My bedroom

Denotations of my room:

• Light blue walls.
• Wood flooring
• White furniture
• Floral Cath Kidson print duvet covers.
• Pictures in frames of beaches.
• Speakers.
• TV
• Perfume bottles on a shelf
• Shells

Analysis:

My room communicates that I am a female, due to the accents of feminine colours. It also communicates that the person of who's room it is, is a calm natured person. In which is not true, I am often very lively, and excited. But I think I chose my room to be like this as I want to have personality traits and   identity like the one connected to the room.

It holds value to me, as items In my room are from beach holiday destinations that I've been to, so it holds sentimental value as it reminds me of many memories.

Key concepts

Communication: is a way of sending a message to someone else.


Culture: Is a way of life, and the ideas and behaviours of society.


Identity:  what makes you, you.



Power: The ability to do something a certain way.



Codes: rules that you need to follow/ and norms.



Value: Importance placed on something.


Context: the background or setting of an event.






Celebrity culture: Celebrities often communicate their wealth and status, through purchases. Celebrities are very much part of popular culture, as people often use part of celebrities identities, and mould their selves to it. They hold power in society, due to status and they are seen as more important. There are codes, and norms of behaviours that we choose for celebrities, and if they diverge from these rules it has a backlash for them, usually in the media. We place value on celebrities, due to them being the ideology for us. E.g. their body shape, hair etc.

Tattoo's: They communicate part of our identity (aspects of it) They have power to do so, by putting emphasis on part of someone's life. People put value on these markings.

• Group identity- negative as it can contribute to gang culture
• They can represent life experiences, and loved ones etc.

Classical music:
It communicates status and wealth, and is part of high culture, and holds culture capital (Pierre Bordeau). It links to people's identity, if it is part of what they enjoy e.g. hobbies. It gives people power, as it is less accessible, and usually only the elite that enjoy this part of culture. Going to a classical music concert has norms and codes, such as how you behave (polite) and what you wear (formal wear). It holds financial value, as well as the experience.


Subculture: A subculture is a subcategory within a larger group. They can communicate many messages about their group identity through clothing choices, behaviours and norms.
They often hold little power in society, as they are not part of mainstream society. They place value on interests, and common ideas amongst their peers.

Text speak: This is a way of communicating faster, but is influenced by technology, as there is a maximum number of characters within a text, so it allows people to get as much information within the text as they can-  this is part of its context.

Marriage: communicates that a couple is committed to each other, this holds value for many- in terms of the ceremony due to financial value as the average wedding is £20,000, and it is still very much part of our culture in the UK to get married, as many elders still look down on couples who are not married or engaged, but over the last few years this ideology has started to fade, but not drastically. It is part of peoples identity to be married, as it comes with roles that people define their selves by. In the ceremony of marriage there is power held by the pastor as he reads the vows to them and pronounces them husband and wife.


Supporting a football team: It is part of peoples identity, as it allows them to be part of a group. This group identity is due to a common focus or interest, and likeminded people. It allows people to add to their identity through things such as team clothing. It holds value as it makes people believe they are part of something bigger.

Response

How do you, as a Comms student, react to this text? What key concepts are relevant here?  Write a detailed blog post analysing the video.

Some areas / starting points for your analysis:
What does the location of the clip suggest to you?
What is he wearing? What does this suggest about his identity?
What is the importance of cookery shows as a cultural practice?  How has he exploited this?
What are his political views? How might they conflict with the content of this clip?
What does this clip say about the importance of food and group/personal identity?
Who are the audience for this clip?  What message might Nick Griffin want them to receive?

Use these questions as the basis for your response, but feel free to explore other areas also.


The genre of this text is a YouTube video, with an informal register, an audience of older males, a spoken mode, and a purpose to inform and persuade the audience to form a view. The subject being cooking.

The location of the text suggests that Nick is homely, and features within the room seem to give off masculine energy. As there isn't many things within the room that resemble women. It also seems very dark.

He seems to be wearing a rugby top, this suggests that he is proud, and patriotic. And see's being part of a group (supporters) part of his identity. It also suggests he thinks of himself as very masculine, as sports such as rugby have male connotations to it dominantly.

Cookery shows are very much part of British Culture. As people are always seeking to learn new skills such as cooking, and its very much both genders within Britain, as there isn't such a dominant ideology on just female cooks. As in Britain most know chefs are males. This is important as Nick makes a comment about how many women cannot cook, and put food on the table for their family.

This clip puts a huge amount of importance on food, and seems to link it to family ( a group) and being able to keep the family unit close. 

The audience will be predominantly males, with an androcentric view. Around the age of 40/50. And Nick (the sender) wants the audience of males (receiver) to receive the message that males can provide their family, more than financially as women are incapable. [process approach].

Barbie

The image shown in terms of the process approach- the sender being facebook (Cancer and alopechia page), with the message being that all people are beautiful including cancer patients, and the reciever being all who come into contact with it- facebook users.

This image of a bold barbie is the signifier, it signifies beauty amongst all people, and it communicates with us as an audience, the importance of self-esteem, confidence and support in which these ill patients should have. The index of the bow/cancer sign, has meaning to us. It represents unity, and support and ties it all into one, this is now used by many to show their support by displaying it visibly. It also adds to their identity, and makes them feel part of a group.

The acronym used 'Bald And Really Beautiful Is Extraordinary' sentisises us as an audience, and makes us want to see more support for these types of illnesses.

The icon of barbie has many connotations to it such as skinny, beautiful, blonde, perfect. This is the myth and dominant ideology that is accepted. But this text is aimed to shock the reader and show cancer patients can be just as beautiful as a 'normal' barbie.

Popular Culture.

Popular culture activities.

• Football- positive effects on society- brings people together. Negative- fights, outbreaks e.g. Hillsborough
• shopping- positive- builds self esteem.
• Soaps- gratification, 
• Karaoke- builds self esteem

A) One of the great things about popular culture is that it allows people to express their individulality.

B) Popular cultural activities often encourage controversial, potentially damaging behaviour.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7992845.stm

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/exposing-negative-effects-technology-kids-14909.html

C) Popular cultural activities are worthy of study because they give insights into the beliefs and values associated with our culture.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9685205/Is-the-traditional-Sunday-roast-a-thing-of-the-past.html

http://uk-foods.co.uk/history-of-the-english-sunday-roast/

Reading an image

This is the British actress Tilda Swinton, she is in Russia supporting gay rights, many celebrities have done this recently, especially due to the upcoming Olympics.  This is because it seems to be very few countries still that discriminate against the gay community, whereas many countries have came to accept it, and have hate crime laws to stop any further discrimination that may arise. This act by Tilda was named "Gay propoganda" by the president of Russia. 


This text is a picture of a woman holding the gay flag in Russia with police following closely behind.
This is so significant as in Russia it is against the law to publicly display same sex relationships.
This is part of their culture, it is not widely accepted to be gay, and there are rules to when and if you can show your affection to the same sex. In this relationship the police and higher authority hold the power, but this woman is not only representing the gay community in Russia, she is supporting all gay rights across the globe.

Being gay is part of your identity, it makes you who you are, it can influence the way you express yourself among other things. By this woman holding the gay flag it communicates to us the pride she holds to be gay or the support that she wants to share with others. It is so significant as it shows a clear set of codes- you aren't supposed to show support especially in front of the palace and the police.

Task 1- question 2 exam paper

Self concept can be defined as the idea we have of ourselves as individuals. Explore one of the following statements about self-concept, using examples from your studies and experiences.

• Our self concept relies heavily on the feedback we receive from others.

Feedback can often affect someone's way of thinking about their-self, it can boost self esteem, or knock it. If someone speaks badly of you, you would assume it could have an affect on the way you think about yourself and your confidence- especially if you already thought bad of yourself and someone confirmed it. Rogers spoke about our ideal-self (the person we would like to be) and our self-image (how we see ourselves) if someone confirms our self image is far from our ideal self it may mean our gap between self image and ideal self is very big, making our self esteem very low. For example if you would like to think that you are smart, and you get a result back which in reality is not so good, it confirms the reality, therefore lowering that persons self esteem.

If my friends give me good feedback and confirm my self concept or give me complements, it boosts my self esteem, and allows me to higher my expectations and feel better about myself, but if they dismiss me or give me negative feedback my self esteem would lower, I would feel less confident in myself and overall not feel myself. Because of this I would usually keep quiet and let people not see my 'Hidden self' and try to downplay my 'Open self' (Johari Window) because generally I have a very loud, bubbly personality and it does not always work in my favour. This would also happen if someone was to say a face threatening act to me (Ervin Goffman). Ervin Goffman speaks about how we have 2 faces, a positive and negative face and when people are intentionally trying to offend they may say something more bluntly- 'I don't like you'. This will knock your self esteem and may then change your self concept.