In terms of the construction of race, after the controversy with the wheel of fortune, an apology to one famous black person (for some reason) was necessary, implying that jesse jackson represents all black people. The elements of this critique of this commercial that come from the aesthetic are when the movie She’s All That (Freddy Prince Jr.) expresses his feelings about being called nigger boy, telling black people they don’t understand how it feels being called a bad name from the past, “whites won again,” and having wheel of fortune as a part of the show. The elements of this critique of this commercial that come from the critical are hicks making fun of “nigger guy”- says they don’t want people who are racist (even though hick’s stereotype is racist. The elements of this critique of this commercial that come from the ontological are hicks inhabiting stereotypes: pick up truck, guns, flannel, etc.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
12-bonus
11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D5xgk78vHw
My overall topic for this semester was the portrayal of middle-aged housewives and how the stereotypes of them have only slightly adjusted over several generations. Stereotypes are prominent in the United States and they are what most companies base their advertisements off of. An example of an advertisement that is based merely on a stereotype is the above the influence commercial with a group of Black teenage boys in a diner. This video is actually comical because of the stereotypes used through language, setting, dress, etc. The stereotypes being portrayed through this video target a poor, lower class “ghetto” area where young Black teenagers do drugs. Two critical texts from the semester that relate to my topic and this advertisement are “Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity” and Black Sitcom Portrayals” because both articles deal with stereotypes heavily in their topics. In Fejes article, she discusses “the effort to construct a market profile of lesbians and gays is fraught with a number of major problems” meaning that to construct this types of market stereotypes will play a significant role in targeting this audience. Similar to this article, in Coleman’s article about Black sitcoms, he analyzes the dynamics of these sitcoms and how the characters are portrayed. In shows like Fresh Prince of Bell Air the stereotypical “poor, ghetto-dwelling African Americans” are depicted. They relate to my topic and the video because these all show how the media uses stereotypes to appeal to a certain target or demographic. This is a successful technique because though stereotypes can be viewed negatively, there is some truth to them which helps major corporation succeed.
10
Using the image of the Dove Real Beauty Advertisement, I used “Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study” “Nike, Social Responsibility, and the Hidden Abode of Production” and “The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism” as my three critical texts that relate to and build on one another through the idea of consumerism and major companies selling their products. The Real Beauty Dove image is an image that has many controversies about it. Dove tries to portray these women as demonstrating real beauty even though they are wearing makeup and are clearly photoshopped in the advertisement. Essentially through this advertisement Dove is targeting a certain target audience to appeal to them to buy the product. In the articles I previously listed, it is evident that all three of the articles discuss the product or television show to appeal to a certain audience to either make them purchase the product or watch the show. In the first article discussing Clinique products, Kirkham and Weller express the “the appearance and presentation of a product is at least as important as the product itself” suggesting that the way the product is advertised and presented is important to appealing the consumer. Similarly in the Nike article, Stabile clearly states that “the “success” of Nike’s ads and products has depended on the corporation’s ability to reach a target audience of middle-class consumers though appeals to the values and belief system’s of that audience” which shows that major corporations focus on what appeals to the consumer so that their business succeeds. In Baym’s article, he discusses how news shows are appealing to a certain demographic which directly relates to these other article’s because with techniques used by shows like The Daily Show (humor, parodies satire, etc.), they are advertising while they air the show. All of these articles clearly show that major companies have different ways and methods to appeal to a target audience, but these perspectives all relate in critical media and cultural studies by having the main focus of advertising products relate to demographics to help their businesses succeed.
9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA -Onion News Network
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2010/01/04/lake.tech.2010.cnn?iref=videosearch -CNN
In the Onion News Network video discussing the Revolutionary Laptop With No Keyboard the representation of apple products are being made fun of through this parody. The video is alluding to America’s obsession with needed the newest technology and production of apple’s new products. Through gatekeeping the Onion News Network carefully filters what they want to talk about to get their message across. Through the agenda-setting functions, this video chooses incorporate clips of people using the product and having a representative speak about apple to help make the video relatable to similar more serious videos about apple’s new products. This video adds key components such as advertising the product in a serious manner (when really they are making fun of the new apple products) such as when talking about the man who got to experience the computer; the video suggests that “45 minutes to send an email to his friend” was impressive. The CNN video uses gatekeeping through the way they are showing apple and talking about it. For example, they talk about new products and how they will be beneficial to customers. Through agenda-setting functions, CNN decides to show certain aspects of the company through a crowded store, and multiple products to emphasize the greatness of apple. In terms of discourse, both videos use techniques to create a serious atmosphere regarding the product (although the Onion Network video is a parody). They use techniques from a consumers view (by having consumers test out the products). Baym’s article clearly relates to these videos through using the examples of The Daily Show. Although the video regarding the apple parody is making fun of the products, there is truth to the video which does educate audience about the product.
8
As explained in Grossberg’s article, political economy is focused on a production driven method whereas cultural studies give consumers more credit. The Mouse Trapped 2010 video stresses on the employee’s issues with their income. They clearly have a problem and disagree with the wages they are given by Disney but explain that they will not leave because they love it. Political economy plays a big role in this video because Disney is a production and money drive organization. Disney emphasizes on the centrality of material interest (economy) and the use of power (politics) to protect and enhance that interest. One woman expresses that “Disney has always told us… it’s us that make the company and I believe that it is it is an accurate fact but if it is us who make the company why does not the company reciprocate and pay their people the wages that they know they deserve” which directly relates to Grossberg’s argument that cultural studies “does not deny that they are sometimes supped, that they are sometimes manipulated, that they are lied to (and believe the lies, sometimes knowing they are lies).” This quote can directly relate to both videos because for the Mouse Trapped video, the employees of Disney are those being manipulated by powere; whereas, in the Mickey Mouse Monopoly, the viewers and audience of Disney’s productions are those being “duped”. The Mickey Mouse Monopoly heavily focuses on “childhood culture.” Grossberg’s article says that “[cultural studies] often recognizes that pleasure can be manipulated by or at least articulated to repressive forms of power and existing structures of inequality” this supports the arguments in the Mickey Mouse Monopoly regarding issues of race (dark villains). Through cultural studies Disney is showing inequality through characters in their productions; Disney manipulates its audience and portrays racism and violence through their productions.
7
6
Drawing from the articles we discussed in class the following advertisement the creation of the exotic is portrayed through this video. From globalization we can easily identify where this video takes place. With key components of the video such as rug selling, elephants, clothing, and the assumed nationality of the people, the audience can automatically assume that this video is taking place in India because of globalization. Globalization has allowed us to view cultures by stereotypes and even though most people have probably never been to India, this representation of the video is why we view India the way we do (we speaking generally as the US).