zoella

 

 ZOELLA

 

Zoella represents herself in different ways in a range of videos. When she does collaborations with other Youtubers, she creates the atmosphere as if she’s happy and laughing loads and very lively. When she does a video on her own, she is still cheerful, but she is more engaged with her audience and she needs to get across in her video. Her Instagram still shows her personality and her being very girly e.g. the use of pink connotes her being very sweet and cute. However, Zoella made a post about ‘the best sex toys’, this is showing her age to be quite mature with her sex life and this contrasts with the use of pink a lot in her posts to be ‘charming and cute’.

Zoella focuses on girls as most of her viewers are female so she wanted to create something which will engage them, and this indicates why she sells products which are girly and festive. For example, her book called ‘girl online’ features the word go in it and has a girly vibe to it because it has curly writing with hearts and pink colours, and this stereotypically wouldn't attract boys.

I believe that Zoella hasn’t changed her representation much, because she still posts relevant content e.g. hauls & vlogs. However, I believe she has changed to a certain degree as she has posted about sex toys this could suggest she is trying to fit in with her younger audience as ‘teenagers’.

 

Zoella’s target audience is female teens, this is shown as her content is focused on stereotypical female activities e.g. fashion and makeup! Her use of colours e.g. pink suggest girly stuff and would attract to girls as pink is associated with girls. I believe Zoella is trying to grow her audience this is shown as she blogs about sex toys which shows she’s trying to interest other readers.

 

Zoella makes money via. her YouTube account which she has had since February 2009 and has over 5m subscribers where she posts monthly videos. Zoella has also wrote three books which her sold over 70,000 copies in the first week. She has released all different types of beauty ranges and homeware with boots, which has been very popular with her fans as well as sponsored content on her social media. Zoella has over 9m followers on Instagram and it is predicted that Zoella can earn up to £12,000 per sponsored Instagram post and that is a lot Money in a variety of different ways, but they all add up too big total. in my opinion I believe that Zoella makes easy money, especially because she does sponsored content on Instagram!

 

ANALYSIS - S3 E1 THE BRIDGE

 Analysis of S3 E1

Character archetypes

Identify which of the following character archetypes of the crime genre appear in the selected episode of The Bridge and briefly describe them

Investigator – Saga seems very focused and hard working as she discovers a lot of information about the victim within hours. Saga likes to find out all the information she can even when she is having ‘small talk’ with her new detective partner. She lacks an emotional side, as she couldn’t bear to tell the female that the victim had her heart removed.

Sidekick – Saga’s partner is apart of the older generation. It is clear to say that Saga is superior whereas, she is inferior. In other words, Saga takes the lead and is smarter as Saga discovers the bomb a spilt second before it was diffused and caused injuries.

Boss – The boss is a male and at the start, has a lack of care towards hi career as he shows up late and careless.

Villain – The villain is not shown as the case continues! However, the villain appears to be very cunning and smart.

Action and enigma codes

Crime television tends to use action and enigma codes. Action codes are a way to introduce a new problem, this could be something simple e.g.  a phone ringing. Enigma codes are questions which are posed to the audience to leave them hooked e.g. who killed Richard?

 Here is a few I discovered in ‘The Bridge’

o   Who is the killer?

o   Is the sidekick alive?

o   How will Saga react to her new partner?

o   Who will the killer target next?

 

The TV crime drama has been left with an opening ending with still plenty of unanswered questions. They have left the audience eager to find out what happens in the next episode and if their unanswered questions can be solved?

What questions does the audience have at the end of the episode? How is the episode structured narratively? Is there an open or closed ending?




Representation of women
Women in the crime genre are often represented as victims, and in drama women tend to be represented as overly emotional and  family-orientated .

 In ‘The Bridge’ subverts the representation of women, as they are normally described as weak and emotional. However, these female characters are represented as strong. As we see, two female detectives on the case and they are portrayed as strong and determined to find the killer.

Saga lacks an emotional side to her which is surprising as most women are recognised to be emotional and she doesn’t want to tell the other female that the victim’s heart was removed as she starts crying down the phone. Saga doesn’t react and completely shuts her down.

Butler’s theory is that gender is a social construct and there is no gender identify behind the expression of gender. Masculine and feminine are created through repetition. As, Saga doesn’t follow the stereotype of women it supports Butler’s theory that the stereotype of women to be weak and emotional has been discovered through repetition.

Halls’ theory is that media language is used to create representations and stereotyping is often used to assert power. Saga has subverted the stereotype of women and is now seen as powerful, hardworking and determined and she is using that to assert power as she is lead on the case.


Narrative & Themes

Lighting – The dark lighting can convey something is about to happen and this keeps the audience on their feet.

Sound - It has created a feeling of suspense as they play non-diegetic creepy music, as the two detectives have just discovered the victim had her heart removed by the killer.

Camera shots – Different camera shots convey specific feelings upon the audience e.g. long shots help the audience recognise the setting and characters, it can convey a specific theme towards the audience which can deepen their emotions when watching.

 

Levi-Strauss’s theory is that binary opposites is what drives the narrative. In ‘The Bridge’ there is a lot of binary opposites:

o   Detective vs. Killer

o   Light vs. Dark

THE BRIDGE S1 & S2 INTRO

 

The Bridge

 The Bridge is one of the most popular of the Nordic Noir crime dramas that were made in Scandinavia and broadcast globally, with a large British audience. The setting is the bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden and it often features as a setting as well as a metaphor or iconic object.

Nordic Noir is a dark subset of crime fiction genre and it is usually identified by some or all the following:

-       Brutal crimes in safe/quiet communities

-       Urban setting

-       A tortured protagonist, typically a detective with a mysterious or painful past

-       A strong plot, with complex threads and a few plot twists

-       Strong female characters

-       Low key lighting

-       Police

-       Gangsters/thugs

-       Rain and damp streets

Over years, different genres have become identified by the audience by some of the codes and conventions featured in the TV series/film/documentary etc. The audience have been able to identify any genre over the years due to the codes and conventions repeating themselves. However, it is important to recognise that genres are adapting and changing by borrowing conventions from other genres.

In series 1, a woman is found murdered in the middle of Oresund Bridge, exactly on the border between Sweden and Denmark. The Swedish and Danish police need to cooperate in a race against the clock, desperately searching for a murderer determined to go beyond all moral limits to get his message across

In series 2, The second season of the Swedish and Danish thriller series The Bridge, starts 13 months after the events of the first season. ... After a ship with dead bodies on board crashes against the Bridge, Saga seeks for the help of the Danish police corps, including Martin.

The main investigator in The Bridge is Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) she is a Swedish detective. Saga lacks social cues and emotional intelligence which suggest her character have autism.

Important supporting characters from series 1 and 2

·       Sofia Helin as Saga Norén, lead homicide detective in Malmö

·       Kim Bodnia as Martin Rohde, lead homicide detective in Copenhagen

·       Henrik Lundström as Rasmus Larsson, Swedish junior police detective

·       Dag Malmberg as Hans Petterson, the Police Commissioner in Malmö, later married to Lillian

·       Sarah Boberg as Lillian Larsen, the Police Commissioner in Copenhagen, late married to Petterson

·       Rafael Pettersson as John Lundqvist, IT expert for Malmö police

·       Lars Simonsen as Jens Hansen/Sebastian Sandstrod (series 1–2)

• Puk Scharbau as Mette Rohde, Martin Rohde's wife (series 1–2)