Super. Human. ✓

  • TV advertisement to promote the 2020 Paralympic Games

  • Created by Bradford Young, the Oscar nominated cinematographer

  • He was the first African-American cinematographer to be nominated for the award in 2017 for his work on the film arrival

  • It was devised and created by Channel 4’s in-house creative agency 4 creative and produced by Serial Pictures and Somesuch.

LESSON 12/10/23

What do you notice?

  • The set product represents a social group which is marginalised and largely ignored by the mainstream media

  • The advert attempts to address the marginalisation of certain groups- those with disabilities

  • Its aim is to reflect the ideology and ethos of Channel4, to give a voice to those who aren’t represented positively by the media

  • It is an overwhelmingly positive representation of disabilities

  • But criticised for only depicting disabilities that are more visual in nature

How have representations been constructed through processes of selection and combination?

  • Choices have been made by the producers of the advertisement to create representations that challenge accepted ideas regarding disabled athletes and disability

  • Avoids negative stereotypical representation e.g. as victims needing sympathy, villain/monster, a burden, their own worst enemy, sexually abnormal and lacking in desire

  • Avoids depicting them as heroes too. They’re normal and anyone could do it. They’re ‘super. and human.'‘

  • Create a realistic ‘blood and guts’ feel to the advertisement

  • The representations cover both genders

  • Give a different version of the world of stereotypically ‘having something wrong with you’

  • The representation constructed by focusing specifically on the challenges the athletes face

  • Producers have aimed to avoid the stereotypes as having to overcome disability to be successful, they do not need to compensate disability for success…

  • Covers a vast range of ethnicities too

Intersectionality/ intersectional representation- attributes about an individual that could overlap, represents more than one demographic of society/ social groups e.g. gender, race

Channel 4

Social and cultural contexts- Super. Human.

  • Advertising campaigns that reflect the concerns and issues of the society that produces them

  • In promoting the Paralympics, Channel 4 seeks to address the under representation or mis representation of a particular social group

  • The advert seeks to focus on the fact that these are real people ‘human’ rather than ‘super’- making it accessible to the audience

  • The representation of disability in this advert is affect by social and cultural circumstances.

  • Channel4 presents the athletes neither as victims or heroes, but as ordinary people facing challenges

  • This constructs a more compelling social narrative reflecting the appetite of time for success stories that are accessible. This is evident at the beginning of the advert when the dream sequence is shattered and real life begins.

  • Target audience: sporty people or sport enthusiasts, people who aren’t disabled, people who want to see more inclusive representation, family members of disabled people, left-wing

[Blumler & Katz] Uses & gratifications for Super. Human.- personal identity & social interaction & surveillance. It breaks stereotypes, has a positive representation for disabled people. People talk about it. Tells when its on, what the Paralympics is…

PRACTICE QUESTION- Explain how different audiences may respond differently to the same media text [8 marks]

Theorists

Stuart Hall- The representation of disabled people create the stereotypes in the media.

Young and Rubicam- They are seen to be succeeders (strive for success), explorers (challenge themselves), mainstream (everyone does the same thing), the reformer (independent thinking)

Targets all of the sectors in the socio-economic statuses- (A, B, C1, C2, D, E)

READINGS

Their humans like we are (preferred)

Like the representation but not sport enthusiasts (negotiation)

Don’t like sports or the representation (opposition)

01/03 Katie Jackson's 'Super Human' talk Notes | Knowt 01/03 Katie Jackson's 'Super Human' talk Notes | Knowt