Rupert Murdoch, the facts

The Dirty-Digger

He's famous for building one of the largest media empires in the world with interests in television, film, internet, newspapers and publishing.

He is the founder, a major share-holder, chairman and managing director of News Corp.

The most popular newspapers he owns are The Times, the Daily Mirror and The Sunday Times.

He has been accused of undermining the quality of the Press.

"The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow" - Rupert Murdoch

He doesn't want search engines to be free anymore; he said that he will block everything from his newspaper that comes from the popular search engine Google. "I think we will remove our websites from Google's search index, but that's when we start changing" - Rupert Murdoch

The Google boys responded with "He can block us if he wants to"

Female Representation in Two And A Half Men

As the name suggests, this programme is mainly centered around men and their lives.

Females are represented as sexy, thin 'barbie dolls'. This stereotypical view of gold-diggers have been transported to situation comdeies and therefore representing real-life.

There is the occasional difference in representation; Berta the housewife. If somone asks a man "what do houewives usually look like?" They will probably reply with, "Hot".

This 'hot' view of housewives has been almost purposefully misconstued by the creators, because they have chosen an overweight, not particularly attractive, although incredibly funny, middle-aged woman.

The picture on the left in Burta, and the one on the right is Candy.

Gender representation in 'Atonement'

In the beginning of Atonement, females are represented in a very elegant fashion. None of the women are fat, all of them are skinny, and almost every woman is beautiful.
The female role in the film is more relaxed than a man's role; writing plays, romance, reading books, smoking cigarettes.
Men are represented in the film as being very posh, handsome and straight. Their role in the beginningof the film is romance and war.

Representation Homework

Stereotypes

Stereotyping is something that we all do, it is a natural part of the way our minds work and not necessarily, in itself, a bad thing.

The four parts of a media storage:
- Appearance - This can include physical appearance as well as clothing a sound of voice.
- Behaviour - Typical things that people in this group might do.
- The stereotype is constructed in ways that fir the particular medium - E.g. One group of stereotypes are created in very different ways.
- There will always be a comparison whether real or imaginary with 'normal' behaviour - E.g. On the News, tales of striking workers (another stereotype) are always contrasted with interviews with 'normal' people who are suffering as the result of their actions.

Changing representations - Countertypes

The orgional stereotype of black people was negative. In the film 'Independance Day', Will Smith is seen as a strong and positive hero. This is changing the origional stereotype into something different.

Media Diary for Half Term

Films I've watched...that I can remember:

- My Bloody Valentine (2009)
- Goodfellas (1990)
- A Guide To Recognising Your Saints (2006)
- The 39 Steps (1935)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- The Host (2006)

Television Programmes I've watched...that I can remember:

- The Simpsons (Sky1 and Channel 4)
- Come Dine With Me (Channel 4)
- Mock The Week (Dave)
- Life (BBC)
- Hollyoaks (Channel 4)
- Top Gear (Dave)
- Neighbours (FIVE)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (More 4)
- Family Guy (BBC3)
- Katie - My Beautiful Face (Channel 4)
- P Diddy's Starmaker (Channel 4)

Lights, Camera, Action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3f9UJTmgd0&feature=fvw
(From 1:12 to 3:38) - Not the whole ten minutes, only 2 minutes and 26 seconds.

The scene starts with the camera performing a dolly shot, tracking a man who is walking in a garage.
The narrator (who is also the man walking) contradicts himself while talking about black people when he says, "If I got one thing against the black chappys, it's this, no one gives it to you, you have to take it". The lighting has been set up so that he looks like a 'black chappy' himself - There is no light in the garage, but there is daylight behind him, creating a silhouette of the man.

When the scene cuts, the camera is placed into a first person view, and immitates the man walking into a diner. Notice the "DON'T WALK" sign to the left, yet the man is still walking across the road - shows authority. Without any scene transitions, the camera moves out of first person then pans to the left, revealing the manCostello standing at the counter, but only showing his back.
There is a close up on both man's hands when the exchange of money takes place, this is to show detail of what's just happened.
"It won't happen again Mr. C" anchors the importance of the character; the auidience now have a name of the man walking at the beginning, and they would probably guess that he is a gangster.

The soundtrack to this scene is Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones, this adds a certain amount of 'coolness' to the whole scene, and gives Mr. C (formally Costello) immediate authority over everyone.
The music changes to a more, easy listening song when Costello makes the owners of the diner give the young boy at the bar a couple of loafs of bread, a couple of half gallons of milk, mayonaise, baloney and cheese and comic books. This is exceedingly generous, it shows his authority over the owners of the diner.
It then changes back to The Rolling Stones when he is walking across the road, with an over-the-shoulder shot of Costello looking at him.

The Departed

"Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover with the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities."

-www.imdb.com

Distributed by Warner Bros.

Budget - $90 million

Gross revenue - $290 million

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGWvwjZ0eDc

Themes - Concept of identity, father-son relationship throughout.

This film represents the Crime Drama genre. It is a hybrid text because Thriller is a prominent genre, and has been mixed with Crime, which offers an emphasis on the psychological aspect of the film.