representation is about portrayal and the messages and values that attaches to it eg examples

social housing complex in south london

News Question 3 Answer

Explain how the political content in which newspapers are produced, influences their ownership and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and the Daily Mail to support your answer. [10 marks]

The Guardian is a Quality Newspaper, therefore, the tone of the newspaper needs to be informative and formal. This idea is enforced by the fact that the headlines are usually direct and factual headline). The audience knows how high the quality of the article with the amount of text for the article as Quality newspapers is text led. This is needed because the newspaper heavily supports left wing so political and international stories need to be in detail. Therefore, because of the article they cover, their audience is people who are typically from higher social groups. The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust Limited which consists of a group of people, therefore, the magazine features a range of opinions so that it is not biased. The print newspaper is heavily regulated by IPSO. This means that the articles The Guardian is producing are thoroughly checked so that it is not biased, and it ticks the boxes of the rules that they have set out to make sure that it is classified as newsworthy.

However, in Source A, The Sun has used a play on words for their headlines. This is typical for The Sun to use this because they are considered as a company who produces Popular Newspapers. They feature celebrities (as this attracts most of the audience). Their tone is informal and uses jokes in their headlines. Because of this, the newspaper is typically aimed at a lower social group. The magazine is largely image led. Furthermore, Popular Newspaper tends to be informative about their headlines so there could be bias when the audience reads the article. The Daily Mail is owned by the Daily Mail Group which makes it a conglomerate that is owned by Lord Rothermere. He is officially known to be a press baron meaning that men (typically white) having a great deal of power in their possession. Unluckily for the Daily Mail, the print newspaper is regulated by Ofcom and they have reported that they are not as efficient as IPSO. Because of this, the online service of the Daily Mail tends to have a phenomenon called fake news which simply means inaccurate information is being published to the public for consumption.

Further News Revision

Q1 & 2

• Both refer to  unseen source 
• 2 sources - 1 quality, 1 popular
• Same story

Q1

• Shorter (10 marks)
• Apply a theory of representation to the sources (slide 14)

Q2

• Detailed deconstruction of media language (layout connection, images, etc) 
• No theory
• Compare sources

Q3

• 10 marks
• Doesn't refer to the case studies of The Guardian or The Daily Mail

Question 3: context, ownership, audience

In this question you will be asked to refer to your set products: The Guardian and The Daily Mail.  You will touch on ownership, audiences and contexts (social, cultural, political, economic, historical). This could include the following:

• News is shaped by how it is produced, distributed and circulated.
• Digitally convergent media has been a key factor in change /development
• Ownership, regulation, and funding structures all affect the news
• Define audiences (demographic, psychographics / lifestyle)
• How news attracts, targets, reaches and addresses audience
• How audiences interpret the news in varying ways

Distribution and circulation

• *The newspaper industry is commercial in nature unlike the public service remit of some other industries e.g. BBC broadcasting. Effects news how?

  *Online news converges with social media, which means that the institutions Facebook / Instagram / twitter can also influence the selection and mediation of news from dailymail.co.uk and theguardian.co.uk.

Examples of recent news stories from the Daily Mail and The Guardian which have been widely shared on their social media and the meaning mediated / shared / commented on / gone viral?

• Grenfell fakes exposed by mail online. December 2018
• Video of Bali deep-sea diver brought by the guardian. Went viral and led to a cleaning-up campaign March
• Momo hoax-post modern example. 2018. Went viral but it was fake news
• Segregated play areas - March 2019. The Guardian led to rapid change/social action.

Question 1 and 2 for the News

Question 1

Analyse the different representations of gender, social class and / or ethnicity in Sources A and B. Apply one appropriate theory of representation in your answer. [10 marks]

Answer:

Both Sources A and B covers the royal family. Source A covers that there is another person that looks like Meghan Markle and warning Prince Harry to not get fooled by her while Source B welcomes Markle as well as her mother into the royal family.

Both sources covers different social classes as the public can argue that Meghan as well as her family are from the upper class and the Prince Harry is from the upper class. It is the first time a Royal will be marrying a person from a different social class therefore this is one of the reasons why their engagement is groundbreaking and it is historic as future generations will be remembered of the marriage of 2 different classes.

Furthermore, both sources also portray the fact that Prince Harry is also the first Royal who is marrying another person of a different race. Prince Harry is White British whereas Meghan is an mix race African-American who is born by a white father and a black mother. This can also been seen as revolutionary as this is the first time the Royal Family shows some diversity in terms of race.

With both of these points the engagement and Marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be remembered for centuries as they have revolutionised the Royal Family.

Question 2

Q2. Sources A and B cover the same news event but are from two different newspapers. How far has the combination of elements of media language influenced meaning in the sources? In your answer you must:

• explain how the combination of elements of media language influences meaning in newspapers

• analyse how media language has been used to construct meaning in the sources

• make judgements and reach conclusions about how far the combination of elements of media language has influenced meaning in the sources. [15 marks]

Answer:
In Source B, since The Times is a Quality Newspaper, the tone of the newspaper is informative and formal. The audience can see this with the headline "Welcome To The Family" (which is a direct and factual headline) as Meghan Markle is walking with her mother to the Royal Family. The audience knows how high the quality of the article with the amount of text for the article as Quality newspapers are text led. This is needed for the political and international stories that the newspaper covers for example, the international story of Markle (American) marrying a Prince in the Royal Family in England. Therefore, because of the article they cover, their audience are people who are typically from higher social groups.

However, in Source A, The Sun has used play on words for their headline which is "Princess Pushy".  This is typical for The Sun to use this because they are considered as a company who produces Popular Newspapers. They feature celebrities (as this attracts most of the audience). This is argued by the fact that it is an exclusive article which is purposefully titled "Meghan's 'Shallow'"Their tone is informal and use jokes in their headlines such as "Princess Pushy". Because of this, the newspaper is typically aimed at a lower social group. This portrays to the audience that he could be mistaken into marrying the wrong person, in this case, a person who closely resembles Markle. This is further argued by the subheading "Don't fall for my little sis, Harry, she'd be the next". The magazine is largely image led with a large cropped image of both Prince Harry and Markle's look alike. Furthermore, Popular Newspaper tend to be informative about their headlines so there could be bias when the audience reads the article.

To conclude, the way that The Times on Source B uses a subtle headline to accompany this with a heart-warming image really persuades their audience into reading their article that has a huge amount of words in it. However, The Sun (Source A) persuades their audience by using headplay so that they feel rewarded by finding out what it means to further persuade them to read their article instead of their competition. Furthermore, since it is image led, they definitely have the advantage over Quality Newspapers as the audience tends to look out for huge images for front covers which attracts them instead of numerous lines of text which the audience tend to avoid. 

News Revision

The Exam

•  The four questions will be as follows:

Q1	10 marks	This question will ask you to analyse the media language or the representations in two sources. The sources will be extracts from different genres of online or print newspapers and may include one of the set products. This short essay should take about 17 minutes to plan and write.
Q2	15 marks	This will be a complex question including a number of bullet points asking you to: Show knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework as it applies to news Analyse the two sources provided, probably in terms of media language or representation (this might entail comparing the two) Make judgements and draw conclusions. This extended essay should take about 25 minutes to plan and write.
Q3	10 marks	This question asks you to show knowledge and understanding of the influence of media contexts on print and / or online news, including your set products. This short essay should take about 17 minutes to plan and write.
Q4	10 marks	This question asks you to evaluate an academic theory in relation to news- how useful is it in understanding news? You may be given a choice between two theories. This short essay should take about 17 minutes to plan and write.

Questions 1 and 2

You will be given two sources to analyse in the exam. The sources may be extracts from print newspapers, from newspaper websites, or from newspaper social media feeds such as Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

• One will be an extract from a quality newspaper (broadsheet in old terms) Examples (The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph
• One will be an extract from a popular newspaper (tabloid in old terms) Examples (The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Star, The Express)

The two sources cannot be both of the two set products; The Daily Mail and The Guardian. At least one source will be a newspaper you have not studied in depth.

Question 1 will probably ask for analysis with the focus most likely on analysis of media language or representations. It may require you to use a specific concept or theory in your analysis.

Question 2, as well as testing your knowledge and understanding of print and / or online newspapers as media forms and analysis skills (probably of media language or representations), will also ask you to make judgements and draw conclusions.

Media Language: Conventions

• Colour
• Newspaper layout: masthead, skyline, byline (journalist's details), standfirst (the first couple of lines in bolod that stands out), sidebar (left and right hand side of the cover), columns, headlines, image, space
• Online layout: margins, headers, footers, navigation bars, tabs, sidebar
• Online functionality: hyperlinks, embedded multimedia, interactivity
• Images
• Language: formal / informal, mode of address
• Typography: serif, sans-serif
• House style: of the news brand / social media site

Newspaper: Media Language theories

• Barthes: signifier and signified; denotation and connotation; anchorage; myth (ideological meaning)
• Todorov: narrative equilibrium / disequilibrium and narrative disruption
• Levi Strauss: binary oppositions
• Baudrillard: hyper-reality and simulacra (fake news?)
• Neale: genre as repetition and a shared code that changes over time

Analyse Front Cover

• The Masthead is at the top of both of the website and the newspaper
• The heading of the article is positioned similarly on both prints; at the bottom left corner of the front cover and online however there is more of a heading on the online version because there is more space to do so therefore the same housing is applied to both of the versions
• the typography of the article is similar with the masthead being serif and the normal font being sans-serif
• Both of the versions of the article has a similar colour scheme of white and black

Board Analysis

• About a young man who has been found with a knife and drugs for the 2nd time. Not sent to jail.
• "Smirking" - anchored by image
• Composition/layout: cropping of image - reinforce a narrative
• "Soft Justice" - we are weak, we should be toughened
• Binary opposition: racial stereotypes. Jodie - white and victim. Black male - "thug", "smirking"
• Boris Johnson - popular/controversial ex-mayor of London and mail correspondent
• Very large headline. Small amount of copy - typical of popular press
• Masthead - vintage style typography. Coat of arms, Britishness
• Byline - three journalists - big story
• Online story seems to be the same
• Online: embedded multi-media - family of a stabbing victim on the site. Pathos
• Infographic on stabbings - maps, dates...
• Visually busy - clickbait

News Values: Recap

• 
  

  Dictates form and conventions as well as content. Galtung and Ruge (1981)
• Frequency
• Threshold
• Proximity (includes cultural proximity / “otherness”- see Gilroy)
• Negativity
• Predictability
• Continuity and narrative (see Levi-Strauss and Todorov)
• Composition
• Personalisation

News Values Continued

Although news values isn’t listed as one of the theories you need to “learn” for the A Level, it underpins the selection and presentation of news agendas, and links to other theory points, especially to do with ideology.  You need to identify news values employed in any stories you write about.

Media Representations

More Left Wing

The Guardian world view/ politics

*Independent Scott Trust: liberal, progressive

*Reader funding model

*Shirky’s collective intelligence / cognitive surplus applies to the interactive nature of social and www.theguardian.com and “below the line” UGC commentary / shares on social media

Media Representations

The Daily Mail world view/politics: The Mail supports a free market economy, and British traditions such as the royal family, the church and the army. They are sceptical of the European union (although they have criticised Theresa May over Brexit).  Owned by DMG, a media oligopoly. Hegemonic?? (Hall)

More Right Wing

Owner: Lord Rothermere

*Populism is favoured over in- depth debate / comment pieces BUT “below the line” is popular.

*Link to Curran and Seaton’s theory: The Mail follows the capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer hands. This leads to a narrowing of the range of opinions represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity.  News is still controlled by powerful news organisations, who have successfully defended their oligarchy.

Homework

Revise all notes so far and organise

Slide 12 - evidence of world view for 2x newspapers

The Times

• Centre Right Wing
• The Times is the 3rd most popular newspaper and the 5th most famous.
• The Times is described by fans as : Well written, Informative, Intelligent, Interesting and Analytical
• Quality newspaper
• Owned by Rupert Murdoch - News Corp
• It has got a paywall

The Sun

• Right Wing
• Popular Newspaper
• Owned by Rupert Murdoch - News Corp
• 
  

The Daily Mirror

• Left Wing
• Popular newspaper

The Daily Express

• Right Wing
• Popular newspaper

i

• CentreWing
• Quality Newspaper

The Daily Star

• Right Wing
• Popular Newspaper

The Daily Telegraph

• Right Wing
• Quality Newspaper
• Only broadsheet style printed newspaper

Theories on representation and ideology (Q1/Q4): recapped

Hall- representations are constructed and contested. They are not fixed. This might particularly apply to representations which go against dominant ideologies

Gilroy- looks at the creation of a transatlantic Black identity. Also focuses on the way the media “others” non-white representations.

Van Zoonen- gender is contextual and performative (in this sense she agrees with Butler). Women are objects and men are spectacle.

Butler- gender is not natural, it is culturally determined and performative

Hooks- intersectionality describes the varying representations and experiences of women according to class and ethnicity. Black women should develop an “oppositional gaze.”

Gauntlett- identity is not fixed, online media offers a route to self-expression and choosing one's’ own identity (post-modern).

Hall and Gilroy goes together

Van Zoonen, Butler and Hooks are all feminists therefore they all go together

Gauntlett is a Postmodernist

 

Van Zoonen - it is clearly evident that the women on the front cover can get objectified by male readers as she is wearing a bikini and giving a seductive direct address to the audience. This encourages males to use the male gaze on women in public.

Hooks - this front cover ignores intersectionality because front covers typically features white middle class women but never consider those who are in a different social class or ethnicity.

Butler - the paralympian is being portrayed in a masculine limelight compared to his girlfriend that are being portrayed in a seductive manner.

The Sun: Shamima Begum cover/applying Theories of Representation

• Reinforces negative stereotypes of muslim women. Gilroy's "otherness"
• "NO ENTRY" - large, bold, red/danger connotation (Bathes) - she does not belong
• Wears a burqa - suggests she still has links to radical Islamism/"others" her
• Large headline
• Smiling/direct address/shameless - anchored by small image of her that suggests binary opposition British/ISIS Member

The Mirror: Christchurch terrorist cover/applying theories of representation

• "Angelic Boy" - victim? Archetype/mythical
• Shock tactic; poses the question - why did he come a killer?
• Levi-Strauss: "angel"/"evil killer" - this dominates traditional families
• No use of "terrorism" - omission
• "Hard working fitness trainer"

Question 1

Analyse the different representations of gender, social class and / or ethnicity in Sources A and B. Apply one appropriate theory of representation in your answer. [10 marks]

Answer:

Both Sources A and B covers the royal family. Source A covers that there is another person that looks like Meghan Markle and warning Prince Harry to not get fooled by her while Source B welcomes Markle as well as her mother into the royal family.

Both sources covers different social classes as the public can argue that Meghan as well as her family are from the upper class and the Prince Harry is from the upper class. It is the first time a Royal will be marrying a person from a different social class therefore this is one of the reasons why their engagement is groundbreaking and it is historic as future generations will be remembered of the marriage of 2 different classes.

Furthermore, both sources also portray the fact that Prince Harry is also the first Royal who is marrying another person of a different race. Prince Harry is White British whereas Meghan is an mix race African-American who is born by a white father and a black mother. This can also been seen as revolutionary as this is the first time the Royal Family shows some diversity in terms of race.

With both of these points the engagement and Marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be remembered for centuries as they have revolutionised the Royal Family.

Question 2

Q2. Sources A and B cover the same news event but are from two different newspapers. How far has the combination of elements of media language influenced meaning in the sources? In your answer you must:

• explain how the combination of elements of media language influences meaning in newspapers

• analyse how media language has been used to construct meaning in the sources

• make judgements and reach conclusions about how far the combination of elements of media language has influenced meaning in the sources. [15 marks]

Answer:
In Source B, since The Times is a Quality Newspaper, the tone of the newspaper is informative and formal. The audience can see this with the headline "Welcome To The Family" (which is a direct and factual headline) as Meghan Markle is walking with her mother to the Royal Family. The audience knows how high the quality of the article with the amount of text for the article as Quality newspapers are text led. This is needed for the political and international stories that the newspaper covers for example, the international story of Markle (American) marrying a Prince in the Royal Family in England. Therefore, because of the article they cover, their audience are people who are typically from higher social groups.

However, in Source A, The Sun has used play on words for their headline which is "Princess Pushy".  This is typical for The Sun to use this because they are considered as a company who produces Popular Newspapers. They feature celebrities (as this attracts most of the audience). This is argued by the fact that it is an exclusive article which is purposefully titled "Meghan's 'Shallow'"Their tone is informal and use jokes in their headlines such as "Princess Pushy". Because of this, the newspaper is typically aimed at a lower social group. This portrays to the audience that he could be mistaken into marrying the wrong person, in this case, a person who closely resembles Markle. This is further argued by the subheading "Don't fall for my little sis, Harry, she'd be the next". The magazine is largely image led with a large cropped image of both Prince Harry and Markle's look alike. Furthermore, Popular Newspaper tend to be informative about their headlines so there could be bias when the audience reads the article.

To conclude, the way that The Times on Source B uses a subtle headline to accompany this with a heart-warming image really persuades their audience into reading their article that has a huge amount of words in it. However, The Sun (Source A) persuades their audience by using headplay so that they feel rewarded by finding out what it means to further persuade them to read their article instead of their competition. Furthermore, since it is image led, they definitely have the advantage over Quality Newspapers as the audience tends to look out for huge images for front covers which attracts them instead of numerous lines of text which the audience tend to avoid. 

Education Big Issue Essay

Analyse why The Big Issue has used an intertextual approach on its front cover.

The Big Issue is a magazine-style newspaper that is sold by homeless people, as its strapline states, a “hand up not a hand out”. Their mission is to cultivate strong working relationships with the Big Issue vendors and connects them to services and vital bespoke support that is needed, and they do this by maintaining a wide range of working relationships with local service providers. They seek to deliver social & financial inclusion by supporting Big Issue vendors in the self-help process of buying & selling the Big Issue Magazine.

This magazine has a cover line of “Class Action; What’s School For?” that was issued between the dates of 3^rd - 9^th September 2018. This cover has a wide range of intertextual features that link to education (as it is the Education special). First of all, the cover consists of Harry Potter dressed in his uniform alongside his two friends: Ron and Hermione. This is a direct link to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; the place that they are educated. The school’s purpose is to “train for children with magical abilities (who may be enrolled at birth and acceptance is confirmed by owl post at age eleven)”. Rowling writes the Harry Potter novels because she thinks it’s an assertion of what children are and how the education system should handle them which is them having the ability to possess magical powers. This makes the novels optimistic as children having a magical view of the world and we should nurture this, therefore, Rowling creates hope for the vendors to have a promising future as more and more people buy the magazine from them.

Furthermore, on the front cover of the magazine, it also features Ozzy Osbourne behind the Harry Potter characters. He links to education because he has his education in Birmingham with 49 boys in one class. The only difference that he had with the other 48 boys is that he is dyslexic (a learning difficulty that causes problems of reading, writing and spelling) and the school didn’t understand this disorder. As a result, he messed around and he took a comedic role of being a joker as a coping mechanism so that he feels that there is a sense of belonging among the community of his school.

Additionally, also behind the Harry Potter characters, the audience can June Osbourne or Offred from the television series The Handmaid’s Tale. The whole plot of the drama is to portray the inequality in the education system. The education system indoctrinates individuals as it makes women into thinking that they’re second class which are also given a role to procreate and to serve men, so they are believed to follow fundamentalism that has been created by society during their time. Because of this, Offed begins to form a revolution with other women to rebel against the aspects of indoctrination, patriarchy and oppression towards women.

Finally, the whole formatting of the front cover is inspired by the television drama Grange Hill. This is centred on the fictional comprehensive school named as the title of the programme which is set in the equally fictitious North London borough of Northam. This drama dealt with school-related issues such as bullying, learning difficulties, teacher-pupil relationships and conflicts, the drama “broke new ground over the years, with the kind of hard-hitting storylines not usually seen in children’s dramas”, such as racism, teenage pregnancy, knife crime and homelessness. Therefore, it can be argued that the magazine can be seen as ground-breaking as the vendors are poor, homeless people and them selling them and earning money is them breaking the norm of their status because they are not on the street begging people for some money.

To conclude, this front cover from the Big Issue is seen to have a huge amount of intertextual references to other media outlets that all revolve around the theme of education. The front cover is deliberately designed like this so that the readers of the magazine will have a sense of achievement when they know some or all of the references which will therefore entice the public to buy more magazines.

Burn The Witch Essay

How are media language and intertextuality used in “Burn the Witch” to construct representations of groups, messages and values?

“Burn the Witch” is a song sung by an English rock band Radiohead that was released in 2016 and it is part of the Dawn Chorus album. This song uses stop-motion animation for their video and within it holds a huge amount of intertextuality and cultural references in the time of publishing the video.

At the start of the video, the audience is shown a bird chirping on a tree branch. This connotes to the audience that the song is going to be peaceful and harmless to them however, this idea digresses later as the song continues. After that scene, they are greeted to the inspector on his way to review a town then there was a match cut to the town where the mayor instructs his people to get ready for the inspector and for them to do their jobs. The style of the video is reflected from the Trumptonshire trilogy because of the fact that the video is stop motion and that the models of the characters are very similar. This trilogy was made in the 1960s so there was no such thing as computer-generated animations that are seen in the modern world. If the audience knew what this trilogy is, they will immediately suspect that the music video is going to be calming and peaceful with no conflict (as it is a children’s show) however, again, this idea changes in the next scene of the video. Thom Yorke, Radiohead’s frontman, was born in 1968, so he grew up in a world of Trumpton on children’s TV, therefore, it can be argued that he brought this aspect into the music video.

As the first bridge is being sung “This is a low flying panic attack”, the first strange thing is being shown to the audience, with a man marking a red cross on a wooden door. This lyric “Red crosses on wooden doors” is later sung in the video. This is a cultural reference to one of the many medieval practices that are shown in the song, as people during 1665 and 1666 were forced to mark red crosses on their house doors if they had the plague so that people around them to know to not walk near them as it is highly contagious. The next cultural reference is a girl being seesawed into a puddle. This relates to the witch dunking that happened during the 16^th and 17^th centuries as women are dunked into the river while being strapped onto a chair and if they floated, they were seen as witches. Then, in the next shot, there are people (supposed men) have surrounded a woman that has been tied onto a tree and they’re dancing around her performing a ritual. Furthermore, there is a shot where the mayor brings the inspector to a woman that shows him medieval cuisine which includes a cow that has been made into a pie and its blood dripping from it onto the ground causing a puddle of blood. Last medieval cultural reference is the inspector being shown to a hanging rope in which people are executed by it as a form of punishment. This is shown to the audience that society during the medieval times was very gruesome and horrible however, the fact that the town is showcasing this in a positive limelight, it really gets juxtaposed by the whole set which consists of a clean town with small houses, shops and trees with a clear blue sky and all of these aspects portray positivity.

Additionally, there is an intertextual reference to a movie named “The Wiker Man”. The audience is shown to this idea when the mayor brings the inspector to a garden where many people were picking tomatoes from the branches on the ground. In front of the garden, there are creates labelled “Jobe’s” and some of them were full of fruit whereas some of them were not. This is a reference to the film, where the crates were filled with tomatoes in crates called “Summerisle Fruit” in the Wicker Man. Furthermore, when the second chorus of the song is being sung, they vocalist repeats the title of the song “Burn the Witch” as the inspector crawls into the effigy and the residents of the town burn it by using wood from a “Jobe’s” crate. Permission was granted by the mayor to do so. This is also a reference to the film, in which a detective who went to an island to investigate a disappearance which was full of pagans and they used the detective as a sacrifice which is part of a ritual so that the “Summerisle Fruit” business can keep on succeeding. This idea was given by Lord Summerisle who indoctrinated the pagans into performing the rituals. The differences are that in the song, the inspector voluntarily went into the effigy and he manages to escape it while it was burning whereas the detective was forced to go into the effigy and he, unfortunately, dies in the film. When the effigy was burning, the residents and the mayor waves their hands to the audience, which is intertextual to the trumptonshire trilogy because of its innocence as it is a children’s programme however this shot gets juxtaposed to the fact that they allegedly murdered a man that’s doing his job in a burning statue.

The song was released a month before the EU referendum, in May 2016. It seems to be critiquing some of the propaganda put out by the “Leave” campaign and representing some of the moral panics generated by the media around immigration. For example, there is a poster that displays people from the middle east queuing to enter the UK and the coverline is “Breaking Point The EU has failed us all” insinuating that they will take all jobs, houses etc essentially their race will be overpopulated and will overrun societies. Europe was in the midst of a refugee crisis, Islamophobia continued, and the “Leave ”campaign captured this, therefore, residents in the UK were persuaded to vote for the leave campaign so that it can be prevented. The reason why the design of the characters of the song was identical to the trumptonshire trilogy because in the USA, at the same time as the “Leave” campaign, Trump was campaigning for the presidency. Much of the ideology around his campaign mirrored the messages in the UK as he also wants to keep society traditional therefore refusing immigrants to be allowed into the country.

To conclude, Burn the Witch holds a huge amount of both cultural and intertextual references from the world and other media programs. This song is a direct response to the refugee crisis that happening in the UK and it portrays how they can possibly get executed through the demonstrations that was illustrated in the music video for example getting burned in an effigy, getting witch dumped, possessing the plague or committing suicide by hanging themselves because of the discrimination that they have experienced and Radiohead has managed to do this by referring to different media programs such as Trumpton and The Wicker Man.

Deutschland 83 Review

Deutschland 83 is a cold war espionage series where the main character Martin Rauch is a 24 year old native of East Germany is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency for the Satsi in the year of 1983, where he enlists in their army to glean secrets concerning ATO military strategy. This series stars actors such as Jonas Nay playing Rauch, Maria Schrader as Lenora Rauch (Martin’s Machiavellian Aunt that suggested him to be sent off West Germany without his consent, as well as directing an award winning 2007 film Love Life), Sonja Gerhardt as Annett Schneider (Martin’s Girlfriend) as well as many other magnificent actors. Comparisons with Fox’s The Americans, in which two Russian agents go undercover in Raegan’s America, are inevitable but coincidental, says Anna: not only does Marin share the ethnicity and language of his hosts, but he’s also younger, less cynical sand more vulnerable to the allure of capitalism than Philip and Elizabeth in The Americans. Deutschland 83 gets a well deserved 4.5 out of 5 stars for it being an engrossing drama with a fun 1980s soundtrack and as it is an intense spy story that brings viewers uncomfortably close to their screens.  

In East Germany we meet Martin, a wide-eyed but not-so-innocent young man who serves in the East German army on the border of the Berlin Wall. He’s got a sick mother, Ingrid, who raised him single-handedly, a lovely girlfriend named Annett and a nice line in terrorising innocent acting troupes in order to claim their copies of Shakespeare for his mum. 

Unfortunately for Martin, he also has the schemer Aunty Lenora who works in Bonn for the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik). Lenora has big ideas regarding her young nephew and isn’t above using a bit of emotional, but literal, blackmail to get them. She is seen as objectifying him in the Rauch household. Luckily for her, Ingrid desperately needs a kidney transplant but can’t get on the waiting list. So, it is that young Martin finds himself rechristened Moritz and heading to Bonn to serve as aide-de-camp to General Edel, a senior West German army officer whose dealings are mainly with the Americans. 

After he got kidnapped and was transported to West Germany, Martin Rauch (now Moritz Stamm) is introduced to Tobias Tischbier, a university lecturer and East German who has been deep undercover since 1961. Later down the line, Stamm befriends General Edel and his family, including his conflicted son Alex and his daughter Yvonne which is a singer that gets objectified by the fact that the camera pans around her when she is introduced and by her father to essentially “show off” to the guests at his party of the amazing daughter that he has.  

The Edels has an aunty named Renate who likes to drink a bit and no one believes her in what she says. That, unfortunately, turns out to be the only bit of good luck that young Martin/Moritz gets this episode as after managing to secretly photograph General Jackson’s plans however he is far from done to return to East Germany.  

The hit series is such a pain for the audience to watch; they have to sit through adverts that are upto 3 minutes every intermission. However, the fact that Deutschland 83 keeps everything historically accurate; from the setting and language to the content of what it has to provide such as the political, economic and cultural differences between both East and West German therefore, this really entices the audience to carry on watching the long drama series and that is a major plus for this successful drama, especially it being the first German television series to ever air in America.