Yasmin essay on ethnicity

In this sequence ethnicity is represented in many different ways beginning with the fact her accent challenges the stereotype of Asian women with her Yorkshire accent instead of Pakistani accent. Another challenge of her stereotype is presented in this clip by somebody on the television a ‘Paki’ to try and escape the stereotype of being Pakistani and being related to the events of post 9, 11.  

The costume does not fit the stereotype of her ethnicity her costume represents her as out going and not following religion or her race by dressing in a low cut top and jeans with make up and high heels. Where as normally she would be seen in a hijab with no make up and lots of religious bracelets and bangles where she keeps them in her challenge to her stereotype but uses them as an accessories instead of religious items.

The setting of the open shot is very stereotypical of her ethnicity on a very small working class cobbled street where it is often related to the Islamic religion. The next setting is stereotyped with white people because it is set in a bar and Yasmin attempts to challenge her racial stereotype by going to the bar with her white colleagues to try and break the stereotype of being a ‘Paki’ and a terrorist because of the way Muslim’s were treated post 9,11.  

The props used in this sequence are very important to help us understand how unreligious and how unmuslim she is by smoking and drinking vodka as well as all the make up, these are all used as things to prove she is not religious and she is trying to break free of the ethnic mould that has been placed upon her due to the 9, 11 terrorist attack. Another prop that was used was the mirror which was important in terms of camera shots as well because it was the prop that revealed her putting on make up making her self look glamorous to symbolise the passing of her ethnicity. This was to show she wanted to fit in and become part of the white ethnic crowd by dressing like them and looking like them to not fit in to her ethnic group.

The shots that are used into the mirror are panning over the shoulder shots to show the loss of being an Asian Muslim and becoming white to escape the ethnic bullying she receives from her white counter parts in her job. The mid shots and the long shots to show her separation from everyone else because of her ethnicity to show that even though she has changed what she is wearing to fit in with a different ethnic crowd her ethnic skin colour singles her out because she is seen as dangerous by the white ethnic population because of the 9, 11 attacks.

The editing in this sequences is hard to come by but there are some eye line matches between her and her white male colleague where as no other character gets an eye line match because this shows that they are not important to her because they don’t accept her into the society where as john does accept her into the white ethnicity. Also in this sequence a lot of framing takes place with John taking up a lot of the frame and Yasmin taking up very little this is to show she is out of place she is the smaller ethnic group in the current place she is in and less part of the surrounding where he is more of the surrounding by taking up more of the frame.

The digetic sound within the scene is very clear that she wants to break free of the stereotype about her with the shouting at other Muslim’s on the TV to try and fit in with the ethnic stereotype of the fellow white people surrounding. The non-digetic in this piece also fits the white ethnic stereotype it is really cheesy and  bass filled to show that it is not any other type of ethnic music. The other digetic sound suggesting she is not much of a Muslim because she says she doesn’t go mosque this could show that she has been trying to relief herself of her ethnic group for a while even before the attack on 9, 11 and that she doesn’t want to be associated with that ethnic group but continues to fall into it.

 All together the whole sequence is about a young Muslim Asian woman trying to escape her ethnic group by challenging her religion stands for but because she is the ethnic minority in her work place and the place they visit she is miss treated because this is how all Muslims were treated post 9,11 when it was unfair because it forced many people to not be proud of their religion and their race and try to escape it like Yasmin did in this sequence.

By Tom Woolston

soap operas

Soap operas

Soap operas are on our televisions everyday of the week and are quite simply made in terms of media aspects due to the cheap budgets the shows are made on and stuff used within it. A lot of soap operas are all based on working class people but placed all over different parts of England with the exception or neighbours and home and away which are filmed in Australia but are still of the working class variety.

For soap operas not a lot of acting is needed it is all really poor acting just people reading from a script. With most of the camera shots all being mid shots or long shots with the occasional close ups on the faces and maybe an establishing shot at the start and end. In these establishing shots there are always iconic land marks such as the queen Vic or the square in Eastenders or the bar or house in home and away or the street in hollyoaks.

The clothes are always very stereotypical in these TV soap operas like in Eastenders the clothes are always very working class and no real rich clothes just like leather jackets and jeans and t-shirts for men and skirts or trousers for woman and a blouse all of which are very plain and budgeted outfits in the show to show they are all working class and do not wear any fancy clothes. The only time a suit or fancy clothes are worn is when the character is going for an interview outside of the set, which stereotypes working class people as people who have nice clothes for important occasions. Another thing that is used in these soaps are accents and staging of the soaps all the characters never work out of the set because then it would be boring if they disappeared and a lot of the time they are not working anyway and all of the characters have accents to distinguish where they are from and everybody in Eastenders has a cockney accent stereotyping again that everyone in the east end is cockney.

The main thing that these soap operas try to get are viewing figures and they always save their budget by using minimal amounts for the year then using all of their budgets on the Christmas special  to increase the viewing figures rapidly but the channels such as BBC 2, ITV and channel 4 lost views from 2009 and to 2010 with only the soaps on BBC 1 which did not fall and they are losing out to people with digital boxes so the reason they save their budgets for Christmas is to increase the viewers to gain more money and make the viewers interested once more.

The story lines in soap operas are a big thing that addresses many different aspects of life which come under fire in everyday life. They do this to raise awareness and help confine in the people that live in shame/fear/disapproval of others. They help people come out with their problems. They help tackle many difficult issues such as homosexuality, affairs, rape, child abuse and domestic abuse. These were all things that wouldn’t normally addresses and kept secret but because of things such as soap operas people relate to story lines and come out to admit to it happening it’s like a way of therapy, because so much people watch soap operas it helps them if they are ever in this situation. Some story lines are so realistic some people complain because they feel it is inappropriate to be on television because they feel so strongly about it. It questions many things such as morals ethics and religion which also disturbs a lot people because they believe that it’s real or feel offended by these story lines on the shows.

A lot of characters in the shows are stereotypical like in Hollyoaks all the characters/actors are quite young and good looking with certain features which make them fit the role of university students there is also a lot older people who all have jobs that are like every day jobs with very little ambition and realism of becoming something big and successful which can offend certain viewers of the programs.

During the shows on channel 4 and ITV there are breaks where they channel chooses adverts to fit between the breaks to appeal to the types of people (the target audience) who will be watching the program this is also how the channel earns a lot of money. For example between x factor you would find a lot of women’s adverts such as clothing adverts and perfume adverts also a lot of adverts with men’s bodies in it to keep them watching and changing the channel. It’s all about appealing to the target audience of the program. Soap operas appeal to target audiences like magazines do and the attract more younger viewers in their teens they might add more teenage related story lines to get teenagers to watch the program more and gain more viewers depending on who they are aiming at.

Elizabeth Essay

In the movie of Elizabeth there are multiple props used such as the scissors used to cut the hair of Elizabeth and the scissors symbolise the gaining of her innocents once more, as she is becoming a virgin. Another prop that is used in Elizabeth is white paint that they place on her skin this shows her as a model figure with no emotion. It symbolises her becoming a virgin and being pure and it also makes her face look model like and doesn’t allow her face to express facial expressions.

The facial expressions in the last scene of Elizabeth show a lot about her life just in the brief 2 minutes that we watched it. In the frames where Elizabeth is in her bedroom we see that she is very upset and is crying this is because as she becomes the queen and becomes a virgin once more she loses all of the privileges she once had. Those tears are the tears of her life running down her face carrying memories of great days of joy and fun that she will never get to experience it is like taking away someone’s soul. The followings frames in the courtroom with her face showing no emotions this is showing her strength and that she has no weaknesses and no life to weaken her as the queen she cannot have a personal life to be seen as her weakness.

The settings from Elizabeth are very different the starting frames in Elizabeth’s bedroom the room is very open and there is not much furniture and there is just one large mirror that Elizabeth looks into to show her life all falling away as they cut off her long ginger hair. Whilst the frames in the courtroom are seen as establishing shots to show you all the people gathered in the courtroom and the people create the atmosphere and the setting by all going quite and moving out of the way when the queen enters the room.

There are not many colours used in the last few scenes of Elizabeth the main colours that are used are white and red which are the colours of the England flag. The main use of red that is used in Elizabeth is used to symbolise the fieriness of her personality and her life and as her fiery hair is cut off it shows the loos of her fiery temper and personality it shows that it is all lost when her hair is cut off. The white used in Elizabeth symbolises purity and this is why her dress is all white and why her face is covered in white paint to show that she is a virgin once more and that she is all pure and has no faults to be judged by anyone and that she is superior to all because she is pure and they are not.

The body language in the bedroom of Elizabeth is all sad and negative and it should be because it is the loss of her freedom it is showing that all her life is now gone and she is upset she is all slumped and hunched because she doesn’t want to lose her freedom she doesn’t want to lose her life. The body language in the scene in the courtroom is all proud and majestic it symbolises her power over everybody else and that she is highly respected within the courtroom and amongst the people there.

The clothes that Elizabeth wears in her bedroom are all long night gowns that look like they’re made of silk this instantly tells you of how much they must cost and that her clothes are all made to a really high standard and only the best will do for her.  The dress that Elizabeth wears in the courtroom is one that covers her whole body from neck to foot with long puffy sleeves and huge puffed out skirt which was highly fashionable in those times and she is seen as basically a fashion icon amongst the people there. It shows all the people would love to be her and aspire to be her she is seen as a role model and everybody looks up to her in the courtroom as a admirable queen.

The lighting in Elizabeth is starts off with a blue to grey fade to set the tone of the film as sad and depressing you can tell by the lighting it creates the atmosphere for a sad scene. The lighting in her bedroom is mainly based on the scissors in the maid’s hands and the facial expression of Elizabeth to emphasize her sadness. When the light goes to the courtroom it is all shone from behind her to make her look almost as she is accenting from heaven she is seen as angel like and makes her body look all that bit more pure and makes everybody look at her for the virgin queen she has now become like and makes her body look all that bit more pure and makes everybody look at her for the virgin queen she has now become.

Skins Poster

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2. Facial Expression: The facial expresion of the charcter is rather plain and really pale it makes him look like he is dead. It could also show that he is just thinking underwater becauses its quiter than out of the water the reason for his head being under the water has many possible answers.
3. Body Language: The charcthers body language is really closed and cold showing that he is enclosed from other people in his surroundings and that he is just deep in thought. His body language is also rather narrow showing he is keeping everything close to him or it could just be like the because he has a really narrow bath.
4. Mode Of Adress: The mode of adress for this charcter is very direct he looks like he is looking directly out o the poster at the reader/passerby who ever is looking at the poster.
5. Setting: The setting is really one of sadness and really cold to give the viewer of the poster and fans of the show to make it seem like he is dead to get them to make them want to watch the series even more to find out the circumstance of what is really going on within this charcaters bathroom.
6. Costume: The costume in this picture is none at all the charcter is not wearing any clothes in this section of the poster he could have clothes on in the out of screen shot but he is in the bath and that is highly unlikely of him to be wearing clothes in the bath.
7. Colour/Lighting : Very much like the first poster the colour and lighting show a really theme of depression and in this poster even death. The light falls on the side of the bath about head level to make the main focus of the light go to his face and his facial expression to show he is deep in thought or dead and creates a question on weather he is alive or not which makes people want to watch it.
8. Props: The props used in this picture are normally bathroom appliances to show it is just an ordinary bathroom and there is nothing special to it.
9. Decor: The decor of the bathroom looks pretty dirty whioch could show the person doesnt like cleaning there house or iot is an abdanded house or it is just really dirty. Also this look like the natural design on the bathroom which was brought in the 80s meanig the persons bathroom of whom it belongs to is one who lives in the past as they have kept the same decor that was there in the 80s.

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2. Facial Expression: Michelle facial expression is one of dissapointment and unhappiness and you are drawn to her facial expression for the way the light falls on her face from the window. Sid's facial expression is also very sad but he also seems the rather worried.
3. Body Language: The characters body language is slumped and open meaning she could be feeling regret, dissapointment or alot of sadness. There is also all the people who are on the floor who look rather close and personal whilst the other female charcter and the male charcter are alone showing that they either are not wanted by others or have seperated themselves from that kind of emotion of being close to someone.
4. Mode Of Adress: The mode of adress is really poor with the charcter not wearing many clothes and the clothes she is wearing barely on it looks like she has made no effort to try and put them on wihch would also match the facial expression and the body language in showing that she is depressed.
5. Costume: The costume of all the charcters in this poster is bare minimum the main female charcter in the poster is not wearing many clothes for her costume whilst all the other charcters in the poster are wearing less or none at all so she is the most hidden in terms of costume in this poster.
6. Setting: The setting is in a bedroom with that has been destroy showing there was some sort of a party with ripped wall paper and teenagers all over the floor like litter. Another thing is that its all pretty dark to show a really negative mood within the room.
7. Colour/Lighting: The colour and light is really dull and cold to show the nagtive atmosphere within the room. The light also falls onto the boy and girl charcters faces to attract attention to there facial expressions. The mood and atmpsphere of the poster is all showed here with the lighting and colours used in the poster.
8. Props: there are not many props used within the poster apart from a lamp which makes the light fall on the male charcters face. Also there is the ripped wall paper to give the hint of a house party which is accoiated wiotha  destroyied house and ripped wall paper making the poster fall under the streo type.
9. Decor: The decor of the room in this poster is pretty destroy showing something must have happened here like a house party. It is also very plain and there isnt many interesting things around the room in the poster showing that the room most propberly a parents bedroom and the party was not known about because there are no parents in the poster.