Water Aid Analysis - Representation

Question 1

1. What do the dress codes of the advert’s main character include?
2. Claudia is a similar age to other young women in the advert? What does this connote?
3. Give an example of where her independence is connoted.

Answer 1

1. A stereotypical knee-length skirt and pink colour palette in both her top and shoes.
2. She has had to grow up too quickly due to her tough environment.
3. The wide-angle shot where she is denoted alone on the dusty road (00.18).

Question 2

1. What do the images of a dry, dusty African environment form part of?
   - How are these stereotypical representations challenged?
   - Who’s theory is this?
2. What does David Gauntlett’s theory of identity say about Claudia?

Answer 2

1. The shared conceptual road map that give meaning to the ‘world’ of the advert.
   - More positive audio codes.
   - Stuart Hall: Representation.
2. She acts as a role model for the type of lifestyle changes that the audience could be responsible for creating if they donate to Water Aid.

Question 3

1. Which theory would argue that Claudia is contributing to social change by representing women in a non-traditional role?
2. How can Gilroy’s postcolonialism theory be applied here?

Answer 3

1. Leisbet Van Zoonen’s feminist theory.

2. The text reinforces colonial power by encouraging its British audience to ‘help’ those in ‘less developed’ countries.