Applying Media Theory to Advertising Media

Applying Media Theory to Advertising Media - Rhys Wallett

When using Emilie Autumn's music video for Fight Like A Girl, found in her 2012 album of the same name as an advertising product from which we can apply Media Theory too, we can see how the only music video of Emilie Autumn is rife in semiotics, iconography, and representation which would allow many media theorists (Hall's and Gauntlett's theories in particular) to use this to support their viewpoints.

Starting with Hall's Reception theory, you could argue that Autumn's dominant view would ideally be that an audience would be alarmed by the extreme difference of this music video compared to others, and so would check out Autumn's other works and purchase her albums. However, it is easy to assume how an oppositional viewpoint would be they would be deterred by the violence and Gothic layout to the music video and would be fearful of Autumn and hence would not support her.  Plus, Autumn has been able to effectively encode many ideas which link to her brand image which an audience would effectively decode, such as how we can use the wide shot of Autumn with which the mise en scene shows her performing in uneasy clothing, which gives of a disturbing brand image. In fact, there is an abundance of evidence to support how the music video portrays Emilie Autumn's brand image as being creepy, and thus allows an audience to use Hall's theory to decode ideas about her. Such as how in the duo mid shot towards the end where the mise en scene shows the imprisoned Emilie Autumn being forced to make out with the prison guard, with the clever graphics of "W14A" being effective intertextuality to Autumn's novel The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls shown in the background. This scene would be typically decoded by the audience as horrific, uneasy and unethical and so gives the audience the impression of her music being niche and that of the Gothic genre and thus would ideally either create a Dominant or at least Negotional response from her target audience which would both result in checking out the artist and the other albums with examples being Opheliac and Your Sugar Sits Untouched .

Meanwhile, when applying Gauntlett's Identity Theory to Fight Like A Girl, we can consider how the producers have effectively shaped Autumn's identity as both a person and a producer and what emanates what pragmatics. For example, Autumn has decided to make all the females in the music video as either being mentally insane patients shown in the close-up shot of Autumn being strangled by the male guard at the door where the background shows the mise en scene of fellow mentally insane women being violently abused while they all wear rags which would be considered to be prison uniform and have messy hair. Or they are represented as wards of a mental health facility shown by the duo mid shot of the two wards which the mise en scene shows them looking up at unison using indirect mode of address. As these representations are negative primarily if an audience's 'Pick & Mix' of media was limited to propaganda like this with Gothic, unsettling images like Fight Like A Girl then they could identify women as either being mentally insane or strict wards, and if they aren't insane they're homosexual shown by the duo shot of the wards being sexually aroused when seeing the mentally insane patients change, therefore this is hugely negative as it creates a colossal dichotomy of status amongst men and women so prevalent in the media today. Therefore if they limited themselves to media similar to music videos like this, they will be convinced men are the sane leaders of the world, while the women are mentally insane nuisances which would cause sexist ideologies to be implanted in the viewer's brain, despite the seemingly sounding feminist song.

Meanwhile, when we apply Barthes', Halls' and Gerbner's Media Theories to the trailer for the 2005 production of Pride & Prejudice we can see how the infamous novel by Jane Austen which has been adapted into movie form allows their effective media theories to convey the desired details of the respective theories.

When looking at Barthes' Semiotics Theory, we can see how they used the cliff shown in the wide panning shot which shows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, using indirect mode of address which the mise en scene shows her standing on the end of a colossal cliff to add effect to the trailer. This is shown by how the pragmatics of a cliff is the brink of mental consciousness and sudden end. Thus, this allows the audience to infer the idea that Elizabeth is contemplating huge personal dilemmas and stressful thought which they will then link to her inner battle about whether or not she loves Mr. Darcy which advances in the audience's devotion in their relationship. Plus, you can use the semiotics of the weather too in the trailer for Pride & Prejudice as an example shown by how in the mid shot of Mr. Darcy and Bennet arguing via "Do you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your circumstances?", in the layout of the shot, there is the visual code of rain which allows connotations of rain (which are melancholy, misery and degradation)  to be added into this scene which an audience could infer as to how there arguing is causing deep sadness for them both as they love each other. In contrast, sunlight has also been effectively used in this trailer shown in the mid duo shot of the two with the sun's light shining behind them as they are about to kiss. This is extremely effective as the pragmatics of love as redemption, savior and joy and therefore adds to the effect of the scene where they acknowledge there love for each other and allows an audience to be further emotional and happy about their success in love then if the sunlight wasn't there.

Next, when looking how Hall's Representation Theory, we can see how similar to Barthes' theory, signs such as the opening wide shot which the mise en scene shows a horse and carriage allowing the codes of the 18th Century to arrive in the trailer, as contextually they were the primary form of transport in the 18th Century.  Therefore, this forewarns an audience whom would not have already been aware of the context of Pride & Prejudice that the movie will be set in classical times. Plus, we can use how the stereotype of men back in 1797 create meanings of the community, as we can see how the stereotype that rich men wear suits is shown through the wide shot which the mise en scene shows Mr. Darcy in the center using direct mode of address and wearing a penguin suit. Thus, this allows the meanings of the stereotype to be brought into the movie as it gives the men meaning in the sense that their purpose in the world is to amuse, dance and celebrate while looking sophisticated and formal at all times. We can also see how the fact that stereotypes were based on inequalities is a tradition still being upheld in this trailer for Pride & Prejudice as there is a definite sense of power difference amongst Elizabeth Bennet and Lady Catherine de Bourgh shown in the close up scene of the two women's discussions where Lady Catherine says "Do you think his union can be prevented by a young women of inferior birth?" showing how the stereotype that the rich dominate the poor is shown in this, which is based off an inequality of class and thus, shows how stereotypes reducing people is shown in this trailer as Lady Catherine's class allows her to be cruel and pompous enough to insult Elizabeth purely based on class which reduces Elizabeth's character to working class.

Lastly, let's look at Gerbner's Cultuation Theory and how it applies to the trailer for Pride & Prejudice. When you look at how 'Repetition of Representations' has been used in this, you could argue that this enforces the classical idea that women back in 1797 had a primary purpose of looking for a man, shown by the narrator says "In an era when marrying a man was the most a women could hope for." which is, while contextually true, still regressive towards the representation of women as this idea is similarly repeated in the trailer for the 2002 production of The Importance Of Being Earnest  and the trailer for the  2011 production of What's Your Number?. Therefore, as this idea that women's sole purpose is to marry a man, this changes the audience's perception of women in a regressive way, and instead of encouraging how independent women are, it enforces regressive stereotypes of women and so the audience's perception of women could be changed to the ideology that a women's sole purpose to live is to be wed to successful men.