Assessment 4 - Annotated Bibliography

As Rosalind Gill (2007) identifies gender representations in the media are found to be changing as there are changes made in media technologies, regulatory frameworks, content ownership, control and globalisation (pp. 1). 

Gill, R. (2007). Gender and the Media. Malden, MA: Polity Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=igeFoFdh5iIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=gender+in+media&ots=CMGOedDvKS&sig=BK0FhyxjYltx5ZkUe6h7q8PT5SE#v=onepage&q=gender%20in%20media&f=false

This text, an online book by Rosalind Gill, outlines her study ‘gender and the media’ (Kings College London, 2012). It examines the changes in representations of gender that have occurred with the changes to mass media production and the way it is accessed. Her study examined different types of media, including TV talk shows, TV programs and varying magazines (Gill, 2007). She found that gender representations of women have strengthened over the years. The status of women represented in the media is changing; it could even be interpreted as becoming influenced by feminism as “female independence has entered into common sense” (Gill, 2007).

Rosalind Gill researches in areas such as gender, sexuality, media and pop culture and has taken on the position of Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at King’s College London since 2010 (Kings College London, 2012). The book is based off Gill’s research in the areas of gender and media, using the information she found (Gill, 2007).  Throughout the study, Gill has referenced previous studies and research she or other people have completed that related to her ideas, adding credibility to this journal. Her use of data and examples added to the reliability of her findings. However, primary issue with this article is that it focuses on sources from America, so whether it is completely relevant to Australia’s own media could be debatable. One could argue that there wouldn’t be much difference between American and Australian media as they are both similar in their Western culture. However, if one was to apply Gill’s study of gender in media to something like political coverage, the study may not apply accurately. The differences in the Australian Westminster system and the US presidential system could result in seeing politicians and opinions in different light.  

Morrissey, T.E. Best Thing You’ll See All Day: Australia’s Female Prime Minister Rips Misogynist a New One in Epic Speech on Sexism. Retrieved from: http://jezebel.com/5950163/best-thing-youll-see-all-day-australias-female-prime-minister-rips-misogynist-a-new-one-in-epic-speech-on-sexism

Jezebel.com, an online blog aimed at women’s interests, called Julia Gillard’s sexism speech aimed at Tony Abbott “the best thing you will see all day”. Taking on a girl-power view of the speech and calling Julia Gillard “one badass motherfucker”. 

Jezebel.com was launched in 2007 by Gawker Media as their 14^th blog. Gawker Media is an American online media company and blog network based in New York. It is considered to be one of the most visible and successful blog-orientated companies. Because Jezebel.com is aimed at women’s interests the article took on a feminist view of Julia Gillard, creating a bad image for Tony Abbott in the whole ordeal. They used some hyperlinking to lead readers to further evidence supporting Julia Gillard’s claims in the speech, but they did not offer any un-biased facts or evidence. This affected the credibility and reliability of their coverage on the situation. 

This news story whether you argue it is credible or not, reflects on Rosalind Gill’s findings through its quite feminist view of the misogyny speech. It shows how much media has grown from the times in the past where women were marginalised, and instead shows the strengthening effect women have on the media in changing their status to one of interest and authority. It supports Gill’s findings, being a good example of the influence feminism and women in power and the workforce, achieving and demanding attention for their triumphs, has had on the media. 

Warren, N. (Executive producer). (2012, October 9). 7News (Season 12283 Ep. 8z2my). Brisbane, Queensland: Network 7.

7News reported on the Julia Gillard misogyny and sexism speech the day it occurred, political reporter Alex Hart covering the situation from Canberra. 7News called the political fight “nasty”, while their coverage of the story focused mostly on the speaker, Peter Slipper, and the comments both he and Tony Abbott made concerning sexism and misogyny. 

7News has been one of Australia’s most watched news networks for many years, it has had the second largest audience this year (2012), gaining both good and bad reputations, depending on people’s opinions. Their coverage of Julia Gillard’s speech focused on Tony Abbott and Peter Slipper’s past remarks rather than focusing on Julia Gillard and the present. Because 7News strives to have the “best story” rather than the most accurate, factual news, it takes away some of the credibility of the coverage of this particular story. Like with most stories 7News covers, biasness of their coverage could be questionable. 

The 7News coverage of this story doesn’t particularly support Gill’s findings. Instead of focusing on both genders in this situation, it looks further in the things that Abbott and Slipper have said in the past. In this way it drew the story away from the importance of Julia Gillard taking a stand and sidelining her and the speech in this coverage, despite the impact it made in the media coverage, not just in Australia, but globally.

Scott, S. (2012, October 12). Lewd joker leaves ALP on the run. The Courier Mail, pp. 10.

This edition of The Courier Mail took a new spin to the speech, two days after it had occurred in parliament. Rather than focusing on just Julia Gillard’s speech or the past remarks of Tony Abbott and Peter Slipper, they included everything and labeled it a “gender war”.  Discussing how the situation has gotten out of hand. 

The Courier Mail is has been officially published as a newspaper in Brisbane since 1933 and owned by News Limited. It has been one of Queensland’s most successful newspapers, despite it being in tabloid format. This article can still be considered somewhat credible. Steven Scott, the newspapers National Political Correspondent interviews staff from both the liberal and labor parties for the article. However, while there are direct quotes from staff members, the article could be biased due to The Courier Mail’s past political position. In the period of 1996-2007, it was a newspaper with four editorial endorsements for the coalition to one for Labor. This can be seen by the several quotes it uses from an interview with Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop. 

The Courier Mail’s coverage of the speech took much the same angle as 7News, focusing mostly on the past remarks of Abbott and Slipper. However, they did make it seem like Julia Gillard was holding her own in the “gender war” and that she was a force to be reckoned with. They didn’t try to downgrade her authority or the importance and affect her speech had on people, not only nationally but globally and acknowledged her for it. I think this also shows that media has changed; women’s influence in media now is stronger and even demands attention. Therefore, while it isn’t as obvious as in Jezebel.com’s coverage, The Courier Mail’s coverage of the story also shows support for Gill’s theory.

Game Review: Borderlands 2

I’ve been procrastinating a lot lately with assignments because I just can’t seem to pull myself away from my Xbox 360 at the moment. 2K Games has managed to completely blow my mind with an awesome game yet again. I’m a huge fan of the first Borderlands game, it easily makes it onto my list of Top 5 Favorite Games and I hoped that Borderlands 2 would be just as amazing. I haven’t been disappointed.

The game is set 5 years after everything that happened in Borderlands, with the game’s main antagonist Handsome Jack appointing himself as Director of Pandora and taking credit for finding The Vault, which I have to say is just rude, I spent so long searching for the damn thing! And so, from there Borderlands 2 kicks off with an all new team of protagonists riding on a train, which made me feel pretty nostalgic, remembering the opening of Borderlands when the team was riding on the old rickety bus into Pandora. 

The new team is searching for the Vault when it turns into a trap by Handsome Jack, trying to kill all who search for it. The train crashed and the team winds up in an artic wasteland with Claptrap (God I missed the little guy!). A Guardian Angel finds the team and explains what’s going on with Handsome Jack and tells you that he needs to be killed and the four original Vault hunters from the first game need to be rescued to do this. Already I found myself getting attached to the game, hearing that the old team got captured. Especially Lilith, the amount of hours I spent playing as her made me grow fairly attached to her character. I also got quite excited at the prospect of getting to see the old team again though. 

Claptrap!!!

 

 

 

In-game shot of Angel

From there, with a member of the new team selected (I chose to play as Maya); I found myself thrown back into the wasteland of Pandora and begin my missions and looting places. I honestly haven’t put a lot of hours into it at the moment, so I’m not really far into the storyline just yet, but it’s great seeing all the old characters again. The loot has been really good in the game, picking up some very cool guns along the way. What I have found really awesome though is that once you help the old team escape they become NPCs that give you missions throughout the game. And from those you learn small back stories about each member of the old team. 

Not only is the game great, but the downloadable content has been amazing. The maps available for download have been so impressive and fun to play on, especially in the new 4-person multiplayer system rather than the original games 2-player system. Aside from the maps, there has also been a new DLC character that brings a new class of Mechromancer to the game. She’s a really cool new character (yes, they bought in another female aside from Maya, it’s awesome!) who can control Deathtrap, a science-fair project turned body guard robot, she can be both a really easy and really hard character to play as though.

Quick profiles on the new team:

   
Zer0 – Assassin

He’s an assassin for hire wanted for political killings. He is sent to assassinate a target before spending several weeks in Pandora. He hears about the Vault from a bartender and deems the hunt a worthy challenge.

Skills:

-          Decepti0n grants Zer0 the ability to deploy a holographic decoy of himself and enter an invisible "stealth mode." 

•    Sniping
• Cunning
• Bloodshed 

 Salvador – Gunzerker

Born and raised in Pandora. Goes on a hunt for the Vault after hearing how dangerous it is.

Skills:

-          "gunzerking” - perfect for players dying to wield two guns at once
(cooldown for Gunzerking is 42 seconds)

•  Gun Lust
• Rampage
•  Brawn

 Axton – Commando

Used to have a military career. His pursuit of personal glory led to compromised missions. His wife and commanding officer, Sarah divorced him and sentenced him to firing squad. She suggested he flee to the border worlds and Axton went AWOL. He heard about the Vault on a radio broadcast by Handsome Jack.

Skills:

-          able to deploy a versatile Dahl Sabre Turret (arsenal with 360° rotation and a weapons complement that can be upgraded to include multi-rocket launcher and a portable nuke)
(the cool down for the turret in Commando is 42 seconds)

• Guerrilla
• Gun powder
• Survival

Maya – Siren

 As an infant she was discovered as a Siren and given to the Order of the Impending Storm, the ruling order of monks on her homeworld of Athenas. She grew irritated of the short leash the Order made her live on and expressed interest in traveling to Pandora to learn more about her Siren lineage. Learned she was being used as a threat to extort money from Athenas people and left for Pandora. Knew of the Vault before arriving in Pandora.

Skills:

  ability to suspend foes in a bubble of energy. This can lock an opponent in a stasis, and can be upgraded to provide various damaging effects. 

•    Motion
•      Harmony
•   Cataclysm

Gaige – Mechromancer

 High school student from the planet Eden-5. She originally conceived Deathtrap as a science fair project to combat bullying. Her rival Marcie, used her father’s money to buy her way through the competition and won with a defective robot based on Deathtrap's blueprints. Marcie shoved Gaige and Deathtrap stepped in, attacking Marice, causing her to explode due to a miscalibration by Gaige. Gaige was expelled and faced arrest. Tried to evade arrest left for Pandora, hoping they would appreciate her skills more.

Skills:

-         -  Can summon Deathtrap
  (Deathtrap has a cooldown time of 60 seconds)

-       -    skill tree features player challenge level variances  à makes her both easiest and hardest character to play in the game as there are some struggles when leveling up.

•  Best Friends Forever
•   Little Big Trouble
•  Ordered Chaos

Despite not being that far into the game just yet, I’m thoroughly impressed with 2K Games so far. Can’t wait to play more!

-Laura

Haven't seen the trailer for Borderlands 2 yet? Watch it here!