mock zoella and Attitude

To what extent do Zoella and Attitude reflect the social and historical context of the time when they were made? [30]

Dac

Social and historical context refers to the stereotypes surrounded by the online media and how they are made and the historical context is about the times they are made which in both cases is modern day. With Zoella creating content in 2009 and Attitude online being created in 2016. With both being modern day examples of online media it makes them easier to relate to as it is what current audiences may be using. I think to a large extent both Zoella and Attitude reflect the social and historical context of modern day. Zoella has a youtube channel where she vlogs her life to millions of her viewers rm hauls to her everyday favourites videos. Whereas Attitude provides its gay audience a chance to relate to the content on its website. 

Zoella represents a stereotypical young British girl living a lavish lifestyle with reference to the topics of her vlogs, how she presents herself to the audience as well as her other forms of social media and blog where she shows her life to the world. One video in particular which shows this is her Zoella apartment video which is an advert for her new products like candles. Zoella's videos can be seen as quite sexist with the mise en scene in the apartment which had pastel colours like pink and light blue, as well as the topics being focused around candles and quite feminine themes. The close up shot of Zoella opening the candle is almost manipulative to the audience where she is advertising her own product yet she has a bias towards it. Her main focus was more on the packaging than the product itself suggesting she is quite childish in the fat she is more focused on how it looks which can also been seen as targeting a amore female audience. Her other videos can also been seen as quite sexist where most of the topics of her videos are based  on makeup or her favourite skincare products which may not appeal to men. The fact that her costume tends to b quite cute and girly suggests the ideology that young adults should try ad make themselves look younger but also the ideology that girls should wear makeup and care about their appearance. This can also link to modern day that online media like vlogs by Zoella is putting more pressure on girls to conform to what the ideal girl should look like and conform to hegemonic norms.

In Zoella's apartment vlog there is mid shot of nala and Zoella's friend with Alfie in the background. Alfie is an example of heteronormativity in Zoella's vide in which he is a straight guy anchored to make the young heterosexual female audience think he is attractive. Alfie is heteronormative as he is the 'typical' guy who works out, plays sport, has a girlfriend and also s supportive to Zoella which may mean Zoella creates a broader audience by including him in her videos. For Zoella and Alfie they almost represent the perfect relationship with heir dog and surrounded by friends in their vlogs which can also be seen as being hyperreal from Baudrillard's perspective where their life almost seems too perfect. Not only this but they are trying to conform to hegemonic norms in society where they are in a heterosexual relationship and are trying to show their perfect life. Another example of Zoella being hyperreal is in her picnic blog which has a long shot of her and her friend sitting in a boho themed tent with a picnic. This shows the stereotypes of her being a female and young with the mise en scene of the childish picnic foods like Jelly. However there is a binary opposition as although it is child like it is hyperreal as the mise en scene is perfectly set out, the close up shot of the food looks like it was prepared by a chef and there is too much food for two people. So Zoella gives a blurred view on her life to the audience where she shows a much more perfect altered version of reality therefore making the audience want that life.

Whereas Attitude would be seen as being opposite to this with more of a niche audience and focusing on the gay community. In terms of this being in modern day it is much more normalised today then it would've been 40 years ago which means the producer is anchoring a new audience with its content of topless guys and topics for homosexual men. Unlike Alfie in Zoella, Attitude is more focused on homonormativity and looking at the gay community. For example the travel section of Attitudes website focuses on luxury holidays suggesting gay men have more of an expendable income and are more likely to go on luxurious holidays. There was an article on Tom Daley working out and Attitude had sexualised it to interest the audience more. Similarly to Zoellas vlogs Attitude tends to be hyperreal, with the male models anchoring the audience by the use of their six packs and stereotypically 'perfect' bodies. So both media products use stereotypes and hyperreality to gain an audience. 

Also Attitude is used as a place where gay men can go to look for stories which they may relate to or of struggles that gay men face. So in modern day society there is still homophobia, so Attitude may be a place where gay men can come to relate to other peoples problems and find solutions. For example there are many articles on pride events and stories of coming out and being excepted in society which means the audience can go to help them out. So in terms of social context although being homosexual is much more excepted in society in modern day than it was before, Attitude still acts as a hub to bring the gay community together and help each other out.

Attitude tends to represent gay men in a stereotypically attractive way on their website suggesting that the hegemonic norms for gay men is to have an athletic body and there is an ideology that gay men should be clean shaven and take care of there appearance. However in modern society within the gay community there is many different types of gay men with different body shapes which suggests that Attitude is giving a blurred view of what gay me are actually like and only representing one view. However there is a binary opposition on theAttitude website with an old man showing off his body talking abut his body confidence. There is a long shot of his body which isn't athletic which may appeal to a wider gay audience and not only that but this image doesn't tend to be sexualised like all the other articles on Attitude. Which is a binary opposition to the Tom Daley article about him working out and showing his athletic body.