Tuesday, 9 April 2019

News and Online Media

News and Online Media

Curran and Seaton. - The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power. ... - The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media production

Capitalism (Right Wing Politics)Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labour. THE CONSERVATIVES ARE CAPITALISTS, the Telegraph and Mail Newspapers believe in Capitalism. 

Socialism (Left Wing Politics) - Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and workers' self-management, as well as the political theories and movements associated with them. Social ownership can be public, collective or cooperative ownership, or citizen ownership of equity. - - THE LABOUR PARTY ARE SOCIALIST and are considering bringing back into state ownership the Rail service. 

Liberalism Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasises individual autonomy, equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual rights (primarily to life, liberty, and property)

News Stats
The Sun (26,196 total readership)
- Print Sales = 10,123 (38%)
- PC Readership = 2,780 (11%)
- Mobile Readership = 18,956 (72%)

The Daily Mirror (25,803 total readership)
- Print Sales = 5,731 (22%)
- PC Readership = 4,948 (19%)
- Mobile Readership = 17,231 (67%)

The Telegraph (21,358 total readership)
- Print Sales = 3,848 (18%)
- PC Readership = 7,340 (34%)
- Mobile Readership = 15,160 (71%)

Differences Between Tabloids and Broadsheets








Neales Theory
The paper is becoming more hybridised as it combines both tabloid and broadsheet together; this is evident in the way that the topics are presented and the entertainment used.

Discuss how the Mail online story on James Cracknell differs from the Daily Mail
The Mail differs from the Daily Mail as the daily mail portrays his wife to be someone who supports her husband, however still thinks negatively of him - albeit she had tweeted him about it. This involves individualism as it is all about one person - James Cracknell, it is all about him putting his career and goals in front of his family. Patriarchy is there as the wife plays the higher patriarchal value due to him barely being at home and caring for his household family because of him neglecting his family for his career and goals. Bel hooks' feminism theory is used in the fact that she is needed to look after the family proving there is not an equality between the genders, the fact of the divorce is also linking to bel hooks as she isn't letting him treat her in the way he is. 








Wednesday, 3 April 2019

Long Form Drama - House of Cards - Part 2

Long Form Drama - Part 2

Ideology: “A set of beliefs values and assumptions shared by a social group and embedded in social, cultural, political and economic institutions.” - usually thought to reflect the interests of powerful groups. - consumerism, freedom, equality, and individualism are often considered dominant ideologies in free market capitalists societies as they reflect the economic basis of these societies 

1.0 The Influence of Technological Change
How Long form dramas came into being
Terrestrial TV
-- Schedule content was fixed (reliant on analogue (radio wave technology as before the internet) 
-- Viewing experience was communal (families watched the same/similar content) as content was transmitted via Radio waves.
-- Dramas developed to encourage regular viewing
-- Program content with high audience numbers secured revenue via advertising.
-- Advertising revenue or PSB income (TV license) pays for drama for e.g. a typical Eastenders episode costs £141,000

1.0 The Influence of Technological Change and Economic Context
-- There is a clear shift towards SOD (subscription on-demand viewing of television)
-- This has been enabled through the Technological change i.e. the provision of streaming services
-- (2017) Netflix receives an income of 2.5 $bn from UK subscribers.
-- Their income is used to fund “high end” television content such as the HOC

LFTVD (Long Form Television Drama)
Historical Cultural and Economic Contexts.
-- HOC belongs to a genre called Long-form television drama. (LFTVD)
-- LFTVD (Game of Thrones, HOC, etc.) are characterized by high production values.
-- Series one and 2 of the HOC costs an estimated $100 Million for the first two series (26 episodes) to produce.
-- By comparison, Eastender’s costs £29.9 million a year for 212 episodes. (source)
-- Referring to the revision notes page 146, the cost of production of this High-end Drama (HOC) is linked to
      -Sourcing highly skilled actors
      -Cinematic styling camera work
      -Lighting and editing
      -Complex narratives (multi-stranded) (Barthes)
      -Composed music

Kevin Spacey has been chosen to play the role of Frank Underwood for his popularity in the acting world. It may also have to do with the films he has been in - Nine Lives (in which he narrates the life of a cat that he has been turned into - similar to the fact that he is the narrator of House of Cards) 

1.0 The Influence of Technological, cultural and Economic Context
How Long form dramas came into being.
Digital (streaming) -- Netflix - In just a decade, Netflix has grown from a video service with seven million U.S. subscribers to one that reaches 93 million people worldwide.
-- The company's now worth about $60 billion
-- 2016, Netflix spent $5 billion on original programming.
-- The income from subscribers has allowed them to commission highly rated long-form TV dramas such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
-- 2017 sales rose to $2.48 billion. With a global presence in 190 countries.

1.0 the Influence of Technological Change and Economic Context-- Long-form TV is an American concept which effectively is a hybrid of a serialised drama with the high production standards of film.

Long-form TV Drama (genre) conventions -- Drama that runs in a series
-- They start with an intense beginning to grip their audience
-- They contain cliffhangers to maintain interest
-- They conclude the episode until the end where they conclude the episode.
-- Very much dialogue led.
-- Production values are higher than TV drama (funded by subscribers)
-- High budgets permit high-end actors and high-end production

Analyzing the ideological contexts
Ideology: “A set of beliefs values and assumptions shared by a social group and embedded in social, cultural, political and economic institutions.”
-- Usually thought to reflect the interests of powerful groups.
-- Consumerism, freedom, equality, and individualism are often considered dominant ideologies in free market capitalists societies as they reflect the economic basis of these societies

The prime contexts influencing medium language in television drama may be ideologies such as:
-- Individualism: e.g. focusing a drama on an individual protagonist
-- Consumerism: e.g. judging characters on their possessions or desirability of their lifestyles
-- Patriarchal: power and the challenge to this by feminism e.g. using or refusing to use women’s bodies as objects, or narratives that present a male, female or gender-neutral perspective
-- Racism and ethnocentrism and the challenge to those from multiculturalism and internationalism, e.g. narratives that present a monocultural, multicultural or minority perspective

These theories apply to the House of Cards due to there being barely any other cultures apart from  Linda Vasquez (The President’s Chief of staff) and the owner of the rib shop at the end of the episode. There are some stereotypes throughout this episode - especially right at the end when it is a black many working at the rib shop. The patriarchal power of genders is quite unbalanced - with only Zoe Barnes, Clare Underwood and Linda Vasquez being the main female characters, and then having Garrik Walker, Frank Underwood, Michael Kern, Peter Russo and then Doug (Frank's sidekick). Consumerism is used when everyone is at the balls, as everyone is being judged by what they wear and whereabouts on the economic scale they lie.

3.0 The Media Form Specific Elements of Media Language used to create meaning
Claire
-- Mirrors Frank
-- Stereotypical way of acting when it comes to Zoe
-- Ruthless
-- Similar to Frank in the way of money
-- More masculine than Frank
-- Breaks the stereotype of women - not a shoulder to cry on but is the person who makes you cry
-- Subverts feminine 
-- Degrades Zoe for using sexuality to create her career
-- Breaks patriarchy
-- Corrupt and corruptive

Frank
-- Ruthless
-- Kills Dog at start
-- Uses an extensive amount of blackmail
-- Stereotypical
-- monologues - individualism
-- Breaks fourth wall
-- Main protagonist 
-- Cold
-- Calculated
-- Stereotypes of politics (Donald Trump)
-- Patriarchal - holds power as a middle-class white man
-- Corrupt and corruptive

Zoe 
-- Uses sexuality to fraud career - low cut shirts to gain attention from men and exploit them (Van Zoonen)
-- Has a nervous tick - being in a position of weakness at the beginning 
-- Objectified at Frank's home 
-- Ambitious woman journalist - want to get on - her work wants her to write a column (gossip)
-- It was expected of her to sleep with someone in order for her to get the article from Frank
-- Tries to break bounds
-- Quite weak - just started working
-- Keeps getting shut down
--Wants to be fast-tracked
-- Corrupt

Russo
-- Irresponsible
-- Puts personal life over professional life
-- Dirty
-- Drug addicted 
-- Does illegal things although he is part of the government
-- Acts like a child - thinks he can get away with things - when he gets pulled over he says that just because he is in the government, he should be let off
-- Corrupt




Media Theory/Academic Arguments
Todorov: 
-- Stereotypes: masculinity, femininity
-- Feminist theory: van Zoonen
-- Feminist Theory: bel hooks
-- Levi Strauss:

Levi - Strauss
-- Levi Strauss’s idea of the binary opposition – that the system of myths and fables
-- (narrative) was ruled by s structure of opposing terms such as male/female, good/evil. This narrative structure can be applied to LFTVD’s such as the House of cards as follows

Narrative Theory
Todorov’s theory (Equilibrium and Dis-equilibrium)
-- Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages:
      - the equilibrium,
      - disequilibrium,
      - acknowledgement,
      - solving
      - and again equilibrium.
-- The theory has its limitations when applied to LFTVD as the restoration of equilibrium may not be realised due to the serialised nature of the drama

Create an Essay Analysing the Main Characters
Claire Underwood is Frank Underwood's wife, who is in charge of an environmental nonprofit organization. Claire mirrors Frank when it comes to money and the way that she treats people; she isn't a shoulder to cry on, but she is the person who would make you cry (breaking the stereotype of women). However, she does follow the stereotypical way of acting when it comes to meeting Zoe and degrades Zoe for using her sexuality to create her career. Claire subverts to feminine qualities and is more masculine to Frank, breaking the patriarchy. Overall, Claire is ruthless, corrupt and is corruptive to those around her.

Frank Underwood is the wife to Claire Underwood and is running for Secretary, however, is disappointed and is told to stay in the Congress. In the beginning, Frank is shown killing off a dog so that it ends suffering, this immediately starts off the ruthless demeanour that he spreads. Throughout the first episode, Frank uses an extensive amount of blackmail in order to get what he wants and stereotypes the politics (for example relating to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson). Frank shows a lot of monologues especially when he is narrating the scenes that he is in or is explaining what is going on, evoking a sense of individualism and breaks the fourth wall. He is the main protagonist. Frank is patriarchal, holding the power as a middle-class white man. Frank relates to the consumerism when he is at the ball and is narrating what he is thinking - judging everyone for what they are wearing and whereabouts on the economic scale they lie. Alike his wife, he is both corruptive and is corrupt himself.

Zoe Banks uses her sexuality to fraud a career, wearing low cut shirts to gain attention from men and exploit them - like the Van Zoonen theory of women being objectified - when she is in Frank's house during the first episode. Zoe tends to bite her nails when she is being confronted or talked to in the workplace, this could be a nervous tick which has developed due to her being in a position of weakness since the beginning of her career. However, she is an ambitious woman journalist, who wants to get on and break the bounds that tend to restrict her, with her work at the time being only about writing a small column - what her co-workers call gossip; a lot of the time being shut down from wanting to change what she is doing and make the workspace better. When Zoe turns up with all the "research" that she has taken from Frank, she is basically questioned whether she had to sleep with someone in order to get the article from Frank. Unlike the Underwoods, she is not corruptive, however, is still corrupt.

Peter Russo is a very irresponsible man who puts his personal life over his professional life. Franks is dirty and is completely addicted to drugs and alcohol. The addictions lead him to do illegal things although being part of the government. Russo acts like a child and thinks he can get away with anything, for example when he gets pulled over by the cops for drink driving, and tells them that he is a part of the government and should be let off the hook. Similar to Zoe, Russo is not corruptive like the Underwoods, however, he is still corrupt.

2.0 How Audiences Interpret Long Form Television Dramas

































Long Form TV Drama - House of Cards

Long Form TV Drama - House of Cards

Drama - TV drama is a broad genre. It is  a fictionalized action in the narrative form


Long form TV drama - Long Form Drama is a term coined to describe the recent shift of interest towards television series of high quality that many consider having replaced the cinema as a locus of serious adult entertainment. Unfolding over multiple episodes, hours, and even years, these TV shows are seen to provide content, often dark and difficult, and an innovative style that strain against the conventions of cinema as well as network television. 

Media convention - A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning. In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following: technical codes - all to do with the way a text is technically constructed - camera angles, framing, typography etc. verbal codes ...

Genre Hybridity - Some media texts are hybrid genres, which means they share the conventions of more than one genre. For example, Dr Who is a sci-fi action-adventure drama and Strictly Come Dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show. 


Synopsis - A brief summary of the major points of a written work


Roland Barthes - Open or closed? Texts may be either ' open ' (i.e. unraveled in a lot of different ways) or ' closed ' (there is only one obvious thread to pull on). Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try and unravel meaning are called narrative codes and that they could be categorized in the following five ways: Hermeneutic/Enigma code; Proairetic/Action code; Semantic code; Symbolic code; Referential code

The Hermeneutic/Enigma Code -  The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.


The Proairetic/Action Code - The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next. Action code - applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be. The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as: "...dependent on ... two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented….." 

The Semantic Code This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. The semantic code - any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation


Family Drama - A popular and well-worn genre, the family drama centres on conflicts at the heart of family life and family relationships. Not to be confused with family-oriented drama, family dramas can touch on such adult topics as incest and political violence.

Thriller Conventions - There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action- adventure thriller, medical thriller, a police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, a religious thriller, high- tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job. Uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Includes many sub-genres: Mystery, Crime, Psychological, Political and Paranoid. The atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder.  Society is seen as dark corrupt and dangerous. Literary devices like the plot twist, red herrings, and cliff hangers

Steve Neale’s theory of Repetition and Difference - Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, the difference is essential to the economy of the genre. Neale states that the film and its genre is defined by two things: How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes? A film must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre; How much a film subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film. 

Political Thrillers - A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle. They usually involve legal plots, designed to give political power to the enemy, while protagonist has to try to stop the enemy. They can involve national or international political scenarios. The common themes are: political corruption, terrorism, and warfare. Political thrillers can be based on true facts such as the assassination of John F Kennedy. In political thrillers there is usually a strong overlap with the conspiracy thriller. For example in the 2012 film Argo, the protagonist has to rescue the American hostages from IranMain Characters in House of Cards:
  • President-elect Garrick Walker,
  • Linda Vasquez The President’s Chief of staff, woman, Latino! "tough as a 2 dollar cheque"
  • Frank Underwood, the narrator (t the camera) protagonist/anti-hero House majority whip – "keep the sludge moving."
  • Claire Underwood (Owner of Charity Clearwater Initiative) – dependant on Franks electoral success (Sandcorp)
  • Zoe Barnes Journalist at Washington Herald:
  • Michael Kern – Recently elected secretary of state (frank’s rival)
  • Peter Rosso - drink driver,, solicitation, use of controlled substances.
  • Doug – Frank’s sidekick.
  • Walker – The President-elect.
Summary
  • Set in Washington
  • Political Drama
  • The tone is set at the start - the dog is dying - makes the character seem cold - Frank - Protagonist - main 
  • Frank is promised to be the secretary of the state - but then is told that he is to stay in the Congress - wants revenge on Garrett Walker
  • Politics is ruthless
  • Christina secretary to a politician - failure
  • Errand boy is now Peter Russo
  • Peter Russo - Drink Driving - Drug use - soliciting
  • Dark and Dingy - dirty aspects of politics
  • A lot of music - pull the dialogue along - some tense music
  • Juxtapositions of different scenes - church scene where the priest is saying to be really nice to everyone no matter what happens - before that there is a scene of Frank planning against people - before that there is a sex scene
  • Doug fished into the bins for the education bill for Frank so that Zoe can put together an article in order to make the plan for it go downhill.  
Synopsis
House of Cards is set in Washington and is a political drama themed series. Immediately at the beginning, the tone is set through the use of a dog dying and the protagonist, Frank Underwood, having to put the dog down by strangling it. This makes Frank seem cold off the bat. It is seen that Frank was initially promised that he would be the secretary of the state (which would be a grand promotion from where he is), but when he goes to a meeting thinking that he would be able to share his ideas and thoughts, he is met with the drastic news that he is to stay in the Congress and the secretary position is going to Garrett Walker - his now newest enemy - another member who was running to become secretary. This whole situation goes to prove that politics is not all that it seems to be and is actually quite ruthless. Throughout the whole episode, we see transitions between Frank and another politician, Peter Russo, who is seen to be sleeping with Christina Gallagher (an assistant to a politician). Peter Russo is soon to be Errand boy to Frank, is also known of drink driving, drug use and soliciting - which Frank has used as blackmail towards him. Doug (Frank's sidekick) is ordered to fish through the bins for the education bill for Frank to give to Zoe Barns (a journalist as Washington Herald) can put together an article in order to make the Garrick Walker's plan to go downhill. Throughout the whole thing, the colours of the scenes (dingy and dark), make the dirty aspects of politics stand out; the music behind the scenes help pull the dialogue along and creates a more tense atmosphere. Juxtapositioning is used strongly throughout the whole episode - the priest at the church creates a speech by saying that all the people in the church should be nice no matter the outcome of what has just happened, however in the scene just gone, Frank is plotting his revenge on Garrick, Linda Vasquez (the presidents chief of staff); and before that there is the sex scene between Peter and Christina.































How Audiences Consume and Interpret Long Form Television Dramas

How Audiences Consume and Interpret Long Form Television Dramas Frank Underwood and Claire represent the anti-hero their characters are co...