Weekly News 6

Star Rita: I was abused at 14 by man, 26 

Rita, aged 14 when the relationship took place

This is a story in the Sun Newspaper, written by Jane Atkinson.

Firstly, the headline of the story has paraphrased what Rita said in the interview (for the full interview click here ) Rita says that although today it would be considered child abuse, she wasn't forced into anything, that she 'wanted it',she felt like she was more mature than perhaps she should have been at that age.

The image of Rita, as a young girl makes the reader empathise more with her as you can clearly see that she is young and therefore -despite Rita insisting it was consensual- the reader questions her boyfriend's intentions as she is clearly a child.
 
I think the purpose of this article is promote the new biography about Rita. The audience of the article will be people interested in her, and the shocking aspect of this story is so that readers will be more intrigued to find out more about her life and therefore be more inclined to buy the biography.

"The shock revelations come in a new biography that charts the rise of Rita from Kosovan refugee to international star.

The Sun on Sunday is today publishing exclusive extracts from the book."

This is also an advert for the X Factor, as she is repeatedly referred to as the 'X Factor Judge' and was released on the day that the X Factor was being shown on television. Furthermore the comments about the story also mention the X factor, and also the new book.

If this story was focused on Rita's sexual abuse then there would not be nearly as many references to her appearances on the TV and her singles. This story has taken a serious case of sexual manipulation and spun it into good publicity for Rita. -All publicity is good publicity.

Weekly News 5

 

For the full Click Here

Autistic man drowned in reservoir while carer who was supposed to be watching him was 'distracted' messaging a man she met on dating website

This is a story written by Katie Louise Davies for the Daily Mail

The event took place in Mansfield, North England.
The purpose of this story is to shock the reader  and to incise them to delve deeper into the website.
The stories headline gives a negative representation of society as it suggests the constant distraction of social media has gotten to the extreme of care workers being distracted from their jobs. Furthermore the phrase 'man she met on a dating site' suggests that she was engaging in a fling with a stranger which contributes to the shock of the story and exaggerates the women's negligence.

 The writer has also included a lot of pictured of the victim, Mr Akhtar smiling and looking happy. This is so that the reader empathises with him and pays closer attention to the story. It also gives evidence to the contextual information that Majhid has the mental age of four. This again makes the reader empathise with the victim as it shows that he really was incapable of looking after himself

The writer of this article, specialises in controversial stories such as male only rape centres in Sweden and a couple who won the lottery twice in one day. This means the audience of this article, especially if they recognise the writer, will be drawn to it as they know it will be an extraordinary, real life story. 

Weekly News 4

The Three Finalists for the Great British Bake Off, Nadiya Hussain, Ian Cumming and Tamal Ray

'Great British Bake Off producer admits finalists were chosen to get a ‘representative mix’ of Britain'

This is a story by Sam Matthew stating that the finalists for the Great British Bake Off were chosen on their ethnicity and not purely on their baking skill.

The show says that they were trying to get a more 'representative mix' of Britain and were told by their producers to include more 'fashionable minorities'. This comes after the bakers were auditioned to see who could best talk and bake on camera at the same time- to make sure the show was entertaining to watch.

The purpose of this story is mainly to advertise the final of the Great British Bake Off, as it was written the day before, but also to intrigue the reader as the GBBO is a popular programme in Britain and across the world and people will be surprised to see that is has been constructed.

I think that because the GBBO is such a widely popular programme it is a good idea to show people of all ethnicities to show Britain's diversity and to break down divides and stereotypes between people. However, if the contestants are being chosen purely on their ethnicity then, in a way that is a form of discrimination, if someone is being picked over the colour of their skin rather than their skill.
To conclude I agree with the idea of what the producers were trying to do, but it should not be the main priority.

Photo Diary of London Film Festival Trip

In the morning at East Croydon Station (ft Lily)

At Waterloo East. (ft Emma and Barucha)

Outside Charing Cross Station

Trafalgar Square

Walking to the cinema past Nelson's Column






Crash Analysis

Crash is an example of a non-linear film. This means the story has a beginning, middle and end but it is not shown in that order.

I think the purpose of this film is to display the different types of prejudice and discrimination in the modern world, as every character is flawed with some type of prejudice. However, to make the characters more interesting they all have either a redeeming quality or are shown to be discriminated themselves to make the audience empathise towards them. Some examples would be Detective Graham Waters who, makes racist remarks about Hispanics and also frames an innocent white male in order to hail a black police officer a hero, but then is also shown to be taking care of his sick mother. Despite the characters flaws, the audience is made to sympathise with them through their redeeming quality, e.g his kindness towards his mother.

Another example would be Cameron Thayer, he is a black TV director, which was unusual at the time in LA, the audience sympathises with him as he is seen on numerous accounts being subject to racism, however he allows his producer to change the dialogue in his show as it 'wasn't black enough' and also does nothing when his wife is molested by a white police officer. This makes the character more complex and leaves the decision up to the audience on whether his flaws can be justified.

The movie commences at the end where Detective Graham Waters is arriving at the scene of a dead body, and has just been involved in a crash with a Chinese woman. By starting at the end the story seems more mysterious as the audience don't yet know how the character got to this stage. This also engages them as they try and piece together the story throughout the film in order to get to the conclusion at the end.

 The film also includes stereotypes of nearly every race, there are 2 black male characters who are car thieves, the only white couple are wealthy and privileged, and the Chinese man was human trafficking. Although the film falls in to these stereotypes it also shows a deeper insight into the characters thoughts and feelings and shows why they are like that - usually through racial prejudice.

There was a lot of close up camera  shots used in this film, this was to focus on each characters emotions as the film focuses on the characters emotional growth and change during the different events.  The close up shot reduces the distance between the subject and the audience, meaning the audience can connect on a more personal level with the characters.

 

I think that Crash is effective as it shows a more realistic representation of society as a whole. Even though there are stereotypes and prejudice's towards people, it isn't as simple as one group against another. Everyone is flawed and I think that is what this film is trying to get across.

 

Suffragette Analysis

Still from the movie, Suffragette.
 

There is a mixed representation of women in this film. At the beginning of the film, the original suffragettes are represented very negatively. The first we see of these women is when Maud - the protagonist- is accidentally caught in the middle of a suffragette demonstration. The women are shown sporadically destroying the window display that Maud was admiring. This gives the audience the immediate impression that the Suffragettes are a negative group of women, and initially makes them side with Maud and the other characters who do not agree with their actions.

The characters in the film represent a variety of different types of women, as seen in the above picture. The Suffragettes were made up of women from very working class backgrounds, middle class educated backgrounds, and also very wealthy political backgrounds. This shows the audience that the suffragette campaign inspired and effected people from all walks of life, and it brought women together as one unit.

The use of different camera shots was also effective. In the scenes where the women were rioting, or being charged by the police - any scene with chaos-the shot changes were fast and the shown quick
moving images of women being caught, pushes and knocked down to mimic the panic of the women involved. This makes the audience engage more with the action on screen as it is fast pace and grabs their attention.

Men are represented negatively in this film as they are the main cause of the antagonist in the film (the law stating women do not have the right to vote). In particular Maud's husband Sonny, he is representing the average British working class man, who earns a living for his family and see's his wife as no more than a wife and a mother. As the film progresses he also represents all of the sacrifices the Suffragettes had to make in order to fight for their cause- the loss of her old comfortable life with a husband and a son.

Weekly News 3

This story is written by Ellie Ross

This is more of an appeal than a story,to find the mother of a 6 week old baby abandoned under a tree in Northampton-shire. The baby was luckily only left alone for no more than one and a half hours and was found by a passer by at 9 am on the 28th September.

I think the purpose of this story is to firstly, appeal to the mother or anyone who might have information, but also the direct address of the headline grabs the readers attention and the story was chosen because it is shocking and will make readers want to find out more about it.

The picture used as well shows an image of the child looking frail and asleep to make the child look even more vulnerable and again attract the readers attention when scrolling through the website.

There is also an image at the bottom of the story of the blankets the child way wrapped in.
The writer also included the fact that the two blankets were from Aldi,and Primark. This could be to suggest the reader that perhaps the baby was left due to financial reasons as Aldi and Primark are both discount stores.

Representation of Adults