"On the bread line"

In the UK many people live "on the bread line" but why are there shows on TV nowadays that people can watch showing what its like and what they do. Is this taking general interest to far? or is it harmless education?

I have mixed feeling about programs such as "Skint" and "Benefit Street". These programs show us all what its like to be lower class and "on the bread line". There are positives and negatives about these shows, such as the way it shows us that these people who live on the poverty line do show real love and care to there children, but on the other hand TV editors are constantly trying to show us only the bad things like the people being arrested and taking drugs etc.

Programs such as these are seen as popular culture almost everyone no matter there background as probably seen at least one show about poverty, but why? Is it because they a just curious or is it because they want to see if the stereotypes they have of these types of people are true. These people were probably asked if it was "OK" to follow there lives but are TV companies taking real life and turning it into fiction, personally I don't know but I think that the way they portray these people is morally wrong, they are just like you and me, they probably watch TV and check Facebook and twitter to see whats going on just like we do but that isn't portrayed in most of these programs. Was that edited out to make the show more appealing or was it for other reasons.

Town vs Country

Are you new? or have you never left?

Tatler Magazine is a magazine all about posh / upper class people and what they are doing. The magazine doesn't rely on anything that is going on the world new but rely's on simply information that they collect/ gather from there inside people. This magazine is generally not read by the middle class normally the upper class and even celebrities.

In the TV series Posh People in Tatler within there first episode they talk about people who are new to the city and country and compares them to the people who have lived in theses areas forever. they created a picture/ diagram of what they think people would do and own in these categories.

This diagram shows what Tatler thinks peoples identities within these areas would be, For example they believe that a new person to an area like London, would own a Labradoodle whereas someone who has lived here for like ever would own a yellow Labrador. but they believe that all of the upper class people in these areas would own a land-rover as a central point. These beliefs are generally myths of what a newly upper class person would own compared to someone who has always been posh or upper class.

They also believe that a new country person would own a Brown Labrador instead of a black Labrador in which a real deal country man or woman would own, to me i think everyone's mad about Labradors. There is many elements of popular culture in the new towns people e.g. things like vodka and card games such as Shit Head which are associated with the student identity.

Tatler is the one magazine that is culturally popular within the upper classes and they target there audience well with what they wear questions? and old traditions and parties what more can these people want, but middle class are starting to affect this magazine as they showed in the first episode by the introduction of a new assistant called the "middle class interloper" they showed us how they introduced him into there newspaper and into the Tatler society and how they provide a book about a guide to etiquette for upper class people and the cultural codes and communications that they use.

TED talks with Amy Cuddy

Amy Cuddy spoke about non-verbal communication in the video we watched she spoke about how our body language effects our judgement and other peoples body language. She said that we make are selves look big to make ourselves powerful e.g. the wonder woman stand. and when we feel powerless we curl up or lean on tables to show that we feel weak. Generally you can see this in situations such as conversations between an employee and a boss you wouldn't mirror there stance you would compliment them by doing the opposite.

My review of Woodys personality within faking it !!!!

The TV program "Faking it" is a TV series that is about taking people from different backgrounds and getting them to fake being someone else. Woody is a bicycle courier based in Manchester, but he is going to in 4 weeks learn how to play polo in Gloucestershire. Goffman (1990) did a study on self- presentation, he said that self-presentation was a dramatic performance, which could be sub-divided into six key areas they are: persona, performance, staging, teams, roles, personal style.
Woody at the beginning of the program shows us that he is a comfortable, confident person this is what you would call his persona, he also tells us that he dropped out of university where he was studying a degree in architecture, he lives alone so he doesn't get influenced by other people. After his experience his language use has changed and even when he was with the people that we're going to coach him and he clearly lied to them saying he had never ridden a horse even though he had, this technique shows he is trying to give himself and excuse for being bad at horse riding.
The next key area is performance now at the beginning we see Woody's sincere appearance, he shows us what he does and who he is, hes honest to us and shows us that clearly part of him wishes he was doing something better with his life, he is sincere to himself by wearing clothes that make him feel comfortable and not letting other people influence his life or change him. But during and after his experience as a polo player he shows a more cynical performance he has had to change his clothes, the language he uses and he has had to learn about the game too.
To be continued........<

Sub- cultural groups are places where different identities can be explored in a creative way

A sub-cultural group is a small amount of people under a seperate groupings ( under / outside of western culture). An example of a sub- cultural group would be artists, stereotypically they are quiet, pretentious and passionate over the simpliest of things ( e.g a daisy ). A classic signifier of an artist would be paint, colours, and paint stained clothes, these things all trigger a signified image.

Within  a group of artists you'll find everyone has different styles or completely different genres of art. having people around you that understands where your coming from and can instinctively help you work on or develop your identity further. Nicholson said within yourself that you can find "stimulation" from being part of or belonging to a group.When you look at a group you should be able to tell who they are why observing they're behaviour. If you looked at a group of artists you would be able to tell that they were studing art or if they liked art by the fact they might have artwork on the table or they might be sketching or talking about art, these things help an outsider understand or identify the group.

Being part of a group like artists, you can find yourself, a theorist that talks about this is a man called Abraham Maslow. He did a study into a hierarchy of needs and being part of a group is an important part of this because he talks about 5 parts ( Physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem and self-actualisation). When you are part of a group if forfills your need to belong therefore helping you to develop your self -esteem, Maslow said that without belonging to something or someone you will never achieve a good self-esteem.

How did the sender create this text to be read?

Recently i have been studying semiotics which is the a study about signs and how they help us to communicate. This movie cover is for "a Cinderella story". The cover is mean't to be read as a fun, cute, girlie movie the newspapers review add/ highlights this " Its cute, its sweet...". Also the clothes the female character is wearing suggests that in the movie she has two separate identity's, giving the reader a clue about what the movie could be about. This technique is called a relay ( using images and lexis to create meaning). Also another technique used here is syntagm which is a unique combination of sign choices.

"Faking it" persona changes before and after

BEFORE:

Persona: he is a confident, comfortable person, who dropped out of university, he lives alone, doesn't push himself and he just goes with the flow and takes each day as it comes.

Performance: at the beginning his performance is sincere, he isn't influenced by others, and he dresses in clothes that he feels comfortable in.

Staging: he is a bicycle courier so a prop would be his bike, he lives in Manchester delivering parcels: has a strong accent.

Teams: He doesn't indicate that he has to work with anyone else and he lives alone.

Roles; Bicycle courier, artist, punk ( none rebellious)

Personal style: Wears a lot of jewelry and black / dark clothing, he also wears small amounts of makeup (eyeliner and nail varnish)

AFTER:

Persona: he changed his language use and also lied about never riding a horse.

Performance: Cynical performance now because he is having to act completely different to how he would normally act, language, clothes, knowledge of the sport etc.

Staging: he has to learn to ride a horse, and completely change his style of clothes also he needs to learn the techniques needed to hit a small ball ( cricket ball size) with a mallet on the end of a long pole.

Teams: he has to work with 3 other team members and work effectively, acts like he understands what he is doing and talk about it and has to work with his two coaches.

Roles: he has to play the role of a high end polo player who is rich and can play a good game.

Personal style: smart sharp suits, no jewelry, hidden tattoos and no makeup