Media Med 6 Comparitive Essay

'Using the comparison of these two texts as your starting point, explore the media issues and debates which they raise.'
The celebs on Sunday magazine was created five years ago as a slip out magazine to the tabloid the Daily Mirror to provide a topical and entertaining read on everything celebrity to a readership of young women. The producers of the magazine are using the cult of celebrity effect to pull in readers that want to know all about celebrities’ daily lives through their use of exclusives and interviews that act as headlines grabbers to the potential target market.
They emphasise on the amount of “everything celebrity” when readers find out about every aspect of celebrities lives both personally and professionally as they have sold the right to the magazine which highlights the current debate in society about whether jade goody was right to publicise her last couple of weeks before her death, while some thought that it was a good thing to do because she was making money for her children in the only way she knew how and raising awareness of cervical cancer at the same time many felt she should have kept it a personal affair with just her family.
This is connected to the overall debate that has been happening for years as to whether celebrities have a right to privacy considering the limelight that is on them 24-7 but all the financial incentives they have by showing the public all the features of their lives means that members of the public have very little sympathy for them. This issue was once raised when Catharine zeta Jones sold her wedding to the magazine OK a tradition that should be a personal occasion considered by the majority of the nation

The target markets that Celebs on Sunday are trying to reach through the use of the cult of celebrity are young aspiraitional c1, c2 and d females who have an interest in style and fashion and read the magazine for escapism in to celebrities’ lives to get away from their stresses of life. The fashion department's aim is to apply the principles of a glossy magazine such as smash hits in the past with a sophisticated look to attract higher classed audience as well as their prime current target market.
Celebs on Sunday online is the version on the internet that readers can assess for free which is partly the reason why magazines sales are decreasing every year which is becoming a big issue in the trades industry. It highlights how far technology has come since its early stages because the internet has developed in so many ways that it has become virtually impossible for the print industry to keep up. Also an issue that is raised with this subject is the current economic climate as people are becoming more tight with their money due to the credit crunch they would rather get read about celebrity news or fashion tips on the internet for free rather than having to pay the substantial amount of money for it.


Another issue that could be raise out of the public’s tendency to get their news from the internet as opposed to going to the shop and buying it is the increasing level of obesity in the country that is affecting almost half on the nation’s population, some of the magazines older readers don’t want to get up and go to shops whether by using transport of walking and alternatively use the magazines online version as a short cut to finding out what they want to know. The longer they do this the less active they will be and therefore harm themselves by not being as active as possible when they are growing up causing further obesity.

Each week the online version includes celebrity stories, star photographs, interviews, health and beauty tips and fashion features, it could be argued that they are using all these features to indoctrinate messages into young girl’s minds that they need these things to be complete in life and to find a boy/ man. The level of emphasis on the online site on beauty and fashion could suggest that they are trying to promote the idea to put pressure on girls to look good rather than using their brains which is becoming a big topic in society.
The front cover of the magazine displays has a picture of Kara tointon, she is represented as a figure that women should look up to through the usage of camera positioning making her look powerful and seem like she is looking down on you. The use of kara tointon (dawn in easterners) as a front page focus is used to persuade audiences that they would want to be like her, Kara is a woman that could be considered quite skinny which suggests that producers of the magazine are using her as a role model of how to look in the future which is promoting a more size zero look than anything else.

The increasing level of girl’s obesity of becoming size zero models is a big topic of discussion in society which is highlighted here by the magazines apparent ideology forced upon towards its audience by signifying that looking more thin is the way to be if you want to make it big in the showbiz industry. The colours used by the online version and the print copy are yellow and white which are two traditionally bright colours. They have used these colours to represent the main image of Kara tointon as being cheery so in effect they are trying to portray that the colours they use reflect her personality, it also reflects the good harmless nature of an ideology that the magazine wants to promote.
They have worked with photographers that have shot for famous institutions such as Nylon and Teen Vogue which shows how professional they are when it comes to meeting audience expectations of it being a glossy magazine, while the online version promotes a wide range of TV shows on the side of its screen promoting the TV industry this can be linked to business globalization because a massive share of the media industry is being promoting through use of other forms of media like indeed this magazine.

Med 1 preperation

M- The opening to the sitcom is filled with binary oppostions that set the poor and rich worlds apart. The 3 characters come from different parts of the usa with the two black brothers coming from a disadvantaged niehbourhood yet being poor is what brings the young civilians living thier together represented by the image of all the kids playing basketball with eachother. This also representes the idea childhood and youth in compasrion to all the big coaporations and buzy towns and cities with them playing with not much care or pressure on thier shoulders. The directors also want to create to feeling of the strong brother bond between the two young characters, this is symbolised by the older brother lifting his younger brother up to score a point suggesting the teamwork between them has helped eachother through past struggles.

After you get a glimpse of the poor side of town the adopting well off white father picks them up in his limo symbolising his riches and takes them to his house, as they look out the window they see all the aspects of the rich busy side of town creating a binary oppostion that paints a picture for what life is like for the average young black child and a white man in the 1970s

I- The NBC Televison network is available in an estimated 112 million households, or 98.6% of the Usa. NBC has 10 owned-and-operated stations and nearly 200 affiliates in the United States and its territories. It is a huge organisation in america and broadcasts a lot of sitcoms, because it is thier for american people to serve as thier entertainment they have to becareful they dont show content that could offend viewers but also content that is realistic and beilivable. This is a storyline that wouldnt be seen as the norm in america at the time and therefore probably why it was such a hit was because it offered something different to the american public

G- The genre of this is sitcom short for situation comedy, although the fact that its a sitcom isnt made clear by its opening the situation part of it is built up as the opening tells the storyline of the adoption. This is shown when the father gets out of the limo and waves to the children excitedly to come to him,this sets him up has the leading adult figure in the programme and therefore creates the situation of him and his two adpoted sons.

R- The majoirty of representation is on the black youth living in the deprived parts of america and what thier struggles were before they were adopted, there is also representation of how well off familes live daily and what thier attitudes are towards poorer people

A- The auidnece for the programme probably varies not just between age but also for survailaence purposes some young children aswell as teenagers may watch it for a sense of personal identification for before and after the characters adoption while others such as middle aged men and women may watch it for survailience as they may not live in either sort of world and may want to get an insight into what life is like for the people in those parts of the country.

I- An ideoligy that different strokes is promoting could be that everybody is equal no matter where you come from or how much money you have. This is also built in the captilistic view that thier is an order in society where the rich remain rich and the poor remain poor.

N- There are clues given about what the narrative is going to be for instance when they are showin different parts of the city compared to the rough part of town the boys are from. In addition thier facial expressions also display the types of roles they are going to play towards the narrative as they are smiley happy and excieted to be given an opportunity they proabably fought they would never get, but being brothers growing up in povety they are bound to get into trouble.



M- The setting for the scene is a house which becomes destryoed after the boy is finished with it. Everyday aspects of the house such as the frigde, mirror and wardrobe are all mistreated by the drunk character who strolls around damaning items like it is a normal thing when in actuallity he is in a drunken state. There are a number of close up shots to his notorious actions for instance when he is pulling his earing out or smashing his head on his bedroom mirror, this is done to empashsise the state he is in when under the influence of alcohol. As this doesnt confind to what is seen as the norm behavoiur and does conform to what is seen as bevhour when drunk the camera postining becomes closer when the character seems to physcially harm himself to hit the message home harder to the taret audience that are watching that this is not what they want to be doing to themselves. Their is a mixture of high key lighting and low key lighting on the character which could of been used to represent two sides to him when drunk one being the dark side to him which would be connotated by lazyness, mood swings and viscousness and then the more adventorous, adrenline fuelled fun loving side.

I- The instituion presenting this is the home office which will mean more time and effort would have been put on it as they have the reputation for being carers for the british public. It is thier duty to serve to public and so thier goal is not make a profit out of this like a buisness would try to do but instead to warn teenagers of the dangers they can do to themselves and others if drunk. The typical "night out" for a teenager would constiutute as them finshing the night drunk and unable to control thier actions this is reflected in the advert with the character giving no physical signs that he is in control of himself by doing things that would be bconsidred anti norm.

G- The genre of the advert will come under "raising awareness" when the sole purpose of the advert is to warn the target audience off something by giving them a example of reality of the situation happening to someone in hope that the target audiences heeds the message. Normally when adverts like this are shown producers show two sides of the story and relys on the audience being smart in deciding what is morally the right thing to do, however some adverts like this only show the bad side to binge drinking and not all the glamour of the adreline on the dance floor that teenagers are tempted to discover. It seems they dont want to offer inexperience teenagers the chance the see the exciting side of boozing by only showing the harmful effects on it.

R- The stereotypical teenager is being represented in this and specficily middle class white teenagers that are conforming to the history and culture of binge drinking from generations before. It is seen as a major problem amonsgt teenagers who cannot fight the temptation of "just one more drink" which ultimetely leads to them ending up in the state that the sole character ends up in. The role the chracter plays is the supposed "average teenager" if the moral panic created by the media is to be beilieved.

A- The audience is spilt into two sets with one being teenagers from about 14- 19 and parents with chirlden that age. It is being targeted at parents to show what teenagers can turn into after theyve had a few drinks and the danger they could pose to both themselves and other when under the infuence of booze. It is shown as a "reality check" to parents to make sure they warn thier chirlden to avoid being put in the same postion as the character plays. Teenagers themselves are the other set of audiences targeted and they two are split into to types, the first type being the teenagers who have yet to expeirence it and are intrested in finding out what is like to be so drunk because it is glamourised by mates so much. The other style of teenagers are the very expeirenced ones at binge drinking and the advert will be directly aimed at them as motivtation to curb thier exterme lifestyle before they get themsleves hurt or into trouble.

I- The message it tries to promote is the senile world teenagers face when binge drinking to a level not permitted at thier age, it warns about them loosing respect of thier peers, family, and the people who watch them make fools of themselves. Also that the drinking will physically harm them as it puts them in a psotion where they cannot look after themselves as they are in such a state.

N- The narrative of the advert is based on the "typical" story of what happens after a teenager gets home but the timings are reversed so the situation is happening at the beginning of the night when he is getting ready to go out as opposed to the end. When carrying out his actions one after each other in chronological order it symbolises each step he takes to becoming closer to getting to his bed but in opposite fashion getting to the front door that opens to the outside world which represents him becoming drunk






M- This music video represents all the materialstc things that are associated with a mans fantasy world such as fast cars money and women. It shows rap stars Fat joe and Lil Wayne rapping about what they have which is what the average man supposedly wishes for. Around them to create this illusion of paradise are women dancing over nice cars to symbolise the powerful postion the rappers are in as the apprently "own them"
Thier are aspects of the mise en scene that suggest the parchracal dominance in the video such as the materialsitcs possesions dispayed being mythically predomintly male associated such as cars,chains and desginger trainers rienfocing male dominance. At different stages of the video different sets of key lighting are used , at the beginning lil wayne and fat joe are together with brightlight in the background shining on them and thier money thus empahsising thier position within the narrative and what they are rapping about.

I- The video was produced by robot films which is owned by Nick Acacio which is known for producing hip hop videos like this in the past, thier values and attitudes towards women in the industry reflects the music and the message they are getting across through the video.

G- The genre of this is a typical hip hop video and has lots of codes and conventions that suggest this is the case such as the camera effects and close up shots on the oiled up aspects of the womens bodies, the promicsous impressions they give of through thier facial expressions make it obvious that these factors all play a part in audience pleasure which are the general accpetance of what Hip Hop is all about.

R- The low angle shots showing the men in powerful postions connotates dominance of them over the women, masculine urban rappers are being represented as powerful, dominant and in control whereas the women in the shots are represented as mentally weak to the temptation when money is thrown at them, "easy" to get ahold of and and willing to use their sexulailty to exploit weakness in males. It only seems like the females have been put in thier with no other purpose than to be an object of pleasure and desire for the man who is flashing the cash as a symbol that he is the hardworker making the money. The representation of the females shown could have a negative effect on the female teenage public who view the content and are easily maniplulated into thinking that is the way they should be.

A-The Women shown being degraded to objects lower than the men by dancing around for money is being glamourised to the extent that brainwashed the target auidenece that was is happening is right and this is what they should aspire to be. The target audience are young urban teenagers who are into hip and idolise rappers as thier hereos. Majoritly black and social class falls into c1 c2 D and E, these are seen as easy targets by record labels to brainwash values and morals into because they are so sidtracked into becoming the next big thing in the music industry they beilieve that what ever the rappers do or say is right including thier attitudes towards women and the rock and roll dangerous lifestyle they live

I- The ideoligy the video promotes is that women are seen as objects and lower in society than men and the fact that this is being portrayed as a good thing or the norm by the rappers suggests they are happy to make sex sell even if it means sacrificing positive representations of females that are close to them such as mothers, daugters or wives.

N- The narrative of the music video doesnt evolve in anyway it just reapreadly reinstates the message it is trying to put out with the constant image of men with sunglasses throwing money around and on the dancing females like it is nothing to them.