big issue

 

Super curricular Shelter advert

  https://youtu.be/Yr7Y-ddGzew?si=VA3jIOUdaAciOdKy 

I chose this Shelter advert because it tells an emotional story about homelessness as a social problem needing our understanding and action. The advert constructs a clear preffered reading: the audience is encouraged to view the homeless individual not as a statistic but as a relateable character which creates identification and emotional engagement. The narrative focuses on vulnerability and injustice, positioning the audience to feel a moral duty to engage.

The advert reflects altruism and prosocial behavior through its use of representation and mode of address. By highlighting the severe struggles of homeless individuals, it serves as a call to action, aiming to inspire compassion and motivate people to donate or support the charity. The emotional appeals, close-up shots, and straightforward messaging all work to evoke empathy, which drives altruistic behavior.

This advert uses symbolic codes like dark lighting and a distressed mise-en-scene to highlight the idea that homelessness is a societal failure that needs our compassion and intervention. Overall, the story encourages us to act selflessly to make a difference in someone else's life.

Gerbner research

My extra reading has helped me develop a much clearer understanding of Gerbner’s cultivation theory and the ideas introduced in the chapter. The chapter explains Gerbner’s view that television has become a major influence on how people understand the world, and that repeated exposure to the same messages can gradually shape our attitudes. Through my additional reading, I understood more clearly how this influence builds up over time rather than happening all at once. The further reading also helped me understand why Gerbner believed television was especially powerful. It explained that TV is widely available, easy for everyone to understand, and uses realistic storytelling, which makes its messages feel familiar and believable. This supported what the chapter said about television creating a shared set of ideas that most people in society recognise, even if they don’t realise they are being influenced. Another thing my extra research helped me understand was the concept of “mean world syndrome.” The chapter mentions fear cultivation, but the extra reading made the idea more understandable by showing how constant exposure to violence on TV can make people think the world is more dangerous than it really is. This helped me see why Gerbner believed television had such a strong effect on people’s perceptions. Lookibg at critics of cultivation theory also added to my understanding. The chapter briefly brings up theorists like Stuart Hall and Henry Jenkins, and my further reading showed why they challenge Gerbner. They argue that audiences are active and interpret media differently, which helped me see that not everyone is influenced in the same way. This made me realise that cultivation theory doesn’t claim that all viewers will think the same thing, but that heavy exposure over time can still lead to shared beliefs in society. Overall, the extra reading gave me clearer explanations and examples of Gerbner’s ideas. It helped me understand why cultivation theory focuses on long-term effects and why television plays such a central role. This made the whole concept easier to follow and gave me a stronger understanding of how media can shape our view of the world.

Super curricular

The article explains that even though Educating Yorkshire looks like a realistic documentary, it is actually shaped through choices like editing, camera work and deciding which stories to focus on. From this, I learned that programmes which claim to show real life are still constructed, which links to Stuart Hall’s idea of representation because he says the media does not simply reflect reality but reshapes it. This connects to my work on the Baby Dove and River Island adverts as those campaigns also create particular representations of identity and diversity rather than just showing things as they are. Understanding this helps me see how different media texts influence the way audiences view people, places and situations.

Beauty Advert 2025

 

SHSG advert 2025

 

Media NEA introduction

 Hello! This is my introductory post for my NEA bog. I am excited to start working on my NEA and id be interested in making a music video for my coursework.