How powerful is the connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games?

There is a stable and powerful connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games, they do not differ from one another. Social media is a prompt that allows us to share our personal content with the world, and once that begins to get out into the cyber world things begin to shift. For example, If I put up a video on youtube and it begins to receive likes, subscriptions and comments then my self esteem will begin to rise depending on the amount of attention my video is receiving. Now sooner or later what will happen will be that I will become so consumed with the thought of making sure that I am pleasing everyone and doing everything it takes to become “famous”, I will begin to believe that forgetting my morals, heritage and culture, is alright as long as I get what I want. Now the connection of social media relates back to the structure of the Hunger Games as it links back to our everyday lives. The Hunger Games revolves around the concept of ordinary people competing in a bloodbath competition, and the only way to survive is if they get people to like them and sponsor them, in order for that to happen they must drop everything they now and believe in. To get things heated up in the games, the game makers the ones who design and control the games, insure that things never get dull in the arena. This relates back to social media as they are similar in numerous ways. The people competing in the games are just like the consumers of social media, they change everything they believe in just to get people to like and sponsor them no matter the cost. The game makers in our case would be the social media companies as they feed off the amount of money they gain daily due to the amount of likes someone receives on their picture or video. Social media drives us to a point where we begin to question everything not only on social media but also in real life. This needs to be put to a halt, we can not allow social media to control our thoughts and actions, nether can we allow them to drive us to a point where we let go of everything that we once saw and knew as good and turn it into something horrific and unrecognisable.

A critique of One Direction's ' Steal My Girl'

A critique of One Direction's ' Steal My Girl'

Promoted as an everlasting love story saga, One Direction's lead single ' Steal My Girl' music video directed by Benjamin and Gabe Turner, portrays a completely contrasting meaning. The song's lyrics imply's how the boys ( One Direction) idolize this girl who they view as a goddess,and that how with out her their worlds would never be the same as they can not imagine a life without her as shown in their lyrics “I don't exist, If I don't have her, The sun doesn't shine,The world doesn't turn,”. The song also describes how everyone desires to take her away and have her for themselves. Not only do the lyrics display how protective they are of this particular girl but also how they are claiming her as theirs, which is displayed in their lyrics “Everybody wanna steal my girl ,Everybody wanna take her love away ,Couple billion in the whole wide world ,Find another one 'cause she belongs to me”.

The opening scene of the music video consists of One Direction awaiting their director who was portrayed by Danny Devito, who after showing up explains to the band "We're here in the name of art," "We're here to commit ourselves to a higher form of expression." little did we expect that higher form to involve sumo wrestlers, marching bands, zoo animals ,ballerinas and parasols.

Once the music begins and everyone gets into their places, the singing commences and whilst that is happening all the chaos begins to develop in the background. As the music video continues to reveal in front of us it becomes quite clear that it has no relation to the bands lyrics whats so ever. There is no goddess like figure which the band describes in their lyrics “Kisses like cream,Her walk is so mean,And every jaw drop,When she's in those jeans” nor was there a girl in jeans and no display of kissed like cream presented in the video, which may lead to confusion due the fact that if someone had not seen the video they would assume the video to contain that. Along with there not being anyone who imposed a threat towards the relationship.

Although the lyrics made us think otherwise, the music video remains to have some meaning. Each band member seems to teach the audience something meaningful in the end, we are taught to bestow peace, which is shown through the halting of the sumo wrestlers from fighting along with being taught how to stop racism, by having one of the band members dance with the African dancers. A few more lessons that are presented to us through the music video is the depiction of not allowing inhibition fear us and to be confident and independent, along with being shown we should adore and interact with animals as they are just like humans and lastly we are taught the lesson of how love can be spread everywhere even towards strangers. The video is quite deep and it takes a closer inspection to fully appreciate its deeper well thought out meaning. Ultimately the band was able to bring life to the desert including everyone that was there hence leading to the conclusion that life should be lived peacefully, happily and full of color.

Written Task 2

Written Task 2:

Reader, culture and text: How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?

Intended targeted audience( Women): When an intended targeted audience member looks at this advertisement the first thing that would come to their mind is that Blake Lively is prompting the product. By using a celebrity endorsement this not only help's benefit the company, but also the sales of the product. Women will start to think that 'if Blake uses it so should' and that by using this specific product not only will they obtain “invisible coverage” but they will also look like Blake, as according to the advertisement it is achievable. This advertisement would provide hope for the women, as in the advertisement it states that “ You're looking at the first unretouched makeup ad” hence leading them to believe that they can achieve a flawless look just by using the makeup forever professional foundation.

Unintended targeted audience: When someone from the unintended targeted audience such as someone with a critical eye, views this advertisement the first thing that they would note would be the promotion of insecurity and image consciousness. They would view this advertisement as something that would make women feel insecure about their complexion, and that if they do not match their airbrushed model then it would lead them to just feel uncomfortable in their own skin. Along with stating that there is no such thing as a “unretouched make up ad” as every advertisement is either photoshopped or retouched to the company's specific image and desire. Displaying that the company is not only providing and selling a product that contains false hope for customers but also one that imply's that by purchasing their specific product you will be able to achieve the goal they have set. Furthermore the advertisement would be seen as something that would make women feel horrible about their complexion, and that the consideration of beauty advertisement's be taken under critical viewing in order to be more aware of the harmful messages being directed towards women everywhere.

Further Oral Activity Refelection

My further oral activity explored the topic of beauty stereotypes, and how the media promotes and displays insecurity and image consciousness to women through the use of advertisements. I presented and compared two advertisements. The first one was a Palmolive bath bar advertisement, and the second one was a makeup forever professional foundation advertisement. I was able to achieve the learning outcomes as I examined the contrasting forms of communication within the advertisements that I presented and I was able to show an awareness of the ideological influence that the media displayed in the advertisements I presented. Along with being able to show and explain how the media used language and images to not only inform women about their specific product, but to also persuade them into wanting it. Having accomplished presenting my presentation I felt less agitated, and far more relaxed. Along with feeling proud (as even though I had done numerous presentations in the past) this was something new. In the middle of my presentation, I was slightly confused, I overcame that particular obstacle by composing myself, I continued and made it work. I would say that I did well in criteria A, B and D, however, I feel that for criteria C, I could have been more organized and responded to that criteria more effectively. I chose my specific text's due to my interest in stereotypes. When this topic was discussed in class, I found myself fascinated with stereotyping, even though I had learnt a little about it in another subject, this was on a completely different level. I also wanted the chance to explore and demonstrate how beauty stereotypes have been set and how they have evolved over a period of time. In my presentation I discussed the features of how each text leads women to feel both insecure and self conscious about their image, along with explaining the true meaning of preciously how the media executes it through the use of their advertisements. After completing this activity, I have learnt that I need to be a tad more organized and that overall it wasn't a negative experience. I have to admit, I thought it would have been. In the future when I will have to complete more of these oral assessments, I shall be experienced and I will know exactly how they are conducted and what is expected of me.