Dani's media blog.

Hi, this blog will mainly consist of my opinions on certains media.

[danismediablog]

Sexism in 'High school Of The Dead'.

For my critical investigation essay I'll be looking at how females are overly sexualised in anime- focusing on High School Of The Dead. This post is just a few of the points that I've thought of so far.

The majority of females in High school of the Dead is portrayed as vulnerable, idiotic sexual objects.They all have an unnatural glossy sheen to their skin- which reminded me of the Tom Ford controversial perfume advertisements. There is a sense of sexualisation of under age girls; extremely short skirts, fitting school shirts etc... (Fun fact: The age of consent in Japan is 13- I'll try to keep this in mind, however it also reflects the drastic cultural differences.) 

The female cutesy or 'moe' japanese female stereotype is constantly seen in HSOTD.

In HSOTD the hero is always male, and the female the one that is saved/ a tool- one of the many prominent scenes which supports my point is when Takashi uses Rei's breasts as a gun rest so he could shoot a load of zombies.

The only female character that can actually protect herself is Saiko- a kendo club leader, but despite her being powerful she is still depicted as a sexually appeasing object.

High School of the Dead's fanservice is too much but the show as a whole isn't unwatchable. The combat is great, the animation is high quality, and the characters are actually somewhat enjoyable as well. 

[danismediablog]

Doctor Who: 'Listen' review.

There have been many complaints about the past few series of DW being too 'child friendly'- well the BBC have put an end to that with 'Listen'.

'Listen' did have hints of Steven Moffat's earlier creations, but was still somewhat refreshing to watch and had me on the edge of my seat.

 What is more scary than what lies under your bed, ready to grab your ankles when you get up in the middle of the night? The mise-en-scene fitted the genre of the episode like a glove- the grimy dark camera filters teamed with the eerie silence created a tense atmosphere for both the audience as well as the Doctor. 

''Doctor: Question – Why do we talk out loud when we know we’re alone? Conjecture – Because we know we’re not.''

Even though we know the theme of this episode is fantasy, it still makes us wonder- are we ever really alone? This is because 'Listen' blurs the lines between fiction and reality- we can all relate to this episode simply because we have all talked to ourselves at some point in our lives.This link between the viewer and programme creates a feeling of fear even after the show has finished- making us 'Listen' to what goes bump in the night...

There were also a few laughs in this episode, which helped to lighten the mood:

''Doctor: <thumbing through book> Where is he?

Clara: Doctor?

Doctor: I can’t find him. Can you find him?

Clara: Find who?

Doctor: Wally.

Clara: Wally?

Doctor: He’s nowhere in this book.

Rupert: It’s not a “Where’s Wally” one.

Doctor: Well, how would you know? Maybe you just haven’t found him yet.

Rupert: He’s not in every book.

Doctor: Really? Well, that’s a few years of my life I’ll be needing back.''

  Peter Capaldi is doing a great job- he may be a lot older than his last few 'faces', but he still puts on a captivating performance.

Can't wait for next weeks episode!

[danismediablog]

[doctorwho247]

Doctor Who Series 8 - Radio Times Posters

Designer Stuart Manning has drawn on some classic Doctor Who artwork to produce stunning retro posters celebrating Peter Capaldi’s debut series as the Doctor, exclusively for Radio Times.

[ffranksiero]

[danismediablog]

"i will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. i will become something else.”

[danismediablog]

Anime Licensing.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2012-06-11 

[danismediablog]

#FacebookPurge

I was in the midsts of writing a post on a completely unrelated topic, but then I came across a link to this article on a message board:

http://ktla.com/2014/07/17/scv-purge-twitter-account-posts-nude-pics-of-teens-threatens-to-release-names/

"It only takes 140 characters to ruin someone's life." (Said by a lady in the video linked.)

Images such as these appeared on Facebook a day or two ago:

These images were accompanied by captions such as:

"This is something people should be doing on Facebook "

"Lol 24hour ‪hashtag purge‬ frfr. Soo kill summ shyt nobody safe I mean nobody ....7/17/14....the annual purge began now. .‪hashtag Facebookpurge"

(both quoted directly from #FacebookPurge)

Is this a hoax that conveniently coincided with the release of The Purge: Anarchy? Would a company stoop this low to promote a product and up profit? Who knows... I urge anyone reading this, if you come across these images then please report them- this is bullying.

Think about what you post, don't give someone the power to ruin you.

All I can say is that I am currently so ashamed of my generation.

[danismediablog]

Collectivist culture in Konoha.

I'd never really paid attention to the fact before, but today while reading Naruto volume 43, I realised that Konohagakure is a collectivist culture...

Here's a trait of a collectivist culture: 

Each person is encouraged to be an active player in society, to do what is best for society as a whole rather than themselves.

Looking more deeply into this fact I've noticed the way in which the children are brought up within Konoha; At age 12 the children are formed into ninja cells (e.g Team 7), then are trained by a singular tutor for the remainder of their ninja training- they are taught how to successfully co-operate and decide what is best for the team. 

"Those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." - Hatake Kakashi

Many of Naruto's story lines also revolve around this 'for the good of the village' idea. For example in Volume 43 when Itachi's true intentions regarding Sasuke and the butchered Uchiha clan were revealed, we found that Itachi did what he did 'for the good of the village'- and not because he was 'evil' (as he was previously portrayed as).

Anyway I just thought that was pretty cool...

[danismediablog]

Active/passive audience.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28098838

'Antibiotic resistance: Cameron warns of medical 'dark ages'    

Moral panic theory applies to this title, and is aimed at an active audience. ‘dark ages’ suggests regressing back to the time when there was very little medical knowledge (e.g. To cure a headache in medieval times they drilled a hole in your head to release ‘bad spirits’) this is obviously an exaggeration. Antibiotics are being over prescribed- and for illnesses that don’t require them.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fabulous/celebsfabulous/5564277/The-Saturdays-selfie-confidence.html

'The Saturdays: selfie confidence'

 Intended for a passive audience. Hyperdermic needle theory applies; it’s the norm to take selfies, and with the increasing amount of celebrities turning to social media (eg. Ricky Gervais on Twitter) it has become more socially desirable to do so.

[danismediablog]

Feminism in Westeros.

*Spoilers of season 4 episode 10*

Despite being set in a mystical medieval era, I consider Game Of Thrones to be a modern television programme- What I mean by this is the boundaries that the show pushes (perhaps sometimes even crosses?); incest, copious amounts of full frontal nudity, stomach churning gore, et cetera... et cetera...

One of these boundaries that stands out (to me) is the amount of strong female characters. Of course, there are many other powerful women in other fiction, but they are usually singular/isolated. 

The obvious choice would be Brienne Of Tarth; She has opposed and broken the stereotypical 'femme fatale' characteristics which are often woven into lead female roles. A running joke through the series is that people think that Brienne is a knight;

'Arya: Are you a knight?

Brienne: No

Arya: But you know how to use that sword.

Brienne: I do.'

For example; Brienne swears her allegiance to Catelyn Stark to guard Jaime Lannister as the two travelled together.

Another great example would be in 'The children' (s4 e10) where it's Brienne VS The Hound. Sandor Clegane is a fearsome 'hound' that pillages towns, rapes and murders the innocent- he is one of the most viscious and manly characters in the whole ASOIAF series- yet Brienne wins. Her victory is a message that women can be just as- if not more- powerful than even the mightiest of men. 

  Cersei Lannister is not physically skilled like Brienne, however she is extremely clever. In a patriarchal society where women are oppressed, Cersei is limited to her individual power, so she uses her intellect to gain power through Robert Baratheon and manipulate him and everyone around her.

And finally to round up this post, I'll talk about the Mother Of Dragons, Khaleesi- Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen. At the very beginning of season 1, I must admit- I didn't like Daenerys, she was so weak (well, who wouldn't be in her position?). As the series progressed I grew to adore her, she gained power and refined her knowledge as she and Khal Drogo spent more time together- Daenerys grew up.