Representation Of Disabled Notes

The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.

In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:

Pitiable or pathetic
An object of curiosity or violence
Sinister or evil
The super cripple
As atmosphere
Laughable
His/her own worst enemy
As a burden
As Non-sexual
Being unable to participate in daily life


Shakespeare (1999) presents a potential reason behind the use of one of these stereotypes:

"The use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut. These representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience of disabled people. Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of disability"

In other words, the disability itself is often used as a hook by writers and film-makers to draw audiences into the story. These one-dimensional stereotypes are often distanced from the audience - where characters are only viewed through their impairment, and not valued as people.

Shakespeare (1999) continues:

"Above all, the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic."

Dominant notions of disability: the individual model
The societal view of disability generally conforms to the individual or overcoming or medical model of disability. This holds that disability is inherent in the individual, whose responsibility it is to ‘overcome’ her or his ‘tragic’ disability.
Often this ‘overcoming’ is achieved through medical intervention, such as attempts at ‘cures’. For example, top wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced as a child to wear heavy leg callipers which gave her blisters, rather than being offered the simple and practical option of using a wheelchair.
This approach to disability aims for the normalisation of disabled people, often through the medicalization of their condition.

The social model of disability
This distinguishes between impairment (the physical or mental 'problem') and disability (the way society views it as being a negative). It holds that impairments are not inherently disabling, but that disability is caused by society which fails to provide for people with impairments, and which puts obstacles in their way.
Examples include access: the built environment often does not allow access for people with mobility problems. Discriminatory attitudes are also disabling: for example, the idea that disability is a personal tragedy for the ‘sufferer’ impinges upon disabled people in a variety of negative ways, from their social relationships to their ability to get jobs.
"Disability is produced in different forms, and in different proportions, in different cultures" (Oliver, 1996).

Difference
It has been argued that dominant notions of ‘normality’ and beauty do not allow for the natural range of difference in human form. These notions are not only prejudicial to the acceptance of disabled people, but also increasingly impact on non-disabled people. Charlotte Cooper, for example, applies the social model to obesity, and concludes that there are some important categories through which obesity can be defined as a disability:
• A slender body is ‘normal’
• Fatness is a deviation from the norm.
• Fat and disabled people share low social status.
• Fatness is medicalised (e.g. jaw-wiring and stomach-stapling).
• Fat people are blamed for their greed and lack of control over their bodies.
Consider why it is that fat people or disabled people are rarely portrayed as sexually attractive.

Luther: Representation Of Gender

Luther: Representation Of Gender

The extract constructs the representation of gender using: Camera shots, angles, movement and composition, editing, sound and mise en scene. For example, with sound, when Alice discusses the black hole, the use of dark music emphasizes the darkness of either the situation or the character itself.
With very dim lighting and surveying pans, this reflects the seriousness of the situation and by using the final surveying pan, this ties with the gradual increase in sound volume, creating a large amount of tension and the sound bridge throughout gradually increases the tension and seriousness of the extract or in some ways, is the audience being pulled in by the "Black Hole" resorting in a rather anti climatic long shot. 
Firstly, Luther is not a stereotypical man, however there are some aspects to argue with this. This is shown by the fact that he asks lots of questions, this resorting in a lack of power until the later aspects of the scene where there are noticeably a number of close ups showing just Luther's face, this indicates that his face dominates the screen which inevitably reflects him dominating the situation at hand.
It is well known that stereo-typically, women are very manipulative towards men (emphasized by Alice using sex as a weapon showing she is a femme fatau) but the character of Luther is shown to not be a stereotypical man as he is very strong willed by not being manipulated by Alice's sexual advance. 
While Alice's name may symbolize her as an innocent character, she is far from it. She intact may be a representation of a black hole, reflected by the character of Luther consistently coming closer to her and then backing off which not only reinforces his strong will but also that he himself is a star (Alice calling him shining) that isn't stereotypical as it isn't being pulled into the black hole. This all perhaps represents the stereotypical view of women in general.
Both Luther and Alice have formal attire which may represent some form of counter against the stereotypical loosely dressed woman (relating back to the male gaze) but also shows how both are equal in power and stature. This is also indicated by the numerous high close ups, two shots and zooms. Exhibiting the characters in this way shows a change in power as if in some form of sub conscious battle power. Reinforcing this, they are both binary opposites and search for something to dominate the other. 

Textual Analysis and Representation

The 4 Key Areas Of Textual Analysis

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement, Composition

• Shots: Establishing Shot, Master Shot, Close-Up, Mid-Shot, Long Shot, Wide Shot, Two-Shot, Aerial Shot, Point Of View Shot, Over The Shoulder Shot, And Variations Of These.
• Angle: High Angle, Low Angle, Canted Angle.
• Movement: Pan, Tilt, Track, Dolly, Crane, Steadicam, Hand-held, Zoom, Reverse Zoom.
• Composition: Framing, Rule Of Thirds, Depth Of Field – Deep And Shallow Focus, Focus Pulls.

Editing

Includes Transition Of Image And Sound – Continuity And Non-Continuity Systems.

• Cutting: Shot/Reverse Shot, Eyeline Match, Graphic Match, Action Match, Jump Cut, Crosscutting, Parallel Editing, Cutaway; Insert.
• Other Transitions, Dissolve, Fade-In, Fade-Out, Wipe, Superimposition, Long Take, Short Take, Slow Motion, Ellipsis And Expansion Of Time, Post-Production, Visual Effects.

Sound

• Soundtrack: Score, Incidental Music, Themes And Stings, Ambient Sound.
• Diegetic And Non-Diegetic Sound; Synchronous/Asynchronous Sound; Sound Effects; Sound Motif, Sound Bridge, Dialogue, Voiceover, Mode Of Address/Direct Address, Sound Mixing, Sound Perspective.

Mise-en-Scène

• Production Design: Location, Studio, Set Design, Costume and Make-Up, Properties.
• Lighting; Colour Design.

Media And The Common Stereotypes

Jonathon Batson and Cameron Letts

Common Stereotypes

Upper Class

Known to some as the bourgeoisie, the upper class or ‘ruling’ class, often are elderly with a vast amount of money, usually with education at top universities, nights out at exclusive clubs, perhaps careers in established law, politics or financial firms or even medical specialties. Attend cultural activities such as classical music performances, art museums, opera’s etc.  They could spend their afternoons eating fine cuisine at high quality restaurants owned by professional chefs. Often wearing business clothes, but even casual clothes are upper class with expensive brands and crafted from designers. This class is located in the media with TV shows such as House Of Cards.

Upper-Middle Class

The people in the upper-middle class usually have a college education in practical fields with well-paying jobs. With homes in pleasant areas or in nice city areas they tend to volunteer in community activities. Wives often have careers with household help on an as-needed basis. They have enough money for vacations and expensive tickets to sporting events and music festivals. Teenage kids of this class have cars of their own, this class is shown in the media via things such as the TV show 'Hannibal'

Middle Class

Successful small businessmen, such as grocers and building contractors. Retirees. Medium-sized homes, often owned. Careful with their money. Careful to always look nice around other people. Church-goers. Old-fashioned home cooking. This class may be seen in films such as 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'






Working Class

With steady but low-wage occupations such as store clerks, beauticians and amateur painters, this class generally has a high school education and live in rented housing. Occasionally get into difficulties with family turmoil, trouble with small misdemeanours, pregnancies. Cheap, easily-prepared foods (spaghetti, hamburgers), few fruits and vegetables. Blue jeans the wardrobe mainstay. Pop and rock music constantly going. TV the main entertainment. Seen in films such as 'Green Street'



Lower Class

Sporadic employment, School dropouts, Dependent on money from the government, living in shabby, high-crime areas of the cities or in pockets of rural poverty. Ethnic music, hispanic or rap. Little hope for achieving a better life. Seen in films such as 'Oliver Twist'

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Pre-Production

• The Dark Knight Rises is a reboot of all the former Batman movies, reaching as far back as to the 1960's.
• The Dark Knight Rises was directed by Christopher Nolan.
• The Dark Knight Rises was made by the studio Warner Bros.
• The Dark Knight Rises had a budget of $250 million - $300 million.
• The Dark Knight Rises had many stars, including: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Morgan Freeman etc.

Production

• The Dark Knight Rises was filmed in numerous locations: Jodhpur, London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark and Pittsburgh.
• The Dark Knight Rises had interesting filming due to the fact that Nolan elected for the film not to be in 3D but focus on quality with IMAX. Nolan also bypassed the use of digital intermediate for the film, resulting in less movement but higher resolution of the filmed image.
• The Dark Knight Rises had only one problem that it was faced (or at least the only one I could find) with the technical difficulties from the IMAX screening for critics and reporters which resorted in the screening to be postponed by a day.

Post Production

• The Dark Knight Rises does not rely on special effects, even though they attempted to do production solely with IMAX cameras alone.
• The Dark Knight Rises mainly used practical effects meaning things were physically made instead of computer generated.
• The Dark Knight Rises was NOT shown in 3D after filming.
• The Dark Knight Rises did NOT need any re-shoots.

Marketing

• The Dark Knight Rises began marketing campaigns while in production. Warner Bros. developed promotional websites, releasing the first six minutes of the film, screening theatrical trailers and sending out information regarding the film's plot. Also, the marketing continued as magazines were sent "CIA documents" concerning "Dr Leonid Pavel", with a mugshot connected to the actor Alon Abutbul. Action Figures of numerous characters and vehicles were also presented weeks before the films release.
• The Dark Knight Rises was premiered in New York City on July 16th 2012.

The Big Six

Jonathon Batson

Major Film Studios

A major film studio is a film producer and production company that releases a substantial number of films annually.

The Big Six film studios are:

1. Warner Bros. Pictures. Comprising a whopping 19.7 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Warner Bros. Pictures is the biggest player in the film industry. Securing the rights to major films like Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, The Matrix and Star Wars have made Warner Bros. the No. 1 name in the business.

2. Paramount Pictures. With 15.5 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Paramount Pictures continues to be one of the most successful film production companies in the world. Star Trek, War of the Worlds, the Mission Impossible series, Transformers and Tropic Thunder are just a few of the popular films produced by Paramount Pictures.

3. Walt Disney. One of the most renowned film production companies in the history of the business, Walt Disney now holds 15.3 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). With highly successful movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, Meet the Robinsons and Enchanted, there's no doubt that Disney will continue to play a key role in the industry for years to come.

4. Columbia Pictures. Comprising 12.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Columbia Pictures remains a big player in the business. Some of this company's recent successes include Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code, the Spider-Man series and Step Brothers.

5. Universal Studios. 12.2 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures) belongs to Universal Studios, which continues to make millions for the film industry. With major hits like the Bourne series (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum), The American Pie series, Knocked Up, American Gangster and The Incredible Hulk, it's very clear that Universal Studios knows what it takes to make money in this industry.

6. 20th Century Fox. Also known as "Twentieth Century Fox," this highly successful movie production company makes up 11.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). Some of the biggest and most successful movies from this empire include the X-Men series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Star Wars Episodes II and III, and the Fantastic Four.

Roughly 9/10 films in the UK are seen as a result of these distributors

Male Gaze (Nicki Minaj - Anaconda)

Jonathon Batson Media

Nicki Minaj - Anaconda

In retrospect, you cant find a Nicki Minaj song that doesn't have some aspect of male gaze involved.

Anaconda:

0:11 - 0:17



This scene emphasises the fact that the male gaze involves women being seen as man made and something purely for observation. This scene has numerous women acting as statues (some in a sexual position) reflecting the belief from the viewer that both Nicki Minaj and her performers are purely for observational purposes and in a way diminishes their natural beauty and relays a view of something false. By having numerous women in this scene, this may represent women in general meaning that this is supposed to attract all kinds of men, resorting in more sales which most likely is the main reason this vile creature does what she does.

0:54

This screenshot reflects the fact that sex sells. By having this artist closing her eyes with her teeth on show and having her full face on show, in some form of orgasmic state, it makes her seem very open and revealing besides her eyes. As the common phrase is 'eyes being windows to the soul', not to say she doesn't have a soul but it emphasises that the only thing both the cameraman and the audience only care about the physical appearance and not the feelings of this artist unless they are purely lustful.

1:08 - 1:09

In this 1 second, the video reflects a disrespectful view on women and the fact that their face isn't shown whatsoever exhibits that the only thing that needs to be looked at is their behind, denying them of identity. How they are seen In a different view with a raised camera shot, this may reflect how the male gaze often makes women look from a secondary perspective; viewing themselves only from a mans perspective.The fact that they are holding each other may try to display some form of lesbian innuendo which is stereotyped as something men enjoy or even deeper than that, may show how women end up objectifying women in the same way a man would. Or it may reflect how women are all seen as one and their is no individuality when it comes to the male gaze towards women.

1:33 - 1:58

In this scene, Nicki Minaj is in the gym. As the gym is very much stereotypically a place where men go, this creates some form of invitation for the audience. In the gym, there are numerous versions of the artist which reinforces my point on women being seen as a single object. With each of the back up dancers working out in some form of sexual manor, especially the woman in the background squatting.



3:10 - 3:21

In this aspect of the music video the use of whipped cream is a sexual innuendo for some kind of male ejaculation. By beginning the aspect with Nicki Minaj in some form of sexual position and thrusting into the air, this reflects the thought of sex to then link to the whipped cream reflecting male semen over numerous parts of her body. By being dressed in a maids outfit which is also stereotypically some form of prostitute or erotic dancer outfit, This creates a fantasy for the male audience that in a way is self explanatory. 



4:08 - 4:14








This scene is an ideal exhibition as to why the male gaze is so interesting. In the scene Nicki Minaj is dancing seductively on another artist called 'Drake'. However, in the background the shadows show something a lot more lustful as it looks as if they are having sex. By doing this and showing the scene in this way, it may reflect how men see women in a lustful way and see them as something sexual and inviting. However the truth of it is, it may still be lustful, but not as sexual as men would hope.

The Dark Knight Rises Preparaion

DARK KNIGHT RISES PREPARATION

Mark Kermode believes it is impossible for a Blockbuster to lose money if they just follow some simple rules. Those rules are:
1. A newsworthy budget
2. Spectacular visuals
3. NOT be a comedy
4. Include an 'A list' starThese rules can be seen to fit into the five categories of film production:

• Pre Production (All the stuff that happens BEFORE you begin filming)
• Production (All the stuff that happens whilst filming)
• Post Production (All the stuff you do after filming to put the film together)
• Marketing (Advertising your film)
• Distribution (How the film is sent to cinemas, how long its on in cinema and how many screens is it on)

Pre Production
- Is the film an original idea, a remake, a sequel or an adaptation (or a combination)?
- Who is the director?
- Which studio(s) are making the film?
- What size budget did it have?
- Which 'stars' signed up to be in the film?
- How long did it take from 'green light' to filming commencing?
Production
- Where was it 'filmed'?
- How was it filmed (3D, 2D, CGI)?
- Any problems it faced?
Post Production
- Does it rely on special effects?
- What sort of special effects are used?
- Was 3D added AFTER filming?
- Did it require any RE SHOOTS
Marketing
- How was the film marketed (find AT LEAST 5 different promotional tools)?
- Where was the films premier?