OSP assessment learner response

 1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: Excellent knowledge of the CSP's - v. good detail.

EBI: More explicit reference to Hesmondhalgh and the actual wording of the question for Q2.

22/34 = B = Exceeds = AUPC's (C) = CP x4!!

2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify three specific aspects from Figure 1 (the Google Home advert) that you could have mentioned in your answer (e.g. selection of image, framing and focus, colour, text etc.)

• Links Google brand to vision of ideal family life – creative play with parent; coloured pencils, paint bottle and corner of child’s picture all reinforce creativity and colour.
• Reinforces white, western, middle-class representation of family life to the exclusion of other backgrounds (race/ethnicity, sexuality, age, class). Presents the white, western ‘2.4 children’ average as desirable, aspirational lifestyle – some audiences will reject this.
• Negotiated readings could include an acceptance of a warm picture of family life – plus the potential usefulness of the speaker – despite concerns over how the device uses data and the growing power of companies such as Google and Amazon.

3) Now use the mark scheme to identify three potential points that you could have made in your essay for Question 2 (Hesmondhalgh - validity of theory/narrow range of values and ideologies).

• The ‘End of Audience’ that Clay Shirky writes about means that a wider, more diverse range of values and ideologies are now available to consumers. This would suggest Hesmondhalgh’s theory is not valid. Zendaya’s online and social media presence arguably supports this with her promotion of a liberal agenda that challenges attitudes towards race and gender in society and the media industries.
• However, The Voice has been doing this to some extent since its launch in 1982 and it has arguably become less powerful and influential in recent years. This suggests the digital revolution Clay Shirky writes about (the “billion new participants in the contemporary media ecosystem”) has not benefited The Voice in its mission to promote values and ideologies that remain outside the mainstream. Perhaps this reinforces Hesmondhalgh’s view that the media is dominated by a narrow range of values and ideologies in that The Voice has failed to really challenge the hegemonic ideology of the UK.
• As a former Disney child star, a more cynical approach to Zendaya’s online presence may suggest that she constructs her social media and online presence very carefully to create a persona that is economically successful and appealing to her target audience. If we view Zendaya’s online presence as primarily a marketing tool for her film and TV work then this would strongly reinforce Hesmondhalgh’s view that the cultural industries values profit over principle and therefore only reinforces a narrow range of values and ideologies.

4) Use your exam response, the mark scheme and any other resources you wish to use to write a detailed essay plan for Question 2. Make sure you are planning at least three well-developed paragraphs in addition to an introduction and conclusion.

Introduction: Agree with the statement to certain extent

Paragraph 1: Zendaya - Stands up for feminism, suggesting "True feminism has to be inter sectional" (bell hooks). Uses her social media to spread awareness. K.C. Undercover  - subvert stereotypes = shows women are strong. Gauntlett - Submissive women kick boxed out by new image of sassy women. 

Paragraph 2: The Voice - Double consciousness (Gilroy) - The Voice  offers range of diverse value and ideologies for Black British audiences. Gilroy would agree with Hesmondhalgh's statement - media dominated by white people. The Voice allows black people to see themselves from their own eyes.

Paragraph 3: End of audience (Shirky) - wider and diverse range of values and ideologies are available to consumers so goes against Hesmondhalgh statement - Zendaya's social media allows her to do this - uses it to promote charity, activism etc.

Conclusion: Cultural industries do have narrow ideologies - all go to promote woke agenda's - feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, charity work and racism all for popularity and getting more audience.

5) Finally, identify three key areas you plan to revise from the OSP unit (CSP aspects or theories) having looked at your feedback from this assessment.

• Applying specific theories to specific references from the CSP's.
• Applying other theorist in the 25 maker to oppose the statement  or theorist given.
• The representation and ideologies that the OSP CSP's promote.