Debate Evaluation

Firstly I'd like to say that it was a GREAT DEBATE and 13D were werthy opponents, however the ehole point was to see whcih class was the best and that didn't really prove anthing with a draw did it?

• Through taking part in this debate I've learnt that the media is pluralistic. It has many views and opinions so that nothing is ever bias however it doesn't help when trying to determine what's right and wrong in so many ways.
• I think I picked up quite a few skills from this experience and that's about myself. I was quite nervous as i'm sure everyone was but as an imdividual I think I posses a quality to step up my game and rise to the occasion when need be. I also learned that researching is always the most important part of any project. Having the gift of gab does nothing if you don't have the knowledge.
• My personal performance... I feel I did well on the day, I was confident, fluent and used my brain. As of everything else I was quite lazy. Doing my research I felt I should've done more and as a team captain I feel I didn't take it seriously enough and push my team as I should've done. If I had done this, those 2 points that we lost by would've have won us the whole thing and throw any doubts of a draw out the window.
• I would like to personally congratualte Russell and Iena. Russell from the start encouraged all of us to take the debate seriously, he pushed me especially and really helped me to perform not only on the day but also for future references. Also the one and only Iena, who stepped up and the heat of the moment to take part when she wasn't even ready and did so well for the whole team. WELL DONE to both and the whole team!
• As a team we probably could've spent more time together to prepare and give a performance not to be forgotten.
• 13D... what can I say, they put up a good game and gave us a run for our money. They were very well organised and had clearly done a lot of research and executed it like venum! Some of their arguements however I think we could've smashed given the chance but it's over now so. Credit to Sonia, my direct opponent and a werthy one at that, putting up a good front, she was composed, confident and dangerous.
• Was it a fair result? You tell me, you lot were OBVIOUSLY the judges, nuff said.
• I loved every part of the event! It was exactly as I expected it to be but luckily I wasn't completely ripped apart by the oppositions questions lol!
• I think we were prepared very well by the teachers. Mr.Bush gave us a lot of advise on how to reseach and Ms.Stevens and Ms.Twebti did really well in preparing us on how to debate whcih I took a lot of tips from.
• The organisation of the debate was prepared quite well, no real complaints. Everyone was well behaved, and the running time went a bit over but it was really fun so it doesn't matter to me.
• I think to really test students abilities next time, more questions should be asked from the audience and more related to media if possible. Also another section should be included for the proper use of media terminology and how well it's used so that it can be put into practice.
• I wasn't originally happy because it seemed like more work to be done when I have other work to do, but I'm glad we had it. I ti tests us on what we've learnt in an enjoyable manner other than an exam and helps us to be more articulately out spoken that could help us later on in life.
• I would definately recommend that you have another debate for the year 12s but on the condiction that we be invited back to attend!

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey's arguement that she put forward in 'Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema (1975) discusses many issued raised in film over the last 50 years, that questions the representations of women in films. Mulvey argues that the dominant point of view in cinema is masculine. When we consider the 'male gaze' that provides audiences with a male view point towards what is on the screen in front of them, as other women are almost forced to watch from the male point of view. This leads back to the representations of a patricarchal society and film tends to cater to these representations.

When watching films, the main protagonist more than often is male, so the audience is shown to watch the film from his point of view and identify with him. As Hollywood traditions pass on this they also assume a male spectator, however males are only half of the audience. Whereas her theory describes how if audiences are only assumed to be male, everything is seen from the male's point of view so the female is left as a passive object in the threatres and also on the screens. Much of which the female is seen as a sexual object and a lot of the time when going into deeper analysis of many films seen to be very stereotypically represented and shown as almost second class citizens.

New Words

• Active audience theory- theories on audience theories about behaviour that see the audience as active participants in the process of decoding and making sense of media texts.
• As 'Little Britain' is a programme based on stereotypes audience have either the choice to be passive or active in believing these stereotypes or challenging them. However, being a comedy text audiences tend to see the funny side and choose not to believe it.

• Althusser, Louis (1918-90)- French Marxist with interest in the role of the media in supporting dominant ideology and in the symbolic order separating us from reality.
• Dominant ideologies in society are shown througout this text and waht it does my making fun of those ideologies is what is separating fact from reality.

• Attitudes, beliefs and values- factors influencing the reception of media messages.
• Attitudes are the positions people adopt in relation to a particular issue.
• Beliefs are deeply held views.
• Values represent the moral or ideological structure within which beliefs and attitudes are formed.
• Again leads back to whether audiences will be drawn into the values and beliefs the show holds about British socities. Some of which are very strongly held for some people, does that create tension as the show tends to mock them.

• Audience theory-can be divided into active and passive models where the audience is seen as reacting to a text (active) and challenging it or where the audience is influenced and manipulated (passive).

• Bias- the slanting of a media text, usually factual to represent one point of view more favourably than another.
• The show is literally based on two people's views on what they believe the people of Britain to be like. Not only that but they're two white, middle class men who don't have anyone elses experiences except their own, making the show bias.

• Black comedy- a type of comedy that deals with serious or disturbing subjects in a comic way.
• 'Little Britain' holds certain conventions of black comedy in that it does deal with serious issues and tends to make jokes of them. The style of comedy although very funny does have certain repercussions from their critics as any successful show.

• Censorship- the practice, exercised by elite groups in authority of monitoring and controlling media content by removing, surppressing or classifying elements deemed offensive or subversive for moral, political, economic, social or religious reasons.
• The show having a lot of content deemed to be repulsive in the two fat ladies sketch and offensive to women in nearly all of them hasn't been censored at all dispite some criticism. Controversial issues about assilum seekers, homosexuality and much more are allowed to be shown on a public service broadcaster and lately the main one (BBC1).

• Closed question- a question to which the answer is restrcited, assumed or obvious and which doesn't allow the person questioned a flexible response.

• Cognative dissonance- the feeling of inconsistency and disharmony experienced by an individual when strongly held attitudes, beliefs and values are contradicted or challenged by new information or a new experience.

• Cultivation theory (George gerbner)- research into how watching television affects people's views on the real world. They argue that television can have long term affects which can be very significant. Cultural imperialism- the dominance of Western, particularly the US, cultural values and ideolgies across the world e.g. Muslims as terrorists.
• Having a long term affect on audience's views towards the world from this show could prove controversial to passive audiences who may choose to see the show as telling the truth rather than making fun of what is the supposed truth could cause racism, misogyny and other forms of hatred possibly.

Bibliography

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358856/
people commenting on the show and its social contextual views.

Daily Mirror, wed 23rd Nov, 05- article "a little brit of a moaner"
This article actually has nothing to do with the show, but about politics however it goes to show the extent the show has evolved to in terms of publicity.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,564-1876331,00.html
Article debating: 'Litle Britain: do you love it or hate it?' providing two views on the show.

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1875033,00.html
Article on how the shows third serious has hit a new low and "its attitude towards women is repulsive"

http:/www.entertainment.tinesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14934-1875030,00.html
another article on the show, but commenting why it is still funny.

Studying the Media- Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Dutton, Philip Rayner
Oxford University Press Inc 1994
www.arnoldpublishers.com

Television and Censorship in the Media- Craig Donnellan
Leister Printers Ltd 1996

Daily Mirror, tues 25th oct 05, 'sickeningly funny'
Article about the show live.

Daily Mirror, thurs 27th oct 05, '£22m Little British Empire'
The money being brought to the creators of the shows success.

http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/CoRecT/CoRecTeng.html
reception theory
http://www.users.bigpond.com/smartboard/pc.htm
political correctness

http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Audience.html
hypodermic model

http://intranet.greenford.ealing.sch.uk
school internet site.

ESCAPISM on the Web:

The desire to retreat into imaginative entertainment rather than deal with the stress, tedium, and daily problems of the mundane world. See discussion under escapist literature.
web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_E.html