Hovis television advertisement
The city
streets of past Britain are the setting for major events in British history in
this advert, associating the country with history, nostalgia and patriotism.
The baker’s shop from far in the past is used to represent Britain as a
traditional and natural place.
One low-angle
shot is used in the WW2-era Blitz section of the advert, as the boy looks up
from the devastation at a spitfire plane. This shot suggests that Britain is
optimistic and hopeful in the face of destruction, looking up to heroism at the
time of need for security. Alongside this, the use of the street party
emphasises that the country is a community and will join together in
celebration, as in the Second World War and Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
The
advertisement’s target audience is the mainstream, because it reinforces the
ideologies of the British people about their own country; this provides the
mainstream audience security and safety in their values, alongside the
Traditionalist audience type’s view of Britain as being steeped in history and
relevance through the years. The slogan “As good today as it’s always been”
reinforces this view that Britain is still as relevant and traditional as ever
in its history.
The dominant
ideology in society is that history has relevance and should inform the future
of such a society, this advert may suggest that Britain is always moving
forward and improving – while maintaining its status as a traditional and
historic country. The constant changes may represent a changing prominence in
priorities depending on generation, such as the importance of wealth and of
heroism/bravery. This text also represents Britain as chameleonic, moving
forward and adapting yet remaining untouched in its values – such as family,
represented in the advert through the boy retrieving a loaf of bread for his
mother.
RESEARCH POINT
- Downton Abbey
- Songs of Praise
- Antiques Roadshow
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- James Bond series
Stereotypes
·
Appearance
– what they look like, wear, how they speak
·
Behaviour
– the things they do and say
RESEARCH POINT
- Mr. Bean
- Miranda
- Fawlty Towers
- The Inbetweeners
- Bridget Jones' Diary
‘Parklife’ – Blur
Parklife
stereotypes Britain as an urban country, consisting of rows of terraced houses,
industrial fences and zany characters. It also features some stereotypical
British iconography, like zebra-crossings, red busses, red letterboxes and
ice-cream vans – all part of growing up in Britain and recognisable to those
who have.
The two travelling
salesmen wear cheap suits and one carries an example window fitting around with
him, suggesting that they’re looking for someone to fit windows for. This
usually means that they are ‘dodgy’ salesmen, looking to make quick and easy
money, associated with door-to-door salesmen. The overweight character wearing
suspenders and sporting an odd moustache is poking fun at the British patriarch
stereotype, particularly of the 1970s and 80s, meaning that the character is
strict and set in his ways. The youngest characters, perhaps late teens or
early 20 years olds, are stereotypes of the British lad culture – one sporting a
tracksuit and peculiar haircut, while his friends dress particularly quirky and
different with one wearing a pair of orange-tinted glasses. This suggests about
Britain and the youth of the country that they are individual and different,
with their own style. Another character, the stereotypical jogger, wears a
bright blue tracksuit and is humiliated by the two salesmen. From his
appearance, it’s suggested that the jogger has overdone it in terms of his
exercise-wear, looking garish and weird. These stereotypes are used for comic
effect and are exaggerated, so to make them look strange but recognisable;
fitting the consensus about certain types of people.
The behaviour
of the two salesmen makes them seem unreliable and, one of the two, even
bumbling. The blonde-haired salesman makes a funny face through the window
fitting and is asked to stop by the other salesman, before he fixes his tie.
The fixing of the tie suggests that he wants to make a good impression and is
solely confident in his suit putting across a product to a customer, rather
than his cockney accent ruining his sense of authority and truthfulness. This
is what gives them away as ‘Only Fools and Horses’-style salesmen. Later in the
video the blonde-haired salesman starts to eat sandwiches from a box and one is
taken by the other salesman, but he doesn’t appear bothered and looks as if he’s
thinking about something entirely different. This adds to the view that this
character is quite stupid and bumbling, taking his work very casually. The
younger teenage characters move with real energy and spray graffiti, adding to
the stereotype that British teenagers are troublemaking. The supposed leader of
the group appears rambunctious and loud, jumping and bounding in the street
towards camera. This stereotype suggests that Britain’s youth are loud and
noisy and can’t be controlled by authority.
A younger
audience would see Blur’s video for Parklife as something to laugh at because
of its exaggerated and weird characters that they themselves may recognise if
British, however in other countries the humour may be lost because of the
differences in behaviour and comedy. An older British audience may not laugh
because of their indifference to the working-class characters featured, out of
touch with such characters that they have nothing in common with.
Mediation
- Selection
- Organisation/Construction
- Focus
Selection
The selection
for this advert would have been through the writing of the advert, its editing
and what has been used from the footage shot and specific camera angles used.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has chosen the familiar scenario of
British people abroad to show how it cannot replace the insurance or safety of its
own people, especially to those in trouble.
Construction/Organisation
The
consistent use of the GB symbol is to address the view that being British can
help when abroad, yet in this advert it’s shown to have no effect – alongside
British passports – for Brits in jail (as shown in the advert). The arrogance
of the characters in the advert is used to associate believing this idea with
veiled nationalism and that the government will always bail you out, when it’s
the opposite in this advert. The use of “Rule, Britannia!” at the very end of
this advert reinforces the ideology that Britain is great and powerful, a
quintessentially British piece of music.
Focus
The focus of
this advert is on the increasing number of cases pertaining to British people,
especially teenagers, being violent/aggressive or unsafe abroad. It’s
interested in curbing this activity. The advert represents Britain as a place
full of the people featured, hardly careful and violent or aggressive towards
others, reinforcing this stereotype of ‘lad culture’ in foreign countries.
RESEARCH POINT
1.
Represented as
rural, largely made up of countryside and dependent on farming.
·
Selection
A boy-band
made out of young British farmers singing a pop song. The selection process
would’ve been choosing the song and the process behind it, assembling the band
and arranging the shots to show off Britain’s countryside. This represents
Britain as a picturesque place, largely dependent on its rural countryside and
farmers, but with a spin via a pop song performed by unusually-attractive
farmers in a band. The juxtaposition creates humour and exaggerates the
masculinity of the band to levels of parody.
·
Organisation
The advert
follows the well-worn conventions of a pop band music video, with sweeping
shots of the countryside and the band getting stuck into hard work on the farm
stressing their masculine qualities of strength and perseverance. The whole
video lampoons the overly-sexualised and campy nature of band videos like
Boyzone and Westlife by adding in the farming element and making its audience
believe that they are actually farmers, which they are in fact. The very
British self-deprecating humour is present here, with the boys taking off their
shirts in slow motion and stylishly feeding calves.
·
Focus
The clear
focus of this advert is on selling Yeo Valley yoghurts, but also on attracting
people towards the product because of such a catchy song and memorable
advertisement.
2.
·
Selection
The selection
process would have been the decision on which story is put on the front page,
representing Britain and its interests at all times. The image of Gaddafi’s
bloodied face represents Britain as triumphant in its war on terror, connoting
pride and victory in the country. ‘He begged for life’ as one of the headings
suggests that his death wasn’t pleasant and that is how it should have been
according to the next heading ‘Rot in hell’, reinforcing the opinion that
Gaddafi deserved death.
·
Organisation
The headline ‘That’s
for Lockerbie’ has been used to suggest that the paper itself and the country’s
views it is reinforcing are to blame for his death, as if the killing blow was
struck by Britain as one entity. It also brings to mind the Lockerbie bombings
in the heads of the readers, reinforcing the ideology that Gaddafi deserved
death after such a horrific attack previously. This anchorage is supposed to
represent Britain as victorious over those who’ve wronged the country, in a
consensus about who should live and who should die.
·
Focus
The focus of
the front cover is an interest in current world affairs and politics, but also
in celebrity as with the small heading at the top of the page concerning Lewis
Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger’s relationship status. It represents Britain as
a country concerned with foreign affairs and vengeful against those who have
harmed their own.
3.
· Selection
The selection
process of this magazine cover would have been the decision behind the wording
and images used on the front cover. OK! have chosen the 2012 London Olympics,
filling the entirety of the cover with sub-stories about the games as part of a
commemorative issue. The image of the stadium lit up and everyone standing side
by side around the display reinforces OK’s ideology of Olympic and British
pride.
·
Organisation
Using the
words ‘The country unites’ in the headline promotes the dominant ideology of
pride in Britain after the Olympic opening ceremony, suggesting that there is a
consensus in opinion that the ceremony was a unanimous success and pleased
everyone.
Focus
This cover is
much more focused on the media and celebrity aspect of the opening ceremony as
opposed to the sports side of the games, being an entertainment magazine. It
focuses on a recap of the events of the ceremony and gives detail into the
atmosphere, instead of going into detail on each event.
Archetypes
1.
Working-class,
‘chav’, teenage archetype
2.
Upper-class,
well-educated, eloquent, wealthy archetype
Using the
words ‘isn’t it’ at the end of each sentence and repeating them as an older
version of ‘innit’ is typical of the ‘chav’ archetype dialect such as from Little
Britain’s Vicki Pollard. The use of the word ‘blood’ and ‘geezers’ when referring
to someone else are more of these words.
The RAF
pilots’ accents are typical of wealthy, old-fashioned British aristocrats and
their haircuts and one pilot’s moustache suggests they’re archetypes of
upper-class Brits.
RESEARCH POINT
British soap opera
1.
Becky
McDonald – ‘chav’ archetype – dresses casually in tracksuits and hoodies, has
hair done up, wearing long ear-rings, youth dialect
2.
Tracy
Barlow – man-eater – a manipulative, often violent, scheming character always
in trouble with men and fighting with other women
3.
Phil
Mitchell – hard man – headstrong, often criminals, violent, scheming and often
promiscuous
Disney Film
1.
Basil
the Great Mouse Detective – detective/sleuth – intelligent, witty, often
unaware of their own coldness, fondness for tea
2.
Bert
(Mary Poppins) – old-fashioned cockney – working-class, witty, charming, near
poverty
3.
Mad
Hatter – eccentric – obsessive, brilliant, mad, open to new experiences
TV sit-com
1.
Homer
Simpson – slob – unintelligent, fat, dim-witted, drunk
2.
Steve
Urkel – the nerd/dork – smart, nervous, geeky, wears glasses
3.
George
Feeney – mentor – offers advice to characters, often older man, wise
Anchorage & Ideology
Harry Brown
The ideology
of ‘Broken Britain’ is represented in the Harry Brown trailer through one of
the first shots of Brown looking through his window and curtains, barely lit,
down at youths in hoods on the street. Brown looks down without emotion because
he is mindful but powerless against the youths below who are younger and
stronger than him, reflecting the views of many people his age in real life.
The trailer promises Harry will take revenge for the death of his friend at
their hands, offering the audience the chance to live vicariously through his
actions – making Harry a character that embodies the views of the public in the
film.
The police
don’t act fast enough and Harry’s friend dies, so he takes the law into his own
hands as a vigilante-style character. This film represents the police as
ineffective, often mirroring the real-life views of many people when faced with
youth gang-culture. The police and authority adopt the ideology of ‘Broken
Britain’ because they reflect these opinions in the film, even if not entirely
true. The shot of the riot police fighting against the gangs reflects the
supposed divide between those in authority and the criminals living on the
streets.
Harry’s
friend Leonard represents the people who have nothing to do with gangs or youth
culture, yet enter the firing line as they are humiliated or even attacked, the
average OAP who cowers to go outside out of fear for their lives. Broken Britain is represented through the
characters in the film, each representing one group or another.
RESEARCH POINT
1.
The Sun
Story: 13-year
old fathers child
Describe
Picture: The young dad looks up at the camera, placed at a high angle, while
holding his baby’s hand on a bed.
Anchorage: DAD
AT 13
Meaning: It
looks as if the boy is distressed and saddened by his new-found fatherhood. It
suggests he’s afraid of what’s to come and is ill-prepared to deal with later
problems at such a young age.
Ideology: The
ideology is that having children at such a young age isn’t a good thing and is
something to be ashamed of, leading towards a broken Britain. The number 13 is
the largest on the page, promoting shock at the age of the boy.
2.
Daily Mirror
Story:
Depression rising in under-10 year olds
Describe
picture: A young girl has her head in her lap and her arms crossed, sat down.
Anchorage:
SCANDAL OF DEPRESSED UNDER 10s
Meaning: The
article says that children are becoming stressed earlier in life due to
bullying and fear of failure, suggesting that kids are a priority in broken
Britain. It’s implied that this is far-reaching, as thousands are being
treated.
Ideology: The
ideology is that children should be more closely looked after in Britain, as
they will be affected most in the coming years due to ‘Broken Britain’. There
should also be a change in policy as a result, it is implied.
The Big Question
Britain, in
the trailer for the film ‘Harry Brown’, is represented as lawless and its
policing inefficient to deal with the fallout from ‘broken Britain’ such as
youth gang-culture. The trailer features one shot of Brown, an old-aged
pensioner, looking out from his dimly-lit flat onto the street where a group of
youths are kicking a man on the floor. He appears restrained by his window,
powerless to what’s happening outside. As a character, Harry represents the
ideologies of the oppressed in Britain who are ineffectual against rising gang
crime and afraid to leave their own homes. From this shot, we can see Harry as
someone just like this. Britain itself is also represented as industrial, urban
and dark. The character Leonard is killed in a dark tunnel by a gang and much
of the trailer is set in darkness, effectively creating the impression that
there are many places to hide if you are a criminal and that there are people
waiting out there to prey on the innocent like Leonard and Harry. A shot of
riot police mid-riot also conjures up images of Britain as an anarchic place to
live in, full of violence and injury – a clear divide between the out of touch
police and youth in gangs. The Britain represented in Harry Brown is a horribly
dark place to live and ignores the many picturesque images associated with the
country in other media.
Another
representation of Britain is presented in a Hovis advert, featuring the country
in many different time periods. The young boy in the advert travels through
hundreds of years of historic events to reach home with a loaf of bread,
representing Britain as a country steeped in history and tradition yet a
forward-thinking place as shown in the changes since the beginning of the
advertisement. It also represents Britain as a place of community, banding
together even in times where hope seems lost such as WW2 and in times of
celebration such as during Queen Elizabeth II’s royal coronation. The slogan “As good today as it’s always been”
helps to reinforce the view that Britain is still relevant yet traditional, as
associated with the product itself. Britain in this advert has seen many
different events happen over its long history, suggesting that the country has
variety not only in its history but also in the people who it has produced over
that time.
The video
game Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception also features at least one representation
of Britain in the beginning of its story. The two characters Nate and Sully
visit a London pub in the hopes of selling an expensive artefact, encountering
dozens of bald-headed thugs inside. The bald-headed thugs give the two
characters sinister looks, suggesting that the general population of people in
Britain and especially cockneys are violent and rough. This opening also
suggests that the stereotypical British pub exists to house criminals and shady
characters, solely to defeat or stunt the progress of the protagonist. Britain,
in this video games, is dark and dangerous – especially towards Americans,
which Nate and Sully are. It suggests that the British view Americans as lesser
people and with disdain, reinforcing the ideology that Britain comes first over
other countries in terms of its values and beliefs. The villain of the game is
British herself and solely interested in money and power, suggesting that the
encoders of the game hold the British up as a powerful and greedy nation.
