Album Cover Analysis- Lady Gaga

This is the cover for Lady Gaga's debut album called 'The Fame'. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Interscope Records and Gaga produced it alongside Redone, Martin Kierszenbaum and Rob Fusari. Personally, I really like this album cover because it is meaningful and visually pleasing which means it would stand out in a store and therefore attract different audiences. The album has proved very popular and as of March 2015, it has sold 4.6 million copies in the United States alone. Based on this cover, I believe the audience for Lady Gaga is females between the ages of 15-30 because the overall feel to the cover is quite ' girly and glamorous' so they may be able to relate to that compared to a male audience who may not show any interest. 

The deeper meaning of this album cover is made clear by the use of visual codes. She is wearing large, diamond sunglasses that cover the top half of her face and a hood which covers most of her hair. I believe this represents how she is hiding her identity because she is revealing very little about herself which provokes a sense of secrecy and mystery. This therefore represents her as an anonymous character and the audience can only find out more about her if they listen to the songs on her album which are likely to contain enigma codes which give away aspects of her personality. Additionally, this links into the title of her album 'The Fame' because celebrities often cover their eyes with sunglasses when surrounded by the press in order to protect their privacy and this could furthermore show that Lady Gaga has chosen to re-present herself as a well-established artist in her first album to attract a broader audience and possibly so people will take her more seriously. 

The main image consists of an extreme close up of Lady Gaga's face to make it clear that she is the artist and the main text of the cover says 'LADY GAGA' in a font that is much larger than the actual title which is almost hidden in the corner of the sunglasses. I think this has purposely been done because this is her first album so people may not recognise who she is purely by the main image so by having this text, her name is emphasised meaning the audience are more than likely to understand which artist the album is for. Although this cover is reasonably simple for an artist like Lady Gaga, the sunglasses she is wearing are still quite peculiar and are unlikely to be seen on the average person so they are hinting at what is to be expected of her songs and it represents her as unique and having originality. Lastly, I believe Lady Gaga is being represented as 'perfect' because her facial features have very clearly been airbrushed to give the illusion of flawless skin which gives her audience the false idea of what it is to be beautiful and they may aspire to be like her for the wrong reasons. 



This is the cover for Lady Gaga's second most recent album called 'Artpop'. It was released on November 6, 2013 through Streamline and Interscope Records and Gaga produced it alongside many people including Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, will.i.am and David Guetta. I think this cover is successful at showing Lady Gaga's personality in comparison to her first cover because it is very expressive and we are able to see her full body as opposed to a close up of her face. I also believe the audience is different when looking at this cover and I think it will attract both males and females ranging from 15-30 because Lady Gaga has been sexualised as she is being shown practically naked which is likely to attract men as well as those who are already fans of her music because they will buy the album to support her.  

In this cover, bright colours such as pink and blue have been used and these are stereotypical colours that represent females and males which hints at her mixed target audience. Also, these colours generally have positive connotations so could be a reflection of the upbeat, pop music that plays in her album so she is giving her audience an idea of what to expect. The background image is creative looking which links to the title 'Artpop' as we can see an 'explosion' of art due to the image being split up into different sections. Lady Gaga is the only aspect to the cover that is not broken up which immediately draws our attention to her and she gains full focus from her audience. 

There are definitely contrasting representations of Gaga in this cover when compared to 'The Fame'. In 'The Fame', she is completely hiding her identity and she reveals hardly anything about herself which leaves the audience curious which is a clever way of  drawing them in. In this cover, she appears to be very comfortable with revealing a lot of her body which represents her as having a lot of self-confidence and the fact she is using direct address by staring straight into the camera suggests that she is speaking out to her audience by saying "I am proud of who I am". This is the preferred reading that the producers would have intended the audience to have when responding to the cover. However, the people who created and produced this cover are very likely to be a part of our dominant ideology (white, straight, middle-aged, middle-class, male) so would have designed it for them which could be the reason she is being portrayed as a sexual object for the entertainment of men and it is almost as if her strength and independence has been taken away in order for her to be 'gawked' at (in my opinion) so this is therefore the oppositional reading. 

There is a similar representation in this cover that has been developed from her first album and this is how Lady Gaga is being represented as almost too perfect. Again, her body has been airbrushed and manipulated which gives the audience an illusion of a 'barbie doll' like figure which is unrealistic and fake looking. Although this may just be Gaga's personality and the way she chooses to portray herself, I still believe this is a negative representation as it again could manipulate the audiences views on what perfection is and it just follows the stereotypes of females in the media which include sexualisation and just being there 'to look pretty'.  

Opening Paragraphs

What an opening paragraph should include: 

Within an opening paragraph, you need to define any key terminology that has been used in the question in order to show that you understand the meaning. For example, if you are asked a question on representation, you should demonstrate your understanding by defining what representation is. You should not begin your analysis in your opening paragraph but instead show your understanding of the concept using key terminology, possibly by outlining the points you will go on to explain in more detail. For example, writing the stereotypes of the category you have been asked to talk about in a representation question.

Representation 

Opening paragraph for a representation question based on age: 

Representation is a constructed process in which the producer is re-presenting something to an audience based on stereotypes. The representation of young people contrasts greatly with the representation of older people within the media. The common stereotypes of young people include being: aggressive, anti-social, disrespectful and involved with gang culture, drink, drugs and teen pregnancies. The common stereotypes of older people include: deafness, grumpiness, inability to function effectively in society, slow and weak. The dominant ideology of the media text, which includes a representation of age, controls how a particular age group is presented and they also control how the text is mediated which results in a constructed view which an audience may have to rely on.

Audience 

Opening paragraph for an audience question- how audiences may respond differently to the same media text:

As the reception theory states, an audience is made up of individuals who will respond in different ways to the same media text based on their own perception. This perception is due to a range of factors which help to create an active audience as oppose to a passive audience. These factors include: gender, age, ethnicity, culture, cultural experiences, cultural competence and situated culture. There are three main ways in which are audience can respond differently to a media text which are: the preferred reading, the negotiated reading and the oppositional reading.

Representation Of Disability

Gogglebox

GoggleBox is a British Documentary, currently consisting of four seasons. It features recurring families and friends who sit in their living rooms and react to and give their opinions on Britain’s most popular and well-known television shows including: the news, the X Factor and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. I have watched many episodes of GoggleBox and I really enjoy the show because it is very entertaining and it is interesting to see how different people react to television shows based on their personal opinions.

GoggleBox represents an active audience as appose to a passive audience because the people shown watching the television shows are getting involved by talking about what they are seeing and in some cases, how what they are watching is affecting them. They are not a passive audience because they did not believe everything they saw and they were not sitting in silence for the whole duration of each episode. An audience theory known as the ‘uses and gratifications model’ can be used to describe the families on GoggleBox because they appear to be watching the shows for surveillance and entertainment. Surveillance is our need to know what is happening in the world and the families are shown watching the news in order to keep up to date with events that are happening resulting in them feeling a sense of security which is one of our needs stated by Maslow’s theory. The television shows that the families are watching are providing them with entertainment because they are able to relax and they are given distractions from their everyday life.

Representation: The families shown were all of different ages, races, ethnicities and genders which means that due to each family being different, there is a wider audience because more people are able to relate to them. We are given a representation of their lifestyles, for example, the two best friends, Sandy and Sandra appear to be very laid-back and are often shown eating junk food. However, the couple, Steph and Dom are represented as very posh and are often shown drinking wine as they hold hands on the sofa.

Audience: GoggleBox is aimed at a post-watershed audience who are above the age of fifteen due to frequent swearing which may be inappropriate for people who are below this age. It is also aimed at those who watch everyday television such as the shows that are featured on GoggleBox because they can then relate to what the families are watching to a greater extent and at times, may share the same opinions and reactions as them. The show has been proved very popular because it has 2.7 million viewers meaning the audience must be very wide as a large amount of people are clearly finding GoggleBox extremely entertaining.

Message: The message within GoggleBox is that your age, race, ethnicity and gender does not affect your opinion on a television show or what shows you choose to watch and your reactions are more or less based upon your personal opinions as appose to these factors. The families display similar reactions to the television shows but also have their own interpretations on what they see but this is based on their perception, not their age, race, ethnicity or gender. These points link in with an audience theory known as the ‘reception theory’ which is about personal opinions and how an audience perceives things based on their social and daily experiences. Reception theory is split into three parts which determine how an audience may view an aspect of media, which in this case is a television show: the dominant viewing (audience fully accepts the code within the show), the negotiated viewing (audience partly accepts the code, but will change the meaning slightly) and the oppositional viewing (audience does not share the code so constructs an alternative meaning). I believe that the families demonstrate each of these viewings depending on the television show that they are watching.

Production values: There are two main shots used throughout GoggleBox which are a wide shot and a close up. The wide shots are used to show the whole family sitting in their living room which informs the audience on the environment they are in and it also enables us to see all their reactions at once. The editors of GoggleBox may have zoomed in on these wide shots in order to give the audience close ups. These close-ups are used to show a person’s emotions and reaction in more detail and we are given a greater insight into how a television show will affect the individual. Despite GoggleBox filming people in their own homes, where the families will feel most comfortable and act more natural, the show is still constructed because the environments they are in almost seem ‘too perfect’ as they are completely tidy and very well framed. The families are well aware that they are being filmed so over-exaggerate their reactions and at times, clearly do not act natural because they are trying to make themselves appear more interesting and entertaining for the audience. 

Grayson Perry: Who Are You

Grayson Perry: Who Are You is a three-part Channel 4 documentary which is distributed by All3Media International.

Who it was made by:

•   Music: Avshalom Caspi
•   Camera: Louis Caulfield, Marcus Plowright
•  Sound: Adam Scourfield
• Production Co-ordinator: David Brooke
• Production Manager: Caroline Turner
• Researcher: Molly Schneider
• Assistant Producer: Marvyn Benoit
• Producer: Juliet Riddell
• Editor: Jake Martin
• Executive Producer: Dinah Lord
• Series Producer: Joe Evans
• Director: Neil Crombie

The documentary that we watched in class is about an artist named Grayson Perry who gets to know four individuals who all struggle or have struggled with their identity. These individuals are Chris Huhne, Rylan Clark, Kayleigh and Jazz.  He discovers more about their personal lives and how they are more to what they appear to be on the outside because it is necessary that he understood who the subjects think they are. From this information, Perry creates a portrait of each of these people which reflects their stories and identity and at the end of the episode, they are able to see these portraits which have been put up in the National Portrait Gallery.

Personally, I really enjoyed this documentary because I like the way it shows the journey of the individuals and how they have changed and developed throughout their life based on the important decisions they have made. I additionally like how Grayson Perry has taken these substantial factors and then embedded them within the portraits because it makes them extremely personal and also reflective on the people’s past and who they are now as an individual. Each portrait is completely different from the next because they are all made from dissimilar mediums and are of contrasting sizes which mirrors the people’s distinctive personalities; this in turn gives the portraits a very high significance because it shows how everyone has a unique identity and a different story.

I believe that this documentary is very clever because it focuses on those who are struggling with defining their identity and who they are or who they were as a person and then towards the end, they have the opportunity to see themselves through the eyes of Grayson Perry. This helps them to understand how they are seen by other people and they themselves can begin to acknowledge who they really are as a person, they are discovering their identity. 

Representation In The Media: Race

Representation In The Media: Gender