MOCK EXAM- Zoella and Attitude question plan

2nd year mock exam - March 2019

Jean Baudrillard- Post Modernism (hyper reality)

Claude Levi Strauss- Structuralism (binary Opposition) 

Roland Barthes- Semiotics

David Gauntlett- Identity (pick and mix)

Livingston and Lunt- Regulation

David Hesmondhalgh- Cultural Industries (horizontal and vertical integration)

Stuart Hall- Representation 

George Gerbner- Cultivation 

Clay Shirky- End of Audience

Henry Jenkins- Fandom
Paul Gilroy- Post Colonialism   

Bell Hooks- Fem Theory 1 
Liesbet Van Zoonen- Fem Theory 2 (male Gaze)

 Time allowed: 50 minutes (w/ extra time: 62 minutes)A maximum of 30 marks can be awarded to your response
Please answer one question

Point

Evidence

Analysis / Argument

2) To what extent do Zoella and Attitude reflect the social and historical context of the time when they were made? [30]

Introduction:

Definition (what is online media? what is social and cultural context?)

Argument (What social and cultural context are you focusing on - representation, industry, ideology, viewpoints etc - How will I develop my response?)

Representation:

Attitude - 

LGBT Representation

Stereotypes

Conventional ideals of beauty

Challenging traditional representations of masculinity

Stuart Hall (stereotypes)

Paul Gilroy (Post-colonialism)

Subversive, gender binary, androgyny, challenging, hetero-normativity, hegemonic

Zoella - 

Stereotypical depictions of gender, conventional femininity and masculinity

Hetero-normative representation

Domestic, conventional ideals of beauty

Ultra traditional

Lack of non-white representation - could mention Gilroy

Judith Butler - Gender Performativity, construct

Liesbet Van Zoonen - Objectification / sexualisation of bodies

Purposefully infantile

Evidence Of Representation:

Attitude -

'Positive' Representation

Online magazine articles

'Boys' section - promotes arguably reductive representation of mascullinity - reinforcing stereotpyes and hegemony

Why? Re-purposing stereotypes as a reaction to constructing gay identity / othering - embracing stereotype

Magazine front cover of Jake Shears - subversive, challenging rep of masculinity that challenges stereotpye

Zoella - 

Our Christmas Eve traditions -hegemonic roles of woman

The Zoella Apartment

Zoella - Women are passive, domestic, and cultivate space for beauty and visual aesthetic

Alfie male stereotypes

Reinforces heteronormative, hegemony of whiteness, limited non white representation

Industry

Attitude:

Published by Stream Publishing

Launch of website on 2014, synergy, digital convergence

Twitter, social media accounts

Shift in production from industrial to information

Press pack

Curran and Seaton - limiting of variety, creativity, monopoly of power

Ineffective regulation - IPSO

Hesmondhalgh - horizontal and vertical integration

Zoella

Youtube

Monetisation, commercialisation of YouTube

Driven by financial gains, view, retaining advertiser interest

Algorithm and the Adpocalypse

Upload compliance

Narrow censored content that contrasts her original uploads

Zoella is highly cultivated and constructed, reliant on advertisers and retaining her fanbase

Ineffective Regulation,

Hesmonhalgh (power of bigtech led to a passive audience that doesn't fight back)

Ideologies and Viewpoints

Attitude:

Inclusive, informative 'guide' for the LGBT community

Attitude implies a challenge to heteronormative ideology and a confident stance to any discrimination, prejudice or homophobia - reflected in its online articles

Aim to promote subversive content that challenges traditional representation

Adopts stereotypes to construct its own identity

Somewhat contradictory ideology press pack

Zoella:

Unmediated, spontaneous content that is constructed to feel accessible and relatable

Direct mode of address and everyday aesthetic

Natural aesthetic

Constructed, cultivated persona

Aspirational content through cultivated technical elements

Reflects social / historical context of vloggers and YouTube content

Social:

1. Interaction with brand/producer via social media/comment sections 
2. fandom- creates a community and a cult following plus Identity (pick and mix)
3. Escapism!! 

Historical:

1. new age of advertising- influences feeling more real than models (hyper reality)- Panorama documentary
2. Layout of website 2.0 white background and clean boxed in sections with clear labeling and san serif font 
3. Click bait and thumb nails 

Zoella: started making videos from 2009

1. Target audience young teenage girls conforms to female stereotypes- face full of makeup, obsesses over candles and puppies etc, subverts stereotypes- sexless in attitude, presentation and content (male gaze)
2. June favorites 2016- 1.8Mil views (editing) presenting products that over all come to over £400 'a small haul' plus 'Fuck Zoella' tweet (pick and mix and end of audince)
3. Zoellas tweets from 2009 calling someone a slag and a chav going aginst her presented ideology (fake news?)

Attitude Online: started in 2014 (magazine 1994)

1. target audience gay men specifically 20-30 (talk pink pound) includes multiple explicit images of topless men (not all gay celebrities) 
2. Tabloid feel compare with The Daily Mirror  
3. Dec 2017 subversive attitude cover with member of the Scissor Sisters (representation) 

Talk about:

Moderation 

Commodity fetishism 

Anchorage 

Synergy (online, print, products...)

lack of Black people represented
hyper modality