Glee fight scene- case study

Santana and Rachel Fighting episode 100




In a recent episode of Glee called 100 in scene 13 two of the female characters Rachel and Santana are shown as being catty towards each other in this scene as well as being in front of everyone in the room, and are publicly humiliating each other for what feels like no reason at all. This  gives a negative representation of younger people to those who watch the programme because it shows that two young women are harsh and that younger people must not care about other people's feelings. These two characters are stereotypes with Santana shown as the popular bully who points out other peoples flaws and Rachel being the hardworking ambitious one. These stereotypes are shown clearly here with Santana telling the group all of Rachel's flaws just to prevent Rachel from getting something that she wants.

The camera starts with a mid shot from a lower angle which makes Rachel look like she is looking down on everyone around her, this shows that she is stuck up which yet again shows young people in a negative way, because instead of having someone who is ambitious shown in a positive way she is shown as negative.

Santana stands up but the camera does not show her face but instead a mid shot just showing her body this is so that she can look more dominant over those we can see that are sitting down near her. Mise en scene is used here to further the point that Santana is 'catty' because she is shown wearing a leopard print top. Cats are feisty and dominant creatures so this shows that Santana has power and is a strong woman. However yet again a strong woman is shown in a negative manner instead of being strong she is also a bully.  Santana is also wearing a red skirt, red has connotations of danger as well as anger.

The dialogue also shows the separate stereotypes of the girls, Santana says " you have sold half the people in this room down the river more times than I can count." This shows us that Rachel's character is negative and throws away friends to get what she wants. Therefore the girl who throughout all of the previous series has been seen as the innocent victim of bullying but yet her character is now being shown in a negative way to the audience. By having Rachel change from ambitious to overambitious is showing the hong audience that is bad to have dreams and to achieve them.

Survey analysis

Results from my survey:

I sent out a survey about magazines to every AS level Media Student so that I could determine what type of magazine I should create for my coursework. I created a survey asking a range of questions about magazines on SurveyMonkey. I got 18 responses on my survey overall. 

The first question I asked was their gender, I asked this question first so that I could easily see what gender prefers which magazine. Out of the 18 people that responded 8 were male. I can look at these 8 male answers to easily find out certain target audiences for whatever magazine I decide to do.

My second question was their age range so that the answers can go with how much they are prepared                                            to spend on a magazine, and whether they have enough disposable income to buy a certain magazine. 16 of my responses were from people 17 and under, one response was 21-29 and the other 50-59.

My next question was what type of magazine they usually bought. 6 people answered that they did not buy magazines so I will not include them in the rest of my results. 4 responses of the 12 were saying that their favourite type of magazine that they buy is fashion. One response was sports. 3 responses were music. 2 people were preferring film magazines. One person answered lifestyle and art and the last response was car magazines.

My next question was how many magazines they buy in a month. 4 of the 12 all bought these magazines once a month. 6 people bought magazines twice a month. 2 people buy 4 or 5 a month. 

Nine people are willing to pay £4-£6, three of these people buy multiple magazines which could show that they are in a higher socially economic such as c1 one and up. No one went lower than paying £1, this shows that the younger people such as the 17 and under's have a higher disposable income than older people. 3 people pay £1- £3 for their magazines and all three people buy multiple magazines a month. 

7 people are attracted into buying a magazine because of the main image that is shown. This shows that people may recognise the person on the cover or they may like what is shown on the main image and be interested in finding out about it. 

Research analysis

                                    500 Words Research Analysis:

To start my research process I looked at the different types of magazines that were available to buy such as music magazines. I set up a survey on survey monkey and asked ten questions about what type of magazines people prefer and how much they were willing to pay for it. I did this because in order to create my own magazine I need to know what attracts people to buy the magazine. I also needed to find out how much people were willing to pay for the magazine. I then sent my survey link to all of the other media students and asked them to fill it in for me. While I waited for the results from my survey I looked at different examples of magazine covers and did textual analysis on different kinds of magazines. I analysed magazine covers that were not as popular as the famous fashion magazine as I wanted to do a different kind of fashion magazine. I wanted to do a different kind of fashion magazine because I knew that many other people would do a basic fashion magazine. I also wanted to use two very different ideas so that I could use different fonts and different colour schemes.  I also looked at what kind of prices different magazines were sold for, this would tell me the socio economic group that bought which makes of magazines. For example ELLE magazines is group A,B and C1.I also looked at the font that is used for the masthead and the cover lines, in order to know what font is appropriate for my magazine and what suits the type of magazine that I have chosen to make. I found out that most magazines use bold fonts for their mastheads and cover lines where as simpler ones used curly writing for their cover lines but bold fonts were always used for the mastheads. So I knew that I would Have to use a bold font for both of my magazines and that I could experiment with my cover lines depending on my two types of magazines. I also looked at the type of clothing the cover image model was wearing such as ELLE magazine the model would be wearing the latest fashion and something that is expensive to buy unless you are in it’s target audience (A,B and C1).  When I got my results back from my survey I looked at all of the separate responses and got rid of responses that were inappropriate or results from people that do not read magazines.

Magazine ideas

This magazine has the main image as simplistic, the image is in black and white which makes it look more attractive as there is not a clash of colours. The masthead is eye-catching thanks to the font colour being a bright colour. The font on the magazine also fits into the style of the magazine which is different to most fashion magazines. The woman on the main image is looking into the camera which draws people into buying the magazine as they feel she is looking at them directly. The cover lines do not detract from the main image as they are below and to the side of it rather than making the mistake of going over the main image and then being unable to read them. This magazine is aimed at 18-25 year old females because it has a younger look to it, it does not have a older model on the cover which is what older people would look for.

This magazines main image is different because it only shows part of the model and she is leaning to one side rather than being straight up and and surrounded by cover lines. This means that the only thing you are drawn to is the main image and the mast head. The masthead is bold and in white so its brightness stands out more than a black masthead, so more people can see and read the name of the magazine clearly which means that people will know what the magazine is about and will be more likely to read it. This magazine uses the rule of thirds in the main image as the models face is directly in the centre which is where most people's eyes are drawn to. By using that method people are more likely to decide whether they like the look of the magazine and whether they will buy it. This magazine would be aimed at females aged between 16-21 because it does not have as much as a professional look to it and most people are starting to climb the career ladder in their early to mid twenties.

This magazine also sticks to a simplistic theme so that it stands out more than a bright clash of colours which makes the magazine look tacky. The colours of the magazine look stylish as it is mainly black and white, which could show that the colours are not the main features of the magazine but what is inside is. The cover lines are basic and just say what is in the magazine rather than writing them in codes and then not getting to the point. This magazine is aimed at male or females who are aged 16-20. An alternate audience for this magazine would be fans of the music and bands that are featured in this magazine.

Representation Task

Signs and Signifiers:

For our representation task we had to pick a social class to represent by creating a film poster, tv poster or a cd cover. We were told to only use objects and not people so that we had to think about primary and secondary meanings of objects and which ones were appropriate for the class we had chosen. 

Our group chose to represent the upper class as most of the other groups chose to do the underclass, we also decided to base ours off of the tv show Almost Royal. We used a blanket with fur along the bottom that had black and white spots because this is what people imagine when they think of royalty. The tiara also represents royalty.

Magazine Cover Representations

        Elle Magazine:

The main image of this Elle magazine is Jennifer Anniston who is an actress. This image of Jennifer represents women in their mid 40's because she is at that age herself. The image is simplistic and makes Jennifer seem more down to earth as her make up is not over the top and she is wearing a white dress. This image would make Jennifer appear more likeable to the audience as her looks and fashion seem easier to achieve than most women who have photoshoots.

The masthead is placed next to Jennifer's head which is where the audience will look instantly to see her face this makes sure that people can see easily which magazine it is. The masthead is in large and bold font so it stands out to the people who buy the magazine, even though Jennifer's hair covers part of the masthead people still instantly recognise which magazine it is they are looking at.

The cover lines do detract from the image a little but the main thing you are drawn to is still the main image because it is taking up most of the background. Some of the cover lines such as the one about Colin Farrel are hard to read because the font colour is pink and her skin clashes with it making it harder to read the cover line.

The audience for this magazine are mainly females, we can tell this because the colours are pastel pinks and greens on a white background which are softer colours than dark colours which are usually used in mens magazines. An alternate audience for the magazine wold be fans of Jennifer Anniston who want to read about her. The main age range of the audience would be 18 to 45 because it is has articles about fashion and make up tips which younger people will use and there are articles about Colin Farrel and Ellen Degeneres who are older themselves and people who are there age will be able to relate to them and their experiences. The socio-economic audience would be c1, b and a because it is a high end magazine and looks classy it is also more expensive so people who buy the magazine have a large disposable income.


       

  Textual Analysis- George Ezra: Blame it on me


At the start of the video the camera is tilted upwards to show the sky and the birds, a building is also shown in the frame. This establishes the setting that the video is located ,which is in a suburban area maybe around a factory. This is also high key lighting as the video is set in the daytime and is a clear day. As this happens we also get a diegetic sound of the birds in the sky singing as well as the sound of a oncoming vehicle. We then see the camera tilt downwards to show a car driving towards and then past the camera with the diegetic sound of the car increasing in volume. This is a more realistic sound of a car driving past you and gives more realism to the shot.


The camera pans to show a long shot of George standing opposite a man. This shows us who he is talking to and his location in the area. A jump cut is then used to a close up of the mans face which shows us his age and his race. The man then says "Are you sure you want to follow the yellow brick road?" This is said in the language that he speaks, which could suggest the location they are in whether it is a certain country or a multicultural society. The word he says are in subtitles which are written in yellow. This is mise en scene as the man talks of the "yellow brick road". The yellow brick road is a fictional road from "The Wizard of Oz" and has connotations of being a straight road that leads directly to the wizard who will grant whatever your heart desires. This could show that George wants something and believes that someone in a position of power could give it to him if he follows the road. This could also have a secondary meaning of George wanting fame as he is carrying his guitar around with him.

The camera then zooms out into a long shot of the man walking away from George, and then George walking in the opposite direction which could mean that they disagree with what the other one is doing. The camera then tracks George walking from behind him and then pans round to his front to show him walking again. A jump cut is then used to show two women that George is looking at from his point of view. An eye line match is then shown of the two women glaring at George which could show that people feel negatively towards George on his path to fame. The blonde girl's costume is mise en scene because she is wearing a meet the stars t shirt and the way she glares at George represents the fact that his talents were not recognised yet and that no one paid attention to him before he was famous.  A birds eye shot is then used to show us the top of his head and zooms in quickly to represent the bird poo as it falls and as it hits him the camera goes down to his shoulder to show where it landed. Mise en scene is used when the bird poos on him because it represents that to become famous you have to start at the bottom of the hierarchy and pay your dues to those who are above you. The way George just rubs it in his fingers and does not look disgusted by it could show that he knows that he has to pay his dues to people who are more known than him.





       

The X Factor Mediation

Chloe Jasmine is represented as upper class because of her voice and her clothing which is different to the other contestants. Her backstory has been selected to make people laugh at her and to judge her before she has even started singing. Clips of other people who are auditioning are shown to be judging her and her voice while she is auditioning. Before she even starts talking to the judges it shows her talking to other contestants about her voice and her talents which makes her seem snobby and may lead the audience to have negative thoughts about her. The questions that they asked her have also been specially selected from the best answers she has given to make her more interesting to the people watching the show. They chose to show Chloe Jasmine on screen because her personality and her appearance are controversial to the audience.

Representations

                                                                 Representation 

Class: Working class children are being called poor and underachievers by the media who then goes onto saying that they need longer school hours and incentives to turn up in the first place. It then goes onto saying that people who have free school meals need to attend 'outstanding' rated schools in order to achieve five good GCSE results. This shows that the media is assuming children whose family has less income are less intelligent than middle class children. The newspaper article is using stereotypes to show that all poor children are not smart enough to achieve good results without hand outs.




Gender: Women are portrayed as less intelligent than men in many aspects of the media such as newspapers or film and television shows. One example of this is Penny from the Big Bang Theory. Penny does not understand any of the scientific terms that the mains scientists use but a lot of the time the joke is that they are using words that no one understands. Even though we do not understand the terms either we all think of Penny as the dumb blonde just because of her appearance. By casting a blonde as Penny we stereotype her as the typical dumb blonde and we all laugh at her when the men pick on her. This is a negative view that shows that women are not intelligent enough to understand science and that they only care about fashion. Women are shown as mean and snobby towards each other in the film Mean Girls. Women are shown as packs of stereotypes that do not get along with the other stereotypes and they are not allowed to do anything that they want apart from what others expect from them.

Age: Young people are shown in a negative light in the media because they are easy targets by older people. One example of the way young people are shown on television is Catherine Tate's Lauren sketch where she is shown to be rude and always questioning her authority figures which winds them up. This is a typical view on younger people that could hurt younger peoples feelings and make them withdrawn from older people who they could talk to and relate to. The show Skins shows young people as reckless who go around smoking doing drugs and being promiscuous. This shows young people as negative.

Race: There is a stereotype that is commonly believed that Asian people are more intelligent than other races. This is commonly shown in television shows such as Family Guy or Glee. In Family Guy Peter Griffin is shown during a maths exam to get a Asian child and sit him on his desk to give him the answers that he needs to pass the exam. In Glee Mike Chang is made to quit the club that he loves because he got an 'Asian F ' which is anything below an A plus. This shows that the media pushes this idea on us so we believe it.  This is a positive stereotype if it is true and you are Asian but not if it is being mocked like in Family Guy.

Sexuality: Glee shows a positive side to being homosexual by having numerous characters that are gay or lesbian and focusing on their relationships. But it could be seen as negative when Santana came out as a lesbian to her mum who then kicked her out of the house. This could put people off of telling their parents what sexuality they are and they feel that they could not be themselves around those they love.