most media texts target wide range of audiences, how true is this of your chosen texts- Lost

lost targets a wide mainstream audience, it is constructed to include the widest audience possible and provide gratifications for both active and passive viewers. 

Lost uses an ensemble cast, this is where there is a large cast with a variety of gender, ages, races and cultures with all  of the characters getting a similar amount of screen time. This is used in order to include a variety of audiences, allowing everyone to have a relatable character or situation thus gratifying them. having this wide range of characters could provide uses and gratifications such as reinforcement with already gained values of a range of cultures and identifying with these values. such as in the scene on the beach where the father Michael who is trying to find his son meets with the Korean couple. the Korean husband shouts at his wife for not having her top button done up and this could be a cultural value that Koreans hold so this scene reinforces that view, we then we see a close up shot of Michael's face showing his shocked reaction which may reinforce the oppositional view that it is fine and a woman should not be controlled. 

this ensemble cast also produces a range of familiar narrative themes such as the relationship between the father and son and the brother sister relationship, breeding familiarity into the text.

lost uses mainstream narrative devices that attract its desired mainstream audience. techniques such as flash backs are used in order to explain events and give the characters a background story which a mainstream audience enjoys as it explains what is going on and encourages passive viewing making it easy to watch. 

how typical are your 3 texts of their genre

How typical is your text of it genre

fish tank
fish tank is a social realist film. the purpose of these films is for the audience to gain empathy for under represented groups in british society in this case the under class and females. the genre deals with under discussed issues that are normally avoided in mainstream texts, such as sexual abuse, drugs and alcoholism.
a convention of social realist films is the character type of the working class hero. This character is someone who strives for a better life than the one they have. In fish tank Mia does strive for a better life. she attempts to do this through her dancing career. When we see her dance for conner alone in the apartment, the walls are covered with pictures of a californian background and this theme runs throughout the house. This is their dream of escaping. It shows how they feel trapped and are trying to escape their environment though covering the house with this decor. The song she dances to is called californian dream this again shows here desire to escape. However whist this side of Mia is very typical of the social realism protaganist in this way, she is a distorted version of this character role. She does not fit in as the woking class hero. She is violent,aggressive and does not have the welfare of anyone else in her interests these are not typically heroic traits. Whilst she does poses these negative qualities fish tank ,like a typical social realist film looks into this behaviour and attempts to give the audience some understanding for why she acts this way.
Social realist films use technical conventions to achieve this empathy for the characters. fish tank uses a wide range of point of view shots to place the audience in her shoes. In the dance scene there is an over the shoulder shot of connar sitting on the sofa watching her. Even though she is the one doing the action and this is what mainstream films would focus on. Fish tank sticks with Mia and shows what she is seeing, rather than doing. This way we do not look at her through Connar and judge her but take a more understanding view of the position she is in, allowing the audience to gain this sense of empathy.
fish tank uses hand held camera techniques throughout the film. This add to the sense of realism. it puts us with Mia right next to her throughout the film, as we are not distanced from her by a swooping crane shot looking at her. in the opening scene where we see Mia wondering the streets committing various deviant acts. The camera here actually step by step follows her from behind shadowing her every move. we know this when she walks down hills and the camera man is simply walking behind her. this basic technique of filming is very typical of the social realist genre. It is again an attempt to literally put us in her shoes as much as possible and make us feel we are actually there with her and not watching a film. the casting of unknown actors is another typical feature of this genre as well know actors would remind the audience that they are watching a film. The use of these unknown actors takes this recognition away and we can slip into to the idea that we are there walking the streets with her adding to the realism of the genre. this also gives a more realistic representation of contempery Britain as you are not likely to see brad pitt strolling around the counsel estate.
social realist films seek to represent a true picture of Britain. Fish tank adheres to this convention, through the use of natural lighting and lack of filters. fish tank does not attempt to  make Mia's estate an appealing environment like hollywood films might. They do not use lighting to change the settings and show everything how it is. we see this when the lighting in the dance shot only comes through the window and the quality of light is poor. This realist representation of an undesirable location limits the uses and gratifications of this film as it does not provide escapism for the audience as they are not able to escape into a pleasant environment. this is typical of social realism and this contributes to the film having a niche audience as it does not provide the uses and gratifications that would need to be constructed into a film.


Sin City 

Sin City is a hybrid film, containing the genres film noir and comic book. this hybridity means that sin city can be established as a postmodern film.
traditional noir films often represent the time period in which they were made (after the cold war) with narrative themes such as mistrust, paranoia and corruption. Sin city shares these narrative themes that are a convention of traditional film noir, with the three protaganists all fighting against a corrupt authorative\political enemy. seintor rorke uses his political influence to hide his sons perverted crimes and frames the protaganist john hartagan. whilst trying to prove his innocence he must protect "nancy" from senitor rorke's son. Nancy portreys many characteristics of the typical film noir character role, the femme fatal. characterised as a physically attractive female who uses her sexuality to manipulate the synical protaganist often framing him or getting him to do her dirty work. However in sin city Nancy is a distorted version of the femme fatal.Whilst she is an attractive female and john does end up dying for her, she does not use her sexuality to purposefully manipulate him. she sends him letters whislt he is in jail with no intentions on using him. later on when john sees nacy many years later he says" i expected her to be a book worm too shy for her own good from what she mentioned about herself in the letters" showing that she did not attempt to use her sexuality to gain his favor. this changes the traditional expectations that the audience will have over certain characters as we see her sexually dancing in a bar and assume shhe takes on the traditional femme fatal, this un typical feature creates genre difference to shock the audience so they do not become to familar with a text and get bored. sin city uses alot of traditional film noir iconography making it appear very typical of its genre. there are alot of seens shot in gritty bars, where we see smokers, drinking and neon lights all typical mise en scenne for film noir.
in sin city each of the protaganists has a synical outlook on the world mirroring the theme of soldiers coming back from war in the 1940s these men hold little regard for themselves and are often confused and lost after the years of war. marv portreys this outlook, he holds no regard for his own saftey and says things such as "i dont even know why im on this earth" showing the negative and lost attitude of the traditional noir protaganists.
sin city uses shadows and lighting to represent the characters. in the scene where marv is killing or doing somthing wrong we wsee him in shadow however when he is killing kevin half of marvs face is shadow the rest is in light, this is to show that whilst he is not doing a typically heroic thin he is doing it for th right reasons so is not all bad. whereas kevin is always shown in full shadow until he is killed. this use of shadows is typical of film noir.
 the hybridity of this films is the mixing with comic book film conventions such as marvs super human strength or hartigans ability to survive 9 bullets.
their is persistant comic book framing and over exaggerated movements , such as in the fight scene with marv and kevin, the fight tends to stop and start as if it is the frames of a comic book.the use of the trench coat


District 9  
the genre incorporates futuristic elements and technologies to explore social ,political and philosophical issues often through a polysemic narrative.
sci-fi films often contain a polysemic narrative, with the sci fi iconography having an alternate meaning representing real life issues. for example the use of aliens in district nine are actually representing black people during  the apart ide. district nine is typical of this and uses its aliens to do so. the narrative themes of new technology and consequences is also a typical sci fi theme that exists within district nine. body horror is very typical of the sci fi genre. this is used to gain empathy or understanding for the opposite group. in district nine we see wikus acting  out against the prawns however as we see him turn into an alien through various scenes of body horror we see him gain an empathy and understanding for them. the iconography and mise en scene of district nine is very typical of the scifi genre. in the final fight scene we see, wikus controlling an alien robot, alien weapons causing distruction and in the background the alien mother ship .  all these things make district nine look very typical of its genre. sci fi films typically represent the future in eith a eutopian view or dystopian vie. district nine takes on the dystopian view point in which the world or south Africa is being controlled by one main organisation "MNU" this organastions logo is everywhere. in a scene where we see  wicus in his office we see the MNU log on the wall,equipment and on paper work also in the next shot we see this logo on the security guard. this all reinforces the control that the company has over everyone. this dystopian view of the future and control of one organisation continues when we see wikus captured and transferred into a reaseach facility against his will. the equipment is all shabby and dirty and a green filter is used to give the impression of sickness. the personal all  wearing mnu logos mutilate him are and force him to do horrid things.
district nine is a hybrid film whilst containing elent os the sci fi genre there are also use of documentary style conventions. in the experiment scene we see
the camera codes at the bottom of the shot and the time |date in the corner, we then flick to a high angle shot divided into four which appears to be from a security camera, this is too appear like the film has used stock footage which is common in documentaries. when wikus is being transported on a bed we see a tracking shot captioned 16 hours after exposeure these captions are a converntion of documentaries.

Most text today mix genres ,how true is this of your text

District nine is a hybrid film it mixes the scifi genre and documentary style conventions. In the experiment scene we documentary style conventions with the camera codes at the bottom of the shots,with time and date in the corner of the camera.we also see a shot divided into four sections, each of these sections appears to be from a security camera feed,looking down onto wikus in the bed and giving a range of view points of the building each with the number of the camera at the bottom(CAM01 ) etc. so we are seeing stock footage which is a convention of documentary style films. when wikus is being transported in a secured hospital trolly there is a tracking shot, captioned "16 hours after exposure" this is keeping a log of what is going on and this is another theme of documentaries.  wikus is restrained to this bed strapped to it against his will.  This represents a dystopian view of the future which is a common representation in scifi films. the dystopian view is shown through the run down hospital environment with the shabby equipment and the social control over wikus. the company MNU is seen throughout this scene on things like equipment and on the bag that contains the liquid vikus was hit with. this then contributes to this idea of distopia with the world being run by one organisation who control everything. There is a heavy use of green colours in the hospital and there is a subtle green filter over the camera, this produces almost an ill, sickly very negative feel to the hospital lab and shows it is not a place wikus wants to be. A typical convention of scifi is body horror, seen in films like the fly body horror is common of scifi films. we see elements of body horror in this experiment scene when we see the alien arm being mutilated by the scientists this theme is typical of the scifi genre. this mixing of genres creating hybridity in the text is a clear example of postmodernism in which nothing is original, everything we see is just recycled versions of the original. hybrid films mix two original genres together to keep both genres fresh creating genre difference in order to captivate audiences so that they dont become overly familiar with the text and get bored.

bibliography

1-pinks album perfect
2-robin thicke album blurred lines
3-BILLBOARD HOT 100 SINGLES
(4)daily mail articalBy CAROLYN HIBLEN and SHYAM DODGE

PUBLISHED: 06:03, 14 October 2013

(5) article by Melinda hughes
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2458425/Robin-Thicke-defends-derogatory-song-Blurred-Lines-claiming-composed-Paula-Patton.html#ixzz2js22mtfD
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(6) visual peasure and narrative cinema , laura mulvey . book
(7) miss representation video  quoted by- caroline heldman
 
(8) miss representation video
(9) billboard magazine artcial
(10) blurred lines music video
(11) give it to u music video
(12) article from in style magazine
(13) pinks perfect music video
(14)lacan mirror stage theory http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/themes/saylor/curriculum/curriculumQAAJAX.php?action=getcourseunitqas&courseunitid=8440
(15) "stupid girls music video

course work

How does the representation of women differ in music videos depending on the gender of the music artist in western pop music with specific reference to the artist Robin Thick and Pink?

 

I plan to investigate if the representation of women differs depending on the gender of the musician being presented and whether the female is the core focus or just an accessory to a lead male. I will analyse if the different stereotypes, ideologies and representations that are presented within music videos and if they gratify their target audience. I will specifically lyrical content in the songs and the ideologies that these present, considering the effects that these representations of women has on both a male and female audience, with specific reference to the Robin Thicke album ‘blurred lines’ and pinks album ‘………’ .To do this I will apply theories such as Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory and how women are objectified for male scopophilia .I will also investigate the Marxist theory of hegemony and how the representations of women are used on a social scale to maintain power.

In Robin Thicke’s album blurred lines there are two singles released that charted the top ten: “blurred lines” reaching number 1 on billboard hot 100 singles (3) and “give it to me”. These are both extremely popular songs. The song Blurred lines has over 206,000,000 hits on YouTube and over 880,000 likes, then not as popular but also very successful “give it to me” has over 12,000,000 views and 77,000 likes. Both of these singles are well known for there videos specifically blurred lines as the original video features 3 topless models and created a lot of debate about the appropriateness of this video with the daily mail stating "its a song that has been seen as deeply offensive and derogatory towards women using controversial lyrics such as i know you want it and let me liberate ya "(4). These two videos share the same representations of women and are both vey objectifying.

The video for the song blurred lines features robin Thicke himself, T.I and Pharrel Williams. It also features three very stereotypically attractive and well-known models. The whole video shows these three girls seductively dancing around in very little, see through or in the original case no clothing. This represents women as sexual objects for the three men in the video "the three fully clothed men touch and gawk at them in which ever way they choose with no reaction from the women"(5)this presents the idea that men can do that they want and that women should be submissive to men’s actions and desires . Laura Mulvey states that women can act as the object of scopophilia for both the audience of the video and the males actually the video “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium” (6). In this video we see the men looking at the girls very clearly, they look the girls up and down and focus on their figure in a sexual manner. As the camera tilts up and down the girls figure the audience watching the video is forced to look at the women in the same way that the male’s in the video are taking on the male gaze. In this video the camera focuses on the girl’s body parts fragmenting them, this is a technical method of objectification so the audience see specific body parts representing them as an object of scopophilia. The women only serve the men, we see the three girls poring the men drinks and lighting cigarettes for them (?). This emphasises the superiority of the males and how the women’s only purpose is to serve men.. The Marxist theory of hegemony would say that this representation is used to maintain power over women in wider society as the women that watch this video see these older attractive women serving men it reinforces them with this patriarchal idea that they should be submissive to the will of men. This hidden message is displayed through lyrics and the video content of the song. This specific video is contributing to the cultivation of females to take on the ideology that females and inferior forcing women to take this on as their own belief allowing men to maintain control and power in society. At 7 years old little girls and little boys want to be president of the United States in equal number, 30%, ask the same question at 15 and a huge gap has occurred (7).this shows that this method of social control is working changing the minds of females from an early age enforcing oppressive gender roles on them and as this is presented subtly through media texts such as this song the women do not rebel as they are not being overtly oppressed.

 

How typical is sin city of its genres

Sin city is a hybrid ,a film that combines two genres .These genres are film noir and comic book. there are many obvious conventions to show these two genres within the film. these conventions are shown through narrative structure and themes, character roles and types, mise en scene, iconography and visual codes, for example film noir protagonists tend to be hardened by life they have a cynical outlook on the world and they seem to know what is coming as if they have seen it all before. they do not hope for a positive outcome they only see the darkness ahead. this is true of this particular film as both Marv and harrtigan the two main protagonists have this persona and share these views. for example Marv says "hell is waking up every day and not knowing why you are here." this quote also links in with another theme of noir films in that they represent the time in which they were made. noir films reflect the period just after the cold war when all the men came back home and there was a lot of mistrust ,fear, and a strong sense of paranoia a lot of the men had problems adjusting to normal life. marv is a perfect example of this , he has lost his sense of belonging, he does not fit into this post war era and it is even said in the film that he was born in the wrong times and that he should have been a gladiator in an ancient battle field.
the film noir genre has very distinct iconography , the setting are often dark sidewalks often featuring neon lights, in built up urban areas in a hostile city. this is the exact type of setting we see through out sin city, very closely fitting into these noir conventions . another common feature is the use of rain which is very common in this particular film often shown in the dark points of films during scenes of death or loss.
noir films often use a lot of darkness and shadows to represent their characters emotions and intentions. the villains are often shown in darkness however as the protagonists in film noir are not strictly the good guys we often see shots of them with half their face in shadow when they are doing something wrong even for the right reasons. this is a visual representation of the characters dark side. 
the voice over narrating of the characters is a common convention of noir films . in sin city this plays a major role in the narrative ,each character explains their own background, motivations and plans through out the film giving us a deeper insight to them and helping us follow the often complex and non linier narrative that we see in noir.
throughout sin city the trench coats are mentioned a few times , marv makes reference to the coats a few times. trench coats are a common iconography of noir films however as this film is a hybrid these coats tie in with the comic book genre as well. after a character does something heroic we see a low angle shot looking up at them with the coat waving in the wind symbolising a hero's cape which is a convention of comic book hero characters. we do not see this shot when the protagonist is doing things hat are not heroic such a killing or brutality showing the anti hero side to the character.
comic book films often use classic prop character roles. often featuring a clear hero, villain and princess who the hero try's to save. this is true of sin city however as it is a hybrid this convention is distorted. we still have the three clear hero's and they all have obvious villains all trying to save or avenge a female however the heroes in this particular film are not always as strictly heroic as the comic book genre would normal have them be and the damsels in distress are not always what they appear to be either in the fact they they could be the femme fatal character used in noir films that do not feature in the comic book genre.

fish tank

Fish tank is a social realist film, the social realist genre aims to represent the underrepresented giving the mainstream society an insight into different subcultures and alternate lifestyles to their own. this film is not presenting brittain to the rest of the world trying to look appealing but is looking deeper into british society and showing a realistic view of what it is like to actually live here. focusing on the underclass,a group of people that most films tend to avoid and do not acknowlege in maistream film. Fish tank can be used to portrey this groups background and reasons for being the way they are to the rest of society so we can understand rather than judge on face value.
social realist films show the real day to day struggles of life that some people have to endure. the protaganist is someone who wants more for themselves and is not content with their life.
the actors used in social realisim films are often unknown or in fish tanks case just found at a train station having a row. these conventions are all true in fish tank making it very typical of its genre.
in the opening scene we see mia walking round a rough,poor deprivied area a common setting for social realist films. the use of hand held camera shots following her adds to the realism of this fim we are with the character as if we are walking behind her seeing what she does. early on we see mia watching a group of girls dancing. one of the gilrs says to her "what the f**ks your problem" to which mia responds very aggrsivley and headbutts the girl in the nose. she then has an argument with the group of girls with a heavy use of swear words and aggression. this is a very un sterotypical representation of females showing them in a typically masculin ,aggressive manor, also showing the working/underclass very negativley.in this scene there is the group of girls and also a group of boys however mia is on her own a segrigated this lonlyness is a regular theme in this film showing that those who do not embrace there social class and act accordingly in this enviroment are outcasted and bound for trouble.in this scene and throughout the whole film there is only diegetic sound a common feature of social realist films. we can hear music but we see the girls dancing to it and the poor sound quality tells us that this is deigetic music. the absence of non digetic sound make the film seem more real but also aims the film at a more active audience as often in mainstream films the music tells us how to feel where as social realist films are much more open to interpretation.

generally fish tank opposes mulveys male gaze by veiwing the world through mia's eyes.this is made obvious when we first see connor he is topless and the camera focuses of body parts fragmenting him and objectyfing him then at the end we look through mias eyes with the camera focusing on his bum walking up the stairs showing the female gaze. this film challenges the sterotypical representations af females as the family of mia,her mom and little sister do not have any sort of caring relationship. there mom does not care for them and is actually abusive towards the girls. we see physical and verbal abuse many times throughout the film. however in the scene where connor takes the girls out in the car to the river the family get along and there disfunctional family starts to work but only when connor is present . this shows women as dependent on men to get along and work they need him. this confims the idea of mainstream films that women are generally infirior to men and are dependent on a man. the girls are also shown to be niave as connor is actually living a secret life and they are led on by him the whole film. he is just using them to escape from his life whilst in turn mia is using him to escape from hers.