Week 9 - Cosmopolitan Women

Name your favourite television and film. Explain how the film could shape a person's identity.

Apart from daily interactions with people and institutions, we gain knowledge and understood culture or its representations through the popular mediums of television and cinema. They have a great influence as most people globally have access to television or cinema theatre. As the ultimate source of information and entertainment, it unconsciously influence's ones personality, actions and identity.

For the purpose of this week's lecture question, I have chosen the sensational HBO hit TV series “Sex and the City” and explains how it could mold a person's identity. 

Sex and the City, the American TV comedy-drama series

As a woman and avid fan of Sex and the City, I believe it appeals to women because the television series deals with a taboo subject matter, 'SEX'. The series featured four main characters, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte in the Big Apple, New York, dealing with relationship problems and modern social and sex related issues (Akass & Mccabe, 2006). The sensitive and controversial subjects were expressed in witty humour and steamy sex scenes. Before Sex and the City, embarrassing sex problems and issues were awkward and unfavourable subjects of discussion. However the tv show defies the practices and norms of culturally based conservative identities where “what happens in the bedroom, stays in the bedroom,”. The television series empower women to openly discuss sex problems and sex health issues and this represents freedom of expression for women (Whelehan, 2005)

  

One of my favourite scenes from Sex and the City. Samantha hilariously tell her girlfriends about a lover's 'funky tasting spunk' (semen).

The Sex and the City TV series also portrays four middle-aged single and successful women in a male dominated world of New York City. The show revolutionized the representations of women on television (Lotz, 2007) and reflects women taking charge of their lives. The show was also celebrated by women worldwide for demonstrating women liberation and mens' inferiority as far as sex is concerned. The men were also reflected as the weaker or minor sex in the show and sex issues and problems were based on female perspective . Sex and the City is also an example of modern femininity who is not dependent on men for financial stability which illustrates that it achieve equal status with men. We also live in a society where heterosexual marriage is the bedrock and an important social institution. We as members of the society are expected to tie the knot sometime in our adult life, because it is considered the traditional union and the natural cycle of life. However the TV show depicts that it is normal to be single, independent and self-sufficient which had not been pictured on television in the 90's and 2000s (D'Acci, 1994). 

An Austrian Electrolux advertisement, portraying women as submissive homemakers

Apart from female liberation, Sex and the City TV series also revolutionized the body type in the fashion industry. In the show, the women were not 'stick-thin' but attractive and healthy middle-aged women who are often shown going out and eating. Occasionally, they talk about their weight and physical insecurities which displays that they are like us but still successful in the big city. This further delivers a positive message of female confidence and make them feel good.

The Sex and the City ladies having lunch

Despite the empowering message, Sex and the City TV series has also been criticized for painting unrealistic lifestyle in the Big Apple. The women obsession with designer shoes, bags and clothing line as part of the show's product placement drove women to associate designer labels with lifestyle. It is apparent that TV shows and movies have play a major role for shaping and influencing our identities. Since the media also created stereotypes, we begin to make generalisation about other people as it provides us with a common identity. In the case of Sex and the City, a new identity for women was created. Women were no longer viewed as homemaker, but could have a successful career just as men would.

Carrie walking around Manhattan in her Blahnik heels.  Sex and the City made Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo household names

References:

Akass, K. & Mccabe, J. (2006). Reading sex & the city. London : I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.

 D'Acci, J. (1994). Defining women: Television and the case of Cagney & Lacey. US:UNC Press Books

 Lotz, A. (2007). The television will be revolutionized. USA:New York University Press.

Whelehan, I. (2005). The feminist Bestseller: From Sex and The City to Sex and the Single Girl. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Week 8 - Seeing is Believing..

How do captions and cutlines re-frame the meaning of an image?

A photo can tell a thousand words , not to mention a thousand different interpretations and stories. Photographs can confirm reality of an event or situation and it is also an effective means to convey a powerful message. However a photo alone does not explain itself. Therefore words are significant to tell the story of the picture or communicate the message to the intended viewer (Askew & Wilk, 2002). Without words, the pictures would exist without meaning, thoughts or purpose.

This photo of me chasing the pigeons was taken by my son at St James's Park in London. This photo can produce different meanings. It could be that I was running because I was late or I could just be terrorizing a flock of pigeons to alleviate boredom (which is actually the case here). Overall this photo requires simple explanatory text to avoid misinterpretations.

A photograph in any form of publication is often accompanied by some explanatory text, termed as 'captions' or 'cutlines' to supply additional information and effectively clarify the meaning.

To re-frame an image, cutline is a short explanatory text placed below or beside to describe the photograph or illustration. Cutlines are necessary because of the functions they provide namely identification, description, explanation and elaboration (Luebke, 1989). It varies in style and length depending on the medium. For example in television, the cutline is superimposed over a picture usually at the top or bottom of the screen to describe what is being shown or to name the person speaking. A cutline tells the reader of who, what, when, where and why or how about the photograph in complete sentences, with 50 words or less. As photograph depict events frozen in time, a cutline warrants for the first sentence to be written in the present tense. Most newspapers use a cutline writing style where additional sentences can be written in present or past tense depending on a publication's style or preferences. Cutlines must also include a photo credit and make reference to the newsworthiness of the photo. It also generally identify everyone recognizable in the photo.

The cutline on live BBC news report of Michael Jackson's death.

Meanwhile captions are the title or headline that precedes the cutline and it provides important details of a photograph. Photograph can mislead or misrepresent if the context in which they were taken is not made clear. Therefore captions help place the photographs in their proper context (Prosser, 1998). In addition to that, captions expand our understanding of a photograph and reinforce what the photograph is meant to convey. It is usually placed directly above, below or to the side of the image they describe. It is the first to appear and it is usually formatted in bold. The caption only consist of a only a few words or a short phrase to accommodate the needs of its viewers. It identify the people, places, animals, plants or structures in the photograph and explain the action.

Paying homage to the late Apple co-founder with the caption 'Steve Jobs, 1955-2011'.

Cutlines or captions, helped tell the story along with the photos. It is therefore uncommon for photograph to stand alone without the benefit of a cutline or caption.

References

Askew, K. M., & Wilk, R. R. (2002). The anthropology of media:A reader. Victoria, Australia:Blackwell.

Luebke, B. F. (1989). Out of focus:Images of women and men in newspaper photographs. Sex Roles, 20(3), 121-133. doi:10.1007/BF00287986

Prosser, J. (1998). Image-based research:A sourcebook for qualitive researchers. London, Great Britain:Routledge.

Week 7 - Narratives

We tell stories everyday. It is part of communicating with others through jokes, musings, personal thoughts or experiences . Therefore narrative is form of story-telling in a constructive format to organize the information and further describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events in a manner that leads the reader continuously to ask 'and then? (Hyvärinen, 2010). Narrative is composed of paradigmatic and syntagmatic features. The syntagmatic dimension of narrative focuses on linking events rationally and one element in a configuration can be replaced with another belonging to a similar category. On the other hand, the paradigmatic dimension is where a narrative takes characters and elements and removes from their temporal meaningfulness and gives them non-temporal sense. Both Todorov and Propp’s theories of structural analysis of narrative elements exemplify the syntagmatic dimension; while Lévi-Strauss’ theory of the “deep structure” in narratives is paradigmatic. However narration works differently in different media.

In a picture which usually deals with frozen moment of time, we often imagine what takes place before or about to happen in the image. Depending on the medium, the genre of the image can change. In order to convey the narrative visually, it utilized the relations between characters and signs. The color of the picture also indicate the time occurred in the story (Branston & Stafford, 2006). Black and white and color often signals whether the story in the photo is past or present.

Like almost everybody, I have passion for photography and my favourite subjects are kids, particularly my children. They grow up in the blink of an eye. Through photography I can capture as many precious moments as they grow up. Below are some of my favourite photos of my children having fun on the Seria beach during the Chinese Dumpling Festival.

The photos above tell a story. The characters are my children and they were at the beach as the sun almost sets. The look on their faces exhibits positive emotions such as happiness, joy and contentment. Their actions playing and splashing in the waters and getting wet and wild while still with their clothes on display fun, excitement and freedom to do as they want. 

For film, time is the ultimate challenge as the story has to conveyed in the average length of two hours. The time is displayed through caption such as a year before, two weeks before and the scene follows after that. Flashbacks are also used to shuffle time in a narrative to add further information to the plot. The opening of the film establishes time, place, location and the characters in the narrative. It lures the audience into the narrative. Meanwhile the closing ended the story with resolving of a conflict, tying up loose ends and suspect to allow the audience to leave the narration. The setting where the narrative takes place is also equally important as it affects how we interpret the story. Other narrative aspects include the genre, characters, mis en scene, audience, sound and special effects among others.

Meanwhile verbal or spoken narratives involve a person describing things and events and tell the stories in sequence. There is absence of visual and it relies completely on words in the construction of the story. Typically, we will speak about the subject of the story, the settings and describe the time sequence through transition words such as today, before, afterwards, then or later. The storyteller will stick to the topic with beginning and ending and also addresses the questions of who, what, where, when,why and how.

Lastly, narrative writing is writing that tells a story and the most popular form or written narrative are books. Books can be stories, poems, fables or even non-fictional. A story always conveys a theme and all the conventions of storytelling such as plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. It is filled with details that are chosen to explain, support or embellish the story. The writing should also portrays the writer's voice, and tells it in a one person point of view or being told by an outside observer (narrator). There is also opening paragraph to orientate the readers and give them idea from the start to see if it is worth reading. The beginning of the story must also be lively enough to cat the attention of the readers. A good plot also have situations which happen throughout the narrative that makes you want to read on. It usually have crisis, which is a turning point or danger or suspense and characterization to describe the person's actions or appearance. Setting is also strong influence on how the reader feels.The words must be vivid and lively to involve the reader. All the details relate in some way to the main point the writer is making.

References :

Branston, G. & Stafford, R. (2006). The media student's book. New York:Routledge.

Goodson, I. (2010). Narrative learning. Taylor & Francis Group : New York.

Hyvärinen, M. (2010). Beyond narrative coherence. Amsterdam:John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Week 6 – The Art of Persuasion

This week we touched on the use of visual rhetorics to persuade the audience. Therefore for this week's blog entry, I have chosen a video commercial which persuades the audience rhetorically. Rhetorics was defined as the art of persuasion (Garver, 1994) and rhetorics in advertising is more concerned with style than content. It emphasized on “how to say it” rather than “what to say” (McQuarrie & Philips, 2008).

All persuasions must have an argument. The rhetorical argument in this Malaysian Idol Commercial is that everybody suddenly wants to be a star because of Malaysian Idol. The Malaysian Idol is a reality television show to uncover singing talent in singing talent across all states in Malaysia.

The commercial begins with a Chinese man inside the car. He is then approached by an Indian security guard who started singing the altered version of YMCA song, telling the Chinese man that he is not allowed to park within the premise and must get a visitor pass. When singing, the Indian security guard is accompanied by few other security guards who also sang along. The advertisement ended with a tagline “Suddenly, everyone wants to be a star,” and it is further anchored with the logo Malaysian Idol.

Towards promoting the Malaysian idol talent show, the rhetorical element is the advertisement uses ordinary people. Instead of telling or talking the Chinese man in a conversational manner, the security guard sang to the man. The singing was the rhetorical style used in the delivery of the message. The advertisement is attempting to portray the impact or 'influence' of Malaysian Idol show to the extent that singing replaces daily conversation. It also employs the rhetorical strategy called 'enthymeme” with missing premise and conclusion (Rose, 2000). Although the ad is intended to promote the show Malaysian Idol, it did not instruct the audience directly to watch the show. Instead, it it demonstrates the effect and impact of the show towards people's daily lives which is the rhetorical style or device utilized to persuade the viewers. In our everyday lives, we do not sing to communicate. But the security guard conveyed or relayed the message by singing. This illustrates how people are catching the Malaysian Idol fever because everybody started singing. It also applies humour as a rhetorical technique to draw attention from the viewers.

Therefore rhetorics are frequently used in advertising, which can also produce incongruity to draw audience attention.

References

Garver, E. (1994). Artistotle's rhetoric: An art of character. USA:University of Chicago Press.

McQuarrie, E. F. & Philips, B. J. (2008). Go figure! New directions in advertising rhetoric. USA, M.E. Sharpe. Inc.

Rose, J. W. (2000). Making 'pictures in our heads':Government advertising in Canada. USA:Greenwood Publishing Group.

Week 5 - A test of the 'Schema'

Schema provides a mental structure for us to organize and simplify our knowledge of the world around us (Mandler, 1984).

Therefore in the creation of an image, schema plays a significant role as it provides us with the mental structures or building blocks in the production of the image.

Everyone have schemas about almost everything. It assist us in the recognition of object or image. We have models in our mind and we make sense by comparing the reality before us with the mental abstractions we store in our memory.

One of the founders of Schema theory, Sir Frederick Bartlett considered schema to be “maps or structures of knowledge stored in the long term memory” (Ost & Costall, 2002). Meanwhile Marvin Minsky in his book “A Framework for Representing Knowledge” sketched a new theory about data structures that could be used to represent knowledge in human memory. He called this structure frames. Attached to each frame are several kinds of information. Frames to Minsky are divided into top levels and lower levels. Top levels of a frame are fixed and stands for something that are always true about the supposed situation For example on a car, the top level information are windscreen, headlights, side mirror, and car seats among others. Meanwhile the lower levels have many terminals or slots that must be filled by specific instances or data. For instance, the car seat can be leather or fabric and these different types of materials represent the low level information. Therefore frame schema assists us to make out the mental object or recognize the situation in in order to create the desirable visual image.

However when creating an image, particularly an ad, incongruity in the visual makes the image more stimulating. Incongruity in the visual attracts attention, particularly if it happens in a familiar schema. According to Mandler (1984), schema incongruity is an interruption of expectations and predictions and is considered a schema violation where visual images breached expectations.

Therefore our mental frames or schema is required to have the ability to conceive and grasp what is expressed or presented (Young et al, 2003)

For the purpose of this topic, I have produced three videos, starring my 7 year old son, Aaron', to test his capabilities in identifying and describing the objects shown to him. This demonstrates his schema or cognitive process in interpreting the objects he see. Since most of the objects in my house are identifiable for him, so I took him on a shopping trip to Hua Ho department store. (Due to the moderate sound quality, please put on your headphones).  

The first video below shows my son trying to describe a chocolate fountain machine used to serve chocolate fondue. He recalled seeing the equipment at one of the hotel's buffet lunch.

Meanwhile in the second video, I took Aaron to the store's home décor section where we stumbled upon this big and cute cat statue which I normally see at Chinese restaurants or shops. It is in fact a Japanese beckoning cat or Maneki Neko which are often displayed to bring prosperity to business or homes.

The last video shows my son attempting to describe the weight bars displayed on a rack. It appears that he has prior knowledge of the gym equipment. I took him to a club's gymnasium few times after his taekwando lessons, so he must have recalled seeing the weight bars somewhere in the hall. For a seven year old kid, I believed he did well and his schema portrays his level of exposure, knowledge and understanding of objects and subjects within his surrounding.

References :

Mandler, J. M. (1984). Stories, scripts and scenes : Aspects of schema theory. New York:Wiley.

Ost, J., & Costall, A. (2002). Misremembering Bartlett: A study in serial reproduction.British Journal of Psychology, 93(2), 243-255. doi:10.1348/000712602162562

Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema theraphy:A practionier's guide. New York:Guildford Press.