Tide print advert

This advert connotes the representation of white American women in the 1950s as housewives who enjoy being dutiful housewives.  This joy of cleaning can be connoted through the bright colours and bright lighting used within the advert( the use of oranges and yellows) as well her the body and facial gestures that are shown, i.e the woman is seen hugging a box of tide (the product being advertised) and the woman is seen smiling(facial expression) which connotes that she is happy with the product as well as the use of the phrases, "Tide's got what women want!" as well as " No wonder you women buy more TIDE than any other washday product!, which reinforces the stereotype that women enjoy cleaning and that's all we live for.  They use quite an artistic style layout minimising the words that tell us what the products does and the main picture magnified, this causes the main image to be the focus of attention which is deliberate as it's meant to make women gravitate towards buying this product. It shows the woman as a modern working woman(back in the 1950s) who is quite "glamorous", as can be seen as her hair is slightly styled and very natural makeup.

Even during the 1950s technology and consumerism boom, it still in a way promoted a woman staying in the house, for example; television so as the family can be entertained, a hoover, etc, these are things that can help make the woman's job a lot easier, assumably encouraging her to want to clean more and therefore stay indoors.  The lack of representation of the minority or other ethnic groups is also magnified through when in these times within the suburban areas in which black people were not allowed to purchase houses within such areas as they were not seen as wealthy or worthy enough to purchase one or to live in such areas especially as the different races were not allowed to mix, therefore it promotes the value of the american white woman compared to that of a black women or an asian woman as they are not represented or promoted within this advert.  It also to be realised that this advert is for americans and not for europeans, as especially after the 1940s world war 2, Europe did not come out of it as wealthy as America therefore europeans were not able to afford such products as Tide. As well as this advert may not appeal as much to european women as dressing etc may not be what european are used to however as europe is quite in awe of the American culture especially the American dream, they are more likely to attempt to purchase such products.

This advert can be viewed using Stuart Hall- reception theory; in which it can receive a preferred theory which is that women will be overjoyed and excited to start cleaning and stay at home and a good housewife, however it can receive an opposed reading; especially in this modern day and age most women especially feminists would not agree to this type of advert due to the misogyny that radiates out of it and lacks of representation of the different women that there are in this world.

The advert can also be analysed using the cultivation theory; In the sense of, if this stereotype of what a woman ism want to be like and meant to do is continually promoted via adverts like this then, this is what women are going to believe that they are meant to be like, and start behaving in such a way and teach their children to behave in such a way as well, which can also coincide with the hypodermic needle theory, which states hat the more someone is fed certain information is the more they start to believe it and the more they start to imitate it.

Nordic Noir + the bridge

Nordic noir is a genre of crime fiction that is written in a realistic point of view go the police force that also represents Nordic or Scandinavian countries.  The l language is deliberately monotone and is set in bleak landscapes with a dark mood to connote the genre or a scene to the audience.  It depicts a tension between cold nordic countries and the murder, misogny, rape and racism that is underlying.  It frequently features a female protagonist which extends to film and television.  It represents detectives as worn down by the cares of life and far from simply heroic giving them a more relatable and realistic feel from their character.  It represents Sweden as a highly liberal country however it shows the terrorism that the country is subject to, for eg the murder of the president back in the 70s.

The history of Scandinavian crime fiction: Nordic Noir  is best known via famous writer Stieg Larsson who was building a phenomenon crescendo for the genre.  In the last decade Swedish and Norwegian writers have transformed the murder mystery such as Nordic Noir and the girl with the dragon tattoo into a vehicle to critique contemporary Europe. Ed Mcbain realised that there was a huge unexplored territory in which crime novels could form the framework for social criticism.  This led for other writers to attempt to do the same thing in the line of crime novels and then expand into crime television series for example the bridge.

The generic conventions within this documentary is that of; the use of monotone audio visual, the use of dim or artificial lighting that connotes the dark tone of that is normally used within crime series.  There is a use of Hollywood block buster films intertwined into this genre to add a comparative factor against other crime series.  The use of classical/ soft music adds a sympathetic tone to the series..  It also portrays Scandinavia as family generous welfare states.

The bridge was created and written by Hans Rosenfeldt, a joint creative and financed product between sweden's Sveriges television and Denmark's DR, this series has  been shown in more than 100 countries.  On several occasion The Bridge failed to have sufficient viewers t one placed in SVT1's weekly top 10 programmes, due to competition from commercial broadcaster TV4 with its offering gaining over a million viewers.  The first series had been purchased for broadcasting in 134 countries worldwide which may of supplied them with revenue to created the next series.  It is also most likely that the series received funding via co-funding of external partners, remake sales and international and regional funding.  Ownership seems to be mostly with the danish and partly with the swedish as the swedish are co partners.

A brief summary of what occurred through out the series is that; in season 1- it began with a body found half way between Sweden and Denmark on the Oresund bridge linking Malmo to Copenhagen.  In series 2 ended up with Saga turning in her partner Martin for murdering the man who killed his son and season 3 episode 1, a prominent Danish gender campaigner is found murdered in Malmo, Swedish detective Saga Noren is assigned a new danish colleague to help with the investigation but their relationship does get off to a good start with emotions running high about her involvement in sending Martin to prison for murder.

A few of the television stations that broadcasted and produced the series are; SVT- Sveriges Television is the swedish national public broadcaster which is funded similar to BBC.  This is a public limited company that can be described as a quasi-autonomous non-governement organisation.  Has regional offices and a production facility in Malmo which was used in the production of the bridge.  This broadcaster is seen as being leftist liberal.  DR- Danmark's Radio is a public service broadcasting corporation, which is funded by the levying of a licence fee and is also perceived as being leftist liberal.  This station dominates the danish cultural life.

The Bridge

Within season 1; Saga is the current lead character within the series.  She is a leading female character that is surprisingly not stereotypical sexualised as most other females are, but instead is depicted as socially awkward and socially unaware, as in most scenes when dealing with certain suspects or victim's families she treats them with a lack of empathy which is  noticed especially in contrast to her male colleague who is more over friendly with those around him.  She takes up an authoritative role which in most crime drama series is seen being done by the male, this does break the usual stereotype and makes her seem even more odd and unrelateable to the audience.

Within season 3 episode 1 specifically; the opening scene is similar to that of season 1 which was forbodding, dim lighting which opens to a murder scene only this time involving that of mannequins.  The audi codes used sets the tone for the episode and gives the audience what they should expect as well as reinforces the genre, that being a crime drama.  The unrestricted narrative within the series allows for us (the audience) to make our own conclusions about who may or may not be the killer and how they did it.  As well as the use of long form narrative allows for more information to be put into each episode making it more clear to the audience what is happening and allows for character development. This series uses procedural elements, this heightens narrative interest as well as shows how the police force is run as well as how it operates.

The iconography within the series is quite expected, for example the use of offices, the uniforms which connote the characters profession as well as the props which can also elude to the different characters personalities.  The use of dim artificial lighting makes the scenes more cold and dark, which also add a drama effect to the episode.  As well as use of neutral colours makes the scenes seem more professional, especially as most scenes are that of investigating crime scenes and suspects with only brief glimpses into the personal lives of the characters.

There is a representation of a distinct difference between the swedish and the danish.  The danish being represented as more liberal and supportive in the sense of the LGBT community, also having a more mix of values of traditional and non traditional.  Meanwhile representing the swedish as politically correct, however it is questionable about the representation of the swedish as the character representing this nationality is quite abnormal personality wise.  The representation of the LGBT is also positively represented by strong characters who are portrayed as admired and outspoken as well as brave however it also shows the prejudice that they go through in an every day life however on an exaggerated scale.

Saga( the main character), as seen in the previous seasons was very "socially awkward" and unaware as well as displayed subtle or assumed social anxiety.  Within the beginning of the episode there appears to be no change within her personality, as she was still very rigid in her  social skills.  However, as time progressed through the episode she is seen attempting small talk with her new danish colleague which is outside of how she normally only has professional conversations with her colleagues and even though there was constant resistance from the colleague she still attempted whether out of disregard or oblivion, as well as in one scene, she is seen attempting to not give full disclosure of how the victim is found at the crime scene to the victim's wife so as to not hurt her feelings however badly she handled it, it is outside her character to even try.  You can also see a growth in her character as well as a sense of possible audience surrogation as she shows remorse in her turning in her past colleague not in her words but in her actions, which in most cases she never shows much emotions in general.  We also receive an insight into Saga's past as well as her family life as her mum comes to see her about her sick dad who seems critical, and reveals that her sister may of passed and how Saga handles it, which is by running away and showing OCD like behaviour to calm herself down which is in contrast to how she used initiative to save her colleague when her leg got blown off by a make shift bomb by a veteran, it showed her skills and strength in that moment which is a total contrast to how  she handled her family situation.

:)

My romance/ drama television programme is going to be filmed in west croydon high street as well as near to west croydon train station.  i am going to start filing from today to the end of this week to effectively accommodate the characters involved, in which there will be a mix of day and night time.  I will be using my three friends for this production.

Life on mars analysis

Life of mars is a UK crime drama that represents how life was back in the 1970s as well as within the twentyth century.

This series has several representations, such as the following;

The repesentation of women; Within the police force in the 70s it is only white men that are seen within such a position as within those times women were more seen as nurses, midwives or stay at home mothers.  This can be seen as the main character Sam is surprised that the woman tending to him is a female police officer rather than a nurse as he first assumed, as well as within this episode she is the only female police officer that is presented within this scene, this can connote that women are unable to handle such jobs.  Women were also presented as sex objects or referred to sexually, this can be seen when annie is within the precinct helping with the case and the men start to flirt with her/ speak to her subtly sexual as well as the reference and i quote,"he was as pale as a ginger bird's ass".  These derogotary actions show that women are not respected or valued by men as they are in this day and age.

The representation of race; There is a lack of representation of other ethicities within the series as all that is seen are middle aged white men and women, this can connote that in those times there was not as much immigration and those that were within the country had more behind the scenes jobs which was most likely all that they were offered.  The only ethnic character that was introduced so far is a rastafarian black man with a "caribbean accent", he was made to fit the stereotypical represenation of a caribbbean person (bubbly, talkative, with a "cool" vybe), which in some cases is not the case as different islands have different cultures and types of people not just the stereotypical jolly character.

The representation of men; Is that men have a high sense of competitiveness, this can be seen as in many cases in which the head of the department has stated to sam that he's  trying to show him up or take his job, as well as the way in which the men work with each other as well as the witnesses represents men as dominant and rough.  

The iconography within the episode represents the time frame and connotes to the audience the time period that the episode is being set in, as well as the costumes of the characters depicted represent the job roles that they are in.

This is a contrast compared to how they dressed in 2006 which is his original time period, which is a more modernised view of how people dressed.  This also shows how much the police force has grown since the 70s.

The enigma codes within the episode are as follows;the hermeneutic code, in which can be seen in many scenes within the episdoe, for example; while he is watching the television starts speaking directly to him but yet that same person he saw in "real life" is the nurse's ex boyfriend, this connotes an unexplained mystery within the show. As well as the proairetic code; for eg; when sam was going to jump off the top of the building to try and get back to the real world and also when sam was trying to solve the case of the murdered girl(s) in 1970.

The episode has use of restricted narrative as the information is learn't through the interactions such as the body language of the characters among each other as well as through conversations among each other.

There is also the use of audience surrogate which would be those within the 1970s police force who express the same confusion and ask questions that help to fill in the gaps of the story for the audience as they are as confused about Sam's behaviour as we (the audience) are.

There is also the use of investigator and sidekick in which sam and Gene can be seen to fit his role as they conducted the search of the missing girl together and solved the case of the murder together as well as can be seen spending leisurely time together., for example when they went into the pub together.

The different representations within Luther

The representations of gender within Luther is that of; the men and women are put on similar levels in terms of dominance, that Alice is equally able to manipulate Luther and finch is weak spots to use against him as Luther is able to do to her.  This can connote that a woman is able to do as a man can and shows a sense of equality.  It represents the strength of a woman in different situations; as Luther's wife(Zoe) is able to handle herself in different situations, for example when the woman threatening her(Alice) breaks into her house to question her, when her current boyfriend and Luther hash it out or when Luther throws a fit of anger due to him finding out about Zoe's boyfriend, she remains calm and stable and handles every situation thus far maturely.  This shows the strength of women in tough situations especially in relationship issues. It represented men as leaders and dominant  protectors, in terms of Luther being protective of Zoe when it comes to no letting his job interfere with her life and Zoe's current boyfriend being protective of her over Luther, however it does show the broken side to masculinity as can be seen with Luther as in some scenes he has breakdowns and shows his emotional side, for example when he is remembering all the things that the criminal he caught did to the girls he kidnapped as well as his volatile reaction when it comes to Zoe.

The representations of race within Luther is that of; It is connoted that regardless of the race of the person they can be what ever they wish to be as well as anything could happen to them.  For example; when Luther was being arrested by the officers it was not just all white officers arresting a black man as one of the officers was black as well as Luther was also a police officer.  Another example would be that of when the black female officer was returning home after doing a shift and she was shot by the (current) protagonist, not because of her race but because of her occupation.  This series did not give into the stereotypes that most series do, therefore giving positive representations of different races.  Especially as the main role or leading role is that of a black actor is rare, it makes the series stand out in comparison from other ones.

The representation of Regional and national identity within Luther is that of; that it represents most persons living in London as middle to working class, as well as it represents them as upstanding citizens that come together in times of criminal activity.  However, it represents them as the opposite of the usual stereotype of constantly happy and having a rich lifestyle, instead it shows their struggle and shows their different classes in terms of jobs. It also represents the general stereotype of how the typical british accent ignoring the factor of the probability of other ethnicities living in the area in this time as they are not represented.

Overall, the shows brings to light the issues within the police force for example not being able to afford bullet proof vests and other necessities in terms of their safety, as well as the double standards as Luther was not really punished for almost killing a criminal although the other officers knew what he had done or was doing.  It also shows the vulnerability within relationships that most series do not show, rather than constant romance it shows a more realistic side to being with someone.  So far, the shows it interesting and gripping And makes the viewer think more in-depth.

Weekly News

The issue on the separation of illegal child immigrants has come to the fore front of the press by that of Laura Bush condemning a controversial policy that allows the separation of families that illegally enter the US from Mexico.

Although Melania Trump has said that her and her husband has called for both the US and Mexico to work together to work on immigration reform as the solution, fact checkers have pointed out that the policy was introduced by Mr.Trump's attorney general and does not require congressional action for the policy to be eradicated.

According to reports there have been at least 2,000 families that have been separated after a crack down  on illegal border crossings.  The adults normally face criminal prosecution for illegal entry while babies and children are kept in detention centres for example; warehouses and converted supermarkets and therefore kept away from their parents.

This situation is eerily similar of the Japanese American Internment camps of world war 2.  This has caused a continuous shift of blame to various parties; President Trump has stated that the blame is that of the democrats however his attorney general is the one that introduced the law.

The continuous increase of children and babies has caused foster homes to start to run out of space, this also causes a health and safety alarm, as it then leaves the question if every child is receiving adequate care.

In the first two week that the new "zero tolerance" approach was introduced, 658 minors were separated from the adults or family members that they were traveling with.  However, some families were reunited it was not immediately, there was a few weeks to months gap before families were brought back together.  It is reportedly unclear to if this new "tougher" policy will keep migrants from travelling, especially as most of them are fleeing poverty and violence from places such as El Salvador and Honduras.

This policy is not only heartless as it is unnecessary.  The separation of families especially of children from their families can cause emotional and physical trauma in the long run, affect the children's future relationships and health.  Overall, President Trump could easily eradicate this policy and do something less harmful to families that is also effective. It represents the issue of immigration and the
treatment of migrant families especially illegal immigrant families.