This Girl Can

We Can Do It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7lt0CYwHg

'This Girl Can' is an extremely powerful advert about women doing their own thing, no matter how they look, act or smell. It shows the encouragement of women today and how we, as women, can all battle the pressure from the media and be our own person, doing what we want and how we want with no judgement.

Firstly we see, what the media and society influenced by the media an 'overweight' women about to go swimming. Everyone gets weggies right? men and women, and this women has no shame of removing it. The enhanced slap sound that occurs when she flings her bikini bottoms back into place is humorous and fits in with the music perfectly creating more effect. This goes against the ideologies of women being skinny and having the perfect bodies and influences us that its alright not to be a twig and be happy with what we got.  She is walking away from the camera and the camera is following her, this draws you closer and focuses on the main points of this specific point in the advert. The continuous music may highlight the strength of women and how we should keep going to achieve our goals. There is a few pauses in the music, when they stop and heavy breathe,  which may indicate that everybody has moments when they feel like quitting and are unable to carry on. However the continuation of the music after suggests that if you keep trying you can get anywhere in life.

The term 'sweating like a pig' is traditionally used for men and this is what makes this advert inspiring. It shows that women sweat too and why should we be bothered by it? the stereotypical view on sports is that men are more involved and what are women? This adverts highlights the fact that we are all the same and all have the same determination whether its sports or dancing. 'Damn right I look hot' comes up too, this is a strong message for women as it communicates that women have self determination and the stereotype of men being strong and sporty should apply for women too. It also shows that determination is sexy and everyone should try to succeed at what they want to do in life.

Not every women has to be a 'tom boy' for liking certain sports, women can also be whatever they aspire to be. It does not question your femininity it just bends stereotypes and that's why a representative of boxing is good to show on this advert. It shows that you can still have a perfect manicure or a 'cute' face full of makeup and still be aggressive and fight like a man. this advert shows that women and men are both equal and should be treated and respected in a non stereotypical manor.

This advert doesn't just show us that women are equal to men and people shouldn't worry about our shape or size or how we look and act, it shows us that all race, disability and culture combine together due to all of this shown collaboratively in the advert. It shows that we are all fighting the same battle and not let society change who and what we are.

Children See, Children Do

Technical And Audio Codes

Children see and Children do.

This children see, children do advert is very clear and bold with its purpose, with many actions and not many words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4gmdl3zNQ

Many forms of technical and audio codes are used in this advert as it shows a strong image of purpose and effect. The sound effects, expression, hand gestures and even down to clothing reflects the purpose of this commercial. The cast members mimic each other in a clear and visual way making it easy for us to see the mini me's of our generation. They use a variety of camera shots and angles to get a wider and closer view upon the initial picture they are trying to paint.

Technical Codes.

Camera Shots

This long shot is used to show how children follow by who leads them. For example this image shows a child mimicking her fathers actions, to a certain extent, when walking and talking on the phone paying no attention to their outer surroundings. This simple shot gives us enough evidence on the cast members to understand what they are trying to portray.



This simple extreme close up, explains the inappropriate actions of a child copied from the adult figure. This is clear that it is child, due to the size of the hand. Information is withheld from the audience due to the fact no words are spoken, however the camera has zoomed in towards the shot to highlight this image making it more important to the viewer.



The facial expressions and hand gestures in this shot say it all, The anger in their faces highlight the message being communicated, This shows the strong influence of anger from the father on his son and that they are only as innocent as you make them.

All of these shots have sound effects and tracking shots, the cast are followed around like its every day life, each one with a different story but the same purpose. Over all this adverts purpose is strongly conveyed and shown in a visual way.

To conclude this blog, i feel that in truth children do follow their parents actions which has been stated clearly in this comercial and that parents need to be more aware of their actions when setting a good example of how to act around other people and how to treat the world around them.

The representation of gender in the media

The media has a way of portraying how people, both men and women are supposed to look and act. But does this really help our society? 

There are still many stereotypes of women in the media, they are defined by how men see them and how society expects them to look and behave. Looks and appearance are the highest points of judgement women face today. Peoples views also are based around sexuality and relationships and even pushed to the point viewers want to be them or dislike them for not fitting in with the media norms of beauty and trends. If a magazine, for example, is criticizing the way a female celebrity looks after gaining 2 pounds, when still at a healthy weight, how are young girls supposed to remain happy with the way they look? Heat magazine for example is constantly putting celebrities down for their size or the way they dress. This does not give females a good image of what is so called, the wrong and right way to look. Surely they should be producing articles to reassure people that health comes first and everybody is beautiful in their own way? But no, females in the media are represented to be perfect without any faults and many flaws thanks to the altering of Photoshop. In a way women are portrayed to be sexual objects as in the media if you don't have the perfect flat tummy or the flawless airbrushed skin and the gleaming pearly whites, what are you? its all down to judgement and whats considered 'perfect'.

 The article on the cover 'insta-scam' shows the way that celebrities alter their looks on social media due to the pressure of tabloids and other media sources. The celebrities where quizzed on why they still feel the need to edit their Instagram pictures and not show their real selves; most of their responses where the same and proved nobody is their 'real selves' when it comes to media due to the high expectations that have been placed on society.

This can also be related to men's magazines such as Men's Health. A picture of a male model on the front, muscles out, not an ounce of fat on show. It gives the male population false hope. That is not a natural way to look and actually becoming that way can cause more ill health that not having a six pack. The way men are portrayed to look in magazines can cause men to take steroids, the drug that can cause more damage than good trying to achieve the desired muscular physique. Not all men have to be all muscles to be healthy and happy but with thousands of magazines out there showing the opposite, how are they supposed to be happy in themselves? Not only this men and women are given aspirational and unrealistic role models to aspire to which is a breach in reality as not many people are actually going to look like what is represented in the media. These glorified illustrations put negative thoughts into peoples heads about how they look as this image is what is suggested to be 'sexually attractive' and the correct way to look when seeking women, it also sets women's expectations very high. The media this week described a new psychological disorder in men called 'bigerexia' which is when men become obsessed with using the gym and building muscle bulk through the use of steroids. This shows that body abuse affects both genders and is driven by media representations.

Men's Health is voted the best men's magazine since 2010. 'The new insanity workout no weights and a body like this' this is expressed to be an easy form of weight loss but when do you draw the line between getting healthy and becoming self obsessed? when does it become an addiction trying to look like the people you see in the magazines?, in reality nobody is going to look like that from following an article but the way the media is portraying this makes people think that they will end up like that super fit man on the cover which everybody envies.

The worst aspect of the media, is it is not just the way people are meant to look that is displayed, but also the roles in which people should take are pushed upon people in article after article. It is sad to think that in 2015 there are still media sites that believe woman belong at home, looking after children, doing the cleaning and preparing dinner for when the gentleman gets home from work. Men are made out to be the toughest sex out of males and females and therefore should earn the money for the family to live, but who says woman cannot earn their own money and don't deserve the same financial freedom as men? Magazines, documentaries, newspapers and the internet, that's who. This is how gender is defined and represented in the media all the time and it doesn't seem to be changing for the better only getting worse and showing this generation the vanity and judgmental views of society in the world today.