Definition

Target: The main recipients of the media text are the "Target Audience". These are the people intended to consume the text, and are catered specifically around them. This doesn't make them the only audience, and other audiences may still consume the text.

Appeal/Attract: Adverts and other media texts try to appeal to an audience through insecurities or personal vices to persuade the audience to consume the product. Some products use pressure to make people buy a product and make them feel 'left behind', while others could try and persuade the viewer that they have a problem the product fixes.

Position: The position is where the audience is placed within a text, and almost told how to feel. From this position, it could be sympathetic to a character, it could demonise them, etc. The position is made through a combined use of audio and visual codes.

Respond:

Encode and Decode:

Pick and Mix Theory: David Gauntlett's pick and mix theory dismisses a few other theories before it, like the cultivation theory, and states that audiences are more sophisticated, and just take what they need from a text and ignore the rest of it. Someone might take gossip from a magazine, but not the fashion, or vice-versa. This theory challenges the fact that people are affected by what they read, that violent themes don't make someone violent, or beautiful images make people feel inadequate.

Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles(VALs): Audiences are defined by their values, attitudes and lifestyles to categorise them the main groups of these are:

Mainstreamers - The average person is a mainstreamer, and they make up 40% of the population, they like security, known brands, value for money, and aren't likely to take risks.

Aspirers - People who want status and success, who want designer brands to show their status. They can be persuaded by celebrity endorsement.

Explorers -

Succeeders - People who are successful, have status and money, are Succeeders. They need big brands that are serious and reliable for them.

Reformers - Social activists, people who are concerned with animals, the environment and other social issues are usually reformers, they aren't materialistic and prefer brands that are good for the environment or healthy.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Target Audience: The Man from UNCLE is very similar to the "James Bond" style of films, and as such, has a similar target audience, from around 14-30.

Appeal: The film itself has espionage, hints at comedy, gun fights, which all cater to a male, action oriented audience. There is a gratuitous amount of violence, in the mise en scene of the trailer, as well as having the same sort of style and class in the costumes that the Bond characters have, smartly dressed in suit and tie, witty, but still an action hero.

Attract: The film has quite a few well known names in the cast-list, such as Guy Ritchie as the writer and producer, but the cast list also has quite a few attractive members which might attract a wider audience. Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant and Armie Hammer might all bring in the less catered for, female audience, while Alicia Vikander, is playing the classic "Bond girl" trope, and adds to the stack of reasons that a male audience might view it, as per the Male Gaze theory.

Position: The audience is made to like both Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill's characters, as the main duo who work together throughout the film. The audience sort of knows that they have bad blood between them from the backstory of the film, but it's obvious they'll be paired together, and

Respond: A lot of the younger audience would probably enjoy the film at face value, being absorbed into the plot, the dialogue and the action scenes within it, while an older audience might watch it for the nostalgia of having watched the old TV series.

Alvarado Theory

Exotic - Death In Paradise.
A lot of the characters within Death in Paradise are exotic in comparison to a lot of other western media. Because the show is set in the Caribbean, a lot of the characters, and one of the main characters, Camille, have a very exotic look when compared to Richard Poole or Humphrey Goodman.

Dangerous - Breaking Bad Tuco
In Breaking Bad, many of the characters are criminals, due to the nature and setting of the show. Tuco is seen as being dangerous, since he's a drug lord, as well as a hardened criminal, who has been shown killing people, as well as brutalising them. He also exhibits a few mexican stereotypes, saying words like "ese" at the end of his sentences, and being

Pitied -
Humorous - Big Bang Theory Raj Koothrapali
Sexualised -

Racial Representation, Good and Bad

In Breaking Bad, one of the antagonists, Tuco, is negatively represented in more ways than one. The character is of a mexican ethnicity, but is a major criminal, involved with organised crime, and is himself, a drug lord. This is a fairly common, negative representation of Mexicans, as it shows Tuco, as well as his friends to be dangerous criminals. Breaking Bad shows him to be insane, ruthless, a smuggler and a drug lord, all of which are demonising and criminal, and doesn't offer any counter-point, only showing this evil side to him.


In the Avengers, Nick Fury, played by Samuel L Jackson, is positively represented. He's a major character within the plot, and is shown to be a resourceful, devil-may-care, powerful figure. He's shown to be a strong and strategic leader, able to think of ways to fix situations in a pinch. He is in a high position of power, being the director of a top secret organisation (SHIELD), he's very patriotic, and believes in helping his country. Fury is shown to be a bit manipulative and a bit over the top sometimes, which are the only bad points shown in the films.

Analysing "Death In Paradise"

Death In Paradise S4 E6

First Shot

Mid shot to fit in all three figures, one male, two female. The miss-en-scene of their clothing, as well as the high key and soft lighting shows that they're probably in a very warm, if not tropical place. The women take up a lot of the shot, and are sexualised due to the fact that they're showing a lot of flesh, their age, also contributes to this, as they don't seem old enough to be mothers. The eye-level shot also helps to show their expressions, pensive and confused, this shows some sort of conflict or disagreement, especially from the male actors expression in the scene, showed to be a bit more angry or frustrated than the other two. 

Second Shot

In this scene, another mid shot is used to include all four figures in the scene. The focus is taken off and is slightly blurred on the male figure to the right to show he's not speaking, with everyone turned or looking at the older male, who despite his age, is shown to be an alpha male, with straight posture and authority, with everyone around turning to listen to what he has to say. This is reinforced by the fact that the person next to him is almost his opposite, slouched and a bit of an underdog. The woman in the scene is dressed in very casual clothing, showing lots of skin in comparison to the other three in the shot, being heavily sexualised for the male gaze.

"This Girl Can" Analysis

In the video "This Girl Can", the women are shown as being independent and powerful, as they're exercising and doing work for their own reasons, the use of the Missy Elliot song helps to drive this point home, as Missy Elliot is a self-made music icon who is shown as being very independent as well as being a woman with a lot of achievements under her belt.

At 0:55, there's a shift from the non-diegetic sound (the music) to the diegetic sound of them breathing in, as they show signs of tiring from the exercise. Despite this, the non-diegetic sound kicks back in and they press on, showing the strength and determination that these women have to work and get in shape. This is supported by the number of quick transitions from camera shot to camera shot, showing each different person going back at it with more energy and fervour.

The text that was added into the video shows that they're doing it to for no one but themselves, as seen from the line at 0:33 "Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox" to show that they're proud of they're bodies, and aren't exercising just to get the body they want, but more for the sense of personal satisfaction of doing it, this is backed up by the expressions on their faces, which shows them obviously tired, but motivated enough to keep going. This is shown as being less sexual, from the phrase "sweating like a pig" but still has a positive representation because they feel good about themselves.

CD Cover Textual Analysis

The font used  by this contrasts well with the style of the album cover, using the messy ink spill against the uniform print of the font, though it works well with the "FRESH INK" part, due to them being the same colour. Despite the name of the album cover, which connotes new starts, new beginnings, etc, black as a colour connotes death and depression, sadness. It gives the title of the album and the artist, though aside from that, it's very minimalistic and leaves a lot to the imagination, which can pique curiosity of the viewer, possibly making them buy it.

Unlike the other two covers, it uses a very clear background, using paper still, though the messiness is very much in the foreground, using messy ink patterns that haven't filled coloured anything in, as well as the satellite, where the ink has bled slightly into the paper. The front and back cover have a direct link, of satellites, and works with some of the songs, like "Blast Off" and "Space Escape", having a theme of space. The album is bright, though the font makes it seem a bit more sinister or sad than first expected.

The album is is dull, and the background is messy, scrunched up and dirt ridden paper, despite letters and post being fairly classy things, it contrasts with how messy the handwriting is, no punctuation, ink blots and a fairly dull looking post stamp. it's minimalistic, but from the title and the art style used, it'd be a fair assumption to say it would be part of the "emo" genre.