Half Term revision questions

How does the social and cultural context of the product effect how it represents people, places, etc? What messages and beliefs does it encode?

How do representations in this product show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer? And how are these beliefs reinforced in other media representations?

How do audience responses to these to these representations reflect the time in which they were made? How can audiences interpret the social and cultural messages?



How do representations in this product show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer? And how are these beliefs reinforced in other media representations? (15)

Plan:
- Zoella is the producer, creating a product individually to be broadcast to 12 million subscribers.
- Define representation - 
- Represents herself in a feminine, domestic role through her gender performance (Butler), eg, mannerisms(playing with her hair), appearance (make-up tutorial)
- Along with needing to 'prepare food and house' for their christmas party, depicting a housewife image, where Alfie goes out  into town, and she stays home wrapping presents and tidying the house. 
- She is objectified, as audiences watch her daily routine, and her figure/face is the main attraction

Zoey Sugg is the singular producer for her content that is broadcast to her 12 million followers. Representation is the way aspects of society, such as gender, age or ethnicity are presented to audiences. Zoella tends to use largely stereotypical representations in the production of her content, through the use of gender conformities and generalising gender norms. Additionally she creates conventional beauty ideals that reinforce a 'perfect' beauty that is unrealistic. I will explore how she does this further. 

In her video 'Getting organised for Christmas Day', Zoella applies a 'housewife' like role to her image through her actions and intentions. She does this through speaking to the camera about her chores of cooking, cleaning and decorating for a party, that her and Alfie will be hosting later that day. Here, she is referring a representation of a 1960's stay-at-home domestic wife, that has been taught over time to be 'normal'. Judith Butler believes that gender is performed through actions that we carry out every day, and that gender is something we are taught. I could argue that Butler's beliefs reinforce how Zoella acts and 'performs' gender stereotypes within her videos. Zoey uses typical feminine mannerisms and actions, for example, she plays with her hair while speaking to the camera, and she also does a short make-up tutorial at the beginning of the video to show she cares about her appearance. These are typically feminine gender conformaties that conform to the typical woman behaviour. 

Zoella creates clear ideologies other representations such as appearance being of significance, through her beauty channel, and her own beauty brand. The way she represents a 'conventionally perfect' look reveals that she values and believes that beauty is important in getting anywhere in life. She is sending this message to her followers through including make-up tutorials, outfit recaps, beauty reviews on products, and advertising her own beauty brand. In her video 'Getting organised for Christmas day' she puts on a whole face of make-up - which she refers to as a 'simple look' - just to be at home to do chores. This creates unrealistic beauty ideals for followers that will aspire to look and be like Zoella. Concequently, audiences begin to believe that they need these products to look the way Zoella does and put pressure on making your appearance an important matter. 

Addtionally, in Zoella's video 'Getting organised for Christmas Day' she creates opposition between male and female stereotypes and gender conformities. For example, she need Alfie to come and help her carry a big bag, implying there is men are strong and women are weak. As well as, Alfie has plans to go out into town that night, and Zoella has to pack his bag for him, implying men go out and have fun, and women stay home. Todorov believes that putting two opposing concepts side-by-side create meaning. These representations of male vs. female create meaning through Zoella creating a very stereotypical attitude towards gender. This can inflict a consequently stereotypical attitude towards gender onto her 12 million followers, who will watch and take in the representations she is creating. According to Albert Bandura, these representations and attitudes can be inserted to the audiences, and consequently audience reciprocate the attitudes. 

In conclusion, Zoella represents gender in a possibly harming way, that categorises gender by their stereotypical conformities. She also emphasises typical beauty ideals that harm how people might see themselves, and put unrealistic apsirations into audiences.