Attitude and Zoella: applying key theory
Media Language
1 - Semiotics - Roland Barthes - identify one particularly persuasive proairetic code for both Zoella and Attitude
Proairetic code for Zoella is her thumbnails - she holds up items and pulls expressions which are proairetic codes for what is going to happen in the video
Attitude - the article photos, draw people in as some of the thumbnails for the articles suggest action
4 - Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss - Demonstrate an example of how a diametric opposition reinforces a dominant ideological perspective for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - A clear binary opposition is constructed between Zoella, who is particularly small, and Alfie, who is significantly larger. This binary once more constructs a binary opposition between gender
Attitude - a clear binary opposition between the boys tab and the other tabs on the website - the boys tab is primarily full of men in very little clothing yet the rest of the website is simple news and fashion articles
5 - Postmodernism - Jean Baudrillard - present one example of how audiences may be unable to distinguish between reality and simulation for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - she continually breaks the 'fourth wall' as she talks directly to the audience - meaning the audience feel like she is directly talking to them
Attitude - postmodern due to the fact the style and travel tabs suggest the idea of everyone being able to afford everything and go anywhere
Representation
6 - Theories of representation - Stuart Hall - Give one example of a stereotype that reinforces hegemonic hierarchical ideological perspectives demonstrates an inequality of power for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - Zoella's house is a stereotypically 'female' - she is surrounded with gendered aspects of mise-en-scene such as flowers - reinforces a stereotypical representation of gender
Attitude - Gay men are represented as being stereotypically sensitive, cultured and even feminine - there is a big emphasis on theatre, drama and theatrical productions such as musicals
7 - Theories of identity - David Gauntlett - give an example of how audiences can pick and mix a specific element of identity from both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - audiences can interact with Zoella on her blog, comments, social and pick their own identity from what she has shared - the "fuckzoella" account is an example of an opportunity for the audience to present their own specific ideological perspective and to engage with Zoella in an oppositional manner
Attitude - many stereotypical representations of gay men are featured within attitude online which means that gay men are able to read through the magazine and pick apart the representations. For example, gay men are represented as being particularly interested in style and fashion, which is a highly stereotypical representation of gay men
10 - Theories of gender performativity - Judith Butler - give an example of how gender can be constructed through a ritualistic act in Zoella
Zoella continually self represents as a sexless and hyperreal construct - she does this through the mise-en-scene of her clothing in almost all of her videos, in the "HUGE summer primark haul" she is wearing a very low cut top however we can't see any cleavage - this then influences and manipulates the young and impressionable target audience to follow certain hegemonically constructed expectations of women
11 - Theories around ethnicity and postcolonial theory - Paul Gilroy - present one example of how gay people are 'othered' in Attitude
In the article about the Disney film the jungle cruise where Jack Whitehall is playing a gay man, he is represented as being "hugely effete, very camp and very funny". By using words like camp it suggests that gay men are over-sensitive and feminine which subverts stereotypes of men and they are "othered"
Industry
13 - Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt - give one example of how internet regulatory guidelines are followed for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - she isn't regulated and neither is the internet - she got threatened with court action because she didn't clearly state she had been paid to promote a product on her social media account as it could break consumer law
Attitude - some very explicit content and photos of men on their website which shows that they aren't regulated at all. However, they do self regulate as they don't include swear words and let their readers know when there is sexual or explicit content
14 - Cultural industries - David Hesmondhalgh - present one explicit example of horizontally integrated business practices for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - Zoella also owns a second channel which was previously known as "moreZoella" but she has since rebranded it to "Zoe Sugg" which suggests she is going for a more mature and grown-up audience for this second channel.
Attitude - they are owned by Stream who publish other magazines for companies such as Hertz and CityJet - they allow companies to gain a more global scale.
Audience
16 - Cultivation theory - George Gerbner - present one example of a generally accepted ideological perspective that is consistently repeated for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - her standard and stereotypical use of makeup reinforces certain hegemonic standards of female beauty and the ideological expectation that in order to be successful, a woman should wear makeup
Attitude - constantly presents stereotypical and straightforward representations of gay men which would reinforce the target audience to act in this certain way as this ideological perspective is constantly reinforced throughout the majority of the articles on attitude.
18 - Fandom - Henry Jenkins - give one example of how fans can interact with and use Zoella to demonstrate their adoration
Zoella - she allows her audience to interact with her via her different social media accounts, comment sections on her videos and her blog. She primarily facilitates this through her hypermodal mode of address allowing audiences to click around her expertly created sites and to be given many opportunities to directly interact with her.
19 - ‘End of audience’ theories - Clay Shirky - To what extent can audiences actually be said to take the role of producers when interacting with Zoella and Attitude? Present one shakey argument for each
Zoella - many people make reactions to what she has previously done within her career and some of the videos she has made which does make them the producer, for example, response videos such as "Zoella causing eating disorders on youtube" posted by 'light twins' constructs a response through re-editing previous Zoella videos allowing this audience to effectively take the role of producer.
Attitude - there are no ways for fans to interact with the producer on Attitude online which completely goes against Shirky's idea.
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Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Zoella and Attitude? (30)
Viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Zoella and Attitude in a number of ways. One way viewpoints are encoded in Zoella is through representations of herself. Zoella represents her ideological perspective of gender during her video titled "THE ZOELLA APARTMENT". Within this video the audience can see that Zoella's house is a stereotypically 'female' as she is surrounded with gendered aspects of mise-en-scene. For example, the large vase of flowers in the background reinforce a stereotypical representation of gender. As well as this, during the first few minutes of this video, Zoella is seen in the kitchen which is a stereotypical place for a woman to be. Roland Barthes theory of semiotics can be used to demonstrate Zoella's viewpoint as the kitchen is a symbolic code of old-fashioned representations of femininity which further reinforces the hegemonic norms and social values regarding women. Similarly, on Attitude online, the viewpoints of gay men are encoded through stereotypes. For example, gay men are represented as being stereotypically sensitive, cultured and even feminine which is done through there being a large emphasis on theatre, drama and theatrical productions such as musicals on the website. By featuring strong representations of gay men throughout the website, their target audience of gay men would be exposed to these for prolonged periods of time. Gerbner's theory of cultivation would therefore suggest that gay men would begin to share the ideological perspectives of attitude magazine because they are reinforced regularly.
Zoella is a vlogger on youtube with over 12million subscribers and 1billion views. She is represented as the perfect woman in her videos, this is because she is never seen swearing and she is never sexualised but instead takes on a more motherly role. This is turn highlights her ideological views that women should conform to hegemonic ideologies of how women should behave. In the Zoella apartment video there is a hint of sexualisation when Alfie pushes Zoella onto the bed, which is a proairetic code of sex. However, they instead simulate having a nap and not kissing which represents their gender performativity of an idealised, non-soul and loving relationship. Zoella's target audience is young, working class teenage girls, who would be seen as an impressionable audience, according to George Gerbner's cultivation theory. Her young audience may see Zoella and Alfie not taking part in any kissing or sexual activity and may begin to adopt this idea, that kissing and sexual relationships are wrong. As well as this, because of the age of her audience, Zoella does not include any political views, because she is aware of the effect this would have on her target audience. Whereas, Attitude online, which is a online version of the global magazine Attitude and has 1.8million online users, encodes their consumerist views through adverts and articles on the website. For example, on the home page, there are large adverts selling luxurious and expensive cars like a Range Rover which suggests to their audience that these are the products they should consider spending their disposable income on. Attitude assumes that because their target audience is gay males, they will have a large income of money. This suggests that Attitude are a company driven by profit and the idea that they can make money from their audience, which refers to Curran and Seaton's Power and Media industries theory. Furthermore, the 'style' tab on attitude magazine includes many articles about "this weeks hottest clothes and accessories" which have very expensive products. For example in the article posted on the 10th February 2020 some of the items featured are "Logo trainers by Armani Exchange" £155. The mise-en-scene of these items connotes wealth and having a large and disposable income. Therefore, through including the articles based commodity fetishism, it encodes their capitalist and materialistic ideologies.
Lastly, Zoella uses hyperreal constructs in order to encode her ideologies. She not only presents herself as the most perfect woman, but she also pretends to love everyone who is watching her videos. In the video titled "ultimate pizza taste test with Mark" many hyperreal constructions are presented to the audience. Both Mark and Zoella have incredibly admirable bodies yet this video creates utopian solution as they seemingly can eat as much pizza as they want and not focus on weight or cost. Zoella also states how she eats "a lot of pizza" yet it doesn't look like she actually does. This message displays Zoella's ideology that if you eat a lot of pizza you get skinny which her young and impressionable audience will believe. Zoella's image and body is a large part of her viewpoint and her standard and stereotypical use of makeup reinforces these hegemonic standards of female beauty and her ideological belief that to be successful, you must look like this. However, fans of Zoella may use other ideologies to construct their identity, which would be done through David Gauntlet's Pick and Mix theory as audiences are allowed to interact with Zoella through her blog, comments and social media. The "fuckzoella" account is a clear example of an audience member using the comment section to display their ideological perspective on Zoella. Attitude also includes their viewpoints and ideologies through news stories as every single one of them includes a gay aspect. Not only this but all of the news included is gossip news which is stereotyping their audience as people who would read and enjoy this type of news. For example an article featuring drag queen Ru Paul's represents gay men in an atypical fashion, indicating that there are many possible representations of gay men included in this article. This is a much more open ideology presented by the producers as they suggest that gay men do subvert stereotypical and hegemonic views of men, but they are still included within society.
In conclusion, ideological perspectives and viewpoints are included in Zoella and Attitude primarily using stereotypes due to the fact it enables them as producers to influence their audience in a subliminal way as they are encoded in the way Zoella acts, and the articles within Attitude.
1 - Semiotics - Roland Barthes - identify one particularly persuasive proairetic code for both Zoella and Attitude
Proairetic code for Zoella is her thumbnails - she holds up items and pulls expressions which are proairetic codes for what is going to happen in the video
Attitude - the article photos, draw people in as some of the thumbnails for the articles suggest action
4 - Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss - Demonstrate an example of how a diametric opposition reinforces a dominant ideological perspective for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - A clear binary opposition is constructed between Zoella, who is particularly small, and Alfie, who is significantly larger. This binary once more constructs a binary opposition between gender
Attitude - a clear binary opposition between the boys tab and the other tabs on the website - the boys tab is primarily full of men in very little clothing yet the rest of the website is simple news and fashion articles
5 - Postmodernism - Jean Baudrillard - present one example of how audiences may be unable to distinguish between reality and simulation for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - she continually breaks the 'fourth wall' as she talks directly to the audience - meaning the audience feel like she is directly talking to them
Attitude - postmodern due to the fact the style and travel tabs suggest the idea of everyone being able to afford everything and go anywhere
Representation
6 - Theories of representation - Stuart Hall - Give one example of a stereotype that reinforces hegemonic hierarchical ideological perspectives demonstrates an inequality of power for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - Zoella's house is a stereotypically 'female' - she is surrounded with gendered aspects of mise-en-scene such as flowers - reinforces a stereotypical representation of gender
Attitude - Gay men are represented as being stereotypically sensitive, cultured and even feminine - there is a big emphasis on theatre, drama and theatrical productions such as musicals
7 - Theories of identity - David Gauntlett - give an example of how audiences can pick and mix a specific element of identity from both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - audiences can interact with Zoella on her blog, comments, social and pick their own identity from what she has shared - the "fuckzoella" account is an example of an opportunity for the audience to present their own specific ideological perspective and to engage with Zoella in an oppositional manner
Attitude - many stereotypical representations of gay men are featured within attitude online which means that gay men are able to read through the magazine and pick apart the representations. For example, gay men are represented as being particularly interested in style and fashion, which is a highly stereotypical representation of gay men
10 - Theories of gender performativity - Judith Butler - give an example of how gender can be constructed through a ritualistic act in Zoella
Zoella continually self represents as a sexless and hyperreal construct - she does this through the mise-en-scene of her clothing in almost all of her videos, in the "HUGE summer primark haul" she is wearing a very low cut top however we can't see any cleavage - this then influences and manipulates the young and impressionable target audience to follow certain hegemonically constructed expectations of women
11 - Theories around ethnicity and postcolonial theory - Paul Gilroy - present one example of how gay people are 'othered' in Attitude
In the article about the Disney film the jungle cruise where Jack Whitehall is playing a gay man, he is represented as being "hugely effete, very camp and very funny". By using words like camp it suggests that gay men are over-sensitive and feminine which subverts stereotypes of men and they are "othered"
Industry
13 - Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt - give one example of how internet regulatory guidelines are followed for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - she isn't regulated and neither is the internet - she got threatened with court action because she didn't clearly state she had been paid to promote a product on her social media account as it could break consumer law
Attitude - some very explicit content and photos of men on their website which shows that they aren't regulated at all. However, they do self regulate as they don't include swear words and let their readers know when there is sexual or explicit content
14 - Cultural industries - David Hesmondhalgh - present one explicit example of horizontally integrated business practices for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - Zoella also owns a second channel which was previously known as "moreZoella" but she has since rebranded it to "Zoe Sugg" which suggests she is going for a more mature and grown-up audience for this second channel.
Attitude - they are owned by Stream who publish other magazines for companies such as Hertz and CityJet - they allow companies to gain a more global scale.
Audience
16 - Cultivation theory - George Gerbner - present one example of a generally accepted ideological perspective that is consistently repeated for both Zoella and Attitude
Zoella - her standard and stereotypical use of makeup reinforces certain hegemonic standards of female beauty and the ideological expectation that in order to be successful, a woman should wear makeup
Attitude - constantly presents stereotypical and straightforward representations of gay men which would reinforce the target audience to act in this certain way as this ideological perspective is constantly reinforced throughout the majority of the articles on attitude.
18 - Fandom - Henry Jenkins - give one example of how fans can interact with and use Zoella to demonstrate their adoration
Zoella - she allows her audience to interact with her via her different social media accounts, comment sections on her videos and her blog. She primarily facilitates this through her hypermodal mode of address allowing audiences to click around her expertly created sites and to be given many opportunities to directly interact with her.
19 - ‘End of audience’ theories - Clay Shirky - To what extent can audiences actually be said to take the role of producers when interacting with Zoella and Attitude? Present one shakey argument for each
Zoella - many people make reactions to what she has previously done within her career and some of the videos she has made which does make them the producer, for example, response videos such as "Zoella causing eating disorders on youtube" posted by 'light twins' constructs a response through re-editing previous Zoella videos allowing this audience to effectively take the role of producer.
Attitude - there are no ways for fans to interact with the producer on Attitude online which completely goes against Shirky's idea.
-------
Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Zoella and Attitude? (30)
Viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Zoella and Attitude in a number of ways. One way viewpoints are encoded in Zoella is through representations of herself. Zoella represents her ideological perspective of gender during her video titled "THE ZOELLA APARTMENT". Within this video the audience can see that Zoella's house is a stereotypically 'female' as she is surrounded with gendered aspects of mise-en-scene. For example, the large vase of flowers in the background reinforce a stereotypical representation of gender. As well as this, during the first few minutes of this video, Zoella is seen in the kitchen which is a stereotypical place for a woman to be. Roland Barthes theory of semiotics can be used to demonstrate Zoella's viewpoint as the kitchen is a symbolic code of old-fashioned representations of femininity which further reinforces the hegemonic norms and social values regarding women. Similarly, on Attitude online, the viewpoints of gay men are encoded through stereotypes. For example, gay men are represented as being stereotypically sensitive, cultured and even feminine which is done through there being a large emphasis on theatre, drama and theatrical productions such as musicals on the website. By featuring strong representations of gay men throughout the website, their target audience of gay men would be exposed to these for prolonged periods of time. Gerbner's theory of cultivation would therefore suggest that gay men would begin to share the ideological perspectives of attitude magazine because they are reinforced regularly.
Zoella is a vlogger on youtube with over 12million subscribers and 1billion views. She is represented as the perfect woman in her videos, this is because she is never seen swearing and she is never sexualised but instead takes on a more motherly role. This is turn highlights her ideological views that women should conform to hegemonic ideologies of how women should behave. In the Zoella apartment video there is a hint of sexualisation when Alfie pushes Zoella onto the bed, which is a proairetic code of sex. However, they instead simulate having a nap and not kissing which represents their gender performativity of an idealised, non-soul and loving relationship. Zoella's target audience is young, working class teenage girls, who would be seen as an impressionable audience, according to George Gerbner's cultivation theory. Her young audience may see Zoella and Alfie not taking part in any kissing or sexual activity and may begin to adopt this idea, that kissing and sexual relationships are wrong. As well as this, because of the age of her audience, Zoella does not include any political views, because she is aware of the effect this would have on her target audience. Whereas, Attitude online, which is a online version of the global magazine Attitude and has 1.8million online users, encodes their consumerist views through adverts and articles on the website. For example, on the home page, there are large adverts selling luxurious and expensive cars like a Range Rover which suggests to their audience that these are the products they should consider spending their disposable income on. Attitude assumes that because their target audience is gay males, they will have a large income of money. This suggests that Attitude are a company driven by profit and the idea that they can make money from their audience, which refers to Curran and Seaton's Power and Media industries theory. Furthermore, the 'style' tab on attitude magazine includes many articles about "this weeks hottest clothes and accessories" which have very expensive products. For example in the article posted on the 10th February 2020 some of the items featured are "Logo trainers by Armani Exchange" £155. The mise-en-scene of these items connotes wealth and having a large and disposable income. Therefore, through including the articles based commodity fetishism, it encodes their capitalist and materialistic ideologies.
Lastly, Zoella uses hyperreal constructs in order to encode her ideologies. She not only presents herself as the most perfect woman, but she also pretends to love everyone who is watching her videos. In the video titled "ultimate pizza taste test with Mark" many hyperreal constructions are presented to the audience. Both Mark and Zoella have incredibly admirable bodies yet this video creates utopian solution as they seemingly can eat as much pizza as they want and not focus on weight or cost. Zoella also states how she eats "a lot of pizza" yet it doesn't look like she actually does. This message displays Zoella's ideology that if you eat a lot of pizza you get skinny which her young and impressionable audience will believe. Zoella's image and body is a large part of her viewpoint and her standard and stereotypical use of makeup reinforces these hegemonic standards of female beauty and her ideological belief that to be successful, you must look like this. However, fans of Zoella may use other ideologies to construct their identity, which would be done through David Gauntlet's Pick and Mix theory as audiences are allowed to interact with Zoella through her blog, comments and social media. The "fuckzoella" account is a clear example of an audience member using the comment section to display their ideological perspective on Zoella. Attitude also includes their viewpoints and ideologies through news stories as every single one of them includes a gay aspect. Not only this but all of the news included is gossip news which is stereotyping their audience as people who would read and enjoy this type of news. For example an article featuring drag queen Ru Paul's represents gay men in an atypical fashion, indicating that there are many possible representations of gay men included in this article. This is a much more open ideology presented by the producers as they suggest that gay men do subvert stereotypical and hegemonic views of men, but they are still included within society.
In conclusion, ideological perspectives and viewpoints are included in Zoella and Attitude primarily using stereotypes due to the fact it enables them as producers to influence their audience in a subliminal way as they are encoded in the way Zoella acts, and the articles within Attitude.
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