Ideology: further reading and tasks

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Page 34: The World Of Mockingjay: Ideology, Dystopia And Propaganda

What view of capitalist ideology is presented in the Hunger Games films?

That they control the media and in turn control what the public sees and believes. It expresses how 'president snow' believes in his leadership more than the country's people which may be reflecting current America and Capitalism in general. According to the 'marxist theroy' people always find a way to rebel again and resist power through things such as citizen journalism and social media. Mockingjay expresses how the media can be used for propaganda. 

What do the Hunger Games films suggest about the power of the media to shape and influence ideological beliefs?

The hunger games stresses a huge impact that the media has on our ideological beliefs. This can either be done through how the government and people in power manipulate the media to only portray and hope for a dominant reading and in turn manipulate what the public sees but also how individuals can use the power of the media, from smaller platforms such as social media to rebel against dominant ideologies and express your own alternative ones. 

Page 48: They Live - Understanding Ideology

What are the four accepted ideological beliefs in western societies highlighted by the article?

• People should put their families first. 
• People should work hard for their money. 
• Women should behave in feminine ways, and look after their appearance.
or,
• Money = Happiness
• Consumer goods = Fulfillment 
• Marriage/Family/Children = Happiness

• Obedience/Work= Fulfillment

3) What does Gramsci's theory of hegemony suggest about power and ideology in society?

Being obedient, consuming, marrying and reproducing, and not questioning authority is a part of our 'natural order.' The idea that we do and believe what the powerful have said. 

4) What does French theorist Louis Althusser suggest about ideology and consumerism?

Ideology is a strong form of material power and dominates how we control. 
1)Repressive state Apparatuses (RSAs) - being controlled by major institutions, which are dominated by the ruling elite. Regulating social behavior repressing through violence, law and fear. 
2) Ideological state Apparatuses (ISAs) - Looser institutions control us through 'common sense' acceptance, social norms. 

Consumerism is promoted by the idea that material wealth will make us happy but this benefits the elite class, manufactures and owners of production. 


5) Do YOU agree with the idea behind They Live - that we are unthinkingly controlled by the media which is run in the interests of the economic elite? These are the big questions of A Level Media!

I do agree with the idea that the people with power are the people who have the most money, in that case agreeing with the concept of the economic elite. Their ideologies and what they wish to convey would openly be accepted by those in power due to the money they have to offer. I also agree with the fact that each media platform has some type of message that isn't so openly perceived by its audience but it forces an individual to take an action without them consciously being aware of why they are doing so, they may think its because of one thing but its actually due to another eg. 'i like it', rather than because 'its what everyone else likes.' I do believe in the fact that most people are unthinkingly controlled by the media however there are a few people who are knowledgeable to understand the deeper aspects of society and our drives which help them resist. Moreover i think upbringing with alternative ideologies eg. religious ones or those families have learnt through experience help an individual oppose to a fair amount of control the economic elite may posses. 

So overall, yes i do believe 99% of the population unthinkingly are controlled but 99% of what the economic elite suggest but there is a 1% that are not. That also means i don't think everyone is controlled by EVERYTHING the economic elite say due to individual differences. 

As for the four main points; 

• Money = Happiness - i somewhat agree but only if money is spent the right way.

• Consumer goods = Fulfilment - i somewhat agree as they give you a sense of achievement but i also diagree as you are never fully fulfilled with just one occurrence. 

• Marriage/Family/Children = Happiness - Fairly, but only if they provide love and support.


• Obedience/Work= Fulfilment - Obedience i disagree with but i agree with work (that you like)

MIGRAIN index

1) Media consumption audit

2) Reading an image: RBK advert analysis & own choice advert analysis

3) Institution: major media institution research and presentation

4) Institution: brand values

5) Institution: CoolBrands research

6) Narrative: narrative theory YouTube clip analysis

7) Audience: psychographics

8) Audience: audience theory blog tasks/questions

9) Audience: audience theory - dependency theory

10) Representation: clip analysis - dominant and alternative representations

11) Representation theory: 500 word analysis on blog

12) Representation: Media Magazine articles and questions

13) Ideology: BBQ QT analysis and binary opposition

14) Ideology: Media Magazine reading 

Blog task: binary oppositions and ideology

1) Watch this clip from BBC Question Time with Russell Brand and Nigel Farage. The BBC deliberately placed the two against each other and the episode resulted in far more people watching and tweeting than usual.

• What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching this clip?
• Rich and Poor
• Upper and Lowerclass
• Russell Brant and Nigel Farage
• Over populated and not populated

What ideologies are on display in this clip?

• That our society has problems however one believe the problem is corruption and the other believes its immigration and over population.
• Largest corporations and rich people are corrupt and the other opposes
• The other believes the scale of immigration is way too large and needs to be controlled.

Embed the video into your blog (as above) and answer these two questions in full paragraphs.

Ideology and your own choice of clip

2) Now do the same activity for a clip of your choice. Embed the YouTube video in your blog and answer the questions in detail:




What examples of binary opposition can you suggest from watching your clip?

• Hero vs Villain
• Good vs Bad
• Sky vs Ground 
• 'Fly' vs Fall
• Win vs Lose
• Safe vs Danger 
• Special vs Normal 

are examples of a few. 

What ideologies are on display in your clip?

• That the Hero always saves the girl and the public
• There is always a fight between good and evil / the hero and the villian 
• The idea that normal people are seemly powerless against the more famous and special. 
• These are all dominant ideologies. 

Year 12 cover work: Representation

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The "perfect 14" documentary challenges the ideas of foreseen 'beauty.' It looks at how the female gaze affects women by looking at other women, as males aren't the only viewer in the case of the female gaze. It also compares the concept to Medusa expressing how the gaze can cause negative reactions. 

The 'female gaze' differs from the 'Male gaze' as it expresses how women may 'consume and decode' the female representation, and how this can negatively impact women consuming that media. It also highlighted that Mulvey's theory is to complacent on the idea that the 'spectator' will only be men over emphasising heterosexuality.

I think that the way that women are represented in advertising is extremely unrealistic and is probably due to the male audience being targeted, through advertising, more frequently than women. Moreover advertising and marketing firms are aware that women will perceive and react to watching these other women on TV making it memorable, despite a negative/positive reaction, which in the end is all advertising sets out to achieve. 

The reason media doesn't feature size 14 women, may be, that they set out to make brands seem elite and if not so they aim to raise awareness even though it may evoke the popular argument that it isn't the average portrayal of women, using controversy as a way of marketing too?



The film seems to be trying to achieve  a much more appropriate, realistic representation of the body size of women, aiming to prevent discrimination taking place on the basic of how women weigh and look. It is promoting a much healthier representation of women aiming to make women less cautious and more confident of themselves, changing the narrow image society has on how much a 'beautiful' lady should weight and look. 

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Summery;

• Introduction

Expresses how the media influences how we perceive the world and ourselves. Highlighting how the media influences how we view a particular object through re-representation by communicating a particular image/idea. We perceive certain objects in the view of the advertiser/marketer. However representation is always 'filtered through someone's point of view' where they add their particular meanings and values, these are ideologies.

• Representations and the mass media

The original person has now got less and less control over how they may be representing themselves. There are 'gatekeepers' at each given stage of the 'representation process' and at these stages the was the image is represented may be manipulated on the basis of the story type, news agenda etc. 

• The how, who and why of representation

When we consider representation we must remember who creates them and why. This is done by considering the needs of the target audience, genre codes, narrative and institutional remit. Moreover the choices made and the ones rejected also add to the overall representation and ideologies created by various elements. When these values and ideologies are represented they become natural thought 'naturalisation' which covers up the ideology from the view of the audience. This therefore means that 'silencing of differences' may take place as you don't question something that appears natural. (Barthes)

• Another approach to ideology - the work of Stuart Hall

The 'encoding/decoding model' challenges the idea how messages from the media are produced and consumed. It suggests that audience don't have a passive response but much rather use their own culture and experience in order to create their own interpretation of the text. Meaning that intended messages may not be accepted; it may be rejected through oppositional position or influences by negotiated position. 

• Representations and new media

New media allows audiences to create their own representation more now than in the past. Self-representation takes place on things like Instagram as we create an idea of ourselves and portray it to our followers/friends. We make choices to create certain controlled constructions to communicate what we wish to the world, this can be from our 'personal identities' and the range of these identifies change depending on the context. The self-representation means that minority groups can represent themselves instead of mainstream media creating stereotypes.

• An example - representing national identity in old and new media

In 2014, the Sun created its own representation of 'Englishness' eg. with the queen and Sunday roast dinner however social media allowed many people to voice rejection of the message. They were therefore able to distance themselves from having 'similar' values as the newspaper. This therefore means now a diversity of representation is on offer. 

I think i'm vary aware of how i represent myself on social media, however i do have many different media platforms where i express myself in different manners. On more personal platforms i express and voice personal opinions however certain accounts are made to express myself on a certain thing eg. on my astrology blog i will only represent myself from an astrological aspect because i'm aware that is what my followers want however personal accounts i openly represent myself as i know they are following me for me not for a certain thing. 

I think institutions still have a much stronger hold in the way that representation takes place, yes the audience is gaining more and more power on the way they are able to represent themselves, however they still do not have as much power as the bigger and more powerful institutions. An example of this is the way we represent ourselves on social media, if you look at the majority of females Instagram they are trying to represent themselves in the way that society deems acceptable and 'pretty' and pro-dominantly this isn't even a true representation of how they feel and think. The way society defines beauty is influenced massively by magazine and modeling agencies, like Vouge. Even if the look at advertising, certain groups of people are presented a certain way with certain stereotypes as it works as a short hand and helps to make advertising campaigns more successful despite the thousands of individuals screaming that isn't how they truly are. Another example are major news institutions such as BBC News and Sky News, the way the represent young adults, black males, Muslims is still in a prejudice and inaccurate manner no matter how many people raise their voices up against it, they still have the power to influence 90% of public opinion. Who are you more likely to believe, a massive company like the BBC or a single unknown teenagers twitter profile? 

Representation: Photoshop collages

Parallel / Dominant reading

Alternative reading