Mediation

Mediation

AN: Key Terminology in bold

Jake Quikenden
Using Jake Quickenden's X Factor audition first, we can clearly see a fair amount of mediation has taken place. Firstly, Quickenden sings a song that the judges at first dislike. However, one of the judges tells him that he is 'cute, and can sing'. This then drives him to sing something else, which is obviously much better. 

The process of selection for this clip is one that displays Quickenden as not impressive to the judges, which begins to create a more empathetic connection between the audience and the contestant. We can clearly see that he is attractive and a good singer, but is failing to impress the judges. This elicits sympathy from the audience, making them want to see him do better.

The clip is also constructed using a series of close up shots of Quickenden to present his emotions and feelings, most of these being concern, worry and an almost deep brooding and sadness when he reveals that his brother died the previous year. This is to appeal to the audience's emotions in order to have them feel more inclined to support him and cheer him on throughout the competition using sympathy. Footage that displays his back story is also used after his less impressive performance, which again appeals to the audience's emotions.
We are also mainly focused on Mel B (judge) and Quickenden, as it is these two people that have the most importance. Mel B is the judge who challenges his performance and goes on to admit that he is actually very good.
He is presented as attractive and talented by the use of language of Mel B, and the close ups of his face. We can see that he is emotional and also young, which appeals to the younger audience and also older generation of women, who are more likely to support him as he is attractive.

Natasha
Looking at the selection of the clips in this audition, it is clear that the focus is on humor and humiliation of Natasha. We don't get any background, like with Jake Quickenden, we only get clips that express Natasha's love for one of the judge's, Gary Barlow. This is specifically selected to create humor in the audience, who find her obsession funny.
We also get clips that are selected to show embarrassing moments when Natasha accidentally reveals more of her body than she meant to in her small, tight dress. This is again chosen to elicit humor from the audience, as she is of a larger build which is typically deemed as undesirable and clearly has no regard for her personal appearance.
The clips are constructed so that we get a small amount of knowledge on Natasha's obsession with Gary Barlow prior to her performance, which instantly indicates to the audience that she is going to be a bad singer, as she is already very strange and humorous. At the end of her performance we see close ups of her face to show her disappointment and disbelief that she failed to get through,as well as long shots that include her whole body to further show her embarrassing attire. This causes more humor for the audience as we often find humor in the misfortune of others (schadenfreude).
Overall, Natasha is presented as untalented, funny and embarrassing, as well as obsessive and unintelligent (she says "I used to sing out of my nose, but now I sing out of my mouth", which is considered stupid and funny).

Representations

Representations

AN: Key Terminology in bold

Class

The representation in this article about the London Riots is a negative one of the underclass. This is supported by the fact that the article identifies the people involved as 'feral' and part of a 'ruined generation'. This use of negative language displays the underclass as less than other, more sophisticated classes such as the middle or upper class.
The newspaper that has produced this article is the Telegraph, which is not a tabloid newspaper, and so presents itself to a more middle class or working class audience and readership. The writers therefore value information and a degree of sophistication, which
the underclass isn't conventionally seen to have.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8630533/Riots-the-underclass-lashes-out.html

Gender

Using 'The Only Way Is Essex' as a case study, women in this programme are presented as brainless and almost stupid. This is because they are often seen in very revealing and promiscuous clothing that definitely feeds the idea of the Male Gaze Theory. This is a negative and inaccurate representation of women, as the programme is only a snippet of a very scripted lifestyle of a certain area of the country.
The programme is shown on ITV2 which is committed to airing new and innovative shows, and also to entertain. This would explain why TOWIE contains very typical stereotypes of women, as it allows the audience to identify easily with the people on the show as well as be entertained.

http://www.itv.com/essex

Age

An example of a film that challenges the stereotype of age is Hot Fuzz. Although a comedy, the film uses elderly people as its main antagonists. This is something highly irregular, especially of an action/adventure/comedy film. Typically, the villain in a movie is intelligent, sometimes ugly, otherworldly, and usually has an aspect of themselves that is not righteous or normal. 

However, in Hot Fuzz the antagonists are elderly men and women in a small village. This challenges the stereotype of the antagonist in a movie as it uses an unconventional age group as its villains.

The values of this film, however, are those of comedic intentions. This therefore suggests that the use of elderly antagonists is for comedic effect and not to intentionally challenge a stereotype.

Race

'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' is a great programme to use to study how the ethnic group on Romani gypsies and modern day gypsies are represented in the media. Firstly, it primarily displays modern day travellers in a negative light, illustrating them as rather poor, lacking eduction and therefore value in society. They are shown in glamorous and sometimes tacky attire with no regard for eduction, only their looks and desire to marry as soon as possible.

The channel this is aired on is Channel 4, who's charter is to air new and alternative shows,  using the tagline that they are 'born risky.' This therefore connotes that their values are those of entertainment for a mass audience. This would explain why the programme is quite stereotypical and negative, as it provides a sense of entertainment for an audience by making them feel superior to the group portrayed.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-big-fat-gypsy-wedding

Sexuality

A large portion of the news not so long ago contained many articles on Ellen Page as she came out as gay at the Las Vegas Human Rights Campaign's 'Time to Thrive' conference. Most articles displayed Page in a very positive and strong way, describing her speech as 'moving' and 'deeply personal'. This suggests that the general reaction to Page's sexuality was well received and highly supported, displaying her in a very positive light.

The news outlet that reported her story interesting was The Hollywood Reporter. The nature of this news outlet is one of up-to-date and current celebrity news. This perhaps suggests that the article may be more in favour of Page's sexuality openness as she is a very popular star in Hollywood. Their values may be slightly skewed depending on which celebrities and actors/actresses they favour.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ellen-page-comes-as-gay-680563