2 Mini Essays

Theories
Marxism and Hegemony

I have focused my research on both Marxism and Hegemony theory to investigate upon my Critical Investigation. Marxism ideology is derived from the writings of the sociologist Karl Marx (1818-83) which sees society as a dominated by capitalist structures which maintain the hegemony of the ruling class and lead to the exploitation of workers. This will allow me to look at how black actors have made a change within today's film industry and how from being exploited within films in the 70s to playing superhero in this contemporary society. This will also allow me to look at how they can be portrayed as hero as they play important roles within films for example looking at films like I Am Legend and The Pursuit of Happyness both starring Will Smith. Marxism theory along with hegemony will allow me to compare the way society has reacted to the new colonialism of black actors/actresses and how the ruling class of white actors have not only been in affect with the way audience perceive them. Gramsci used the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one social class over others (e.g. bourgeois hegemony). This represents not only political and economic control, but also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those who are subordinated by it accept it as 'common sense' and 'natural'. By reflecting this back to my CI, it shows that black actors can be represented as successful relating issues within the media today for example looking to the achievement of Barack Obama and how he has become a president. This shows that black people off and on screen can no longer be represented as the proletariat class as they have reached the potential of being equal to the bourgeois and the audience can reflect upon this.

I believe that both the theories will allow me to assess the success of black actors from the 70s to modern society within the film industry and how they have changed and shaped people's opinions of the way films can be seen as a multi-cultural object and will allow many people to have a sense of identification for now and many years to come.

Issues/Debate
Liberalism and Pluralism

I will be using liberalism and pluralism as a and issue and debate for my critical investigation.
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history.

Pluralism is the belief that democracy is a balancing structure between all of the different interest groups within society. Pluralism is also the view that where a society is comprised of a wide range of social and ethnic groups with different values, political, ideologiacal beliefs and representations by the media will naturally reflect this diversity. Difference in opinions allow me to state how over time society have been able to adapt to the representations of black actors and changed the negative steroytpes into positive one through conglomarate institutions handling the way people see and portray characters to create real stories and change opinions and shape society into what it is and has become. A more liberal socity still maintained and controlled in allowing people into becoming who they want to be.
Liberal Pluralism can be used to define many attributes within the film industry and when I relate this to my Critical Investigation, I am able to see that black actors have had to fight for thier freedom to reach a level where they would achieve and become equal to white actors for example in the 70s black actors played within film minor roles like the maid or worked for someone in some way. However within modern films black actors/actresses have been given a status where they can be portrayed as the hero and save the day which was very rare within the past 40 years and black people have had to work hard to reach the level they are now. As Edmund Burk states that "democracy is a balancing structure between all of the different interest groups within society". This acknowledges that within contemporary films people actors are seen as equal which shows that we don't live in a discriminatory society.

Critical Investigation

For my Critical Investigation I will be answering the question "To what extent have black actors been represented positively in contemporary films today, such as The Pursuit of Happyness in contrast to the representation of black actors in 70's films?. This will allow me to explore the positive and negative representation and stereotypes of black actors throughout time and how they have adapted and changed our society within the film industry.

Linked Production

My Linked Production will be working with a partner for this part of my work and this will include us in creating a 2 page magazine article discussing the ways in which black people are represented within today's society and putting forth the question of whether these representations could show any relation to those created in the contemporary media.


M.I.G.R.A.I.N Analysis

Media Language

For my Critical Investigation I will be using a wide range of media vocabulary to explore my question from different angels, this will allow me to express my opinions when needed and give clear evidence using examples from other texts i.e. referring to another media platforms like print. Media Language will be significant when trying to answer my question as it will allow me to highlight words like connotations and denotations to refer to the importance of characters within the films I will be studying.

Institution

Institution will be a major factor within my study of both my critical investigation and linked production as it will allow me to investigate different establishments that may raise awareness around the issues surrounding black actors, for example looking at a range of magazine articles that are dedicated to focus of the achievements of black actors. Institution will allow me to focus on different elements and approaches I would undertake i.e. looking at film institutions that produce many ethnic films investigate how this could apply to my CI question.

Genre

For my Critical Investigation I will not be basing my film upon on genre but will be ranging from a wide range of genres like Action, Drama and Fantasy films when answering the question as this will allow me to compare different elements of the two films using media language and other wide media concepts.


Representations

When answering my question for my CI I will be exploring the wide range of representations and stereotypes that accompany black actors on screen and off, this will allow me to discuss what affects have the hegemony dominated groups effected the way black actors are portrayed within films. This will give me a chance to explore both the positive and negative influences black actors have had upon society. Some of the representations that I will be focusing on will be the positive influences black actors have had upon our society and this term will conjoin with the audience that it will appeal with. Using Marxist theory, he states that the media includes the analysis of representation in the mass media (e.g. political coverage or social groups) in order to reveal underlying ideologies and this will allow to me to explore his theory to uncover and answer my question to what extent To what extent have black actors been represented positively in contemporary films today, such as The Pursuit of Happyness in contrast to the representation of black actors in 70's films?

Audience

The CI will surround the issues affecting audience as this will show how it influences the audiences perspective upon my text. As my text surrounds ethnic minorities such as black people, this will allow a wider audience to become more involved as they would be able to relate to the text and create personal identification with the characters portrayed thus creating a wide audience range. It may also allow them to form opinions and ideas about the text as it will allow them to express a lot of emotions when comparing the difference between the representations of black actors in 70's films in contrast to contemporary films, which will show the many aspects of change that has occurred over time and how the audience have been able to adapt to this change.

Ideologies

The ideologies and values that will be pinning behind this question will be based upon the institutions ideas regarding the representations and stereotypes that have changed and made actors who they are today. Many ideas will come from real life experiences for example The Pursuit of Happyness portrays a man's life of hardship and struggle and his outcomes, this was then transformed into a film for the audience to see and reflect and identify. The reasons as to why they have decided to do this will be part of my investigation and showcasing this within my CI as this will be a major factor that will allow me to assess and answer my question.

Narrative

For the CI I will also be looking at how the narrative has been constructed within films to portray the black actors as protagonist heroes so the audience can look up to them and use them as a source of escapism. Using Vladimir Propp's character theory I will be also to identify the roles in which black actors play within both the contemporary films and how it has changed from the way they have been represented in the 70's films for example how they would play a minor role like the tritagonist in films in comparison to playing the protagonist within contemporary films. I will also be looking at how and why these roles have changed as to how they have affected society and the audiences perceptive have changed along with the adaption of black actors amongst many screens in many countries.


S.H.E.P Analysis

Social

The social issue effecting the representation of black actors is that how it will effect the audience and how they have adapted to the change over time, and whether the positive representations have become a good thing for a wider audience to appeal to. That is one of the many questions that will effect how society have been able to allow and come to understand black actors within contemporary films in contrast to 70's films.

Historical

For my CI, I will be comparing the difference in contemporary films when representing black actors in contrast to the negative representations of black actors in 70's films and how this has changed over time. This will allow me to look at many films from the 70's up to now and compare how black characters were created and have changed from tritagonist to protagonist's and how their roles have shaped what the film industry is about. This will also allow me to reflect on both the positive and negative issues surrounding this area, for example from the negative representations of black actors within 70's and how they have changed through the institutions changing and allowing black actors to adapt to this change and form society into a liberal place where black people have been given the right to play equal characters along white actors and I will be referencing through many films like I Am Legend and The Pursuit of Happyness etc. with contrast to actors like Morgan Freeman and Whoopi Goldberg.

Economical

This will allow me to assess the way black actors have now been able to receive incomes as equal as to white actors and how making high budget films have allowed them to reach the point in where they are treated equally, but not the same as white actors. For example Will Smith had started off with a TV sitcom and is now a notable actor portraying many roles within films allowing him to make high earning money within Hollywood. I will also be looking at how black actors have become so famous and allowed institutions to grow and become conglomerate due to these well known actors having so many fans appreciating their work and allowing institutions to become more popular.

Political

For my critical investigation, I will be discussing how black actors have changed and created political issues within society in reference to the achievement of black actors and in accordance to the president of America Obama.

Issues, Debates and Media Theories

Using both Liberalism and Pluralism a long with some of Marxism theory I am able to establish the role in which black actors have come to form within today's society and have changed the audiences experiences and relations over time through a controlled hegemony society that have been in long fighting for their Independence upon dominated groups. Liberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history.

Pluralism is the belief that democracy is a balancing structure between all of the different interest groups within society. Pluralism is also the view that where a society is comprised of a wide range of social and ethnic groups with different values, political, ideologiacal beliefs and representations by the media will naturally reflect this diversity. Difference in opinions allow me to state how over time society have been able to adapt to the representations of black actors and changed the negative steroytpes into positive one through conglomarate institutions handling the way people see and portray characters to create real stories and change opinions and shape society into what it is and has become. A more liberal socity still maintained and controlled in allowing people into becoming who they want to be.

This study fits into the contemporary media landscape because it reflects the representations of black actors within comtemporary film in contrast to 70's films within this hegemony society and how this has affected the audience's interpretations of media ideologies and values.

Media Theories

Liberal Pluralism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history. Pluralism is the belief that democracy is a balancing structure between all of the different interest groups within society. Pluralism is also the view that where a society is comprised of a wide range of social and ethnic groups with different values, political, ideologiacal beliefs and representations by the media will naturally reflect this diversity.

10 Keywords:

*Values
*Political
*Ideological beliefs
*Representation
*Diversity
*Revolution
*Philosophy
*Economic
*Edmund Burk
*Patriarchal

Red Herrings

*William Blackstone
*Law
*Silvia Bentham
*Mass Culture
*Benjamin Franklin

Media Effects

Regulation and Censorship

"Media context regulation in the UK revolves primarily around codes of practice, drawn up by a variety of bodies which are either entirely or largely independent, following wide public consultation. In some cases, these codes of practice have been developed by bodies with statutory powers over the media while in others the responsible bodies have been established by the media themselves."



One of the major TV regulating conglomerate companies is Ofcom (office of communication), which is the independent regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom has the responsibilities of 5 regulatory bodies that are:

- The Broadcasting Standards Commission
- The Independent Television Commission
- The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel)
- The Radio Authority
- The Radiocommunications Agency

Ofcom's responsibilities are wide-ranging, covering all manner of industries and processes. It has a statutory duty to further what it considers the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting consumers from what it considers harmful or offensive material. Ofcom regulates TV by placing such things as watershed, which allows certain hours of the day where adults are designed to watch certain programmes.

The Internet should be regulated too....
Today the internet can be accessed by a young child from the privacy of her bedroom at any time of the day or night. In these circumstances, people must have some procedures for tackling illegal content on the internet and some mechanisms for allowing end user control of what is accessed on theiInternet. These other networks are regulated and so should the Internet. Of course broadcasting and telecommunications is the subject of very different regulatory regimes and similarly the Internet will need its own distinctive system of regulation.

There is harmful content on the Internet.

The major problem here is child pornography and sexual solicitation of children. While Web sites and newsgroups featuring child pornography may be a tiny proportion of the total, nevertheless this material does exist in volume. In most cases, the production of this material has involved child abuse; in many cases, the users of such material are interested in, and may well have indulged in, child abuse. As for sexual solicitation, many groups involved with the welfare of children have considerable case material of paedophiles using the Net to make contact with, and arrange meetings with, minors with a view to molestation. We cannot simply accept this as the price for freedom of expression. In most countries, mere possession of child pornography is a criminal offence whether this occurs off-line or on-line.

Article about Ofcom

Ofcom have receive many complaints in the way they should be regulating for example an article in the Guardian paper shows these how Ofcom are changing and being more strict:

"Communications watchdog Ofcom is coming under increasing scrutiny after a series of controversial rulings.
Some broadcasting insiders have told the Evening Standard they believe Ofcom has become more aggressive under new boss Ed Richards.

Last month the regulator forced BSkyB to postpone plans to put its pay-TV channels on Freeview by ordering an investigation, which is not expected to report until early next year.

Ofcom has also flexed its muscles by imposing heavy fines on Channel Five and, for the first time, the BBC over the phone vote-rigging scandals".

Ownership and Control

Media ownership and censorship is also a commonly used term that refers to view that the majority of the media outlets are owned by a small number of conglomerates and corporations. According to William Melody, the greatest threat to freedom of expression in the US or elsewhere is the posibility that private entrepreneurs will always tend to monopolise the marketplace of ideas in the name of economic effciency and private profit.

Some nations can influence and control their media greatly. In addition, powerful corporations also have enormous influence on mainstream media.

In some places major multinational corporations own media stations and outlets. Often, many media institutions survive on advertising fees, which can lead to the media outlet being influenced by various corporate interests. Other times, the ownership interests may affect what is and is not covered. Stories can end up being biased or omitted so as not to offend advertisers or owners. The ability for citizens to make informed decisions is crucial for a free and functioning democracy but now becomes threatened by such concentration in ownership.

Ideas For Critical Investigation and Linked Production

As a class we had to pick our favourite critical investigation and linked production that we thought would be the best to do. However I personally chose for my critical investigation "Representation of women in UK grime video", as it would portray the stereotypes held against women in music videos. For the linked production "A male Grime scene video based in West London, song being about 'I love women'". I would be able to adapt this by using this various cinematography such as close-ups to capture different angles to connote different meanings. The reason as to why I chose this was because it would be easy to do, and because it will allow people to see the representations of women in UK Grime videos. This will allow people to reflect upon the negative representations of women here in the UK and how it can influence people. I would be able to show many connotations and denotations with both the critical investigation and linked production.

Definitions

These are some of the definition that I would use for my critical investigation and linked production work.

Denotations: The first and simplest level of meaning of an image
Stereotypes: The social classification of a group of people by identifying common characteristics and universally applying them in an often oversimplified and generalised about the group concerned
Cinematography: different elements of media work regarding cameras and editing
Connotations: A meaning attributable to an image beyond the obvious denotational level.
Close-ups: Is an element of a camera shot used when filming

Self Evaluation on my PowerPoint Presentation ....

After Doing my presentation about Superman Returns to the class I recieved both positive and negative comments from members of my class. This allowed me to understand where I needed to improve and places I thought I did very well in.


Class Feedback

What Went Well

- I elaborated each time I made a point

-I didn't read off the board

- Used useful images to refer to the text

Even Better If
-
-Stayed within the 5 minutes time

-I did a conclusion


Teacher's Feedback

WWW

- Good introduction

-Looked at the audience throughout the presentation

-Good stills reflecting angles and shots

-Used media terminology i.e. connotations, iconic, bianary opposition

-Reference to theory

-Good examples and explaination

-Key concepts covered well

-Good link to AS study

-Well designed presentation

EBI

-No actual sentences should be on slides

-Ending and conclusion should have added

Blog
-
Very well detailed

Significance = 1/5
Structure= 2/5
Simplicity= 2/5
Rehearsal= 1/5

Total= 6
-

Summer Research Project

Summer Research Project

View more presentations from Amal001.

Evidence of Research

Greatest American Hero?

It took nearly two decades (and over $350 Million) to bring "Superman Returnes to theaters. Now the man of steel faces his biggest challenge--winning over Generation X-men.

Above and below is an article written by magazine Entertainment about the new return of the American Hero Superman. I chose this text because it allowed me to see what the audience's intake of the film was about as it included question and answers for the actor (Brandon Routh) and it gives an insight to him and the character superman.

Exclusive: No Zod in Superman Returns 2?
Brandon Routh talks superhero sequel

For all the lush visuals and emotional intensity of Superman Returns, a sizeable slab of its audience grumbled about its lack of balls-to-the-wall action, with complaints going something like, “If I wanted to watch a man lift increasingly heavy objects, I’d hang around my local skip.”

Well, Supes himself, Brandon Routh, gave us a few hints as to what we can expect from the sequel. And it seems a proper Scary Bad Guy (no offense, Lex) is very much on the cards…

“It’s going to be a lot more in that genre. In the first one, the obstacle was Superman’s love for Lois and his son, and Luthor using that against him. I just know that in the next film there will be a lot of action and I’m gonna get to fight something, or someone. An enemy with real physical power might be worked in there, definitely.”

Hmm… But what of a rumour that’s been floating around of late, that the next Superman flick will feature a certain outlaw from Krypton, a villain with immeasurable strength, a baddie whose love of baggy V-neck tunics is only matched by his fox-like cunning. In short, will Superman soon kneel once more before General Zod?

“I don’t know,” laughs Routh. “I don’t know how much we want to reprise characters that have appeared in the series before, since we’ve reset and used the first film to pay homage to all that’s come before. Now I think Bryan (Singer) might want to go somewhere new with it, which I think will be exciting.”

It’s early days for the project — Routh says he has two films lined up to shoot later this year (one a romantic comedy) before he dons the cape again, possibly in early 2008 — and aside from a bad guy, there’s something else missing: a title. “Yeah, I don’t think they’ve settled on one yet,” says Routh. “I suggested that Bryan call it Superman Returns Again, but I don’t think that will happen. They’re about to begin the pre-production process, so there’s a lot of ideas in the air and a lot of discussion about what’s going to happen with it. I promise a lot of excitement!”

(http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=20493)
Superman Returns Brandon Routh interview
by Chuck the Movieguy


This video above in an interview with the star himself (Brandon Routh) who plays the hero protagonist superman. He discusses his progress in becoming the number one superhero in America and how this has changed his
career.
He also talks about the character Clarke Kent and how he is different in so many ways to the hero superman i.e. his voice, clothes, manner etc and this was relevant because it allowed me to understand the character I was writing about.
It allows the audience to see the man that plays their all time favorite superhero and how they were able to relate and connect with him. He also talks about his process while auditioning and how he was chosen from potential actors to play that special yet major part.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcvaXx0B9dg&feature=related)
6.6/10
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348150/)
I used IMDB to help me find more information about the film and basic information about the characters which allowed me to chose what film I was going to do. It also helped me because it give me some information like the rating, institution and release date and this was relevant because it gave me the chance to write about it in my key concepts.
Using IMDB was relevant because it gave me links to other websites like the official superman returns website which can be seen below:
http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/
This like IMDB helped with getting pictures and fthe synopsis as it told me what the film was about and, the production, the release of the DVD and it also allowed me to view in different languages thus showing its audience related. The website like IMDB allowed me to look at the trailer and other links with social network sites like MySpcace and Facebook. This was relevant as it showed the mass of audience and how popular this film was to both primary and secondary audience which helped me write in my key concept

Rotten Tomatoes Movies Reviews
76%
4*
(http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_returns/?name_order=ascs.)