Taylor Swift: Language and Representations blog tasks

 Narrative


Go to our Media Magazine archive (issue MM79) and read the feature All Too Well on Taylor Swift and how she controls her own narrative. Answer the following questions: 

1) Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her earlier albums? 

broken free of
the control of others, and cemented her image as one of the
great musical artists of our times.

2) Why did Taylor Swift choose to make the short film 'All Too Well'? 

All Too Well, written and directed by
the artist herself this demonstrates Swift’s
ability to control her own narrative.

3) What other examples are provided in the article of Taylor Swift using media to construct her own image? 

Swift quickly announced her intentions to re-record
her Big Machine albums, which would give her complete
ownership of the records and nullify Braun’s involvement.
Two re-recordings have been released, to both
huge critical and commercial success – Fearless (Taylor’s
Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version).

Taylor Swift textual analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Taylor Swift's website and social media. 

1) Go to Taylor Swift's website. What do you notice about the media language choices - text, font, images, page design, links?

The top menu creates links for audiences to purchase and support TS
The front cover page is used to promote her new album and when it is releasing which is always the newest album, the next page is a shop where her fan base can purchase her album

2) Now visit her Eras tour microsite. What do you notice about the construction of this site in terms of images and website conventions? 

The collage of images represents the different eras as it is a era tour, the use of low quality, retro images establish this which is unconventional to modern websites
At the top right is links to all her different social media platforms showing digital convergence and can target different audiences who may not have all of them
The top menu shows her merch which is another way fans can support her 

3) Visit Taylor Swift's Twitter feed. Analyse her use of tweets/posts - are they promoting her music, her tour, or something else? Can you find any that are socially or politically oriented? 

TS uses her twitter feed to address her political status through tweets against Donald Trump implying we will vote you off soon as she is supporting a female candidate Kamala Harris
Also she uses twitter to acknowledge other artists and her fan base building a relationship

4) Look at Taylor Swift's Instagram account. What do you notice about the selection and construction of images, reels and posts?  

TS is following 0 people this implies she uses Instagram purely for promotion as her bio is always her newest album
All of her posts are promotional content, some of them imply vulnerability which could be used for male gaze to build a different audience
However, she has lost a million followers which tells us that she is not promoting through Instagram correctly to her followers

5) Research Taylor Swift across any other social media accounts - e.g. Facebook. Do you notice any differences in how she represents herself on different platforms? Comment on text, images or tone/content.  

On her other social media platforms TS similarly promotes her album to the audience these other platforms show Taylor swifts dominance in the industry
However, on Facebook her promotional content are provided much more formally and less frequently about casual reflections through her posts, they are mainly big important news and higher quality in comparison to other platforms to attract an older audience as this is the main audience on Facebook

A/A* extension tasks

Read this academic history of celebrity culture and social contexts. How much can we find that is relevant to the kind of celebrity persona Taylor Swift has created? 



Read Written and Directed by Taylor Swift in Media Magazine MM84 - a feature on Swift's music videos including how she is using her Instagram channel to position herself as an up-and-coming director as well as music star. You can find this in our Media Magazine archive here.



Finally, consider this question: How does the construction of Taylor Swift's online presence reflect the social and cultural changes of the last 10 years



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Feminist theory: blog tasks

  Read   Playing With The Past: Post-feminism and the Media   ( MM40 , page 64 -   our Media Magazine archive is here ). This is a great example of sophisticated media analysis and an indication of the level we want to be writing at by the end of the two-year course. 1) What examples are provided from the two texts of the 'male gaze' (Mulvey)? Pan Am and Beyoncé  2) Do texts such as these show there is no longer a need for feminism or are they simply sexism in a different form? It shows that there is still a need for feminism however the texts like Beyoncé are almost inviting it in and much different to periods of time before  3) Choose three words/phrases from the glossary of the article and write their definitions on your blog. Patriarchy: An ideology that places men in a dominant position over women  Nostalgia: A sentimental longing for the past, often only remembering the positives from the past  Feminism: A movement aimed at defining, establi...
Read more

Reading an image - media codes blog tasks

Image
  1) Analyse this RBK 50 Cent advert using the media codes you learned in the lesson:  Technical, Written or verbal, Symbolic or non-verbal, Narrative. Write a paragraph for each one exploring the way meanings are created using those media codes . -finger print image shows connotations of arrest and crime and 50 cents criminal background, this is very unusual for a brand to highlight this but they maybe want to attract a younger audience that feel like wearing reebok makes them powerful and hard-working. -the verbal code : I am what I am suggests that 50 cent doesn't hide his criminal background and that he grew up in gangs and violence which can imply to the audience that no matter what you have been through u can still become powerful and rich like 50 cent. -the font/typographic font suggests medieval and powerful as if u wear reebok it shows a sense of power and hard-working which makes audiences want to wear it. -the military hat suggests battle, warzone and upbringin...
Read more

Music Video introduction blog task

  1) What is the purpose of a music video? The purpose is to sell products  2) How has the digital age changed the production and distribution of music videos? They are more widely available, videos could be uploaded to video hosting sites like YouTube , allowing audiences to watch and listen to it whenever they want  3) Which three major record labels are behind VEVO? What is VEVO and why was it created? Universal music group, Sony music entertainment, Abu Dhabi media which is syndicated to YouTube with YouTube and google receiving a share of its advertising profit  4) What are the key conventions of a music video? Movement, band or artist, narrative and intertextuality  5) How can narrative be used in music video? Give an example of a music video that uses a narrative. The storyline may relate to the songs lyrics and illustrate what is being said For example I was a teenage anarchist by against me  6) What examples are provided in the factsheet for intert...
Read more