CONTEXTS + CRITICAL DEBATES
- feminism
- #metoo
- BLM (interracial tensions)
- Cancel Culture
- Globalisation
- Tokenism (Taika Waititi)
- Freedom of Speech
- Censorship
- personal experiences / opinion
- comparison / contrast
- Covid 19 / lockdowns impact on the film industry
- post-truth era
- technological developments issues - e.g. AI / Piracy
Have a watch of these 2 videos and make notes. Be careful to get stats/ quotes and case study examples that you can use in essays.
You can use the concept of a global audience impacting representation / impacting Hollywood in the following essays;
- Power + The Media (in relation to how institutions have power but because they are driven by $, audiences have growing power and Hollywood bowing to Chinese censorship to gain access to foreign market. How people / ethnicities/ governments are represented is largely due to financial gain and not truth of what is currently happening)
- Media Regulation (in relation to how China censors Hollywood contrasted with the West's democratic values - issues of freedom of speech)
- Media Ecology (In relation to audiences relationship with institutions)
Essay Question
‘The media construct identity.’ How far do you agree with this view?
(15)
Summarise some of the points raised here in regards to the argument aorund offensive vs. harmful content and also the argument that social media companies are publications and not editorials.
What laws already exist to regulate social media?
How much responsibility do you believe governments should have in regulating the public's content online?
How many people do FB and Youtube have monitoring and regulating content on their platforms?
Have a watch of this short clip and write some notes to add to the modern day context of how something like social media has completely changed society
Explain what you think is the most significant change in the media in recent years.
Let's do some practise for a power + the media essay.
Write down this question, then write a brainstorm of everything you would include in this;
- concepts and how you'd link them
- examples
- case studies
- quotes
- theories
- research
Question
"Discuss the shift in power between institutions and audiences.
Make some notes in relation to Avatar on;
- why this film resonated with audiences
- what technology worked well for this film
https://collider.com/james-cameron-avatar-movies-audience/
Have a read through of this article on the marketing strategy for Avatar;
- how did they create hype around the film's release?
- how did they connect with audiences using cross-media-convergence / synergy?
Make some notes in relation to Avatar on;
- why this film resonated with audiences
- what technology worked well for this film
https://collider.com/james-cameron-avatar-movies-audience/
Have a read through of this article on the marketing strategy for Avatar;
- how did they create hype around the film's release?
- how did they connect with audiences using cross-media-convergence / synergy?
- thinking about Media Ecology and the use of development of technology to connect with audiences where they're at (social media etc), write some notes on how James Cameron and the marketing team were successful in connecting an audience with their product
https://cinematicslant.com/2022/12/16/avatar-the-way-of-water-marketing-recap/
"How far do changes to the regulation of the media reflect broader social changes?"
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/06/new-zealand-media-outlets-concerned-over-newly-proposed-social-media-regulations-raise-questions-over-freedom.html
Media Ecology refers to CHANGING MEDIA ENVIRONMENTS
***ADD AVATAR: WAY OF THE WATER TO YOUR MEDIA ECOLOGY ESSAY PLAN ***
Have a look at this article and write some information about Avatar: Way of the Water. Have a look at what James Cameron said about the viewer experience and his reference to people who may watch this at home.
Add it to your research notes about audience trends.
Questions to write answers for;
- director
- year released
- Box Office earnings
- what kind of release did it have (theatrical / simultaneous etc)
- where is it currently available?
- Rotten tomatoes rating
Have a look at this research article at the audience trends for where people are consuming media;
https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/advertising-media/consumer-cinema-trends
Task
I want you to watch this video explaining the concept of private vs. public personae and relate this concept to the idea that the MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE.
How have platforms like social media and YouTube influenced societal behaviours? There are some good examples in this short clip. Write them down and compare this to previous technological eras where we didn't have Web 2.0 and internet sites like social media / Youtube.
Write a paragraph analysing the sentence below;
"representing ourselves in a way that we choose can be good (argued in a power in the media essay) but it can also have negative effects. Discuss this"
