Media Analysis

Hi, I’m Brigita! I am Manchester Metropolitan University Film and Media programme student. This blog is a part of ‘Introduction to Media’ course assignment. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate the reflection of my daily consumed media and the analysis of various posts that I’ve seen on social media platforms.

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Blog reflection

Well, that was an interesting challenge for me! Writing a blog definitely does not look so easy as I thought before. It was useful to work on this unusual type of assignment format and most importantly, it was helpful to reflect on my own progress. It was interesting to apply my knowledge of the media analysis into a real postable content. As I mentioned in my first post, the media that I’m the most familiar with is usually related to films and TV shows or positive and open-minded Instagram influencers. Naturally, this is the type of media that I decided to analyse and focus on this blog. Even though, I wanted to analyse some political articles as well, I think I should better do it in the future, once I have more knowledge of the politics and the awareness of the UK culture. One of the main reasons why I find it difficult to analyse the political articles is that I don’t always understand the used reference or other type of word-play in the text. Needless to say, I wouldn’t like to receive negative or aggressive comments about my posted content, especially if I misunderstood or analysed the article incorrectly. So, I think it would be better to focus on the content that I actually enjoy analysing: films and feminism in the media. Another thing that I haven’t really thought about before starting to write on this blog, is that some people might find my written posts or used terms offensive even though I’m trying to be as considerate as possible. I’ve realised that it’s better to be extra careful and double check the text before posting to make sure that I used the right pronouns and to make sure that I didn’t use any slurs or insults that I wasn’t aware of. That being said, this assignment was a good practice for the other future assignments and my future career, but I think it would be better for me to start to create the content online a bit later in the future when I have more awareness of the media analysis and the analysing techniques.  

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Feminists on screen!

One of the films that I was really looking forward to see this year finally got released on 7th of February in the UK cinemas! It’s ‘Birds of Prey’! The film is based on DC comics and several parts of the film are animated and narrated as in the real comic books. The main film characters are strong, smart and empowering women and they just perfectly express feminist ideas in a fun and easy understandable way. Even though this is a story about the emotional breakup, the audience is presented to the empowering recovery after the breakup and a happy ending.

One of the first things that might be noticed is that a lot of parts in the film are animated and influenced by the comics and most of it is narrated by the goofy main film character Harley Quinn. The represented storyline might seem chaotic and difficult to follow, but it might be a good representation of the chaotic Harley’s mind. Even though the storyline is complex, the film ideas are represented in a humorous way and it might engage the younger audience by the energetic and playful visuals in the film. In this way, the audience might gain the right and open-minded mindset from a very young age.  

The film was created by the mainly women’s team: it was directed by Cathy Yan and produced by Margot Robbie, Bryan Unkeless and Sue Kroll. Needless to say, the film radiates with feminist energy! The main film characters are confident and independent women and one of the main film intentions is to motivate women to not to be dependent on men and embrace themselves. Moreover, the audience is presented to a diverse and non-standard super heroes' appearances. The protagonists in the film appeared in different body types and figures as well. In general, the film crew seem to be culturally diversed and the viewers had a chance to get more familiar with seeing the main film characters who are from different cultures and racial backgrounds.  

Another interesting thing that we might notice is that all the antagonists in the film are men: the Joker and the Black Mask. There is almost no backstory of the antagonists and the main focus is on the women. Even though, the film creators do not intentionally focus on any particular age or race audience, it wouldn’t be wrong to say, that the film focuses on the women audience.  

Even though the film received controversial reviews and some of the viewers thought that it is an unnecessary sequel, I personally really enjoyed it. Seeing unusual and relatable women superheroes might be influential and inspiring for regular people and I’m hoping to see another feministic film in the cinemas soon!

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Wholesome content on Instagram

If you are looking for supportive and open-minded creators on Instagram, I would definitely recommend to check Jameela’s account!  

The first analysed Instagram account without any doubts belongs to my favourite activist, actress and radio host Jameela Jamil. The author of the account has struggled with eating disorders and personally experienced inequality and violence against women. Jameela Jamil is the founder of the movement called ‘I Weigh’ which focuses on radical inclusivity on social media, activism and other movements that raises awareness of the marginalized cultures on media. Moreover, it raises awareness of toxic and harmful trends and encourages to stop seeking the unrealistic beauty standards. 

Jameela Jamil speaks and shares her experiences from a feminine perspective which might lead to perceive more relatable reaction from the female readers. Although, she does not specify on a particular age, gender and race groups and her texts might be positively perceived by any type of audience. The author of the uses provocative language as a tool to break through the social barriers and relate to the readers (check the example below). The usage of provocative and vulgar language might have been used to destabilise the author-reader relationship and create a dialogue that anyone can add their input to. Moreover, using provocative language might represent the rebellion against the socially constructed stereotypes about women and femininity.

The author uses informal language and uses a lot of personal pronouns. Personal pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘we’ might create a more personal and relatable content for the readers. It might have been used as a tool to help to establish a stronger connection with the audience.

Jameela Jamil produces informative texts that are complementary to a visual media. The readers might notice a lot of textual deformations and oralised writing. It allows to create a more personal and relatable connection between the author and the reader.  

This type of elements used in the shared texts might motivate the readers to get more engaged in the shared media and maybe even get involved in the Jameela’s movement ‘I Weigh’.  

https://www.instagram.com/jameelajamilofficial/

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Rationale

Hi, I’m Brigita! I am Manchester Metropolitan University Film and Media programme student. This blog is a part of ‘Introduction to Media’ course assignment. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate the reflection of my daily consumed media and the analysis of various posts that I’ve seen on social media platforms.  

As a regular young adult, I spend a lot of time on social media on my daily basis. Even though I don’t really participate in active discussions and I’m not used to create content online yet, I consider using social media as an inseparable part of my life. I find it as a useful tool of communication, it allows me to find the events of my interest and it’s an easy way to get familiar with the culture that I currently live in. Most importantly, it allows me to be aware of the current news and the emergencies. As a part of the assignment I had to keep a diary of all of my daily media consumption. Using the various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Reddit gave me an opportunity to have the knowledge of different type of contents. I noticed a pattern of the posts that usually gets my attention and after a brief analysis of my media consumption I became more aware of what my main interests are. Posts about the latest film and tv show releases are definitely the most interesting to me but, but I’m also interested in posts from the various influencers who are trying to bring awareness to the important issues such as eating and mental disorders, common myths that has a negative influence to our society and sexism in the media. Moreover, I always try to pay attention to the political news and the articles about the current events in the UK. The media that I find myself the most engaging with is usually presented in a humorous and easy understandable manner. As a result, most of the media I am going to focus and analyse on this blog is going to be related to these topics and it is going to be presented in an explicit way as well.

Needless to say, creating this blog is an exciting challenge and a great opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. It is a great chance to explore unfamiliar and creative assignment forms such as infographics and a blog designing. Moreover, writing this blog allows me to practise my organisation, editing and copywriting skills which will be useful for my future career and assignments.  

This blog might be interesting and useful for other students who are working on the same type of assignments and are looking for what to focus on while analysing media posts. Moreover, it might be a great chance to get familiar with the great and informative content creators that you have not heard before.