Saturday, 21 April 2012
Friday, 20 April 2012
Cohen's Moral Panic
Stanley Cohen wrote 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics' in 1972. In which he suggested that a moral panic happens when a 'condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests', leading to people who threaten the social order being described as 'folk devils'.
Cohen believed that the media has a huge influence on moral panic. He used this to describe the presses reporting of the ‘mods and rockers’ behaviour. Cohen’s Moral Panic has been used within the media to lure a audience ever since. For example, this picture of Kurt Cobain shows a trend of smoking and drinking alcohol which the public wanted to be involved in, as it was believed to look 'cool'. However, some societies would not have agreed with this, but this photo was still shown in the media.
Moral Panic has said to have several features:
Stanley Cohen wrote 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics' in 1972. In which he suggested that a moral panic happens when a 'condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests', leading to people who threaten the social order being described as 'folk devils'.Cohen believed that the media has a huge influence on moral panic. He used this to describe the presses reporting of the ‘mods and rockers’ behaviour. Cohen’s Moral Panic has been used within the media to lure a audience ever since. For example, this picture of Kurt Cobain shows a trend of smoking and drinking alcohol which the public wanted to be involved in, as it was believed to look 'cool'. However, some societies would not have agreed with this, but this photo was still shown in the media.
Moral Panic has said to have several features:
- Concern- There must be awareness that the group is likely to have a negative effect on society.
- Hostility- There is a clear line between society and the group in question, who are then known as 'folk devils'.
- Consensus- There must be a wide acceptance that the group is a real threat, making the 'folk devils' seem weak.
- Disproportionality- The action taken towards the accused group is unbalanced.
- Volatility- Moral panics disappear quickly, as they're no longer in the public interest, leading to the media then focusing on another group.
Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs, analogy, symbolism and communication; including words, sounds and body language.
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure was one of the founders of semiotics, recognised in his ‘Course in General Linguistics’ in 1916. He established that a sign is divided into two parts: the signifier, which is the form of the sign- and the signified, what the sign represents.
He produced the process: sign > signifier > signified. For example: red lipstick > subject of lust > desire. The media use semiotics to attract a audience, as people respond to certain images, colours and patterns.
I will be using semiotics within my music magazine, as I want to attract the widest audience as possible. This means I will use certain colours, fonts and images to lure customers in and reinforce the indie rock genre. For example, my artist repeatedly had red lipstick on during the photo shoot to highlight the male gaze. A range of fonts were also used to stop my magazine becoming tedious to look at.
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure was one of the founders of semiotics, recognised in his ‘Course in General Linguistics’ in 1916. He established that a sign is divided into two parts: the signifier, which is the form of the sign- and the signified, what the sign represents.
He produced the process: sign > signifier > signified. For example: red lipstick > subject of lust > desire. The media use semiotics to attract a audience, as people respond to certain images, colours and patterns.
I will be using semiotics within my music magazine, as I want to attract the widest audience as possible. This means I will use certain colours, fonts and images to lure customers in and reinforce the indie rock genre. For example, my artist repeatedly had red lipstick on during the photo shoot to highlight the male gaze. A range of fonts were also used to stop my magazine becoming tedious to look at.
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