Close Textual Analysis

I choose this scene to look at in detail for my textual analysis as it shows’ a lot of different representation of characters.

MEDIA LANGUAGE: The opening shot of this scene begins as the camera captures a few of the housemate’s interaction in the “party games”. Their clothes vary from fake wigs, angel like costume to casual clothing of some housemates. It’s hard to say if there is a protagonist or a leader in this scene as there are a lot of housemates gathered. Editing includes zoom outs to see the entire atmosphere and zoom in on individual faces to see the impact of questions asked. The first question that is asked it “what is your bank balance before you came in” after this question is asked the camera is zoomed out, to show the different facial expressions on different housemates. Brain seemed to be in shock after the question was answered and the camera was instantly zoomed into his face, this shows the fascination that people have of money, or the fact that they may feel is a person has this much money why are they on Big Brother to win the cash prize? The costume’s used such as angel like costumes may show what kind of an image that contestant is trying to portray of themselves. Some costumes are also 70’s like as they are wearing brightly coloured jumpers and wigs, the use of these costumes is to again create a atmosphere almost like primary school children playing a game of truth and dare, as the different costumes that some housemates choose to wear, shows there each individual character. For example Channele is wearing an angel like costume so therefore she might presume herself as an angel.

INSTITUTION: Big Brother is shown as powerful. They are the ones who control the shots and scene’s to be shown. But it may portray them in a negative way as they may show certain issues that are happening in the house, just to gain viewers.

GENRE: This scene has two genres. It has an overall genre of a reality TV show, as it follows the conventions of reality TV shows, as the camera pans to the highlights that happen, and the second genre being a party, as they also have the typical conventions of a party, like costumes hats, and “party games”.

REPRESENTION: The older people in the scene are represented as laid back and are observing what is happening in the game around them, Ziggy observes to see the response to the questions of “who do you like in the house”. Where as the younger contestants play a more interactive role and are represented as lively and maybe socially interactive. The scene also represents woman in a maybe “ladish” way from the way in which Charley is screaming in a violent way, or is may be seen as a way to get attention. Also there is a slight representation of women, there are two types of women being shown one of which are the “good girls” and the other being the “bad girls” this can be seen as, the “good girls” are wearing casual sports clothes and are showing little interaction in the game. The “bad girls” that are shown may be characters such as Charley as she is wearing provocative clothing for the male audience, by her wearing these type of clothes, may create fans for her and but also may show her in need of attention.

AUDIENCE: This scene indicates that the audience for this particular scene is for a young audience, of about 14-17 in age as they would better understand the game - “Truth and dare”.

VALUES & IDEOLOGY: In this scene the audience sees a tame version of expectations of the game “truth and dare”. In the relationship between the two male contestants first kissing deeply and then peeking. However this suggests that the media is now more open to show male relationship on TV and are more comfortable in showing it in an edited episode as the issue is becoming more acceptable in society and also in the media. Channelle is embarrassed by Ziggy kissing an older contestants bottom, which suggests that Chanelle is less unadventurous than the other younger contestants. Nikki comes across as typically feminine, as she is “properly” dressed and also talks and shouts to a minimum and does not let attention draw to her.
Other Values and Ideologies that are shown may be

NARRATIVE: Party games that are being played, - “truth and dare” there is also a narrative of Ziggy and the person next to him (forgot her name! opps), as they are waiting to see whether or not Billy gives the impression that he like Channelle, which in the end there conclusion was wrong.