Tuesday

Representation of Gender in the Past

The 1950’s-70’s, only featured 20-35 per cent of characters who were females, the figure had increased by the mid 80’s, but women were still not shown with leading roles.

Miles (1975) found that there were equal proportions of men and woman in situation comedies but the gender roles could still have been sexist.

Davis (1990) noted how women appeared more on screen for action-adventure shows by 29%.

1970’s saw males to be the dominant characters as well as decision makers.

Mc Neil (1975) concluded that women’s movement was totally ignored due to the fact how they were shown as married housewives as the only position held.

Men were more likely to be assertive and adventurous whilst woman passive and weak.

Gaye Tuchman: says how ‘Women don’t count for much’ and ‘they don’t matter much in American Society.’

Dyer: says how there are different programmes and types which ‘Feature women in a more central way.’

Gillian Dyer: Women in central roles (police, crime) had increased, portraying their power and gender.

Sharon Smith: Argues how women’s roles in movies always ‘revolve around her physical attraction.’

Ann Kaplan: says how women are an object of the male gaze and ‘their desire is subjected to male desire.’

Kathio Maio: mentions in her book how women are ‘portrayed as powerless and infectual.’

Hegemonic..Pluralistic..??

I believe in the pluralistic theory rather than teh hegemonic theory. This is because i feel i belong to the active audience rather than passive and believe of teh different consumer choices, which the pluralistic model supports. I look at specific media texts in my own way and do not look judge them in a way they have been sent out to be judged and read. I am against the hegemonic model of ruling classes because everyone is brainwashed by this and all of the passive audinces are indoctrinated with media and false consiousness. I am a Pluralistic!!

Monday

Key Issues In a Mens Mag


Above is just one of many front cover issues of teh famous mens magz..Playboy.

There were key points i picked up from the independant study hand out.. These were..
*All issues of Mens Magazine without a doubt will talk about sex..Contain pornographic images of women and show these woemn ina sexual way. The magazine cover above alone highlights teh key issues in red 'Sex & Music*
*When it comes to 'Lad's Mags' Sex sells BIGTIME!
* The cover girl must meet all aspects a man will be attracted to when he picks up the mag..It must be perfect.
* The posture of the women is a sexual and seductive pose which is exactly what the photgraphers make them do as it is what the target market want to buy.
*Women are seen as sex objects in leading magazines of Playboyy, FHM, and loaded.
*Aimed at target audience of men from 15-25
*Women are only seen as objects of mens sexual desire which makes the male role dominant over powering the women as weak
*The magazines uses of Hypodermic needle theory suggesting the passive audience
* Successful readership of a dominat male suggests the theory as 'ladism'
*Changes in society now accept the way women ar being represented









Sunday

MIGRAIN Analysis of Line Game Scene

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u8cQusMBOMU

Media Language (M)
what techniques are being used to make meaning in the text?
Erin is dressed smart and stereotyped as the typical respect seeking teacher in the classroom. Each character represents their ethnic image through the way they dress. The black boys (Andre and Jamal) are wearing baggy loose clothing and the Girls are all wearing every day casual clothes.
There are many Zoom in the scene as well as a pan type shot with BCU’s to express emotion on the facial expression on each characters face. The Zoom of the students feet and the line made of tape is consistent as this scene is focusing on how much times the student step on the line.
Each time the students move towards the line we hear a repetive sound of footsteps and voices in a hurry towards the line, which anchors the meaning of how the questions Erin is asking relate to everyone.
The scene finishes with a fade, and there are many reversal shots whn the camera moves towards and through each students comments as well as Erin‘s.

Institution (I)
who produces, distributes, regulates the text?
A huge Hollywood production. A well known instittuion Paramount pictures in Association with MTV films. Mainstream distribution as well as publicity.
Perhaps say how there has been ethnical exploitation throug the way they have handed these 13 year olds with issues such as gang violence to deal with. As in they had to witness things like Erin questions on the line game..Prison..loosing friends etc.
Dumbing down of students. They don’t think they will make it any where because of the stereotype they have given them selves, they think their type of people will not make it far in life.

Genre
(G)what type of text is it?
hybrid genre..Drama and Crime,Drama due to the way each students stories have so much mayhem in them. Someones mother is a drug addict whilst some one is dealing drugs. Another persons father is shot in front of her very eyes whilst another student is shooting another student from another ethnic background. This also enhances the crime dram because of the use of violence.
Based on reality so a non-fiction story line, which enhances on the authenticity and realism which is created in the scene and movie overall
.

Representation (R)
who or what is being represented in the text? how?
White boy - Ben - seen in a negative/ afraid type of way who is over shadowed and over powered by every member of the class room.
Eva - Latino - shown as strong and independent, stands up and speaks her mind yet against the blacks and Cambodians strictly and will protect ‘her own kind’ no matter what. Stereotypes are negative at the beginning of the narrative and by the time the story line progresses we see these stereotypes change over time and the characters do not met them any more. They are reinforced and challenged.Audience (A)who consumes the text?primary audience of students who come from these backgrounds. Secondary is generally students any way as well as teachers and adults. The tect is their to relate to similar issues going on and to show how you should never give up.

Ideology & Values (I)
what are the belief systems/messages/values underpinning the text?dominant ideology. Eva is attacked by a group of boys when she is running and is attacked as she may testify against her own type ‘of people’
The text is here to educate and inform the audience.

Narrative (N)
how is the narrative in the text organized and structured?
non-linear narrative: flashback. We see Eva telling her story in the beginning narrating it almost at once about her childhood. Even between scenes there are past moments mentioned and even in the line game scene we see Erin talk about the past which shows a non linear narrative. This gives the audience a wide range of info to deal with an knowledge and understanding of past situations the students were faced with.

Thursday

Historical - Holocaust - Diary Of Anne Frank

In teh movie, the students start to turn their life around when Erin teaches them about the Holocaust. They are surprised and inspired whe they are given homework to finish off the diary of Anne Frank. They are shocked and their eyes open. This is when they turn the tables arund and is a changing part in the movie. these are a few extracts of Anne Frank's actual diary on the following link..
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://people.smu.edu/fnichols/diarypage.jpg&imgrefurl=http://people.smu.edu/fnichols/diary.html&h=322&w=576&sz=60&tbnid=kEUbp2eb73AJ::&tbnh=75&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Danne%2Bfrank%2Bdiary&hl=en&usg=__UfrrrzI5sCdf1ztxdKRPvUAOSjU=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1

Tuesday

Bibliography

1. http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/freedomwriters.php * True story freedom writers *
2. http://racerelations.about.com/od/stereotypesmentalmodels/g/stereotypes.htm *Stereotypes*
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale *femme fatale*
4. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=minister--hoodies-just-keeping-warm&method=full&objectid=18364466&siteid=94762-name_page.html *Young Male adults*
5. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2007/11/08/the-youtube-killer-89520-20078885/ *Teenage Males*
6. http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/repsyouth.html *Representations of Youths*
7. Media Studies AS + A2 by Jacquie Bennett, Published in 2005Stereotypes - Pg 94
8. Theorists to Consider - Pg 92/93 Propp
9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/mar/02/drama1 *Review - Guardian*
10. http://guldasta.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/freedom-writers-movie-review/ *Review*
11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/mar/02/drama1 * Review*
12. http://delicious.com/search?freedom+writers&u=macguffin&chk=&context=userposts&tag=med5&fr=del_icio_us&lc=0
13. http://www1.medialiteracy.com/representation.jsp *Gender, Race, Representation*
14. http://www.kidulthoodlife.blogspot.com/ *X-student Blog Kidulthood*
15. http://www.ramneet-getrich.blogspot.com/ *x-student Blog - Stereotype*
16. http://bilansblog.blogspot.com/ *Representation Bullet Boy*
17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist) *Staurt Hall Research*
18. http://video.google.nl/videosearch?q=martin%20luther%20king&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enNL265NL265&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv *Martin Luther King Speech*
19. http://delicious.com/search?freedom+writers&u=macguffin&chk=&context=userposts&tag=med5&fr=del_icio_us&lc=0 *Real story created authenticity*

Stuart Hall

*His works are widely accepted as influential, such as studies showing the link between racial prejudice and media, and are important as foundational texts for contemporary cultural studies.
*Stuart Hall is one of the main proponents of reception theory. This approach to textual analysis focuses on the scope for negotiation and opposition on part of the audience. This means that a text — be it a book or a movie — is not simply passiviely accepted by the audience, but there is an element of activity involved. The person negotiates the meaning of the text. The meaning depends on the cultural background of the person. The background can explain how some readers accept a reading of a text while others reject it.
*These ideas are further developed in Hall's model of encoding and decoding of media discourses. The meaning of a text is located somewhere between the producer and the reader. Even though the producer encodes the text in a particular way, the reader will decode it in a slightly different manner. What Hall calls the margin of understanding. This line of thought is linked to social constructionism.

Monday

Delicious Tags

http://www1.medialiteracy.com/representation.jsp - A site about Gender, Race & Representation. This applies to my text as i am focussing on the Race and representation area.
http://www.kidulthoodlife.blogspot.com/ - A ex students blog giving information about the way youths behave in contempary society today. Thsi will relate to my text as it is to do with youths and how Kidulthood is one of my comparison texts which could be focussed on.
http://www.ramneet-getrich.blogspot.com/ - An ex students blog, information about characters (black males) the ay they act and how they are stereotyped. Thiscan be included into my research as i iwll focus on the wya the caharacters dress in freedom writers.
http://bilansblog.blogspot.com/ - An ex students goes onto talk about the representation of black males in the mvie Bullet Boy, which is also one of my comparison texts, so thi blog will help me out again on the represenation of youths and black males.
http://delicious.com/search?freedom+writers&u=macguffin&chk=&context=userposts&tag=med5&fr=del_icio_us&lc=0 - his wbsite gives basic movie information, however it has al the details about actors, cast and crew etc. It states facts and figures about the movie which could be included in my essay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist) - This link gives some background information about Stuart Hall, who is a key theorist i should fText Colourocus on in my text.
http://video.google.nl/videosearch?q=martin%20luther%20king&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enNL265NL265&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv - This is a speech form Martin Luther Kings filmed video. I wanted to include thi sbecause this is an important soundtrack in the 'freedom writers' movie, as the soundtarck has the qoutes ' i have adream' based from this speech whcih has been taken out of M.L.K's speech
http://delicious.com/search?freedom+writers&u=macguffin&chk=&context=userposts&tag=med5&fr=del_icio_us&lc=0
- I decided to include this link as it will give the real story. It will be important to have reference to the real story and how it has created authenticity when writing my essay.

Key Words

High concept film:A film with a big budget and state of the art special effects, Usually associated with US productions. The insitutions MTV films and Paramount are huge instituions.
Narrative:The story line and structure of a media text.
Freedom writes follows a Tororovian narrative structure,
Predjudice:The pre- judging of an issue or social group, usually in a negative or stereotypical way.Youths are presented in the text may be pre- judged ina negative way due to stereotypes attatched to them.
Realism: A film and television style that attempts to represents the real life situation. In freedom writers, it is clear to see how the issues are all based on a real life story, so this makes it look authentic as possible.
Propp:Looked at familiar character roles which appear in texts.The characters of a hero and villian are present in this text.
Representation:The process whereby the media constructs versions of people, places and events in images, words or sound for transmission through media texts to an audience.
Sound effects:Enhanced sound added to a film or television programme during post production.The music used in this film is very significant as it represents the culture shown in this film.
Split screen:An editing technique which involves the cinema screen being split into two or more parts to allow the showing of events that are taking place at the same time.Split screen has been used in this text several times in order to show different things which are taking place at the same time, this is used to build up tension.
Trailer:A short teaser produced to advertise a new film.A trailer was produced in order to advertise 'freedom writers.'

Action Plan

Book research, prefrebally with qoutes and how i will use them - Sunday 26th October 2008
In order for me to use this in my final essay, i will have to have many quotes to support my ideas and back up my information. These will be used as evidence and points i could use to argue whether they relate to my text and how they are important.
Watch my movie again - Sunday 26th October 2008

In order for me to know my text well, i should watch the movie atleast once over the holidays. During this time it would be good to take down notes as they will help me later on as well.
Research Theorist Stuart Hall. - Monday 27th October 2008

This is a cultural theorist who will be very relevant to my text. This is due to the fact that i am going to be talking about people frpm different minorities so this theorist will be of good research to add to my text.
Start my bibliography. - Friday 24th October 2008

So that i can use these links when it come to my final peice. It is also good to know hwere all the information comes from incase i want to go back and there could be more relevant information on the site. It will only just make it easier for my final essay.
Research more about representation - Monday 27th October 2008

As we are studying this as an exam topic, it is good because my whole essay is based on representation on. By having different thoughts and research on this, it means that i will have more knowledge and it will help me in my exam as well as independant study.
Focus on Key Concepts - Thursday 26th October 2008

As i these will help my essay paragraphs flow, so it makes more sense. This will help me in my as retake exam as well as my final a2 exams so it is an area where i have to have good experiance in writing about the key concepts and concept flow paragraphs.
Research into Theorists and apply to my text - Monday 27th October

I need to include more theorist, at th moment i have additional theorists like Richard Dyer and Stuart Hall but i must come up with more.
Research Into SHEP - Monday 3rd November

I need to apply these wider contexts to y independant study, so the quicker i research it, means thta i can start applying it to my independant study straight away. As well as to my blog and extra research.
Complete all Blog Tasks -
Tuesday 2nd November
Make sure that all blog Tasks are complete so that i am up to date with everything on my blog.

Self Evaluation

Attainment = 3
I think that i need to push up this grade as i should aim high. I don't think that i have achieved anything so far, but we haven't done much this term. I feel my presentation was good and it aimed to meet the stabdards of a good presenattion!!
I feeli put a lot of effort into the work i do.And do try my best to complete all of my work on time as efficiently as possible.
Punctuality = 3
I am punctual and on time a lot of the times. My Work is usually at a good standard and i do try mey best that i
Submission and quality of homework = 4
I complete all my tasks well and all of my blog work. Although sometimes i do not complete it staright away but it does always get finished usualy before deadlines. It is presented neatly with all of my work proof read!! (sometimes)
Ability to work independently = 4
I feel i am working independantly on my blog but sometimes i think the work needs to be elaborated more and in detail so that i understand what it is that has to be done.
Quality of writing = 4
I feel i have the ability to write well but need 2 include media terminology so that i can get used to writing in this style.
Organisation of Media folder = 4
My media folder is organised well. All of my notes are kept in order so that they will help me revise in time for the exams.
Oral contributions in class = 3
I could work more in class by getting involved in the discussions we tend to have. But overall my work in the lessons is good and always gets completed.
Standard of Module 5 blog = 4
very good more could be added in terms of research and analysis.
Standard of Module 6 blog = 2
need to add more, and catch up on the work i have missed


(www)
*My ability to work independantly on my independant study is good
*Module 5 is an area i feel i am confident at
*Key concept area is strong and have a better understandinf of SHEP
(ebi)
*Med 6 Blog
*Module 6 is an area of weakness and needs improvement.
*More usage of theories and theorists and media terminology