online media - ZOELLA
Media in the online age
what is online media?
A networked system of computers
Vlog
- vlog is short for a video log/ diary - the activity or practice of posting short videos or maintaining a vlog
- sub-genre of vlog = makeup tutorials, educational, travel, fashion, life-style, tech, videogame streaming, pranks, food/cookery, sports, unboxing, toy review etc.
- 42% of internet users said they have watched a vlog within the last month rising to 50% for 16-24 year olds (Guardian - 2015!!)
- people watch vlogs because it's free entertainment, their lifestyle is attractive, they are informational and instructional, huge element of voyeurism (we are looking into where they are filming etc), escapism, they are relatable, personal identity (someone like you or someone you want to be like), unscripted narrative (to an extent), authenticity, audience interaction
Zoella
- she is a vlogger
- second most popular beauty vlogger
- 12 million subscribers
- over 1 billion views
- started broadcasting fashion and beauty related videos in 2009
- 147th most subscribed channel
- second channel "morezoella" has over 4.8million subs and over 700million views (renamed now
- over 13.6million twitter followers
- over 10.9million instagram followers
"HUGE summer Primark Haul" - Zoella
- direct mode of address - looking directly at camera
- fixed camera angles
- very low production value
- lot's of jump-cuts
- mid-shot
- mise-en-scene clothing = basic, everyday and approachable costume - however her top is quite low cut - not sexualised at all in this video as can't see any cleavage
- unprofessional - not following a script - half way through her intro she got distracted by the rain (clear lack of script)
- using mise-en-scene and editing to construct a compelling and relatable persona for the audience - she's not got a large set-up because thats not what people want to see - she gets distracted and annoyed by the rain showing she is a real person
- lighting isn't good - high-key and unnatural lighting - however it isn't awful
- she is shopping in Primark (budget clothing company) - which is an affordable shop so most people can shop there - indicating a predominantly working class audience - she doesn't actually say what primark is - assuming her target audience knows what Primark is but she does say that she really likes it and that she likes the one specifically in Bristol
- her accent is bubbly, colloquial and personal - she uses informal words such as the word "bloody" indicates a relaxed and informal persona
- makeup is clearly visible yet not particularly over the top: 'going out' as opposed to 'high fashion'
- Sugg sits and talks directly to the camera with very little movement - video structure is straightforward and repetitive
- video resembles a long and unscripted advertisement - she has kept the pricetag on so she can tell the audience the price but could also be seen as a cultivation of materialistic and capitalistic ideologies
- commodity fetishism
Zoe hasn't posted on Zoella for months - must mention this in exam
_________________________________________________________________________
The internet
Hyperlink = clicking a hyperlink is going beyond the text - hyperlinks lead to a state of hypermodality
Hypermodality = process of going beyond one form of communication - moving from one mode of communication to another
Multimodality is a media product that uses different modes of communication (combining them) - not just videos but maybe text or games too.
"Above the fold" = all the information above the title
Zoella's homepage =
- logo - gold, glittery/ sparkly = more girly - targeting a young stereotypical working class female audience - it's a little bit shabby because it's for a working class audience so appeals to them and suggests Zoe is all over the place, approachable and friendly
- Hasn't posted a video in over a year
- Links to her other social media are in the corner - makes it easy for people to follow her - example of hypermodality as we are going beyond YouTube
- Banner adverts do appear on youtube - but not seen on here
- Zoella's homepage doesn't have a footer (bit at the bottom of a website)
- Carousel/slider = going down the page
- menu bar = left hand side (go to homepage on youtube, subscriptions etc.) or one for Zoella's channel where you can look at the rest of her videos, playlists, channel, about etc.
- Search bar is right at the top of the page
Everything on Zoella's homepage has been crafted to make a familiar and enjoyable experience for the audience - UX = user experience (term for ways in which we take pleasure from a website)
We have the video's ranged in a pleasing manner - they have all been titled with exactly what happens within the video - each and every thumbnail image is pleasing to look at
Thumbnail:
- Zoe is featured in all of them - similar expression and tilted her head in all of them
- Happy and excited in each one
- use of makeup - has it on in all of them - reinforces brand identity and hegemonic social views
- Each thumbnail encodes a proairetic code
- often uses a range of theatrically exaggerated mode of address with her expressions - makes the video seem better than it actually is - superlative/hyperbolic mode of address ="cringing at old embarrassing photos" facial expression looks embarrassed
- Uniform use of colour: bright, vibrant colour, further anchored through high key lighting and post-production editing
- Uniform similarity - all look almost identical - creates a clearly recognisable brand identity for her target audience
- Titles - big, bright, bold colours and text (when they are in the video)
- She is often holding and presenting commodities, encoding the dominant ideological perspective of consumerism - you are as happy and as cheery as Zoella by buying the things she is showing
- clear and easily identifiable use of the Z line, anchoring and positioning the target audience
- her head is often tilted to the side - to seem more approachable, more attractive
Why does she keep on doing the same thing over and over again?
BECAUSE IT WORKS - we know that it works because she is getting millions of views - Zoella continues to use these genre conventions in order to maximise her views and revenue
A symbiotic relationship = where two things rely on each other - Zoella relies on Youtube as a platform to post videos on and YouTube relies on Zoella in order to sell their audiences
Theories to do with media language?
- Roland Barthes
- Claude Levi-Strauss
- Todorov
- Steve Neale
- Jean Baudrillaud
Theories to do with representation?
- Lisbet Van Zoonen
- Stuart Hall
- Belle Hooks
- David Gauntlet
- Paul Gilroy
"THE ZOELLA APARTMENT" - Zoe Sugg (changed her channel name from "MoreZoella" to "Zoe Sugg" to attract a more mature audience)
- apartment showing all of her products so people want to go and buy them
- the thing she loves is the packaging of the candle - not the actual smell
- Zoella is represented as simple - not particularly intellectual
- Zoella says she loves all things home - stereotypical female role
Lisbet Van Zoonen - feminist theory
gender is constructed through codes and conventions of media products, and the idea of what is male and what is female changes over time
Women's bodies are used in media products as a spectacle for heterosexual make audiences, which reinforces patriarchal hegemony
Judith Butler - Gender performativity theory
- performativity is a repetitious and ritualistic act that constructs identity
- there is no gender identity behind these expressions of gender
- our identity only comes as a result of this performative act
- Gender performance = how we demonstrate our gender through our actions e.g. through what we wear, how we talk etc.
- gender performativity = how our acting of our gender effects the world around us
our gender identity is how other people see us
sex is biological, gender is constructed through society
"THE ZOELLA APARTMENT" - zoella gender performance and performativity
- flowers in background connote femininity
- white walls in house = modern
- close ups of her face - can see her makeup closely shows her femininity
- 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
- heavy makeup including 'smokey' eyeshadow, symbolic of sexuality? yet zoella appears 'sexless' she seems normal, approachable, a girl on the street
- outfit = plain grey jumper "normcore' plain jumper, grey and non-form fitting, crew-neck grey jumper, symbolic of a standard and straightforward and non-sexualised fashion
- setting = kitchen - symbolic of old-fashioned representations of femininity which reinforces hegemonic norms and social values regarding women
- "they're too big to get into the back" clear distinction between genders here, girls can fit in the mini and the boys can't - Alfie announced loudly he has been down the gym and is wearing a vest, emphasising his body
- 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
- Zoella's lifestyle; "i've been really busy baking" - a clear gender role is constructed through the two characters and their choice of leisure activity
- Yet Alfie subverts representations of masculinity through sharing his life and his emotions he demonstrates extreme happiness at having completed a gym workout
- Zoella is influencing the audience who are watching her through her gender performativity= her gender performance is arguably conservative - she does not wear any revealing clothing nor does she use bad language - constructs a stereotypical 'soft and caring' representation of women
- Shot of Zoella in the bath covered in toys and laughing with Poppy is a stereotypically girlish construction of gender again defies any hint of sexualisation
- Zoella is pushed onto the bed by Alfie, in a gesture that briefly hints at eroticism. Yet instead they simulate having a nap while lying down and not kissing - their gender performativity constructs an idealised, non-sexual, childish and loving relationship. Alfie is non-threatening and there is no hint of sex and sexualisation through their performance. instead Zoella turns the conversation immediately to the candles. Here commodity fetishism replaces any reference to sexual intercourse.
- A reference to Madonna/whore complex? Zoella is completely sexless and sells this ideology to her target audience. In performing in such a way Zoella reinforces that sex and sexuality are undesirable aspects in young women
Saffron Barker - 'TYPES OF BOYFRIEND!! (THEN VS NOW)'
- Kissing
- talking about relationships
- with her boyfriend
- lower production values than Zoella but different locations and cuts more
- over 9.5 million views on this vid
_________________________________________________________________________
Zoella's gender performativity creates a complex set of reactions and interactions in her target audience
Zoella's representation of a perfect woman - she never swears, completely asexual, apolitical (no political talk on her channel - because her target audience wouldn't like it and it would attract a completely different target audience - she also doesn't want to lose subscribers because of her political view), doesn't take drugs/drink alcohol
Zoella doesn't have a child but her baking, her cupcakes, her picnics etc are very stereotypically motherly - she acts as Alfies mother, when she was in bed with Alfie he hugs into her neck - the lexis and delivery of their language is quite childish
Roland Barthes - semiotics
Claude Levi-Strauss - structuralism - binary opposition "[a myth provides] a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction"
To what extent can Zoella and Attitude be seen as postmodern?
postmodernism = impossible to define - the idea that we live in a world that makes less and less sense - the world is becoming more style and no substance
breaking the fourth wall = a character talks directly addresses the audience - youtube and Zoella consistently and continually break the fourth wall
"we live in a world where there is more and more information and less and less meaning" - Jean Baudrillard
to what extent is Zoella a Hyperreal construct?
- how she is pretending to be everyones friend - she probably doesn't love everyone who watches her video
- her worries are completely different to our worries - she is worried about boxes candles go in
- she looks perfect - her makeup and appearance are perfect - this is due to youtube and trying to draw in an audience
what is a referentiality - intertextual reference other products to show the genre
Zoella goes further and references her own life - she says she can't go own the train because of her anxiety but she doesn't say this but if you had watched previous videos you would know this (from the apartment vlog)
hyper-referentiality - intertextual references to yourself
Zoella, much like many other vloggers, is based on a mode of constant hyper-referentiality, and is impossible to understand without an intimate knowledge of Barthesian referential codes
she relies on knowledge from other vloggers, brands of makeup
when she starts the primark video she doesn't explain the video - she assumes we know what she's talking about but people in other countries may not know what it is - it's easy to spend loads in primark is because it is cheap
Zoella's blog:- very modern and fresh - new blog is white (old was pink)
- blog redesign is much much more sophisticated, less girly and childish - more adult
- easy to use - has a good user experience - didn't code and design this website herself - very professional
- fashion and lifestyle blog "we tried:in-store makeovers"
- fashion and products = high street = attracting a more working class audience
- models and people helping out with the blog look like normal people (all look around 30 showing that her stuff targets older people now)
- Zoella's blog offers the audience a positive user experience
- the posts are no longer done just by Zoe - they are done by "team Zoella"
- "drink the obligatory Guinness on St paddy's day"
- engagement = ability of a website to keep you there - Zoella's blog does this well as link's to new blogs are at the bottom once you have reached the end of the blog you are reading - once you do this you want to buy things - designed to keep people on website as long as possible without letting them go - the longer we spend in Zoella's world the more we are likely to share her ideologies - ideology cultivated by website = George Gerbner's cultivation theory
- hyperreal construction of pancakes
- when there are pictures of the pancake there isn't a large mess everywhere - the ingredients are in nicer containers - inviting and classy
- icing sugar is on the pancakes
- no cooking equipment - better than reality
- this is selling the Zoella lifestyle - she sells a brand based on authenticity = real (she is the girl from next door, she is sweet, nice, doesn't swear etc)
- this is an example of commodity fetishism - we eat them because they taste nice - these are being sold because they look nice = a hyperreal version of pancakes
- the pancake article also constructs a stereotypical and hyperreal version of women
- Metonymical representation of women (metonym = where something stands is for something else) these pancakes stand in for women themselves, these pancakes are zoella - they are just as perfect as she is - this demonstrates an ideology for women that in order to be a women you need to be perfect
-
Zoella Advent calendar
In 2017, Zoella released an advent calendar which was very controversial
- only 12 days
- RRP £50
- consumers said they got awful products
- Zoella's target audience is primarily children (or it has been historically - she is now targeting older people) and she is charging a lot of money
- many people saw this advent calendar as taking advantage of her audience
- it ruined the hyperreal image of her brand - it led to disillusionment - people were emotionally annoyed and genuinely upset - proves how much she did impact people
Henry Jenkins - theory of fandom
Clay Shirky - End of audience theory
we can interact with Zoella through:
- comments - comment on a blogpost about a makeup haul =
Account = "Fuck Zoella"
"hi, you entitled bitch this 'little haul' cost over £400. i dont know why you'd claim this hurt you as you have far too much money for a degenerate cunt without a real job and you can barely do the shite that you do. i am offended that you feel the need to rub your excessive wealth in our faces when lets be honest you'll look like shite at the end anyway. remember your fans feed you bank account, so maybe dont be a cunt :) xxx"
user engagement = the ability of something to keep you there (keep you on Youtube, websites etc)
famous conspiracies:
- reptoid conspiracy
- aliens built the pyramids
- 9/11 was an inside job done by George Bush - "there were a number of culprits for the 9/11 attack" - it was the "jews"
- Hitler only died recently, not after ww1/2
conspiracy theory - a theory going against something - if people believe the world is going against them their mental health probably isn't good
YouTube monetise conspiracy theories - therefore if people spend hours a day watching conspiracy theories it is making youtube money because of the views and ads that are put before the videos
people who watch these videos a lot constantly are known as "a high engagement user" by YouTube - some people are also "addicted" to these videos which makes YouTube and the creator money
------
young impressionable and manipulated audience are likely to believe conspiracy theories like this:
loads of fake news is going viral about the corona virus
viral media = when something is spread and goes around quickly
example of viral media = 'momo' would come and kill your kids
Air of authenticity about 'momo' = the tweet was written by the sun - one of the biggest newspapers in the country
urban legend that is completely false
sent around very quickly because it was freaky
blatantly false story was spread around world because it makes money
the tweet is directed at parents - it's saying how their children are being manipulated by the internet yet they are the actual ones being manipulated by the fake story
what issues are the with posting blatantly false stories?
NSPCC said there is "no confirmed evidence that the phenomenon is actually posing a threat to British children"
the sun are raising panic deliberately for money curran and seaton
News stories like "momo" are published because it makes the newspapers money - people can actually get hurt by these stories because it prey's on our fears
children have much more access to youtube videos these days
if a young person watches porn they might think they have to do it - cultivation theory = we keep seeing things over and over again so they think they have to do it
algorithm = a process or set of rules to be followed in problem solving operations
e.g. instagram recommend ads at things you have previously looked at
e.g. twitter is algorithmically dictated now because it makes it more interesting for you some people like this because they are seeing the things they want to see
e.g. Autoplay on youtube (play the nest video that is suggested) which suggests similar vides through an algorithm
machine learning = way in which a machine learns - they can be better at things than humans e.g. a chess game where a computer beats the human - computers think in a completely different way - we think logically
when you make a video you are making it for the algorithm because this is what decides how many people will see the video
How does Zoella utilises algorithms to get more views:
- title = by including "miranda sings" in her title it is going to attract more views and come up in peoples recommended
- brands in her titles and thumbnails = so people that like those brands find her channel and these videos - more chance of her going in autoplay
- she holds things up and pulls a shocked face = it works - its worked before so she will do it again
- Zoella get's paid through views - the more views her video gets the more people will watch it as it will get posted places (like on the trending page) - in order for it to actually count as a view - the audience need to watch for 30 seconds (Zoella "ultimate pizza taste test with mark" keep the audience to get a view by being very happy, direct mode of address, funny, sweet etc. - they immediately talk about pizza - Zoella is attractive, very feminine, extremely approachable - this all works which is why she continues to do it - all her videos start in the same way)
- "bronzed nude summer makeup look" - she takes her makeup off during the first 30 seconds of the video - going against hegemonic norms of needing makeup to be pretty - her face does have spots and blotches which connotes she is relatable as she doesn't have perfect skin - the algorithm likes this
On Netflix different thumbnails come up for different people depending on what they have previously watched - black people saw that they were beginning to get targeted thumbnails that included black people
-> targeted thumbnails can be bad because they are making huge assumptions on what people are like, what social class they fit in etc. depending on what people watch but they might not actually be this - the issue here is that the logic is completely floored
Zoella is not targeting an audience, but is using algorithmic practice to target a theoretical machine fabricated audience
_________________________________________________________________________
Zoella = hyperreal construct - she is not a person - there is a woman called Zoe Sugg but we aren't interested in her
Quote some of these in the exam!!!
these tweets show hyperreality as she is presenting herself as something she is - this isn't showing herself as being better than she actually is - genuinely people do have unpleasant ideas.
hyperreality = dealing with perfection when some people really aren't perfect
Zoella doesn't want to go around calling people chavs because her target audience wouldn't like it or appreciate it - this is an issue for Zoella because it makes her brand and image look terrible - it is a disruption to her image.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Theories and Zoella
MEDIA LANGUAGE THEORIES
Zoella targets a niche audience - young teenage girls = around 13 years old
The internet
Hyperlink = clicking a hyperlink is going beyond the text - hyperlinks lead to a state of hypermodality
Hypermodality = process of going beyond one form of communication - moving from one mode of communication to another
Multimodality is a media product that uses different modes of communication (combining them) - not just videos but maybe text or games too.
"Above the fold" = all the information above the title
Zoella's homepage =
- logo - gold, glittery/ sparkly = more girly - targeting a young stereotypical working class female audience - it's a little bit shabby because it's for a working class audience so appeals to them and suggests Zoe is all over the place, approachable and friendly
- Hasn't posted a video in over a year
- Links to her other social media are in the corner - makes it easy for people to follow her - example of hypermodality as we are going beyond YouTube
- Banner adverts do appear on youtube - but not seen on here
- Zoella's homepage doesn't have a footer (bit at the bottom of a website)
- Carousel/slider = going down the page
- menu bar = left hand side (go to homepage on youtube, subscriptions etc.) or one for Zoella's channel where you can look at the rest of her videos, playlists, channel, about etc.
- Search bar is right at the top of the page
Everything on Zoella's homepage has been crafted to make a familiar and enjoyable experience for the audience - UX = user experience (term for ways in which we take pleasure from a website)
We have the video's ranged in a pleasing manner - they have all been titled with exactly what happens within the video - each and every thumbnail image is pleasing to look at
Thumbnail:
- Zoe is featured in all of them - similar expression and tilted her head in all of them
- Happy and excited in each one
- use of makeup - has it on in all of them - reinforces brand identity and hegemonic social views
- Each thumbnail encodes a proairetic code
- often uses a range of theatrically exaggerated mode of address with her expressions - makes the video seem better than it actually is - superlative/hyperbolic mode of address ="cringing at old embarrassing photos" facial expression looks embarrassed
- Uniform use of colour: bright, vibrant colour, further anchored through high key lighting and post-production editing
- Uniform similarity - all look almost identical - creates a clearly recognisable brand identity for her target audience
- Titles - big, bright, bold colours and text (when they are in the video)
- She is often holding and presenting commodities, encoding the dominant ideological perspective of consumerism - you are as happy and as cheery as Zoella by buying the things she is showing
- clear and easily identifiable use of the Z line, anchoring and positioning the target audience
- her head is often tilted to the side - to seem more approachable, more attractive
Why does she keep on doing the same thing over and over again?
BECAUSE IT WORKS - we know that it works because she is getting millions of views - Zoella continues to use these genre conventions in order to maximise her views and revenue
A symbiotic relationship = where two things rely on each other - Zoella relies on Youtube as a platform to post videos on and YouTube relies on Zoella in order to sell their audiences
Theories to do with media language?
- Roland Barthes
- Claude Levi-Strauss
- Todorov
- Steve Neale
- Jean Baudrillaud
Theories to do with representation?
- Lisbet Van Zoonen
- Stuart Hall
- Belle Hooks
- David Gauntlet
- Paul Gilroy
"THE ZOELLA APARTMENT" - Zoe Sugg (changed her channel name from "MoreZoella" to "Zoe Sugg" to attract a more mature audience)
- apartment showing all of her products so people want to go and buy them
- the thing she loves is the packaging of the candle - not the actual smell
- Zoella is represented as simple - not particularly intellectual
- Zoella says she loves all things home - stereotypical female role
Lisbet Van Zoonen - feminist theory
gender is constructed through codes and conventions of media products, and the idea of what is male and what is female changes over time
Women's bodies are used in media products as a spectacle for heterosexual make audiences, which reinforces patriarchal hegemony
Judith Butler - Gender performativity theory
- performativity is a repetitious and ritualistic act that constructs identity
- there is no gender identity behind these expressions of gender
- our identity only comes as a result of this performative act
- Gender performance = how we demonstrate our gender through our actions e.g. through what we wear, how we talk etc.
- gender performativity = how our acting of our gender effects the world around us
our gender identity is how other people see us
sex is biological, gender is constructed through society
"THE ZOELLA APARTMENT" - zoella gender performance and performativity
- flowers in background connote femininity
- white walls in house = modern
- close ups of her face - can see her makeup closely shows her femininity
- 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
- heavy makeup including 'smokey' eyeshadow, symbolic of sexuality? yet zoella appears 'sexless' she seems normal, approachable, a girl on the street
- outfit = plain grey jumper "normcore' plain jumper, grey and non-form fitting, crew-neck grey jumper, symbolic of a standard and straightforward and non-sexualised fashion
- setting = kitchen - symbolic of old-fashioned representations of femininity which reinforces hegemonic norms and social values regarding women
- "they're too big to get into the back" clear distinction between genders here, girls can fit in the mini and the boys can't - Alfie announced loudly he has been down the gym and is wearing a vest, emphasising his body
- 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
- Zoella's lifestyle; "i've been really busy baking" - a clear gender role is constructed through the two characters and their choice of leisure activity
- Yet Alfie subverts representations of masculinity through sharing his life and his emotions he demonstrates extreme happiness at having completed a gym workout
- Zoella is influencing the audience who are watching her through her gender performativity= her gender performance is arguably conservative - she does not wear any revealing clothing nor does she use bad language - constructs a stereotypical 'soft and caring' representation of women
- Shot of Zoella in the bath covered in toys and laughing with Poppy is a stereotypically girlish construction of gender again defies any hint of sexualisation
- Zoella is pushed onto the bed by Alfie, in a gesture that briefly hints at eroticism. Yet instead they simulate having a nap while lying down and not kissing - their gender performativity constructs an idealised, non-sexual, childish and loving relationship. Alfie is non-threatening and there is no hint of sex and sexualisation through their performance. instead Zoella turns the conversation immediately to the candles. Here commodity fetishism replaces any reference to sexual intercourse.
- A reference to Madonna/whore complex? Zoella is completely sexless and sells this ideology to her target audience. In performing in such a way Zoella reinforces that sex and sexuality are undesirable aspects in young women
Saffron Barker - 'TYPES OF BOYFRIEND!! (THEN VS NOW)'
- Kissing
- talking about relationships
- with her boyfriend
- lower production values than Zoella but different locations and cuts more
- over 9.5 million views on this vid
_________________________________________________________________________
Zoella's gender performativity creates a complex set of reactions and interactions in her target audience
Zoella's representation of a perfect woman - she never swears, completely asexual, apolitical (no political talk on her channel - because her target audience wouldn't like it and it would attract a completely different target audience - she also doesn't want to lose subscribers because of her political view), doesn't take drugs/drink alcohol
Zoella doesn't have a child but her baking, her cupcakes, her picnics etc are very stereotypically motherly - she acts as Alfies mother, when she was in bed with Alfie he hugs into her neck - the lexis and delivery of their language is quite childish
Roland Barthes - semiotics
Claude Levi-Strauss - structuralism - binary opposition "[a myth provides] a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction"
To what extent can Zoella and Attitude be seen as postmodern?
postmodernism = impossible to define - the idea that we live in a world that makes less and less sense - the world is becoming more style and no substance
breaking the fourth wall = a character talks directly addresses the audience - youtube and Zoella consistently and continually break the fourth wall
"we live in a world where there is more and more information and less and less meaning" - Jean Baudrillard
to what extent is Zoella a Hyperreal construct?
- how she is pretending to be everyones friend - she probably doesn't love everyone who watches her video
- her worries are completely different to our worries - she is worried about boxes candles go in
- she looks perfect - her makeup and appearance are perfect - this is due to youtube and trying to draw in an audience
what is a referentiality - intertextual reference other products to show the genre
Zoella goes further and references her own life - she says she can't go own the train because of her anxiety but she doesn't say this but if you had watched previous videos you would know this (from the apartment vlog)
hyper-referentiality - intertextual references to yourself
Zoella, much like many other vloggers, is based on a mode of constant hyper-referentiality, and is impossible to understand without an intimate knowledge of Barthesian referential codes
she relies on knowledge from other vloggers, brands of makeup
when she starts the primark video she doesn't explain the video - she assumes we know what she's talking about but people in other countries may not know what it is - it's easy to spend loads in primark is because it is cheap
Zoella's blog:- very modern and fresh - new blog is white (old was pink)
- blog redesign is much much more sophisticated, less girly and childish - more adult
- easy to use - has a good user experience - didn't code and design this website herself - very professional
- fashion and lifestyle blog "we tried:in-store makeovers"
- fashion and products = high street = attracting a more working class audience
- models and people helping out with the blog look like normal people (all look around 30 showing that her stuff targets older people now)
- Zoella's blog offers the audience a positive user experience
- the posts are no longer done just by Zoe - they are done by "team Zoella"
- "drink the obligatory Guinness on St paddy's day"
- engagement = ability of a website to keep you there - Zoella's blog does this well as link's to new blogs are at the bottom once you have reached the end of the blog you are reading - once you do this you want to buy things - designed to keep people on website as long as possible without letting them go - the longer we spend in Zoella's world the more we are likely to share her ideologies - ideology cultivated by website = George Gerbner's cultivation theory
- hyperreal construction of pancakes
- when there are pictures of the pancake there isn't a large mess everywhere - the ingredients are in nicer containers - inviting and classy
- icing sugar is on the pancakes
- no cooking equipment - better than reality
- this is selling the Zoella lifestyle - she sells a brand based on authenticity = real (she is the girl from next door, she is sweet, nice, doesn't swear etc)
- this is an example of commodity fetishism - we eat them because they taste nice - these are being sold because they look nice = a hyperreal version of pancakes
- the pancake article also constructs a stereotypical and hyperreal version of women
- Metonymical representation of women (metonym = where something stands is for something else) these pancakes stand in for women themselves, these pancakes are zoella - they are just as perfect as she is - this demonstrates an ideology for women that in order to be a women you need to be perfect
-
Zoella Advent calendar
In 2017, Zoella released an advent calendar which was very controversial
- only 12 days
- RRP £50
- consumers said they got awful products
- Zoella's target audience is primarily children (or it has been historically - she is now targeting older people) and she is charging a lot of money
- many people saw this advent calendar as taking advantage of her audience
- it ruined the hyperreal image of her brand - it led to disillusionment - people were emotionally annoyed and genuinely upset - proves how much she did impact people
Henry Jenkins - theory of fandom
Clay Shirky - End of audience theory
we can interact with Zoella through:
- comments - comment on a blogpost about a makeup haul =
Account = "Fuck Zoella"
"hi, you entitled bitch this 'little haul' cost over £400. i dont know why you'd claim this hurt you as you have far too much money for a degenerate cunt without a real job and you can barely do the shite that you do. i am offended that you feel the need to rub your excessive wealth in our faces when lets be honest you'll look like shite at the end anyway. remember your fans feed you bank account, so maybe dont be a cunt :) xxx"
user engagement = the ability of something to keep you there (keep you on Youtube, websites etc)
famous conspiracies:
- reptoid conspiracy
- aliens built the pyramids
- 9/11 was an inside job done by George Bush - "there were a number of culprits for the 9/11 attack" - it was the "jews"
- Hitler only died recently, not after ww1/2
conspiracy theory - a theory going against something - if people believe the world is going against them their mental health probably isn't good
YouTube monetise conspiracy theories - therefore if people spend hours a day watching conspiracy theories it is making youtube money because of the views and ads that are put before the videos
people who watch these videos a lot constantly are known as "a high engagement user" by YouTube - some people are also "addicted" to these videos which makes YouTube and the creator money
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young impressionable and manipulated audience are likely to believe conspiracy theories like this:
loads of fake news is going viral about the corona virus
viral media = when something is spread and goes around quickly
example of viral media = 'momo' would come and kill your kids
Air of authenticity about 'momo' = the tweet was written by the sun - one of the biggest newspapers in the country
urban legend that is completely false
sent around very quickly because it was freaky
blatantly false story was spread around world because it makes money
the tweet is directed at parents - it's saying how their children are being manipulated by the internet yet they are the actual ones being manipulated by the fake story
what issues are the with posting blatantly false stories?
NSPCC said there is "no confirmed evidence that the phenomenon is actually posing a threat to British children"
the sun are raising panic deliberately for money curran and seaton
News stories like "momo" are published because it makes the newspapers money - people can actually get hurt by these stories because it prey's on our fears
children have much more access to youtube videos these days
if a young person watches porn they might think they have to do it - cultivation theory = we keep seeing things over and over again so they think they have to do it
algorithm = a process or set of rules to be followed in problem solving operations
e.g. instagram recommend ads at things you have previously looked at
e.g. twitter is algorithmically dictated now because it makes it more interesting for you some people like this because they are seeing the things they want to see
e.g. Autoplay on youtube (play the nest video that is suggested) which suggests similar vides through an algorithm
machine learning = way in which a machine learns - they can be better at things than humans e.g. a chess game where a computer beats the human - computers think in a completely different way - we think logically
when you make a video you are making it for the algorithm because this is what decides how many people will see the video
How does Zoella utilises algorithms to get more views:
- title = by including "miranda sings" in her title it is going to attract more views and come up in peoples recommended
- brands in her titles and thumbnails = so people that like those brands find her channel and these videos - more chance of her going in autoplay
- she holds things up and pulls a shocked face = it works - its worked before so she will do it again
- Zoella get's paid through views - the more views her video gets the more people will watch it as it will get posted places (like on the trending page) - in order for it to actually count as a view - the audience need to watch for 30 seconds (Zoella "ultimate pizza taste test with mark" keep the audience to get a view by being very happy, direct mode of address, funny, sweet etc. - they immediately talk about pizza - Zoella is attractive, very feminine, extremely approachable - this all works which is why she continues to do it - all her videos start in the same way)
- "bronzed nude summer makeup look" - she takes her makeup off during the first 30 seconds of the video - going against hegemonic norms of needing makeup to be pretty - her face does have spots and blotches which connotes she is relatable as she doesn't have perfect skin - the algorithm likes this
On Netflix different thumbnails come up for different people depending on what they have previously watched - black people saw that they were beginning to get targeted thumbnails that included black people
-> targeted thumbnails can be bad because they are making huge assumptions on what people are like, what social class they fit in etc. depending on what people watch but they might not actually be this - the issue here is that the logic is completely floored
Zoella is not targeting an audience, but is using algorithmic practice to target a theoretical machine fabricated audience
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Zoella = hyperreal construct - she is not a person - there is a woman called Zoe Sugg but we aren't interested in her
Quote some of these in the exam!!!
these tweets show hyperreality as she is presenting herself as something she is - this isn't showing herself as being better than she actually is - genuinely people do have unpleasant ideas.
hyperreality = dealing with perfection when some people really aren't perfect
Zoella doesn't want to go around calling people chavs because her target audience wouldn't like it or appreciate it - this is an issue for Zoella because it makes her brand and image look terrible - it is a disruption to her image.
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Theories and Zoella
MEDIA LANGUAGE THEORIES
1 - Semiotics - Roland Barthes - proairetic code created by the pizza thumbnail informs the target audience that the video will focus on pizza, a fast food popular with Zoella's young female working class audience
4 - Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss - binary opposition between genders is created in the Zoella apartment video, where Zoella is presented as small, petit and vulnerable whereas Alfie is masculine, large and confident which reinforces notions of patriarchal hegemonic values
5 - Postmodernism - Jean Baudrillard - the representation of pancakes in the pancake blog constructs a hyperreal representation of zoella as a hegemonically perfect and flawless woman - if you eat loads of pancakes you gain weight = hyperreal construction within this blog
5 - Postmodernism - Jean Baudrillard - the representation of pancakes in the pancake blog constructs a hyperreal representation of zoella as a hegemonically perfect and flawless woman - if you eat loads of pancakes you gain weight = hyperreal construction within this blog
REPRESENTATION THEORIES
6 - Theories of representation - Stuart Hall - Zoella is so careful about her weight - Zoella presents herself as a stereotypically hegemonically attractive woman. Petite and girlish, she reinforces certain expectations of how women should look - telling her audience they have to be skinny to be pretty
7 - Theories of identity - David Gauntlett - the 'fuckzoella' account demonstrates an opportunity for the audience to present their own specific ideological perspective and to engage with Zoella in an oppositional manner
10 - Theories of gender performativity - Judith Butler - Zoella continually self represents as a sexless, virginal, hyperreal construct - this in turn 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 - Gilroy's theory of postcolonial identity assumes that there is a definite hierarchy that exists with the representation of ethnicity - Zoella presents a hegemonically perfect construction of beauty that assumes the audience is white - by presenting only white ideals of beauty in her videos, Zoella is technically symbolically annihilating any representation of black and ethnic minority voices
7 - Theories of identity - David Gauntlett - the 'fuckzoella' account demonstrates an opportunity for the audience to present their own specific ideological perspective and to engage with Zoella in an oppositional manner
10 - Theories of gender performativity - Judith Butler - Zoella continually self represents as a sexless, virginal, hyperreal construct - this in turn 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 - Gilroy's theory of postcolonial identity assumes that there is a definite hierarchy that exists with the representation of ethnicity - Zoella presents a hegemonically perfect construction of beauty that assumes the audience is white - by presenting only white ideals of beauty in her videos, Zoella is technically symbolically annihilating any representation of black and ethnic minority voices
INDUSTRY THEORIES
12 - Power and media industries - Curran and Seaton - profit and power - Zoella uses algorithmically appropriate and effective titles within her video in order to ensure she attracts a much larger audience and maximises advertising revenue (Boyfriend buys my ASOS haul)
13 - Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt - 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 (Competition and Markets Authority) - this is underlined by how ineffective the regulation of the online media is
14 - Cultural Industries - David Hesmondhalgh - Zoella uses vertical integration as she pays people to design her blog, her youtube account, get photos and more - different people do different things - Zoella works independently in a small group, ultimately her business endeavours are vertically integrated, with all forms of production and distribution under her control
AUDIENCE THEORIES
16 - Cultivation theory - George Gerbner - Zoella's 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
18 - Fandom - Henry Jenkins - Jenkins suggests that audiences can now interact with media products in increasingly complicated ways - Zoella 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 - 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
18 - Fandom - Henry Jenkins - Jenkins suggests that audiences can now interact with media products in increasingly complicated ways - Zoella 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 - 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
"Ultimate Pizza Taste Test With Mark"
- Mark is worried about not being able to tell a pizza apart from another - a hyperreal construction
- this video creates a utopian solution as the producers can eat as much pizza as they want and not focus on weight or cost
- they are both very skinny, the dress Zoella is wearing shows off a lot of her skin, particularly her collar bones
- "i eat a lot of pizza" - Zoe - it doesn't look like she actually does - message this gives to the audience is that if you eat a lot of pizza you get skinny and her young and impressionable audience will believe this
- environmental problems with packaging pizza, delivering it to them etc - she didn't say this in the video and wouldn't say this because it wouldn't attract her target audience and if she is seen criticising brands she is unlikely to get brand deal and ads
Zoella targets a niche audience - young teenage girls = around 13 years old
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