Wednesday 21 December 2011

Is Twilight's Bella Swan a bad role model?

Feminists and academics are concerned that 'Twilight' heroine Bella Swan, a teenager who falls in love with a vampire, presents them with a poor role model. Does 'Twilight: New Moon' promote unhealthy relationships?

Bella is bad for young girls: The character of Bella sends a "dangerous" and "discouraging" message to young girls everywhere, says Krystal Clark in Screen Crave. The "constant influence of the male figures in her life," especially vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen, leaves her with "no identity of her own." The film's "nonchalant attitude" toward this is harmful, especially to "women in her age group who are starting to date for the first time."

Falling in love is not anti-feminist: These "quote-unquote feminist arguments" against 'Twilight' are getting tiresome, says Catherine Connors at Beliefnet. People say Bella sacrifices herself for Edward, but don't forget she "fights hard" to "carve a space in this world" for their love. And in the end, she "gets what she wants," despite what Edward wants for her. "Why does love necessarily mean sublimation?"

Twilight promotes conservative values:The values of the 'Twilight' world are more “1809 than 2009,” says Hank Sartin in Time Out Chicago. Bella and Edward must remain chaste in case he loses control of his “insatiable bloodlust.” If feminists must get worked up, this “abstinence-only message coded through vampirism” is worrying evidence of a “conservative response to the radical changes in sexual politics of the last decade.”


Revision: Key terms for the exam

Language

Culture

Personal Identity

Groups

Sunday 18 December 2011

Friday 9 December 2011

Analysis of cultural products using semiotics and process toolkits


Print media; magazine covers; flyers; posters; CD and DVD covers;

Vist Semiotics for Beginners for a more comprehensive guide.

Here are some of the key terms that you should become familiar with to analyse print based media for the AS Communication and Culture exam.

Anchorage Barrier • Channel • Connotation • Denotation
Decode/Encode Genre Gatekeeper • Medium • Message
Mode of address Noise: barriers to communication • Semiotics
Sign • Symbol • Text • Redundancy • Polysemic • Signifier/signified
Open and closed texts: allow a range of readings or limit them

Sample Analysis 1
Sample Analysis 2

Tuesday 6 December 2011

PressPausePlay


"The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent in an unprecedented way, with unlimited opportunities. But does democratized culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world's most influential creators of the digital era".
Go to the website, where you can download the film for free.

With thanks to Sarah Proctor

Sunday 4 December 2011

Piecing together Guernica

Pablo Picasso's monochrome painting of the 1937 bombing of the town of Guernica remains one of his more famous works. The tapestry version sits at the UN, acting as a powerful visual statement against the horrors of war. But there is much meaning beneath this famous work, writes Picasso expert Gijs van Hensbergen.

For a detailed visual analysis of the symbolic meanings present in this famous painting visit BBC News Magazine.