edia agazine Menglish and media centre issue 51M | february 2015 Empowering women SEXUALITY IN SF Coping with copyright Taylor Swift Clean Bandit VIRTUAL REALITY The decline of the film star MM MM This magazine is not to be photocopied. Why not subscribe to our web package which includes a downloadable and printable PDF of the current issue or encourage your students to take out their own £12 subscription? Well, the timing may not be great, MediaMagazine is published by the but if you’re an AS student, as well as English and Media honing your analytic and production Centre, a non-profit skills for your forthcoming exams, you making organisation. really need to be keeping an eye open The Centre publishes a for the way the media are representing wide range of classroom our 7th May General Election. You materials and runs could kick off with Tom Brownlee’s courses for teachers. If article on the TV campaigns around you’re studying English the Scottish Referendum, then whizz round the party websites to at A Level, look out see how they’re constructing their identities, their representations for emagazine, also of the issues they’re highlighting, and their uses of different media published by the Centre. platforms and appeals. You’ll need all this stuff for next year’s exams The English and Media Centre – and you can get ahead of the game right now by allocating tasks 18 Compton Terrace London N1 2UN within your group: for example, someone to collect newspaper Telephone: 020 7359 8080 headlines, monitors for Facebook and Twitter, someone else to track Fax: 020 7354 0133 the online responses of opinion-formers and party leaders, or to Email for subscription enquiries: keep an overview of cartoonists’ work, and so on. You could even [email protected] write about your experience of the electoral campaigns for our Editor: Jenny Grahame MediaMag writing competition. Subscriptions manager: Emma Marron Powerful women are a recurrent theme of this magazine, with Design: Sam Sullivan two really powerful non-British films ideal for A2 film students, Print: S&G Group and a research-based introduction to the new adaptation of Vera Cover: Ivan Sutherland’s ‘The Britain’s Testament of Youth. But we’re also covering both Beyoncé Sword of Damocles’ (virtual and Taylor Swift, as well as Clean Bandit’s Grace Chatto – strong reality) women indeed. If you’re working on a mashup, parody or pastiche ISSN: 1478-8616 for your production coursework, you must read Julian McDougall’s extremely useful article on copyright and the new Copyright Users Portal. And anyone with the remotest interest in new technologies should have a close look at Damien Hendry’s introduction to the virtual realities in store via Occulus Rift and other such developments, where you’ll be in at the birth of a whole new range of codes and conventions. Finally, a reminder to everyone that time is ticking by for our two competitions – the deadline for both is Friday 20th March. On page 5 we’ve suggested a few ideas to get the ball rolling for student writing; and the entry forms for both competitions are downloadable from our home page. We’ve been expecting you… In April’s MediaMag Russell Brand; Social media surveillance; Mockingjay; Bad language on TV; Owen Jones; cosplay; idedology and more! 2 MediaMagazine | February 2015 | english and media centre MM contents The Front Page Re-imagining Fargo and Wadjda and Female 04 The latest media news and 22 Hannibal 43 Empowerment views. The Media Concepts: 06 Representation Old and New In her latest guide to the Jonathan Nunns takes a key media concepts, Steph forensic and gore-splattered Preparing for the FM4 Hendry explores one of look at what happens when Specialist Study on the most powerful and an iconic and controversial Empowering Women? Mark controversial of them all, film is re-imagined for long- Ramey explains why this film and demonstrates how form TV drama. is so important. the changes in our media landscape have influenced Copyright Regulation The Male Gaze Cartoon the ways we view the world 26 (Remix) 48 and ourselves. Professor and examiner Julian McDougall outlines Deconstructing Taylor Your Country Needs You! what you really need to 50 Student Lydia Kendall uses 10 know about the issues media concepts to challenge around online regulation and the media representations copyright. of Taylor Swift – from the perspective of a fan. Virtual Dreams and Rifts 30 in Reality Un-straightening the What role did the media Damien Hendry reports on 54 Future – Sexuality in play in the battle for hearts the latest developments in Science Fiction and minds in perhaps Virtual Reality. Steve Connolly suggests the most important vote a less threatening way to in a generation – last An Interview with Grace approach issues around the September’s Scottish 33 Chatto of Clean Bandit representation of sexuality: independence referendum? Barbara Bleiman interviews through the ‘otherness’ of Expat Scotsman Tom one of the powers behind science fiction. Brownlee surveys the the hugely popular classical/ battlefield. pop group known for their Testament of Youth 2014 amazing videos. – From Memoir to Movie The Decline of the Film 58 14 Star? Covering Gender – 36 Beyoncé, GQ and Vogue Emma Calway compares the coverage of a global icon in two contrasting lifestyle magazines. Vanessa Raison introduces a Girls ‘n’ the Hood? Bande terrific case study example Nick Lacey dismisses rumours 39 de filles of the UK Film Industry at of the death of the movie- work – and a very topical star – and discovers that the introduction to research future is international. skills. Cold as Ice? Viral Westgate – One Year On 18 Campaigns and Charities A powerful new film about 63 How is a world news story Does the use of viral girl gangs in the Parisian configured differently in campaigns by charities really suburbs is on its way. Roy different places? Expat make a difference, or does Stafford compares it with La Maggie Miranda compares it just make us feel better? Haine. her personal experience with Discuss! Clare Gunns fuels local and international news the debate. coverage of a terrorist attack that shook the world. english and media centre | February 2015 | MediaMagazine 3 MM The world’s biggest-ever Hobbit project? Like’em or loathe’em, we need your in over 30 languages. Hoping to recruit thoughts about Hobbits. If you’ve seen over 50,000 responses at our website: Calling all any of the films in the Hobbit trilogy, www.worldhobbitproject.org. The Professor Martin Barker of Aberystwyth trouble is, we may be huge, but we are teachers – how University invites you to take part in a doing this on almost no money. So we inspiring are you? global research project exploring the are utterly dependent on people visiting appeals of fantasy for audiences. Read our site and completing the survey there Do you, or a colleague, use film to on to discover why, and how to get (20 minutes is all it should take) – and support topics in the curriculum involved. then telling relatives, friends, and ‘Friends’ or engage with students that about it. find traditional learning methods What’s the link between these? Game difficult? Have you ever used film of Thrones … The Maze Runner … to tackle challenging subjects like The Hunger Games … The Lord of the bullying or racism? Do you include Rings … Harry Potter … add your own. filmmaking activities in your lessons, It’s obvious, isn’t it? All blockbuster or encourage your pupils to develop movies. All ‘fantasies’. OK, but look at their critical analysis and literacy the differences. One mock-medieval skills by discussing films and writing version of the Wars of the Roses. Two If you’ve seen the films, it doesn’t matter reviews? post-apocalypse stories of teenage if you saw them because you are some survival. One near-allegorical version of kind of fan (of Tolkien, of Peter Jackson, To celebrate the value of film as the struggle between good and evil. One of Martin Freeman, whoever) or just a learning tool and champion coming-of-age school story, with added someone who likes to catch a big movie educators who are using the magic. Yes, but still all ‘fantasies’. around Christmas. It doesn’t matter if you medium interestingly and effectively thought (as some people have) the films in class, Into Film is inviting teachers And that’s the question. What might be were streeeetched too far from the book, to nominate themselves or a the appeal and importance of ‘fantasy’ or if you loved the three-year build up colleague for its ‘Most Inspirational to audiences? Of course there are a lot of – or just got dragged along by friends. Use of Film in Class’ Award. people who just use the word to dismiss Whatever your views on the films, we Nominations may be made by it all as cheap, throwaway, commercial need to hear them. teachers themselves, by a colleague, Who are ‘we’? We are university parent or student, and must include researchers interested in audiences, an example of work to demonstrate and how ordinary people enjoy and the inspirational use of film in the make sense of films. We are not linked classroom. in any way to the filmmakers – this is an The winner will be announced at entirely independent operation. And we an Awards ceremony at London’s are promising that everything we learn prestigious Empire Leicester Square will make its way back into the public on 24th March 2015. Film industry trash: ‘it’s just fantasy’. We don’t think domain, so audiences can learn about professionals will be attending that’s right.