Coursework Primary Text: Audience Theory (minus reception theory and hypodermic model)

Gerbner:

• The Gerbner Model looks at how and whether watching TV may influence ideas of what the every day world is like. It is possible that many people may be influenced by watching Made in Chelsea to think that the lifestyle which is portrayed is what every day life is like.

Uses and Gratifications:

• The uses and gratifications theory relates to why an audience might want to access a particular media text. Reasons why the target audience might want to access Made in Chelsea are: social interaction (it uses hashtags on the opening sequence to persuade the audience to take part in discussions about what they are watching online. It creates an online communitiy which will be favored by many, and allows people to bond over a shared interest), diversion (getting an insight into the way of life of upper class Londoners diverts the audience away from the troubles of their own daily life, which makes watching the programme attractive to them) and finally, personal identification (the audience may relate to the personality or life events of a characetr which would make watching the programme more attractive).

Moore:

• Moore is the idea that media texts can create an imaginary community. Made in Chelsea achieve this by using hashtags. These enable those that are watching the programme to discuss it via Twitter, and consequntly, an online "community" is made- the viewer feels like they are part of something, and it gives them a sense of belonging. It is not just Made In Chelsea which this appears in. Every TV show which uses a hashtag has the same effect, as do forums (e.g. the Student Room). In today's society, making these new communities is very important, because sense of community in the real life is being diminished in many places, particularly urbanised areas.

Morley:

• Moreley looks at the idea that different texts are interpreted in different ways by different people. Made in Chelsea is likely to be looked at in many different ways by the different people that are attracted to it. For some it is simply a reality TV show, and a chance to be "nosey" and look in on other people's lives. For others, it is likely to be viewed as more of a TV drama, where they follow the stories which are presented to them, and want to watch the next episode to see what happens next. For others, it is simply a chance to see a lifestyle which they aspire to have themselves, and it is used purely for diversion. For others, all of these factors may play a part in the interpretation.

Cultivation and Cumilation/Desensitisation:

• This is the idea that we become desensitised to what we see in the media. For example, on the news everyday there is a negative story, perhaps something along the lines of: "Today in _____, hundreds were killed". It has got to the point in our society where by this doesn't effect us, and we don't think too much about it. We have become desensitised to negative things that happen in our world. On a lower scale, the same is happening in reality televsion shows. Made In Chelsea desensitises us to a materialistic way of life, and so we see their life styles as normal, when perhaps they aren't. This relates to the idea of the media dumbing down. Furthemore, the actions which are portrayed on the TV show such as a male cheating on their girlfriend, which go unpunished, infleunce others into thinking they are right. This idea was looked into in much detail but with violence in TV shows influencing children between the ages of 12 and 17. They idea of woman being mistreated in soaps was also researched, and this relates closely to what has happened in the most recent series of Made in Chelsea.

COURSEWORK PRIMARY TEXT: Hegemony and Marxism relating to Made in Chelsea

Marxism is based on the writings of Karl Marx, and they were a response to the extremes of poverty and exploitation he witnessed in the years after the British Industrial Revolution.  His most famous book Das Kapital (1867) argued that in a capitalist society the most important and fundamentally antagonist divisions are along class lines and that there are two fundamental classes:

-          The proletariat or workers who have to sell their labour to survive

-          The bourgeoisie who own a range of different types of capital (wealth, factories, shares or property).

There are divisions and frictions between these two classes. Those who follow a Marxist view in a contemporary society would suggest that the bourgeoisie are the middle class who, although they do not own capital, identify and serve the interests of those who do. Marx and Marxists are concerned with how and why the mass population accept a system which is not necessarily right, and is controlled by the minority. Marx suggested that ideology, values and beliefs are important in persuading the proletariat to accept the power of the bourgeoisie.

Marx’s ideas have been applied to modern day media to suggest that the view of the world constructed in most mainstream media contributes to persuading the lower classes to accept that the “upper class” way of life is desirable and what they should strive for. We can strongly relate this to Made In Chelsea, because the stars of the show are social elite from London, and are all very wealthy, living very upper class lives. They are heirs to companies and to a lot of money, and so the audience is transported into this way of life. Those who produce the show have the power to control the way which the audience see the represented lifestyle, and they have the power to persuade the “proletariat” that this is the life which should be strived to achieve. The minority who are in power have the ability to control the thoughts of the majority who are not.

These Marxist ideas which I have previously discussed were expanded by the Italian writers Antonio Gramsci, who in the 1920s and 1930s first introduced the concept of hegemony.  He used this concept to explain how popular culture contributed to the manufacturing of consent for bourgeoisie power within capitalist societies (translated and published in the UK, 1971).  In more basic terms, it can be suggested that repeated media representation of middle-class people in positions of power, control and leadership, such as reading the news or as experts, suggest that class division in society are ‘common sense’ and natural. Made in Chelsea is an example of repeated media representation of the social elite who have positions of power, and it is an example of repeatedly persuading the viewer that it is normal to have this division in society. Marxism focuses on power relationships based on class; however, it should be noted that the concept of hegemony can also be applied to the power relationships found in gender, sexuality and race. Regarding gender, Made in Chelsea is an example of a media text where gender hegemony is portrayed, with the power and dominance relationship between men and woman. As I annotated in the “Signs and Codes” section of my primary text analysis, in many scenes we can see the male in power and the woman as a passive object. This has become normal in our hegemonistic society, where according to the Male Gaze theory, woman are “gazed at” and men do the “gazing”.

COURSEWORK PRIMARY TEXT: Institution

The institution behind "Made in Chelsea" is E4, a sister company of Channel 4. Other sister channels include: 4 Music, Film 4 and More 4.

As a bit of background, it was launched in January 2001, and it is a digital TV channel. The "E" stands for entertainment, which shows that the institution run their channel around the gratification of diversion, and pride themselves on the fact that they air entertaining programmes for veiwers across the UK to enjoy. The channel is mainly aimed at the 15-35 age group, which is quite a young audience. This is illustrated by the range of shows which they broadcast.

A lot of what they broadcast are American Imports such as the following: The Cleveland Show, Desperate Housewives, Smallville, 90210, The Big Bang Theory, One Tree Hill, and formerly Friends. Importing American shows means that they are wealthy enough to import, but perhaps they are not wealthy enough to fund the creation of such programmes theirselves. They do broadcast many British programmes too, which have proven to be very popular. They include: Made in Chelsea, The Inbetweeners, Misfits, Skins, and My Mad Fat Diary. Some US imports such as Ugly Betty are broadcast up to a week in advance of what they are on Channel Four, and they can pull in millions of viewers. The most successful broadcast to date was in October 2010, when an episode of the Inbetweeners pulled in over 3.7 million viewers.

E4 have a strong presence on Twitter and other social networking sites such as Facebook, and they also have an interactive website. Furthermore, the programmes which are broadcast on the channel are put onto 4OD, which is a catch up TV service online. All of these factors show that the institution is keeping up to date with the technological revolution, and they appreciate the fact that new and digital media is important to their target audience. Many of their programmes, especially Made in Chelsea, use hashtags throughout in order to increase their online presence. It may be argued that these factors lead to the dumbing down of the media, because E4 in particular encourage communication through the internet (many people would argue that communication face to face is much better, and would avoid this situation that we are in). However, perhaps E4 are just giving their audience what they want.

The logo of E4 can be seen above to the right. Dennotations include the colour purple, a chunky number four, and the letter E in the centre of the digit. The colour purple definitely has youthful connotations, and so suggests to the viewers that E4, as an institution, are youthful and entertaining. Many of the programmes which the channel broadcast back this first impression up, as they feature young people or school students. The Inbetweeners, for example, features a group of school boys- the audience (15 year olds plus) would be able to relate to this, and so they would gain the gratification of personal idenitifaction from this. Perhaps we can conclude that the ideaology of E4 is that it is important for viewers to be able to identify with the charcters they are watching. This would explain why we see the shows which we do.

COURSEWORK PRIMARY TEXT: Codes and Signs

In the opening 2 minutes of Made in Chelsea series 5, episode 11, signs include a man stood outside St. Pancreas station in London, on his phone, waiting for someone. He looks excited, and so the connotations which we get from this are that he is meeting a woman which he is looking forward to. The denotations and connotations class as semiotics. This also relates to the theory by Gestalt who says that when we watch a sequence of actions, we fill in the gaps. Barthes suggested that our understanding of many media texts rests not merely upon what the texts portray but on the texts’ relationship to frequently told stories or myths in our culture. We can relate this to this scene in Made in Chelsea because it is starting to tell the frequently told love story which plays a big part in our culture. In terms of the Cinderella myth the cultural meanings or rather the ideologies and values conveyed are that men are active and women are passive, then men are economically powerful providers and a women’s key role is to be sexually alluring. This is definitely portrayed in this scene, because the male is the one waiting for her, on the phone. She is the one coming to see him, and she is the one who, through the mise-en-scene, is represented to be sexually alluring. This means that she is passive and he is passive, and according to the male gaze, she is represented to be gazed at and he is the “gazer”.

COURSEWORK PRIMARY TEXT: Audience Expectations

In this document I will analyse the audience of my primary text which is “Made in Chelsea” (MIC). MIC is a reality television show which is aired on E4, both of which will be important factors in my analysis of the audience. It is described as being about a group of “socially elite twenty-something year olds” and follows them through their relationships, friendships and goings on in Chelsea. It came after “The Only Way is Essex”, which was the first reality show of this kind to be aired on our TV screens, and this fact may also prove to be important when looking at who the show appeals to.

First, when analysing the audience in it’s most basic terms, we can use the Uses and Gratifications theory, and look at lifestyles and values. According to the Uses and Gratifications theory, people are most likely to watch MIC for diversion from their daily lives, entertainment, and social interaction. With social media, social interaction has become a massive part of the reality TV genre. Hash tags are presented to the viewer at the start of the programme, to form a community online who will discuss the show and indirectly promote it. Regarding values and lifestyles, I believe that MIC would attract those from two life styles backgrounds/socio-economic classes. It could either attract those from a high class similar to that of the “Chelsea bunch” as they can closely relate, or it would attract people from lower classes who watch the show simply because they are able to get an insight into a life they would love to have. This is narcissism.

The audience’s prior knowledge of the genre played an important part in who it appealed to, and the expectations that audiences had of the show. They use their prior knowledge to anticipate whether or not they are likely to enjoy a text, and this helps audiences when they are selecting any media text, whether it be magazines, television shows, or films. This is why the fact that MIC came after TOWIE is so important. TOWIE started on the 10^th October 2010, and has been running ever since. MIC started in May 2011- it came just over half a year after TOWIE did. Audiences would already have had a significant taste of the genre, and so they would expect to see fights, drama and love stories; they would expect to watch the characters going to parties and hanging out in their glamorous houses. This is what was handed to the audiences when Made in Chelsea came along. It was exactly what was expected of the genre. The only things that changed were not to do with the genre at all- they were the class that was represented, the location in which is was set, and the time that the show ran for. Audiences who enjoyed TOWIE were likely to enjoy MIC when it first started, because they had already formed the opinion on whether or not they liked the genre. The changes in audience would only come after a few episodes, when audiences decided which class they would rather watch, and which they could relate to more closely.
This links to my next point.

Genre is used by audiences when they can compare a text through its shared characteristics with another. If you try to describe a TV show to someone who has not seen it, you are likely to define its genre and clarify what other text it is similar too. This would have been the situation with the TOWIE/MIC craze. Those who hadn’t seen MIC would be told that it is similar to The Only Way is Essex, just with a different class of people- “people who are much more posh”. This would attract a whole new audience. I believe that TOWIE played a massive part in the success of MIC, because Made in Chelsea was being created into an established genre.

By the same token, audiences also use their knowledge of a genre to reject a text. For many of us there will be genres we actively dislike and therefore will avoid accessing texts we assume to hold these characteristics.

Summer 2013 Media Analysis: Other News/Media Stories

• "Royal Baby Mania": The Royal Baby was born in the summer of 2013, and it went viral. The media have been working really hard over this time, especially since their wedding, to represent Kate and Will as a normal couple. Hashtags such as #RoyalBabyNames were trending around the birth of the future King, which shows how modernised the monarchy have become, and links to the changing representation of the Royal Family. All of this links to Barthes theory of creating the princess myth.
• Miley Cyrus Social Phenomenom: "Twerking" has become a social phenomeonon, and went viral via social networking.

Summer 2013 News Analysis: ask.fm teenage suicide

One of they key news stories which occured in July and August was the ask.fm teenage suicide.

 

They key debate which has come out of this story is making sure that the people who run the site are responsible for what goes on whilst people are online. They need to be made responsbile for the events which occur as a result of their site.

 

The key issues which this news story raises are: ownership and control, regulation and censoriship, digital media, and moral panic. It relates to ownership and control, because of the debate involving those who run the site. The ownership and control of the site has been made a very important factor following the death of the school girl. It relates to regulaiton and censorship: should what is posted on the site be censored? Should it be regulated so that you can't post exactly what you want, annonymously? It relates to digital media, because social networking sites such as these are all part of the growing new and digital media revolution, and are becoming a bigger and more important part of our daily lives. This is why the opperation of them should be safe. It relates to moral panick from the point of view of the parents- may this news story have created a moral panick, with them worrying about what could happen to their children? A moral panick may be a good thing, as it may spur on change. 

SUMMER HOMEWORK: 5 News Stories to Share

Below are some key news stories from over the summer which have appeared on all three platforms:

• "Royal Baby Mania!"- The royal baby was born, which was a massive news story particularly in the days before and following his birth.
• The news from Syria continues: the most recent development during the first week of September was world leaders from the G20 nations meeting in Russia.
• Simon Cowell is fathering a child with Lauren Silverman.