience, specifically focusing on Tom Ford and Chanel No5?

In this investigation I will analyse how females are represented differently in perfume advertisements dependent upon their target audience. The two texts that I will be focusing on are ‘Tom Ford’ (1) and ‘Chanel No5’ (2). I will explore the representations of women in both of these campaigns and whether they match or challenge the stereotypical representations and ideologies of women. I will also be focusing on how the two companies use different methods to sell their products and whether this has proven to be successful or not. To support my investigation I will apply certain theories including Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze, Jean Baudrillard: Hyper Reality and the Uses and Gratifications model.

Typical stereotypes given to women are the ‘Domestic’ woman who is seen as caring and motherly and the ‘Sexualised’ woman who is often objectified and fragmented within the media. The media does a very good job of portraying stereotypes to the audience and making the audience accept and acquire this. “ Media is very effective at creating stereotypes because they are sometimes the only source of information we have about other groups and they often represent a distorted view of these groups” Straubhaar 2004 (3). Tom Ford’s perfume campaign counterparts this representation of women. This campaign clearly fragments the woman through the exploitation of women’s bodies, the woman used for this campaign has her naked body covered in the product which is an unrealistic representation of women as perfume is usually used sparsely. The woman has a tanned slim body, which the media would label as the ‘idealistic body’. “ Society’s idea of the perfect body image for women based on the average fashion model is that women should be about 5’10 and weigh no more than 8 stone, the media also tells us that women should be blonde, tanned and have big breasts" (4) which is desired by active men and passive women. The main audience for this product is men; therefore the advertising company has chosen to use a model that is tall, thin and has perfect skin which is a minority body type within women. As these advertisements are constantly injecting the audience with the 'ideal body image' women and teenagers are cultivated to believe that to be feminine means to be beautiful and beauty is something that should constantly be strived to achieve. This idea that women should strive to attain beauty can lead to low self-esteem and insecurity making more and more women consider surgery. The motivation to look perfect and boost self-esteem has resulted in an increase in plastic surgery. "In 2012 more than 236,000 cosmetic procedures were performed on patients between 13 and 19 including procedures such as nose reshaping, breast lifts, breast augmentation, liposuction and tummy tucks". (9) In order to get the target audience to buy this product, women with the 'perfect body type' are used to gain male attention as when men see this campaign they aspire to attain a woman with similar qualities to the advert by wearing the product.  This portrays the issue of body image and desires amongst the audience especially female viewers, as they perceive the image to be a perfect ideology of what they should look like and strive to attain ultimate perfection. "Girls learn from an early age the most important thing is how they look" (10). In order to be perceived as being attractive and desirable resembling what they see in the media. “A study done by D. Hargreaves and M. Tiggemann show that women and adolescents that had exposure to commercials that consist of ideal media images were dissatisfied with their bodies” (5). The advertising company have used obvious use of colour connotations relating to sex. The woman in the advertisement is wearing red nail polish, which gives connotations of lust and passion. The positioning of the perfume bottle between the woman’s legs and in-between her breasts symbolises sexual acts, therefore addressing the crude message that if men wear this perfume they will get sex.

 

The gratifications attached in the mode of address to advertise and sell this product are our primitive desires to obtain sex; this seems to be the most effective most popular method of advertising in the modern day society “There is one element that arouses the immediate interest of both men and women. Sex has the greatest universal acceptance of all strategies in advertising” Bharwada (6).  The target audience for this product is young males therefore the company has addressed this by using sex to sell their product. Most producers and advertising companies assume that if they want to sell a certain product to a male audience, the best way to do so if through sexuality and exploitation. As you are not introduced to the identity of the female model in this campaign it represents that the male has dominance over the woman and she is only there for Scopophilia, which can also be linked to The Male Gaze conducted by Laura Mulvey. There are clear elements of the male gaze shown in the Tom Ford campaign as the female model is fragmented through the use of the camera through various close up shots of her body parts, this shows the ideology of a patriarchal society as men are the bearers of the look when viewing this advert. As you cannot smell the fragrance being advertised the campaign relies heavily on the image to sell the product therefore the company must have something that stands out and makes the audience want to buy the product in the campaign, again targeting men with objectification of women to gain interest. “A significant number of print perfume adverts rely on pictorial elements alone, with no other verbal elements but brand and product names, which are also prominently displayed, thus providing enough verbal cues and contextualising elements to the advertising message” (7). One could argue different genders would respond to the mode of address differently. Men desire to be with the women represented and females desire to look like this and may learn models of behaviour in order to gain male attention. However, Tom Ford challenges the typical stereotype of a domestic woman as the woman is purely sexualised and objectified, she is seen as seductive and provocative as a pose to caring and affectionate.  The uses and gratifications model proposed by Mark Levy and Sven Windhal can be applied to Tom Ford’s advertisement, as females that see this advert may be able to personally identify with the woman shown as they can find models of behaviour, however passive males would gain entertainment when seeing this advert, this may be through escapism or diversion from reality or sexual arousal. Jean Baudrillard suggested that advertising no longer refers to real things and has become more real to the audience than reality. 'The Simulacra and Hyper Real Theory' (8). This is true of Tom Ford as there are clear elements of hyper reality, hyper reality is shown in this campaign as the audience would expect to see unrealistic representations of women as this is what we are ‘injected’ and influenced with every day through the use of the media, the hypodermic model is a clear example of this as the mass media has a direct powerful impact on its audience, giving out a clear message and has a powerful influence on behaviour change. Even though this is an obvious false representation of most women, hyper reality has taken over actual reality to make the audience accept the ideology that every woman should maintain the perfect physique in order to please the male audience.  

Research For Media Investigation

Coursework Research Investigation
Stereotypical Views of Women in Advertising
Television remains of the most predominant mediums which promote stereotypical views about gender roles in contemporary advertising. (3)“Media is very effective at creating stereotypes because they are some times the only source of information we have about other groups and they often represent a distorted view of those groups” (Straubhaar 2004). NO matter what type of life a women lives, there will always be a certain stereotype about her within society. Women in commercials are confined into what roles they can play on television commercials. In most advertisements in which women act in, the commercial is set out to capture the interests of stereotypical women’s hobbies and interests. A stereotype would be best described as when one ignores diversity and makes sweeping generalizations about a group’s values, behaviour, and beliefs (Straubhaar 2004). Commericals remain mirrored in outdated gender stereotypes by portraying women as having an ideal body image, many eating disorders and acting as sex symbols.

Ideal Body Image

Commercials today elicit many perceived ideals of a selective body image in which women must strive to attain ultimate perfection. Many commercials that exist today have many stereotypical views about women and one is having an ideal body image. Women in the media are seen as the Barbie doll figure which has been proven to have negative effects on the average women. Women in commercials operate as a role model for other women and adolescents that view television advertisements on a continuum, which in turn affects the way women are represented.(4) A study done by D. Hargreaves and M. Tiggemann show that women and adolescents that had exposure to commercials that consist of ideal media images were dissatisfied with their bodies (Hargreaves and Tiggemann,). This experiment consisted of 80 women and adolescents, some exposed to 20 images of the thin ideal media and the other 20 non thin ideal media. This study concluded that after two years it was shown that the group that viewed the thin ideal body images was more dissatisfied with their body image. Women strive to obtain an ideal body image because they want to be perceived as having an attractive body that resembles the prefect bodies which are repeatedly shown on television. As shown in Hargreaves and Tiggemann experiment, commercials that have outdated gender stereotypes are still prominent in contemporary advertisements today. Take for example a perfume advertisement. In stead of focusing on the actual product; emphasis is placed on the model/actress who is representing the product and she is clearly underweight to present the desire thin and attractive body image. Consequently, women and adolescents that view this advertisement believe that if they buy this product and wear it they will attain this ideal body image portrayed in the advertisement. Television is no-doubt one of the most important mediums that affect the way women and adolescents perceive themselves because of its audiovisual nature.

Eating Disorders

In society today, self esteem is placed as one of the most important issues that affect women. Advertisements still support stereotypes in projecting a thin ideal view and therefore, may led to anorexia and bulimia among female viewers. Female viewers watch this advertisement and therefore they want to obtain it. As they women try to find ways to obtain this ideal, they discover that they have one of two paths to follow. First option is hard work and exercise on their body or they can do a yo-yo diet. Women usually opt for the yo-yo diet because they have many other pressures riding on them and believe that this will be a quick and easy solution to their problem. Without knowing it, some of these women become anorexic and bulimic because of the unrealistic desire to look perfect. Studies done by Myers and Biocca show those commercials which attain ideal body images have an indirect effect on anorexia and bulimia. The two variables that had an effect on self perception were ideal-body programming and ideal-body commercials. This result found that only did this lead to eating disorders but also to depression and a self-perceived body image. 

Sex Symbols

Women are portrayed as sex symbols in the media in order to sell products in which they are advertising. Female sex symbols are features in commercials, support the fact that commercials are still mired in outdate gender stereotypes by producing commercials and advertisements in which are desirable sex objects to men. Most producers assume that if they want to sell a certain product to a male audience, the best way to do so is to appeal to them with sexuality. A content analysis that was done by Gad Saad suggests that over a time period of fifteen years, Ms. Magazine demonstrated an increase in the portrayal of women as sexual symbols (Gad Saad 601). Let’s take for an example a beer commercial. Generally speaking, we can assume that the majority of beer drinkers are men. The producer or director will link the product to some thing else those men like to sell it, a female. By including attractive women in beer advertisements, the underlying message is that if men drink a certain type of beer they will be able to attract a certain type of female. However, stereotypes can be deemed a powerful vector as they create inaccurate portrayals of individuals that affect the way a group is perceived.

One of the most prominent features of perfume advertising is that they are strongly based on visuals. (6) A pioneer study carried out on perfume advertising in magazines in Portugal (Tuna, 2004) reveals that a significant number of print perfume adverts rely on pictorial elements alone, with no other verbal elements but brand and product names, which are also prominently displayed, thus providing enough verbal cues and contextualizing elements to the advertising message.

Reliance on pictures, on the other hand, may also be the result of an internationally oriented standardized campaign. Indeed, like many fashion and cosmetics products, perfumes are often marketed as part of an international brand’s product range, which means that pictures are likely to be part of the overall advertising strategy. Despite acknowledged pictorial cultural dimensions, it seems to be a fact that the iconicity of pictures makes them more suitable to cross borders (Messaris 1997), and this is commonly a feature of cross- cultural and/or global advertising approaches.

Typically, the perfume advert consists of one or two people, a sophisticated perfume bottle, the perfume name and a short text line indicating the product’s target audience (for him, for her, for both). It may eventually depict the perfume bottle alone, even though this is a less frequent approach.

When it comes to participants, the depiction of female models is by and large the most common motif. There are indeed more adverts for female perfumes, and there are more perfumes for women in most brands, but it is also a fact that there are also adverts for men that use female models, and female perfume adverts that depict men. Even so, the image of the woman is extremely exploited in perfume advertising, and female nakedness has become very common in these advertisements. The typical image of the sensuous woman enticingly or defiantly addressing the viewer continues to be repeatedly employed in contemporary advertising, assuming the form of an ‘agent provocateur’, whose main function in ads is that of eliciting the desired emotional response in the viewer (Cortese, 2004).

Feminist author, Jean Kilbourne says; “There have been some changes in the images of women in advertising and then goes on to conclude women will always conform to the stereotypes within advertising, even though the image of women has changed. 

Gallup & Robinson, an advertising and marketing research firm, reported that in more than 50 years of testing advertising effectiveness, the use of the eroticism was a significantly above-average technique in communicating with the market place. In contemporary mainstream consumer advertising such as magazines and TV, sex is used to sell a large amount of branded goods – even those not associated in any way with sex. Clothing, alcohol, cosmetics, cars even electricity are all examples of products sold through the message of sex. In any one TV advert break for example, a large proportion if not all the adverts shown will be linked in some way to sex. Research by marketing firm Gallup-Robinson, which analysed sex in advertising since the 1920s, found that companies that used sex to sell averaged recall scores 77% above their respective product norms and that it had an effect just as powerful in men as in women.


However, sexuality in advertising can alienate some of the audience and that using sex to draw attention to a product that has no relevance to sex can have a negative effect. In many ways, it is abusing your audience and can make them feel cheated and talked down to. Resorting to sex just to sell when there is no direct correlation to the product being sold is often seen as a “cheap shot,” which can negatively affect a brand’s image. Many commentators believe that consumers are bored with a strategy that is employed too often – reverting to sex to sell is old hat and has been exhausted.

A motif that is frequently adopted by perfume advertising pictures is the image of a couple, which is recurrent not only in adverts that promote male and female fragrances simultaneously, but also in per- fume adverts in general.Some of these pictures exploit eroticism quite explicitly, which seems to reveal increased permisiveness in contemporary Western societies. This may raise some cultural issues, including that of taboo concerning the use of themes such as sex and eroticism in advertising. These motifs are often used as strategies for increasing the appeal of products that, intrinsically, do not present any kind of taboo association, in an effort to make them look more daring and risqué (Odber de Baubeta, 1995) Freitas, 2008: 148), as befits lifestyle goods such as perfumes. 


Classen et al. (1994) claim that perfume adverts reflect the changes in the role and image of women in Western societies. The changes referred to by the authors concern the motifs and images explored in perfume advertising since the 1950s, when advertising messages drew on themes such as femininity and elegance, displaying images of glamorous social events, and projecting the idea of women whose main objective in wearing a perfume was to please men.

(5) According to Bharwada (2010), there is one element that arouses the immediate interest of both men and women. Sex has the greatest universal acceptance of all strategy in advertising.

MULVEY

Her outlook on the Male Gaze theory involved men looking at women purely for visual satisfaction. She believes that women are completely passive in this topic and are only seen as sexual images for men (the 'lookers'). This is present in perfume advertisements. 
Scophophilia: Men are the bearers of the look. 'The pleasure of looking'. Introduced into the male gaze theory by Sigmund freud.   

Theorists:

Marjorie Ferguson (1980) identified four types of facial expression in the photos of women in advertising:

Chocolate Box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three quarter face to the camera. Projected mood: warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.

Invitational: on this pose the emphasis is on the eyes. The mouth is shut with only a hint of a smile (teeth barely showing at times), head to one side slightly. The mood is suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise.

Romantic or sexual: Dreamy, heavy-lidded and unsmiling. Overtly sensual or sexual. The projected moods are possibly 'available' and definitely 'available'. Often clothing is limited or props are used.

Super smiler: this is of a full face with a wide open smile with teeth visible. Looking happy and giving off a good vibe. The Head is forward and the chin is back. Hair is often wind blown and suggests 'Look at me' approach.

Hypodermic Model: The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. The bullet theory graphically suggests that the message is a bullet, fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head". With similarly emotive imagery the hypodermic needle model suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message.

The simulacra and hyper real theory: Explored by Jean Baudrillard. He believed that advertising no longer refers to real things and the issue of representation is problematic. He suggested that the representation of has become more real to the audience than reality. 

Simulacrum is when the copy places the original. Hyperreality is when the media image constructs a reality which does not actually refer to an actual reality. 

   Berger: 'Men act and women appear, men look at women and women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women, but also the relation of women to themselves.