National Identity in American Oxygen by Rihanna

In Rihanna's music video 'American Oxygen' there is a lot of embedded ideology about america and its people for example there are clips of slavery and Obama speaking, there is also lyrics about the 'america dream'. She also repeats "this is the new america, we are the new america" this shows that the world is changing and everything is "new" and we need to adapt to this and not discriminate against anyone. Rihanna is from Barbados but has moved to live in America so she is in fact an immigrant herself. At the end of this music video there are lots of images of children each from different nationalities all in america, this shows that the new generation is changing.

Textual Analysis of Pride

There are many different representations of national identity in the Pride trailer like stereotypical Welsh and homosexual people. In the trailer as soon as the "gays" arrive more upbeat music comes on because stereotypically gay people are very happy and flamboyant. There are lots of representations of national identity to do to with the Welsh stereotype for example the film is to do with mining and we hear choir music through the trailer which is very popular in Wales. There are many places that are shown in this trailer like churches, fields and pubs which are all linked with Wales. The costume shows us the time period of the film, 1980's, because of their old fashioned clothing. Welsh people are stereotypically small minded which is explored throughout this film trailer because they live in such small areas everyone knows everyone and they don't have so much experience with different sorts of people so the old woman for example thinks that all lesbians are vegetarians. The older generation stereotypically are more small minded because they have grown up with different things. As the trailer shows throughout the film everyone becomes friends, even the elderly women with the lesbians, and they all learn how to become more accepting and understanding of everyones personal identity.

exam stuff

Ed Miliband is stood next to Jihadi's father which shows Ed in a negative way because Jihadi supports violence and showing them together smiling might show that Ed supports Jihadi and therefore supports violence. The photograph of Ed is much larger than the photo of the actual criminal, Jihadi, which makes us have a more negative view of Ed.

Eastenders - Cindy wanting an abortion

The target audience of this would be
















Newspaper - Zayn leaving One Direction

The target audience of this article would be teenage girls of the age 14-25 this is because lots of teenage girls are obsessed with One Direction although many people that love one direction may not read this article because they might be too young to be reading newspapers, this is an example of the pick and mix theory. the uses and gratifications for this news article would be to get information. The appeal to the audience is so that they can find out information from the band that they love. I think that the teenage girls would have a preferred reading from this article because they understand everything, boys of the same age or females who are older might have an negotiated reading because they may understand some things but not everything. However i think that older men will probably have an opposition view because they probably don't understand or most of it.






Advertising poster - Insurgent film poster

The target audience of this film would be males around the age of 15-30 because it is an action adventure type film which is stereotypically what a target audience of this age and gender prefer. I think that people from this target audience would get a preferred reading from this film, females of the same age may get a negotiated reading because they may understand 

Exotic-  Death in paradise is set in a fictional place of Saint-Marie, this is seen as exotic because most murder, investigation programmes are set in England like Silent Witness, because we are watching it from England it is seen as an exotic place because it is so hot and they all originate from different places, all with different accents. The setting of this island is what makes this programme seem more exotic, and also the mise en scene because they all wear shorts and vest tops which connotes that this pace is hot.

Pitied- These children and children like them are shown on a lot of charity adverts because people feel sorry for them and want to help them which makes them give more to the charity. These children are pitied because they are upset and are dangerously thin

Race

Casualty

In Casualty there is a positive portrayal of race because their is a female asian who is a a consultant. This is positive and not normally shown because she is a woman and also asian yet she is in charge. Another positive is that her name is 'Zoe' which isn't a stereotypical asian name, which is rare on TV, for example on Eastenders their are names such as Zainab, Massood and Tamwar. As she is one of the only other races different from white english, this could be seen as tokenism. She is shown as a humorous character because she does things like drinking alcohol and smoking which stereotypically is not what asians would do.

Eastenders

In Eastenders their is a black single mum, this is a negative representation of black women. This is stereotypical because on TV usually their are more single black women mums because the dad hasn't stayed around. She is shown as pitied because the audience feel sorry for her because she is struggling as a single mum.

This screenshot from Eastenders shows Dot, a loved, elderly, but troubled character. In this particular shot she is stood on a third, this might be to show the blinds in the background, the blinds may symbol how she is feeling which is trapped and alone. Also behind the blinds you can see how bright it is outside, but she doesn't want to let in that light which also proves her mood. You can see from her facial expression that she is not happy, she is also shown as being old and lonely, this harsh, low key lighting brings a negative atmosphere and brings out her wrinkles which shows her age. 

This establishing shot shows Stacey in the kitchen, which shows that she is a mother and domestic female as there are children's colouring books on the TV and she is washing up. They may have used an establishing shot for this to show her surroundings and what she is doing, as this may be important for the story line. She is placed on a third to make this shot more interactive which brings the audience in and captivates them because they feel like they are part of what is happening. The lighting is low key which connotes a negative mood and atmosphere which also matches the characters facial expression. Again in this photo there are blinds behind her which clearly show how bright it is outside, however she doesn't want to let this positive, more upbeat feeling light. This may be to portray how she is feeling, which could be alone and trapped.

This is a close up of Stacey going on her phone to ring Lauren. They can shown this as it is of obvious importance that this happens. Everything in this shot apart from the phone is near enough completely black, this shows up the phone more and makes it stand out which portrays that this is important and we should be watching what happens intensely. The low key lighting makes us think negatively of what is about to happen.

 These two screenshots from Eastenders are part of a shot reverse shot. Lauren is looking out of the window and her facial expression shows that she has a lot on her mind and is very worried, in contrast to this Max is looking worryingly at his daughter because he cant figure out what is wrong with her.

Analysis of 'this girl can' video

The women in this video aren't being objectified/sexualised, they are showing how women can be independent, powerful and determinated whilst being sexy and beautiful. there are lots of different types of women featured in this video, different sizes, ages and ethnicity, showing that all women can do this. there is both digetic and non digetic sound in this video. the digetic sound is the breathing from the women doing exercise this shows us that they are working hard and not living up to the medias representations of women being a 'damsel in distress'. the non digetic sound is the music being played from missy elliot, one of the main lyrics from this song is 'get your freak on' which shows how they are doing something different, it is also a very fast pace, upbeat song which will get you up and moving around. there are lots of different camera shot likes an establishing shot, an example of this type of camera shot is when there is a woman running by herself on a field and even when she gets really tired and stops she still carries on, this shows how powerful, independent and determinated she is. The women are all participating in a dance called 'zumba' which gets you fit whilst having fun, i think they have chosen to do this because they are trying to show how as well as getting fit and healthy you can also have fun doing it which is the same idea as when the women are playing netball. This video is very positive because it shows women in a different way and that women are actually people and not just something for men to look at.