Progress on the CD cover

While working on my CD cover, I’ve been experimenting with different text styles to find the right one. I’ve been using screenshots from the video as placeholders for the images on the CD and I intend to take a camera and get some photos within the next two weeks. The screenshots have given me an idea of what the cover/back cover/booklet etc. will look like as they have the same visual tone as what I want to use. The images are quite dark and the placeholder for the cover has the glowing light effect that I want in the image. What I have been using as the back cover is also quite dark, without bright colours and has a little of the blurry lights thing I was thinking about using.

The first font I tried, Letter Gothic Std, is the one that I like the most and may well be the one I use. It is quite a slender font and with a little adjustment of the colour, transparency and definition, it looks very good. I’ve put ‘unkle’ (artist name) on the front cover in this font and it gives an indicator of what the image will look like. I also used it for the back, having put text in place of the track titles to see what the back image will look like.

A view of what the front cover could look like. I’d like to get a bit more blur on the text. I like how the light is in this image.

I really like the appearance of this font. I think the slender text helps it fit into the image, which is good because I don’t want the text looking out of place or cheaply stuck on.

This is how the back cover might be. I like this image because of the colour, tone and blur of the lights. The canted angle also adds something to it, I think.

The second font, Sathu, is somewhat similar to the first, being quite a clean sans serif style. It is a little bolder than the slender Letter Gothic Std and it’s a fairly standard text style, which possibly makes it look a little boring and basic, as if I’ve just used a default font. I doubt that I’ll be using this one.

This second font is quite basic and I have seen some text on CD covers that looks quite like it.

It does, however, have a very ‘stock-font’ look to it that might make it look less authentic.

American Typewriter Regular, the third font I tried out was a serif style and the only one of such that I thought looked all right. I’m not sure whether a serif font will look right on the image. Out of all the CD covers I’ve looked at, I can’t recall any that had a serif-style font for the text. I put the text in a few other serif fonts and there was definitely something off about them. To me, they look cheap and unconvincing as possible CD cover images, looking a little like something that has been sloppily made on Paint.

This serif font may look a little out of place.

I don’t think that it fits well with the image. I think the cover needs a neater, sans serif font.

The last font that I was considering, Bank Gothic is very modern looking and is an all-caps font. I have definitely seen this sort of thing on CD covers and I think that it would look right on the image. I don’t think that all of the characters being in upper case would be a problem and I do like the look it has.

The all-caps style of this font gives it a very different look to the other styles.

I’m quite sure that it fits with the image but I still prefer the first font, Letter Gothic Std.

I put some blank shapes onto the image so I would know roughly what it will look like with the barcode, record label logo and such. I am very happy with how the back cover is looking. I have been thinking that since it is probably more like what I am looking for than anything I will likely get from still photography, I should maybe use it for the final back cover image. The only concern I have is that the image may look quite grainy when made to fill the 15 square centimetres of the CD. I don’t mind the image being blurry; to some extent, that is what I would like. However, a grainy appearance will only look cheap and lazy.

This image here is not far off what the final one will look like. I’ll have to do some work in terms of creating a barcode and finding a label logo etc.

Letter Gothic Std is the font I will most likely be using. I’ll see what else I can do in terms blur and colour effects. I’m thinking that a bit of blur on the text will complement the glow of the light on the front image especially. The current front image is a good example of what I’m hoping to have. I would use it if not for the deteriorating effect making the image bigger has on the visual quality. I could very easily take a photo of the same location which would give me the same subject with a higher image quality. I’ve used three tracks on the back cover but this isn’t set yet. I may decide to have about five, roughly the size of an E.P., as opposed to the three I have at the moment, which perhaps straddles the size of a single and of an E.P. I’ll just use the titles of a few other tracks from the same album for these other songs. It would also make sense and eliminate confusion to name the E.P. after the song that I’ve done the video for.

Print advert first ideas

After doing a fair bit of research for the CD cover, I’ve decided that I should start thinking about the magazine advertisement. It is soon apparent after a few minutes of researching such advertisements what the differences between them and CD covers are. Firstly, the adverts are usually taller than wide, like an ordinary piece of A4 paper. This contrasts with the square shape of the CD covers. Secondly, the advert will possibly include other details about the album, such as the release date, available formats, included singles and upcoming tours. Additionally, the advert will appear to be an announcement of the album’s release, often with large, bold text displaying ‘Coming Soon’ or ‘Out Now’ etc.

This advert uses the same image as the one used on the album cover. Many adverts display similar text to this

They tend to be quite similar to the cover of the album they are promoting. The colour palette is usually the same and the imagery theme will most likely match. This is thus something that I should try to achieve in my advert. It is important that both the two supporting materials complement each other, as well as fitting with the feel of the video. I think that I’m on track for the album cover fitting with the video so now I have to ensure that the advert has a similar feel.

Album cover

This is the advert. It carries a similar style to that found on the CD cover

A lot of the adverts that I’ve seen use the same image that is on the album cover. This makes sense as audiences will recognize the image on the advert when they see it on the CD. Alternatively, some use a very similar image, possibly with the same colour palette etc., but with a different pose (if the artist is the subject of the image) or slight variation of the subject.

Album cover

For this album, the advert uses the same image as the album CD. People who have seen the advertisement will recognize the image when they see it on the CD

Some album covers are very minimalist and uncluttered. This makes them more effective as advertisement, as a passer-by can easily glance at the poster and take in the information quickly.

This poster is simple and uncluttered, displaying the artist, album and release date. It is effective as an advert

The poster also fits with the album cover (here), which also has a simple yet bold aesthetic

This alternative advert is more informative, presenting the artist, album, release date and the singles found on the album

A number of album adverts have an image of the album displayed somewhere on the poster. This is done for the same reason as using the same image: to help people recognize the album in shops.

This album is an example of such an advert. The CD cover is displayed within the advert so that people will recognize it on shelves

This advert uses near-identical imagery to the album cover. This is another advert will ‘Out Now’ displayed

The artist name on this is much more prominent than the album name. This might be found on big-name artists who can rely on their name to help sell, rather than using attractive artwork etc. This is another advert that presents a selection of singles from the album.

This is another example of an advert that uses imagery very similar to the album. It is also another that shows some of the singles included.

Here, the advert uses the same colours found in the album artwork, maintaining a common style.

The album cover

This uses the same image, as well as including the most famous single from the album. When an album has a certain artistic theme, it will be used in the advertising

Distinctive artwork found on album covers is often replicated for the advertisement so people will recognize the imagery. This album advert also displays the release date and the most famous single

The advertisement will usually display text in the same font and colour as that on the album cover, utilizing a common artistic style

Looking at quite a few adverts has given me some direction in thinking about mine. At the moment, things that I am definitely going to try to employ are:

• A common artistic style. The advert should be easily identifiable with the album cover. One thing I can do to help achieve this is for much of the advert’s text, using the same font and colour that I used on the album cover. I should also ensure that the colour palette matches the image on the CD cover.
• Necessary information. This is essential to making the advert look genuine. I will need to include the album’s release date, the singles featured on the album and any other information I think will help the authenticity of the image.
• Similar imagery. In attempting to create an advert that can, at a glance, inform audiences as to what it is promoting, I should use similar imagery that people will recognize from the CD cover. Having the two pieces of supporting media complement each other is what I should aim for.

Do media construct or reflect collective identity?

Opinion is divided between those who believe that media construct the collective identity of society and those who believe that all they do is provide a reflection of it. Those who believe that they can construct identity argue that audiences view media and see representations of themselves which, over time influence how they view themselves. According to this school of thought, collective identity is shaped by how the media present groups of people. Audiences will both consciously and unconsciously imitate what they see and seek to fit with the image of themselves that the media present.

The other side of the argument is the belief that all media do is reflect the collective identity of society. The representation of groups within only changes when the society’s collective identity does and the way those groups are presented does not affect how they see themselves.

The middle ground in the argument is the suggestion of media being able to enforce certain stereotypes or help consolidate changes in society’s collective identity by presenting groups of people in a certain way.

The belief that media only reflect the collective identity of society is supported by those who argue that television programmes, films and other media attempt to provide a reflection of society in order for audiences to have pleasures taken from the realism in the representation. Media will try to present something that the audience can identify with as this makes them more popular, which is profitable for them. Television shows can present identifiable material by successfully capturing society’s current zeitgeist. A programme that has achieved this is The Middle (2009-present), which presents the life of an ordinary middle-class American family during the current economic recession. Financial worries and necessitated self-imposed frugality that the family go through are things that audiences today can identify with.

 

Audiences enjoy seeing realistic representations of their lives on TV, evident by the success of programmes such as Modern Family (2009-present), and this is why media attempt to replicate as closely as they can the groups that they are presenting. In this line of thought, media respond to society and do nothing more than reflect the way it is.

The contrary view to this is the belief that media reflect a distorted image of society, which is taken by audiences as being the norm. These audiences will then work to adhere to the representation that they see of themselves. By doing this, media can construct the collective identity of society. Proponents of this view would argue that this can be clearly seen within media. Hollywood is often criticized for being too liberal in its presentation of society in media. Such representation could be seen by some as evidence of an exercise of enforcing its liberal agenda, with which it hopes to alter the collective identity of society.

In criticism of this belief, there are examples of television programmes which have not presented a straight reflection of the collective identity of society and have been rejected by audiences as being unrealistic. The American sitcom Soap (1977-1981) received criticism for its portrayal of the character of Jodie Dallas. In the programme, Dallas was a homosexual man who undergoes sexual reassignment surgery. Criticism was chiefly aimed at the conflation of Dallas as both a homosexual and a transsexual, which was considered by many to be offensive towards gay people. This could be taken as evidence that when media present something too far removed from what they are presenting, audiences will reject it, showing that media do not have the power to construct collective identity.

Whether one believes media construct or reflect collective identity, it can be clearly seen that audiences seek media that present their group in society. For instance, Friends (1994-2004), though hugely popular with white Americans, gathered nowhere near as much attention from the African American community. The show featured very few black characters and thus was not as popular with black Americans. The same phenomenon can be seen with the comedy-drama Sex and the City (1998-2004),which never achieved any considerable popularity with African Americans, ostensibly due to the lack of black characters in the programme. What was considered to be the show’s black equivalent, Girlfriends (2000-2008), was a hit with African Americans, strongly suggesting that groups within society seek out representation of themselves within media.

 

Both sides of the argument could take this as evidence. It could suggest that audiences look for guidance as to how to act, viewing representations of their societal group as how they should be. Through this, media can construct their own collective identity that audiences will take on. Those who believe that media reflect identity could take this to suggest that audiences only watch media that they can identify with. They do this because they seek the representation for audience pleasure and not for guidance, showing that media do not have the power to construct their collective identity.

The middle ground in the debate is the belief that media can go some way in influencing people’s identity, but it is limited to simply consolidating changes in society. According to those who believe this, media follow society and reflect its collective identity, reinforcing it. Positive depictions of homosexuals, for example, were presented by media once society became more accepting of homosexuality. This, in turn, reinforced society’s positive view of homosexuals. Media, in this way of looking at collective identity, cannot step too far ahead of society and can only provide an up-to-date reflection of it.

I am personally between this and believing that media only reflect collective identity. I think that people look for media that can provide a realistic reflection of their lives, for audience pleasure, and, because of this, media keep up to date with society so they can reflect its collective identity accurately. I don’t think that media can wholly construct identity as, even if people do look for guidance on how they should act, they would turn to media that will present them with an accurate reflection of their group’s collective identity. An unrealistic depiction of a certain group in society may well influence how other groups view that group, but it is probable that it will repel the group it represents, thus excluding them from its influence. For example, British sitcom Love Thy Neighbour (1972-1976) may have influenced white Britons with its portrayal of British Africans, but it is unlikely that black Britons looked to the way they were presented in the programme as how they should act.

Colour correction

Today I finally got around to sorting the colour on certain parts of my video. The footage was a little yellowy and didn’t fit aesthetically with the rest of the footage. I see it as important that the video has a consistent colour palette to help hold it together visually. I spent a bit of time experimenting with the colour settings on Final Cut to make the footage less yellow without making it look too washed out.

This load of footage, which I have used quite a lot, had a slight yellow tinge to it, as can be seen here.

For my video, I was hoping to use a consistent colour palette consisting of darker, colder tones. This looked too warm for me.

I am fairly pleased with the end result. The lighting in the room I used was very yellow so I could never have completely fixed it but I think I succeeded in making it fit a little better visually with the rest of the footage. The process was straightforward. I simply adjusted one segment of the footage, copied it and pasted the attributes on the other segments on the timeline.

This was what I ended up with after colour correction. I was able to strike a balance between reducing the yellowness and maintaining a coloration that wasn’t washed out.

I’m pleased with the look of these bits of footage now as they match the tone of the rest of the video much better.

I feel reasonably confident to say that, after having done this minor task, I have now finished the production of my music video. The timeline is completely filled, with all the footage segments sealed together, the ending is sorted (a sudden cut-off), everything is all synched-up and, after today, all finalized in terms of colour. I am very satisfied with what I’ve created and I think it’s turned out roughly how I planned it to. Looking at the finished video, it definitely has the feel I envisioned. I can call it a success and now concentrate on the additional materials.

Thinking more about the CD cover

Today in class I had a look at some CDs that were available to get some more inspiration for my CD cover. I’ve started to think about how I’m going to do the booklet in the CD as well as the front and back inserts. My first instinct was to use either stills from the video or take photos of a similar nature (taking stills from the video, to me, seems slightly cheap and lazy). I think I’ll include the lyrics as this seems to be a standard feature in the booklets and I think it’ll add to the package.

The first CD I looked at was Just Like Blood (2003) by Tom McRae. McRae is a solo singer-songwriter and the album artwork reflects this. A solo artist is almost universally the main focus of the front cover of an album. McRae is pictured alone in a cinema with, interestingly, his hand covering his face, which made me think about somehow using anonymity as a theme in the artwork. The front cover picture has a strong, red colour palette, which I think looks good but isn’t the right look for my artwork. The back image shows McRae standing half-silhouetted on a beach. This image has a very (purposefully and skilfully) limited colour palette, in contrast to the front cover’s bold red. The light areas of the image are used to background the track listing. The booklet features pictures of McRae along with the songs’ lyrics. One image is of McRae outside, out-of-focus city lights behind him, with darkness dominating most of the picture. Another picture spanning a double-page is of McRae sitting on a bench alongside other benches, slightly silhouetted against the sky. This is another image with a limited colour palette and I like the silhouette effect and the contrast between the lighter and the darker parts of the image. This picture was also used as the cover for the single Karaoke Soul.

Front cover

Back cover

Image used in booklet

 

Towards the end of the booklet, there are pictures of McRae and the album musicians in the studio. This I found interesting because it makes the album appear self-aware, as it is showing images of its production, referencing the fact that it is a constructed piece of media. I started thinking about whether this would be a good idea for my artwork. The track does not feature recorded instruments. Rather, it uses mostly studio-constructed sounds as the artist is not a musician or a singer. Shots of musicians in a studio would therefore be ruled out. I could, instead, have a person in a studio using the mixing equipment. Images of musicians, I’ve noticed, tend to be in black and white, usually in contrast to the other artwork on the CD. This creates a sense of division between the images of production and of the world of the song. This is quite similar to what I said before about the performance in my video. I had wanted there to be a division between the narrative and the performance in the video and had achieved this by filming the performance in different places, in order to avoid having the performance being identifiable with one location (the performance was not meant to be in the same universe as the narrative). I think I could maybe get access to a studio in order to take a photo if this is something I choose to pursue. If I do then it won’t be me in the picture. The reason for this is that although I am the performer in the video, I am not acting as if I were the artist that made the track. The singer in the song provided vocals but did not produce the track. Therefore, if I am the singer, I should not also be acting as the artist and I would have to get someone else to pose for this.

The studio image(s) could look similar to this

The second CD I looked at was R.E.M.’s Nightswimming (1993). The front cover is very obscure, featuring a blurry image of a face. The entire CD artwork has a very strong, green colour palette and this works with the obscure imagery to make a fairly unsettling set of artwork. The contents of the booklet are a few more blurry pictures like the front image and there are no lyrics included. I found this CD to be a very minimalist product and I think that if I were to do something like this, it could appear to be the product of laziness. I’m of the opinion that I can make something that is at once  both very visually impressive and able to reflect the tone and theme of my video.

Front cover

Back cover

The final CD that I had a look at today was A New Day at Midnight (2002) by David Gray. Gray is another solo artist and the artistic theme he  has gone for in the CD features a lot of images of skies at twilight. This is the basis for the front and back covers, with the same image spanning both sides. Such pictures comprise most of the booklet’s imagery as well. The booklet also includes the songs’ lyrics and some sepia-toned photographs of Gray. These photographs are mid-shots and close-ups and are, as with those in McRae’s Just Like Blood, differently coloured to show their separation from the other imagery. Gray subsequently went on to use more landscape imagery in his next album Life in Slow Motion (2005).

Front cover of A New Day at Midnight

Back cover of A New Day at Midnight

Front cover of Life in Slow Motion

 

Shots of skies were something I was thinking about including in the artwork, although I won’t use them to the extent that they are in this album. I’m considering having the booklet consist of pages of lyrics (white text on black), along with pages with images such as those below. I could take stills from the video and use them for this, although I imagine that that would come across as being a lazy way of doing it. I’d rather use a camera to take photos of what I need. This would give me something that I don’t have in the video already and would also mean that they’d be of a higher quality, as shots taken directly from the video are likely to be somewhat grainy and blurry, whereas photos taken with a proper camera will be very strong and distinct.

When made bigger, images such as these become very visually imperfect

With more professional photgraphic equipment, I can take photos of much better quality

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

The film starts with Emily telling Cal she wants a divorce

The main issue affecting families that Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011, dir. Glenn Ficarra & John Requa) deals with is divorce and separation. The films starts with Cal Weaver’s wife, Emily, telling him that she wants a divorce and that she had an affair with another man. With almost half of all marriages today likely to end in divorce, the film is presenting a fair reflection of reality. It does this too by presenting infidelity, which, unfortunately,  is also fairly common, being the cause of a large percentage of marriage breakdowns. When Cal tells his boss about his situation, his boss treats it with levity, cheerfully telling the office that it is ‘just a divorce’.

The film goes against expectations by presenting the woman as the adulteress, whereas one might expect the husband to be the one who has cheated. The film also goes against the expected by presenting a family with a different ‘balance of power’ to what might be seen in traditional representations of family. The mother seems to be the head of the household and the driving force within the family. Cal, on the other hand, appears to be quite meek and passive. This contrasts with the traditional image of a father who is the strict disciplinarian who commands the attention of his family and is the source of authority within the household. As sexual experience can be seen to have a correlation with dominance within a relationship, the fact that Emily has been Cal’s only sexual partner suggests that he is the submissive partner within their relationship, again, a break from traditional representation. Emily’s position as the more dominant of the two is shown in details like the fact that she is driving the car, possibly a metaphor for her control of their relationship.

Emily appears to be the dominant partner in the relationship

Throughout the film, fathers are depicted in a rather conventional fashion. Cliches such as a father and son playing catch feature and the film for the most part presents fathers in a way that would be expected. Fathers are presented as being protective of their children, especially their daughters. Cal refuses to give his blessing to his daughter Hannah’ relationship with Jacob, who he knows is a womanizer. When Bernie, father of Jessica, the Weaver family’s babysitter, finds naked photos of his daughter addressed to Cal, his instincts to protect her lead him to attack Cal. It is possible that the film suggests that people need a father figure and have an innate desire for one. This may be what is implied by things such as Hannah talking about how she finds a much older man, Conan O’Brien very attractive and Jessica’s infatuation with Cal.

Jessica has romantic feelings for Cal, who is much older than her

The representation of mothers does not make severe departures from the ordinary either. Emily appears to be a fairly conventional mother for the modern era. She has a career, normal for the 21st century, but is also the primary caregiver to the children, adhering to the traditional conventions of motherhood. After Cal and Emily’s separation, it was Cal that had to move out of the house, with the children staying with their mother. This fits with society’s judgement of the mother being the more important parent for children to have in their lives.

After the separation, Emily remains the primary caregiver for the children

The film’s message in terms of marriage is not clear. Some parts of the film suggest that it is just something that people think is the proper thing to do. Cal says that he married Emily because they had their first child when they were seventeen, from which it can be inferred that they only married because they believed that it what should be done, not out of love for one another. Also, Hannah is disappointed with her boyfriend Richard for not proposing to her. This seems to show that many people assume that marriage is the logical end goal for a relationship and do not consider what it actually means or whether it is what they truly want. The fact that Hannah then leaves Richard with the intention of sleeping with another man right away questions how valuable their relationship was anyway.

Hannah is disappointed in Richard’s failure to propose

At other times, however, the film tends to suggest that marriage is important and a normal, stable family structure is the best environment for children to have. Jessica tells Emily how much the children miss having their father at home with them and the characters make several attempts to bring the parents together again. Cal and Emily do, at a few points in the film, reconnect, like when Emily calls Cal just to talk to him or at Robbie’s parents’ evening. At the evening, the two of them sit apart on either side of a door, showing the emotional distance between them. Close-ups as they talk only show one of them in shot at any one time, reinforcing this. However, as they continue talking and warm to each other again, the shot composition changes so both are in shot at once, showing that they are becoming closer again. When they go in to see Robbie’s teacher and Emily learns that Cal slept with her, they are shown apart again. They later become amicable once more and are able to work together to do the best for their children. This appears to be what the film is saying; that a family’s role is to maintain the welfare of the children and to provide for them a loving, stable environment.

Despite being separated, Emily and Cal still have residual feelings for one another

The distance separating them shows the emotional distance between the two of them

And again after learning of Cal’s night with Kate, which pushes Emily away from him

Cultural hegemony

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was an Italian political theorist, politician and sociologist. He was influenced heavily by Marxism and was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Italy. His writings focused especially on culture and its relation to class. In the 1920s, he developed his theory of cultural hegemony and recorded his work while imprisoned in fascist Italy. His works leant towards analysis of the capitalist system from a more cultural, rather than economic, viewpoint and he has been an influential figure in the development of Marxist philosophy, especially in relation to culture and media.

Antonio Gramsci, developed concept of cultural hegemony

Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a hugely influential German philosopher, political economist and political theorist whose work formed the basis for communism. His two major works, The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867), fuelled a surge in new ways of understanding class, society and the economy. He was highly critical of capitalism and believed that society should progress towards communism, with the ultimate aim being to eradicate class altogether and create a society in which the collective effort of all citizens maintains the state. His work had a substantial impact on Gramsci’s thinking, with Gramsci approaching the analysis of capitalist culture with a strongly Marxist point of view.

Karl Marx, developed theories that formed the basis of communism

‘Capital is dead labour,that vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.’

Marx, Capital

Capitalism, which has been the dominant socio-economic system throughout the developed world since the early decades of the 19th century, has existed in basic form since the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, when world exploration precipitated a growth in trade. Merchants worked to make profit, the driving force behind capitalism. This basic form of capitalism progressed towards the modern system after the Industrial Revolution, during which industrialists replaced merchants as the primary profit-makers in society. In this framework, the means for producing and distributing goods belong to a minority within society and most workers labour for a wage. It is the elite’s imperative to receive as much labour as possible at the lowest possible cost in order to maximize profit. The assurance of free trade and of individual property rights are two fundamental principles within capitalism and the driving force within the system is the acquisition of profit.

Adam Smith (1723-1790), British political economist and philosopher, wrote influential works on the subject of free trade and competition as a driving force in the economy

According to Gramsci’s concept of hegemony (Greek, ‘leadership’), the elite within society are able to control the masses by influencing them into accepting their values. The minority elite project their views on the world, which are then accepted as ‘common sense’ by everyone else. Gramsci believed that in a capitalist society, where the means of production belongs to a small group who thereby have considerable power, so too will a minority be dominant culturally and be able to make subordinated groups accept their ideas and leadership as the norm. This does not necessarily require cultural indoctrination and the elite benefit by having the masses consent to their hegemony. This hegemony is usually maintained both by force, i.e. the military and police force, and by ideology, i.e. education and religion, with which the elite create justification for the status quo.

The masses are controlled with force…

…and with ideology

Gramsci said that for the system to change, there has to be new ideology introduced concurrently with seizure of the means of production by the proletariat. He believed that, while working-class control of the means of production and distribution would greatly further the Marxist cause, ideas are also extremely important and can change the infrastructure of society.

From a Marxist viewpoint, the media serves to help the elite maintain their hegemony and subject the masses to their ideology. Marxists have described the media as a force for constructing and maintaining the ideas that support the capitalist system. Media has a powerful influence on people and can be used to impress onto people certain values. It can be used to create a false consciousness, whereby people assume that the ideas that they are presented with via the media are reflections of truth, when they are actually constructs that support the system. Newspapers are examples of this. Although the purpose of a newspaper is to provide an objective review of events, in reality, newspapers have their own agenda and present news in a way that best fits with their political stance. Readers of a particular newspaper, for whom that is their only source of news will almost certainly have had their outlook determined to some extent by the way that the paper presents news. The Daily Telegraph, a conservative paper is likely to present certain items of news differently to something more liberal such as The Guardian. Similarly, a broadsheet paper will prioritize news items differently to a tabloid paper.

Media such as newspaper often fetishize and demonize certain groups of people. According to Marxist thought, this is done to reinforce existing ideas, supporting the current system and retaining the power structure. Groups of people are represented in the way that the system wants them to remain. By presenting particular stereotypes, the elite hope that the subjects of the stereotypes will view that representation as a reflection of reality and emulate it, thus maintaining the status quo.

Some groups of people, families for example, are fetishized, according to Marxism, to promote the values the system wants the masses to have

Other groups are demonized, for the complemental purpose of discouraging values the elite deem it harmful to the system for the masses to have