representation Flashcards
how are typical representations of people in charity adverts (especially those from ethnic minorities) shown?
- lots of charity adverts tend to represent people In quite a vulnerable, weak, sympathetic manner (especially when based within Africa)
- represent them in negative terms
- living in poverty
- suffering from famine/ drought
why is WA challenging conventional/ stereotypical charity adverts, and Gilroy postcolonial theory?
- WA discovered that audiences had become desensitised to typical representations of people in need
- decided to represent C and her community differently through positive representations
how is C and her community represented positively (ML)?
what camera shots are used?
- various close up shots of her smiling and laughing
- long shots of her and her community all together encouraging us to view them as a happy community
- visual codes of facial expressions and body language shows that they’re having fun together as part of a team
how is C represented negatively (ML)?
how does she tie into stereotypical representations?
- establishing shots of C walking alone, looks small within the frame
- represents her as isolated and alone
- ties in to typical representations of people from African third world countries
- ties into stereotypical representations of women as vulnerable and weak
- ties into representations of age, she is supposed to be a child so this establishing shot makes her look small and vulnerable within frame
how are representations of age shown in WA?
- younger children are observed as playing on swings, having fun, laughing
- then cut to shots of C walking past these children, she’s going to collect water
- connotes that in this country the young children are growing up fast, they are expected to start adult work and responsibilities
how is C and her community represented as stereotypically feminine?
what does it link into?
- wearing a skirt and pink top
- women portrayed doing laundry, cooking, childcare
- links into old fashioned gender stereotypes
how is C and her community represented as stereotypically feminine?
how does this reflect Van Zoonens ideas that women are often shown as being domestic?
- wearing a skirt and pink top
- women portrayed doing laundry, cooking, childcare
- links into old fashioned gender stereotypes
what would Bell Hooks say about C and her community being represented in this domestic way?
- might say that the reason Claudia and her female friends are represented in this domestic way, is not because of her gender, but also because of her ethnicity
- represented in a country within Africa where women are expected to do domestic chores whilst men do manual labour
how does WA challenge Van Zoonens idea that women are often shown as being domestic?
why does the camera track C?
- women viewed as strong, carrying heavy water buckets on their heads
- women are pumping water which looks physically demanding
- camera is tracking alongside C following her in her journey, suggests that women are important to this community, play a vital role in collecting water for the village
how is C represented as strong and empowered? (ML)
- close ups of C face dominate the frame, adds to her sense of importance
- visual codes are shown having confident facial expressions and body language, makes her seem independent and powerful young woman
how is Africa represented in WA?
is it stereotypically represented?
- ties into stereotypical representations of places within Africa
- dusty roads, fields in distance, dry landscape with very little greenery
- harsh environment
- people are isolated
- warm colour palette
why is Africa represented stereotypically? (Hall)
-used stereotypical representations to allow audiences to easily identify the location due to the shared conceptual roadmap of dusty African roads/ fields
why was it effective to use C name in marketing materials?
- the use of her name on the YouTube video and WA twitter pages adds to the sense of realism
- connotes to audience she is a real person
- makes representations feel as real as possible
- engages the ta to be more likely to donate money
how would Gauntlett view C?
what would it encourage audiences to do?
- C may be seen as a positive role model by some audiences who can identify with her
- view her as aspirational due to her capability to overcome a difficult background, to be able to provide for herself and her family
- this independent powerful representation might be a way of encouraging the audience to see what could happen if they donated their money
what factors will affect how audiences respond to WA?
-way audiences respond or read the advert will depend on factors such as their gender, age, ethnicity, cultural background, historical background
preferred reading of WA?
- many modern audiences would have enjoyed the unconventional nature of the advert in comparison to other charity adverts
- might have enjoyed fact that this advert had a more positive representation of people from within African communities
- they will donate immediately because of this
oppositional reading of WA?
- some audiences might disagree with the representations and believe WA is misrepresenting the situation by generalising C and her community in terms of ethnicity, they are not given explicit identities
- or they may have felt that the advert doesn’t represent the subjects as needy enough, so they dont need to donate because they have already been helped
- or some audiences may haver found the advert to be a little sexist depending on their cultural context
negotiated reading of WA?
-some will donate because they want to support these African communities, however they still hold the belief that they have been misrepresented
how does WA conform to Gilroy postcolonial theory?
- from a postcolonial perspective, C and her community are not given explicit identities, they are seen as a group and not individuals
- it is assumed that because C is black and in a hot country that they are represented as ‘the other’ and are ‘struggling with life’ and are not given nationalities
- advert completely tribalizes poverty by generalising it and stereotyping people from a race to the audience
- as westerners we are represented as though we should help people from third world countries because we have power to do so
why are ethnocentric representations used?
- because they deliver a simple message which can be understood by a wide audience of not just one particular demographic
- WA wants to stereotype because they have the power to do so
how does WA construct audiences to feel through their representations?
how and why do they identify with these representations?
- likely audience demographic is constructed through use of a strong, independent young woman with whom they might personally identify with (U&G theory)
- parents might identify empathetically with the better life that clean water provides for the represented children
how does WA have a unique selling point?
- unconventionally positive visual codes, audio codes and representations would give this charity advert a unique selling point in comparison to other charity adverts
- makes audience more likely to donate
who is WA an opinion leader for?
-acts as an opinion leader for the target audience who assume the ‘650 million people’ statistic
how does WA contrast other charity adverts?
- lacks a non diegetic VoiceOver
- no melancholic audio codes
- no black and white visual codes
why is a personalised narrative effective?
- has relevant info and a direct appeal to audiences for donations
- creates a sense of realism, personalisation with audience and C
what is the main aim for charity adverts?
- to sell an ideology for us to buy into a set of beliefs an values
- convinces you to donate because its a good, moral thing to do
- appeal to an altruistic desire, that we feel good when helping those in need
how does WA subvert traditional charity adverts?
- doesnt conform to the usual stereotypes in charity adverts
- not depressing, it uses happiness to capture audiences attention
- instead of beginning with the problem, it starts with the solution and shows how the money donated has helped people in need
