Representation Case Study

Gender representationFor my study on gender representation in TV drama I am going to use an episode of Doctor Who to analyse. In the episode the Doctor, Rory and Amy get stuck on a pirate ship and have to solve the mystery of the disapearance of the crew at the hands of a siren.
The crew on the ship are all males because at that time women weren't thought to be able to do what men did and were seen as deficient. The costumes and props used help to charecterise the pirates. They are a typical stereotype of a dominant male. They are big built, burly, have facial hair and carry weapons all of these factors make them seem intimidating. The language they use also adds to the view that men are better than women, the captain gives orders to 'take the doxy below, to the gally, set her to work she won't need much feeding' here he is referring to Amy, doxy is a derogatory term meaning female lover/mistress.

The development of the internet

Web 1.0 :
Web 1.0 stands for the first stage of the world wide web which linked webpages and hyperlinks. The beginning of hyperlinks between webpages was the release of the WWW to the public in 1993. Personal web pages were common in web 1.0, these were mainly static pages that were hosted on free hosting services such as Geocities.
Web 1.0 design elements :

• Static pages instead of dynamic user-generated content.
• The use of table to position and align elements on a page.
• Online guestbooks
• HTML forms sent via email. A user would fill in a form, and upon clicking submit their email client would attempt to send an email containing the form's details.

Web 2.0 :
Web 2.0 is a web application that facilitates information sharing,  interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the world wide web. A web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaberate with each other in a social media dialogue. Web 2.0 allows users to do more than just retrieve information. By developing what was possible on web 1.0 the user is provided with more user-interface, software and storage facilities, all through their browser. Users can provide the data that is on a Web 2.0 site and exercise some control over that data.
Eamples of web 2.0 :

• Social networking sites
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Video sharing sites
• Hosted services
• Web applications

Web 3.0 :
Definitions of web 3.0 vary greatly however, it is agreed by many to be the next bit development to the internet. There is only speculation as to what it will be. It will be an improvement in the respect that it will still contain Web 2.0 properties while continuing to add to its ever expanding library of applications. Some people claim the web 3.0 will be more application based and focus it's efforts on more geographic or location ased information. Others simply state their belief that Web 3.0 will primarily focus on dramatically improving the functionality and usability of search engines. An important factor that users must continue to keep in mind is that the transition to web 2.0 from web 1.0 took approximately ten years. Given the same time frame, the next transition will not be complete until around the year 2015.

Comparing magazines to their web pages

The magazine I chose to look at is Look magazine, which includes information on fashion, beauty, hair and celebrities. I also looked at 'Looks' website in order for me to be able to compare the two formats and see if they work well together. The magazine includes lots of advertisements for products, the website is similar in that it advertises lots of products however it includes more offers and deals such as '20% off'. It also has hyperlinks which lead you to the website of the product being advertised which is more effective and quick than trying to find it yourself after looking at it in a magazine. Both the website and magazine include hair tips and how to advice, an added bonus to the website is that it is more interactive therfore there are videos showing you how to create looks as oppose to pictures in a magazine.

One thing I noticed with the magazine is that they have exclusive interviews with celebrities that the website doesn't have. The most recent interviews cannot be found online. However there are some articles on celebrities on the website they are just older ones. The magazine also includes editorial images which the website doesn't.

This seasons fashion, hair and beauty styles on the website coincide with those in the magazine and the trends are shown in both. The magazine includes pictures of the catwalk fashion and the website has slideshows and videos which is more interactive for the viewer. The magazine includes top fashion pieces from the highstreet, which is similar to the website hower the website also includes slideshows of the full collections. There is a lot of focus in both the magazine and the website of celeb fashion, however the celebrities featured in each don't coincide. Those on the webiste are not up to date with the ones in the magazine.

In my opinion there is a lot more on the website, however I found that this meant there was a lot more rubbish to trawl through in comparison to the magazine which only includes the most interesting articles and the main trends. I think that the website does compliment the magazine because of the general content both the magazine and website focus on fashion, hair, beauty and celebritites. However the exect content varies from one to the other which is a good think if you look at both but not so good if you only use one format.      

Gender Analysis - TV Drama

http://vimeo.com/6690147
The hyperlink above is a clip of the TV Drama NCIS which comes under the genre of crime drama. The prortayal of genders in this clip is challenging the steriotypical views we have of men and women. Usually men are thought of as the more dominant, stronger sex and women are thought of as weaker and more emotional. However in this clip of NCIS which is set in a prison, in a hostage situation. It is a womens prison and the women in there are extremely strong will and tough.

Comparing The NME to my music magazine

The NME was started in 1952 and has been published weekly ever since. For the magazine to survive in the industry for so long it has had to adapt and change over time. By constantly changing the genre of music included in the magazine it has gained a new readers through the generations. NME changes it's editors and writers constantly so that it can keep on top of what's popular. By bringing in new writers and editors the magazine gets a new face, an upheaval to make it current and interest it's readers. To stay popular NME has had to stay up to date through many music periods. It latches on to the biggest music scenes around for example in the 60's when The Beatles and The Rolling stones were immensly popular NME featured them frequently. In the 70's when it's sales plummeted Alan Smith was brought in to turn things around. NME survived and 1976 saw Punk arrive, NME recruited  Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill to be at the forefront of the Punk revolution. In the 80's NME became political they were anti-Thatcher, this caused problems for the owners IPC who wanted to appear imparcial. The writers of the articles in NME are of paramount importance the journalistic styles in NME reflect the music featured in the magazine.  

Music Magazine Evaluation

Music Magazine evaluation

Music Magazine

This is my front cover for my music magazine

This is the contents page for my music magazine

This is the double page spread for my music magazine

Flat plans for my music magazine

Magazine Flat Plans