Artist turns Bratz dolls into heroic women like Malala.

An artist has turned popular Bratz dolls into real-life women by giving them make-unders and new clothes

This story is particular interesting as it has been an on going argument for may years that Barbie and Bratz dolls are too 'unrealistic' and set idealist views on beauty standards for little girls; these dolls were always porcelain skinned, slim bodies with long blonde hair, tiny waists and very petite facial features. It was also proved that their body measurements were far off from that of an average sized woman.

However Artist Wendy Tsao has transformed six of the generic toys into strong role models such as Malala Yousafzai and JK Rowling and writer Radhika Sanghani, had decided to write about it. Her previous articles also involve the growing influence of women showing she is passionate on female empowerment which suggests why she wrote this particular article adding specific terms such as "real life women" and "strong role models".  She adds pictures of the Bratz doll, Tsao's version and the actual woman to show the difference between the very altered, unrealistic doll and the much more less made up doll and how it compares in contrast.Sanghani also adds that she's thinking suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst and Jennifer Lawrence to teach girls about the fight for equal pay. 

Crash Analysis

CRASH

The 2004 gripping motion picture Crash is described as telling interlocking stories of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism.

Paul Haggis, the director, used a number of techniques and methods to make this movie the award winning, show stopping film it became. For example in one scene, the audio codes in one particular scene sparked interest - the scene where a woman has a car crash (ironically) and her car has over turned, she is surprisingly being rescued by a police officer who 'assaulted' her before her husband a couple of scenes earlier. The woman screams as she refuses for him to touch her but has no option but to as it's a matter of life or death. The choice of music, which a very holy, slow type of sound, was used to convey narrative information to the audience additionally it adds to the atmosphere. As the scene reaches it's climax, so does the music as it gets louder and more powerful towards the audience. It gives the idea that something spectacular is about to happen,it is also noticeable that the music drowns out the speech from the actors and although words are not being spoken, it is clear to see what direction the scene is going in due to the climax of the scene. 

Camera shots are very close up whilst they are in the burning car - this is used to create emotion and tension and we are able to see both the woman and the police officers emotion at this moment, both scared and both faithful. The facial expressions add to this as their emotions are clearly represented and easily interpreted by the audience.

Another example of audio/visual codes is when a little girl gets shot protecting her father. The little girl, named Elizabeth, runs out in front of a gun however is unharmed. The music is again strong and overpowering when reaching it's climax which speech being drowned out by facial expressions give the clear representation of the current emotions. The lighting is very light and bright which suggests the innocence of the young girl.

Overall, Haggis involves many technical codes all through the film and it's the way in which he uses them that makes this film so compelling and cogent in the film industry. 

Representation Of Age In The Media

'My British terrorist son is burning in HELL for his crimes'

'My son will go to hell'

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The article is posted on The Telegraph website, which is generally seen a right wing paper, on the 11th of October.
The mother of a British jihad terrorist describes her relief by his death and also adds that he is 'burning in hell'. This article was particularly interesting to me as not only does it add to the islamophobia that is so apparent in today's society but that it completely threw me this jihad terrorist was a white male born and bred in High Wycombe.

The title was read in my mind as a sort of oxymoron - "British Terrorist"- two words you wouldn't use find together and I believe that Anita Singh, writer of this story, done this on purpose as it is a play on words.  She then posts a few very contrasting photographs.

A young male, on his couch stroking a kitten seeming as innocent as anything, looking as if he wouldn't dare to even hurt the kitten let alone a human being.

In comparison, we see a fully bearded, weapon holding male that looks nothing like the first. Almost unrecognizable. A complete transformation. Singh used these pictures to show what 25 year old Thomas Evans had turnt into and it can somewhat scare the readers as any terrorist story would do.

Weekly News

'Tatler Tory' recorded by young activist before his death

This article is from The Telegraph newspaper which is generally a right wing paper that supports the Conservative Party so it's unusual for the writer, David Barrett, to report such a story. 

Last month, Elliott Johnson, a Conservative party activist, was found dead on a railway track sent police a secret recording of a confrontation with two other party workers he accused of bullying him.  Mark Clarke and Andre Walker, both party activists for the Tories,  have been barred from this week’s Conservative conference following the death of 21-year-old Mr Johnson.

This particular story shows the Tory party in a bad light considering the Conservative party have been criticized for not doing enough to investigate claims of bullying.

The picture is particularly eye catching as it portrays Mark Clarke (left) as a typical Tory candidate in a sharp white shirt where as Elliot Johnson is seen as a young, plucky bright eyed hopeful and this furthers idea of bullying as it puts a picture in the minds of the readers.