WEEK 3- STRUCTURALISM

Today’s lecture focused on the concept of Structuralism. In order to grasp this complex term, Richard began by using a simple example we may encounter on a daily basis that demonstrates a series of opposites that create meaning. For instance, the human brain is able to differentiate between the actual word ‘cat’ and the mental image of a cat. In this sense it is the grammar that makes the meaning possible. However, within films, instead of using words and grammar we use pictures and imagery, thus structuralism is formed. From this it then became apparent that structuralism can be applied to almost all movies. In relation to American cinema, structuralism acts a framework that carries the story. A vast majority of films will use binary opposites, such as good and bad, strong and weak, that will depict the narrative to the audience. Richard asked us all to think of our favourite film and discuss how these binary opposites within the film help structure it. My favourite film ‘Taken’ by Pierre Morrell, highlighted binary opposites such a ‘good ‘and ‘bad’ and ‘inside society’ and ‘outside society’. We then concluded with discussing how Laura Mulvey’s theory of feminism can be applied to a number of movies such as ‘Bend it like Beckham’ which we will be looking at next week. Again structuralism is used throughout this film, and we see binary opposites such as ’identity’ and ‘gender’.

James Bond Lecture

James Bond Lecture
This lecture concentrated on the phenomenon that is James Bond, with particular attention paid to the novel ‘Casino Royale’. The Bond books were one of the first cheap, affordable paperbacks available to the consumers of Britain, the first being Casino Royale (written in 1952). This was the premier of the James Bond character, he was presented as a gambling, drinking, smoking(70+ a day), luxury consuming jet setting spy, with the confidence of a ‘colony controlling’ Britain behind him. James Bond was a symbol of consumerism; he was a promoter of Great-er Britain, and anti Americanism, perhaps considered a xenophobe.

The reason perhaps for the success of these James Bond novels was a combination. The novels were readily available for the masses to buy, through paperback production, but also the spy-genre of the books interested a lot of people at the time, with the cold war still present in people’s minds spies were a reality, the media were always publishing stories about the capture of spies. The books also could be considered to present this capitalism vs communism war.

The author of the Bond novels, Ian Fleming was educated at Eton and Sandhurst Military school, he like Bond worked in the secret service and was arguably through his presentations of Bond was a Pro-English supporter, the middle class man also as Bond did, played cards, and consumed luxuries. He was once described by Dominic Sandbrook as having “mystery” and “arrogant charm” (similar to Bond). When Fleming was told the next James Bond would be Sean Connery he was unhappy, James Bond was English and always had been, however he came round to the idea after watching Connery play the role and even then wrote Scottish ancestry into the character.

The James Bond novels were incredibly successful during the 20th century; by 1964 they had sold 22million copies. The novels were successful due to their accessibility; they were an insight for the working class, to experience luxury lifestyles and exotic locations. They appealed to a range of people, and when they eventually hit the cinema their success continued.



Kieran Hipkins

093585

Newspapers and Magazines

Session 9: Newspapers & Magazines

In the previous lecture we found that the film Quadrophenia is about Media construction and representation of events of the 1960’s, primarily through newspapers. This lecture showed how the media still plays a large part in modern popular culture.

In recent times there has been a dramatic change in the focus and style newspapers are presented. During the 1830’s-1850’s newspapers contained just text and no pictures. All headlines were of a serious tone and certain papers were targeted at certain audiences. Plus they were often written in small concentrated. However in contrast, today’s newspapers often contain large colour pictures with small text and tend to centre on more trivial topics such as popular TV show ‘The X Factor’. Such a focus has also found people questioning some newspapers priorities.

One such newspaper is ‘The Sun’ which contains serious stories but with a more relaxed and joke-like attitude. The ‘demotic’ tone used in this paper can be related to ‘the voice of the people’, which in order to appeal to the mass amount of people means prioritising shallow news over serious news.

In more recent times newspapers and magazines have become more of a commodity, which for some have taken on an entertainment stance in order to sell more. This is the commercialisation and commodification of the media. In 1896 the Daily Mail newspaper was founded and was designed to be “a compact reader friendly newspaper” aimed at the lower middle class.

Overall, the newspapers have lost their original aim – to tell the news. Many are now a commodity companies sell to certain groups to make money.

James Bond Lecture

Popular Fiction Lecture: James Bond

The Aim of this week’s lecture was to examine popular fiction as a cultural phenomenon. The James Bond book Casino Royale’. The James Bond series is an example of how popular fiction has become acceptable rather than a secret vice to be ashamed of. Casino Royale the novel was released in 1953 and by 1965 it had sold 27million copies, as it was available in paperback it was available to everyone and was easily consumed.

The novel is advertises loads of consumer luxuries, the character of James Bond loves fast cars, beautiful women, cigarettes, luxury food and to gamble. In the book we see Ian Flemming list Bond’s breakfast and his cigarette count. This book becomes a consumer product about consuming products. The audience for these novels were primarily the working class, as they were cheap and easily consumed. The books also show the readers a flashier life style. In the novel women are also presented as consumer items, who can be brought and sold like women.

In the 1950’s Britain faced an identity crisis as they had lost its colonies and was dealing with shortages after World War 2. America was now seen as the ultimate country. James Bond helped to deal with this crisis and Bond became an icon, as he helped to promote Britishness, Bond was a suave and sophisticated British man who always got the beautiful women and caught the baddie. Bond always saves the day before the American C.I.A. With During the War it was seen that American helped to save Britain during the war, yet in the bond films it seems that it Bond himself that saves the day instead of America, this helps with Britain’s identity crisis to promote Britishness. We also how current events in society were portrayed during the Bond series; we see the battle between Britain and Russia representing the cold war.

The Bond films still represent consumerism however there seems to be a switch in the luxuries that bond indulges in. In the films today Bond is more interested in the gadgets. However we still see him dressed in the best suits and driving the best cars. James Bond has now become an iconic figure in Britain today and has become easily recognisable. Bond is so iconic that the franchise provides intertexuality in other forms of popular culture such as films like Austin Powers which is loosely based on the bond novels.

The union Jack is also seen various times in the bond films, however it is not used to show how great Britain is, instead it is used as a symbol of sarcasm to show that Britain has gone downhill. We see the parachute open after Bond falls off a cliff and Union Jacket parachute opens, this now mocks britishness.

The Culture Industry

The aim of this lecture was "to examine the culture industries, and the work of Walt Disney as an example". We looked at and recapped such topics as Adorno's concept of 'candyfloss entertainment', fordism, fandom, Andy Warhol and standardization among others.

The culture industry covers many topics and themes. One dominant figure regarding this area is Theodor Adorno -  a German sociologist/philosopher who was known for his critical theory of society and was very pessimistic regarding the concept of the culture industry. He came up with the phrase 'candyfloss entertainment' and is believed to have had fascist, revolutionary views.

Standardization and mass production are reoccurring phrases when looking at the culture industry and relate to the term fordism (like a car manufacturer) meaning something is being standardised and made to be exactly the same.

On the handout given (p. 121) the quote "Movies and radio need no longer pretend to be art. The truth that they are just business is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce"   demonstrate Adorno's view of the culture industry and how he views art as hiding real economic qualities of social reality. Culture can be seen as being injected into us through the "hyperdermic syringe", classifying, catergorising ans labelling consumers, limiting our choices as consumers.

Rebecca Smith

Press and Popular Culture Review

In this lecture we looked at how the press represents stories in newspapers and how newspapers in general have changed more into a commodity based product rather than a reliable source of information. It is quite evident that the media like to construct stories creating myths and ideologues however it is also important to know that it all depends on how the reader receives and interprets the information, whether he/she is a passive or active consumer. As time went on newspapers eventually became much more visual in it’s layout, saturating the page with pictures and keeping words to a minimum and straight to the point. When looking at newspapers from the 1830s we can see that there are much more stories on the page but no use of colour what so ever. Nowadays many newspapers rely heavily on adverts and commodity based items on the front page in order to draw more people into buying them. “The image does not illustrate the text; it is the text which amplifies the connotative potential of the image.” Only in the 1980s did colour start to feature in newspapers.

It can be argued that the press has become more of a commodity and are purposely more colourful and entertaining, sensationalising quite trivial events on the front page while leaving the more serious stories as an afterthought. Stories can often be exaggerated, creating a blur between fiction and reality. Is this becoming way of dumbing down news papers for it’s target audience? The Sun newspaper can be considered as a demotic voice of the people in which it addresses it’s readers in a language they can understand whilst celebrating quite consumerist values at the same time. It is important to realise that we don’t all believe what we read and we are not as passive as we used to be. Although there is still an attraction to gossip and exciting stories, audiences still need to challenge stories and make their own meanings of what they read. Interpreting current media in this way can be seen as a form of empowerment.

Quote from, Pg 107 from Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, John Storey.

The Press and Popular Culture

In the last lecture on Quadrophenia, we saw the construction of media. As shown in today's lecture, media plays an important role within popular culture.

The change in newspapers from 1830 till today is drastic. In the 1830s front pages of newspapers were black and white, contained no pictures, and had serious headlines. Thus, these newspapers were targeting older generations. Now, we have colour pictures throughout newspapers, minimal text and headlines contain puns, aiming more at younger generations. This leads us to the question: Does image triumph over stories?

We now look more on trivial news than serious headlines by putting trivial headlines on front pages and serious ones further into the newspaper. An example of this is 'The Sun'. This newspaper prioritises shallow over serious news stories. This is because they try to relate to the masses by showing a demotic voice. Another example was the New York Sun (“it shines for all”), where they made a joke about the length a new telescope could view, in the same week that slavery was abolished.

Over time, newspapers and magazines have become more entertaining in order to sell, and so have become commercialised. When the Daily Mail started in 1896, it wrote that is was “a compact reader friendly newspaper”, and was aimed at lower middle class people (such as office workers). This was a way to sell to the masses and become commercialised.

Commercialisation of newspapers creates people who resist, and people who are dominated. There is a constant ebb and flow between people and dominant ideas. Finally, popular newspapers use a popular folk voice as a way of backing up a view. For example, The Sun portrays a conservative view within the popular voice.

In conclusion, the press have started to address ordinary readers in a voice they can understand.

John Storey: 'Newspapers and Magazines': page 87