Representation In Zoella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zUqHvqw0_8
What representations of femininity and gender are suggested by the video?
The role that Zoella assumes for herself in preparation for Christmas.
The reasons that she wants to assume that role.
The way that the upload associates femininity with domesticity.
Pink clothes, traditionally feminine
Get a piano and wrap it
Food preparation
Sort the table out
'Perfectionist' enjoys hosting
Tidying shopping
Namedropping brands
Houseplants and housework
Rhetorical questions
Talking directly to the audience
Decorates the guest room
Alfie left his PlayStation out
Showing her entire range of products
Watches a cooking show on tv
Organising Alfie
Wants to call for help carrying a heavy object
Zoella is seen as feminine through means of her insistence on housework, something she is seen constantly doing by herself. This alludes to her being a typical representation of gender and femininity because of the connotations that we apply to housewives. Zoella takes on the burden of more or less the entire Christmas preparation, as she is seen alone (with the exception of her dog, Nala) for around 20 of the 26-minute long vlog. In this duration, she completes quite mundane tasks such as wrapping presents, decorating the guest room, and watching a cooking show on T.V. (Especially pertinent due to how cooking is traditionally seen as a housewife's job, even when she is relaxing she is consuming media directly related to her traditional role). This thought is heavily applied to Judith Butler's Gender Performativity theory, in which people carry out ritualistic acts of what is perceived in society to be gender, as the theory states that gender is a construct.
Furthermore, typical representations of gender are portrayed throughout the video due to her diametrically opposed relationship with Alfie, her boyfriend. Around midway through the video, when she is discussing the decoration of the guest room, she notes that Alfie has left a gaming console out. This is quite representative of a typical male representation, of being quite careless and lackadaisical with everything. This is even further reinforced by how Zoella has a tendency to be a 'perfectionist' and fills in her traditional role of
Clearly positions Zoella in a domestic role. She refers to the needs of her Christmas party preparations as something that both her and Alfie need to be engaged in, but continuously repositions this earlier appeal by suggesting that she will be the one who executes those preparations Her desire to emulate Alfie's mum Amanda also reinforces a version of femininity that ideologically positions women as homemakers.
Barthesian codes - pink pyjamas, symbolic of innocence, purity etc
Positions the camera so that we as the audience are continually gazing throughout the video. Reinforces Van Zoonen's claims that women are objectified - Zoella is constructed as a commodity throughout. The mise-en-scene is stereotypically feminine (carefully constructed colour schemes, neat displays all reinforce her 'femininity'). Reinforces Butler - Zoella is performing her gender, the way that she constructs her appearance, ideology, mannerisms, etc.
Half Term Questions:
How does the social and cultural context of the product effect how it represents people, places, etc? What messages and beliefs does it encode? [15]
How do the representations in this product show the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the producer? [15]
'Zoella' is the online persona and YouTube channel created by Zoe Sugg. She has around 12 million subscribers on her main channel (5 million on her secondary channel, MoreZoella, which is used for vlogging). In her videos, she often does challenges, makeup tutorials, vlogs, and various hauls. They are primarily targeted towards younger, female audiences.
Within Zoella's videos, she uses specific codes and conventions in order to represent herself and her gender. As the producer of her videos (YouTube is mainly a creator based but corporation led channel), Zoella can selectively choose what parts of herself to include, and what parts of herself she can omit from the public eye. This cultivates an online persona that may not be representative of how she is in real life and demonstrates Judith Butler's Gender Performativity theory in action. The theory states that gender is a social construct, and we carry out ritualistic acts of what has come to be known as gender, such as males being strong or females being more maternal. This theory is especially applicable to Zoella's cultivated persona, as she shows herself to be quite stereotypical in how she represents herself. This can be clearly seen within the mise-en-scene of her videos, as her house is often decorated with a lot of homeware, which she is all too happy to show off in her videos. A pertinent example of this is in her new apartment tour video, in which she is showing the audience her autumnal wreath and Halloween candles. This solidifies how she represents herself as a stereotypical female, according to the Gender Performativity theory, as she is 'acting out' different behaviours like showing off her homeware.
Zoella also shows her ideological beliefs through the use of proairetic codes, she is seen spending most of the day cleaning and wrapping presents in her 'Preparation for Christmas' vlog, and this reinforces the theory, even more, the use of her monologue and how she is all-too-happy to clean the house anchors her as a typical representation of a housewife, and this is even further presented in the rest of the video, in which she spends even her spare time watching a television show about cooking. These tasks are symbolic of a common housewive's job, and this can be bolstered further by how she is diametrically opposed to Alfie Deyes, her boyfriend. Alfie again follows the Gender Performativity theory, he is seen coming back from the gym in some videos, and he ritualistically presents typical masculine behaviour which is also seen as common as Zoella's tendency to want to clean. This reaches a noticeably high peak in the Christmas Preparation vlog, as Zoella notes that, as she is cleaning the guest room, Alfie has left his PlayStation out again. This reinforces the ideological notion that Alfie doesn't really care about being clean, and will happily leave his belongings out because he knows Zoella will tidy up. This is expanded upon even further later on in the video, where Zoella exclaims that Alfie hasn't prepared a washbag, and he gives her a list of things to put in it (As he is staying out overnight). Yet again, this typical behaviour is present, and only enforces the fact that he is quite negligent. The binary oppositions between these two are strong because not only do they both have opposite behaviours, they also represent male and female genders to an incredibly strong degree. Another point of note is how this voluntary behaviour. As Zoella is the producer, she can quite easily remove these examples from the edits, yet they are left in, perhaps this is to pad run-time, or perhaps it is even to cultivate (See: George Gerbener's Cultivation theory) the minds of the younger viewers who are watching, which is a significant number of the viewer base, and who are especially susceptible to the implemented ideologies and viewpoints within her videos.
Zoella is able to easily encode her viewpoints and beliefs into the video through different techniques used within vlogging. Firstly, she utilises a direct mode of address, this is quite informal and it is like she is talking directly to the viewer. With this also comes rhetorical questions, a literary device which is used to actively engage with the audience, even though she is only talking to a camera. This doesn't stop people responding to the questions (Such as asking people if they watch T.V. at Christmas) in the comments, creating a loyal fanbase. With such a large fanbase, it is quite easy to encode easily interpreted views within her videos, and most of her opinions (being quite safe as she is on YouTube and doesn't want to be demonetised) create a dominant ideology of really whatever she wants to say. This means that her beliefs are heavily linked to traditional feminine ideals, as a direct result of how intrinsically linked she is to that line of thought due to the nature of her videos, being makeup tutorials and hauls. This is even seen within her videos, as she often tells the viewer exactly what she is wearing and how she is applying makeup, often changing outfit a few times per video.
Furthermore, she also represents her beliefs almost subconsciously, by typical generic paradigms of the vlog. She utilises high-key lighting a lot within her videos, and this is because she has full control over her 'set', which is made to look as realistic and homely as possible, despite being constructed. From behind the view of the camera, many lighting apparatus are likely to be seen, and it is because of the use of high-key lighting that she appears the way she does in her videos. It complements the face, shows off her contours and makeup, and makes people look more conventionally attractive. This is used to create an effect to manifest what could be seen as a spectacle, specifically for the heterosexual male audience. This calls into question Liesbet Van Zoonen's Feminist theory, in which females within different media text are often seen as a spectacle, they are sexualised and objectified for male pleasure. I personally think that this is only half right in this particular context, as Zoella is the producer, and makes an effort as to not sexualise herself, her use of lexis is quite infantile and childish. However, I also think that it is a prevalent notion that the audience will try to sexualise her content, and the use of high-key lighting within the video specifically to make herself look better goes on to prove this.
How do audience responses to these representations reflect the time in which they were made? How can audiences interpret social and cultural messages? [15]
Make references to:
Zoella
Vlog
Van Zoonen / Judith Butler
What representations of femininity and gender are suggested by the video?
The role that Zoella assumes for herself in preparation for Christmas.
The reasons that she wants to assume that role.
The way that the upload associates femininity with domesticity.
Pink clothes, traditionally feminine
Get a piano and wrap it
Food preparation
Sort the table out
'Perfectionist' enjoys hosting
Tidying shopping
Namedropping brands
Houseplants and housework
Rhetorical questions
Talking directly to the audience
Decorates the guest room
Alfie left his PlayStation out
Showing her entire range of products
Watches a cooking show on tv
Organising Alfie
Wants to call for help carrying a heavy object
Zoella is seen as feminine through means of her insistence on housework, something she is seen constantly doing by herself. This alludes to her being a typical representation of gender and femininity because of the connotations that we apply to housewives. Zoella takes on the burden of more or less the entire Christmas preparation, as she is seen alone (with the exception of her dog, Nala) for around 20 of the 26-minute long vlog. In this duration, she completes quite mundane tasks such as wrapping presents, decorating the guest room, and watching a cooking show on T.V. (Especially pertinent due to how cooking is traditionally seen as a housewife's job, even when she is relaxing she is consuming media directly related to her traditional role). This thought is heavily applied to Judith Butler's Gender Performativity theory, in which people carry out ritualistic acts of what is perceived in society to be gender, as the theory states that gender is a construct.
Furthermore, typical representations of gender are portrayed throughout the video due to her diametrically opposed relationship with Alfie, her boyfriend. Around midway through the video, when she is discussing the decoration of the guest room, she notes that Alfie has left a gaming console out. This is quite representative of a typical male representation, of being quite careless and lackadaisical with everything. This is even further reinforced by how Zoella has a tendency to be a 'perfectionist' and fills in her traditional role of
Clearly positions Zoella in a domestic role. She refers to the needs of her Christmas party preparations as something that both her and Alfie need to be engaged in, but continuously repositions this earlier appeal by suggesting that she will be the one who executes those preparations Her desire to emulate Alfie's mum Amanda also reinforces a version of femininity that ideologically positions women as homemakers.
Barthesian codes - pink pyjamas, symbolic of innocence, purity etc
Positions the camera so that we as the audience are continually gazing throughout the video. Reinforces Van Zoonen's claims that women are objectified - Zoella is constructed as a commodity throughout. The mise-en-scene is stereotypically feminine (carefully constructed colour schemes, neat displays all reinforce her 'femininity'). Reinforces Butler - Zoella is performing her gender, the way that she constructs her appearance, ideology, mannerisms, etc.
Half Term Questions:
How does the social and cultural context of the product effect how it represents people, places, etc? What messages and beliefs does it encode? [15]
How do the representations in this product show the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the producer? [15]
'Zoella' is the online persona and YouTube channel created by Zoe Sugg. She has around 12 million subscribers on her main channel (5 million on her secondary channel, MoreZoella, which is used for vlogging). In her videos, she often does challenges, makeup tutorials, vlogs, and various hauls. They are primarily targeted towards younger, female audiences.
Within Zoella's videos, she uses specific codes and conventions in order to represent herself and her gender. As the producer of her videos (YouTube is mainly a creator based but corporation led channel), Zoella can selectively choose what parts of herself to include, and what parts of herself she can omit from the public eye. This cultivates an online persona that may not be representative of how she is in real life and demonstrates Judith Butler's Gender Performativity theory in action. The theory states that gender is a social construct, and we carry out ritualistic acts of what has come to be known as gender, such as males being strong or females being more maternal. This theory is especially applicable to Zoella's cultivated persona, as she shows herself to be quite stereotypical in how she represents herself. This can be clearly seen within the mise-en-scene of her videos, as her house is often decorated with a lot of homeware, which she is all too happy to show off in her videos. A pertinent example of this is in her new apartment tour video, in which she is showing the audience her autumnal wreath and Halloween candles. This solidifies how she represents herself as a stereotypical female, according to the Gender Performativity theory, as she is 'acting out' different behaviours like showing off her homeware.
Zoella also shows her ideological beliefs through the use of proairetic codes, she is seen spending most of the day cleaning and wrapping presents in her 'Preparation for Christmas' vlog, and this reinforces the theory, even more, the use of her monologue and how she is all-too-happy to clean the house anchors her as a typical representation of a housewife, and this is even further presented in the rest of the video, in which she spends even her spare time watching a television show about cooking. These tasks are symbolic of a common housewive's job, and this can be bolstered further by how she is diametrically opposed to Alfie Deyes, her boyfriend. Alfie again follows the Gender Performativity theory, he is seen coming back from the gym in some videos, and he ritualistically presents typical masculine behaviour which is also seen as common as Zoella's tendency to want to clean. This reaches a noticeably high peak in the Christmas Preparation vlog, as Zoella notes that, as she is cleaning the guest room, Alfie has left his PlayStation out again. This reinforces the ideological notion that Alfie doesn't really care about being clean, and will happily leave his belongings out because he knows Zoella will tidy up. This is expanded upon even further later on in the video, where Zoella exclaims that Alfie hasn't prepared a washbag, and he gives her a list of things to put in it (As he is staying out overnight). Yet again, this typical behaviour is present, and only enforces the fact that he is quite negligent. The binary oppositions between these two are strong because not only do they both have opposite behaviours, they also represent male and female genders to an incredibly strong degree. Another point of note is how this voluntary behaviour. As Zoella is the producer, she can quite easily remove these examples from the edits, yet they are left in, perhaps this is to pad run-time, or perhaps it is even to cultivate (See: George Gerbener's Cultivation theory) the minds of the younger viewers who are watching, which is a significant number of the viewer base, and who are especially susceptible to the implemented ideologies and viewpoints within her videos.
Zoella is able to easily encode her viewpoints and beliefs into the video through different techniques used within vlogging. Firstly, she utilises a direct mode of address, this is quite informal and it is like she is talking directly to the viewer. With this also comes rhetorical questions, a literary device which is used to actively engage with the audience, even though she is only talking to a camera. This doesn't stop people responding to the questions (Such as asking people if they watch T.V. at Christmas) in the comments, creating a loyal fanbase. With such a large fanbase, it is quite easy to encode easily interpreted views within her videos, and most of her opinions (being quite safe as she is on YouTube and doesn't want to be demonetised) create a dominant ideology of really whatever she wants to say. This means that her beliefs are heavily linked to traditional feminine ideals, as a direct result of how intrinsically linked she is to that line of thought due to the nature of her videos, being makeup tutorials and hauls. This is even seen within her videos, as she often tells the viewer exactly what she is wearing and how she is applying makeup, often changing outfit a few times per video.
Furthermore, she also represents her beliefs almost subconsciously, by typical generic paradigms of the vlog. She utilises high-key lighting a lot within her videos, and this is because she has full control over her 'set', which is made to look as realistic and homely as possible, despite being constructed. From behind the view of the camera, many lighting apparatus are likely to be seen, and it is because of the use of high-key lighting that she appears the way she does in her videos. It complements the face, shows off her contours and makeup, and makes people look more conventionally attractive. This is used to create an effect to manifest what could be seen as a spectacle, specifically for the heterosexual male audience. This calls into question Liesbet Van Zoonen's Feminist theory, in which females within different media text are often seen as a spectacle, they are sexualised and objectified for male pleasure. I personally think that this is only half right in this particular context, as Zoella is the producer, and makes an effort as to not sexualise herself, her use of lexis is quite infantile and childish. However, I also think that it is a prevalent notion that the audience will try to sexualise her content, and the use of high-key lighting within the video specifically to make herself look better goes on to prove this.
How do audience responses to these representations reflect the time in which they were made? How can audiences interpret social and cultural messages? [15]
Make references to:
Zoella
Vlog
Van Zoonen / Judith Butler
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