Communication and Culture COMM1 Unit 1
Understanding Communication and Culture Monday 1 June 2009 1.30 pm to 3.15pm
1 hour 45 minutes
1. People who criticise popular culture argue that it has little value. Others argue for the importance of popular culture as an area of study. Choose one of the following arguments in favour of popular culture.
Use examples to develop and illustrate your chosen argument.
Answer all questions in the spaces provided.
Choose one:
EITHER
1 (a) Popular culture has value and is worthy of study because it includes experiences which are in themselves sophisticated and complex. (20 marks)
OR
1 (b) Popular culture has value and is worthy of study because it has a role in defining people’s identities. (20 marks)
OR
1 (c) Popular culture has value and is worthy of study because it reflects the preferences of the majority of people. (20 marks)
2. Show how a person’s ‘true’ identity may be communicated by one of the following:
• body language
• personal possessions
• speech.
(20 marks)
3. Total for this question: 20 marks
This is the front side of a flyer promoting the home shopping brand ‘oli’. (Not shown)
3 (a) How do the words ‘A GIRL SHOULD NEVER PAY MORE THAN SHE NEEDS TO’ anchor the meaning of this text? (4 marks)
3 (b) What is the intention of this text? Identify the barriers to communication that may prevent this from being achieved. (6 marks)
3 (c) What might a semiotic analysis of the image of the woman reveal about the ways in which the text communicates? (10 marks)
4. Read this extract from the article ‘What not to bare, Trinny’, published on the Daily Mail website on 14 July 2006, and attempt the task below.
What not to bare, TrinnyExplore the cultural norms and values in relation to personal appearance revealed by this article. (20 marks)
In her role as a style guru to the women of Britain, Trinny Woodall is notoriously slow to praise and swift to criticise.
Visiting the Serpentine Gallery summer party in West London, the 41-year-old presenter of What Not To Wear chose an elegant midnight-blue satin frock with cap sleeves.
Not so elegantly, however, a significant amount of (whisper it) armpit hair was clearly visible.
And last night she made no attempt to claim that hirsute* is the new bare in the underarm department.
‘There will never be a trend for hairy armpits, I can promise you that,’ she said. ‘I forgot to shave, it’s as simple as that.
‘I didn’t have time as I was rushing out to the party straight from work so it was the last thing on my mind. I was in a hurry.’
Clearly though, she had enough time to ensure that her make-up was applied precisely and her hair looked immaculate. And by the length of the underarm hair, she had in fact forgotten to shave for quite a few days.
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