Culrural Changes

Im going to look at how British culture has changed over the years and how newspapers in particular show this. I will specifically look at who is shown and how they are shown, whether its in a positive or negative way. The three newspapers i will be analysing is -

The Sun - was founded in 1963 is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch. It has the tenth-largest circulation of any newspaper in the world and the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. The newspaper had a average daily circulation of 2,751,219 copies in January 2012.Between July and December 2010 it had an average daily readership of approximately 7.6 million. However The Sun has been involved in a number of different issues and controversies in its history, for example falsely accusing Elton John of having had sexual relationships with rent boys, and its attitude towards mental health issues and homosexuality. The news paper contains a variety of different issues and stories, for example hard news (murders,terrorist attacks, deaths, political events etc) whilst containing soft news such as celebrity gossip or affairs etc. The sun has a mass audience, particularly for middle to working class.

The Metro - is a free daily tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom published by Associated Newspapers Ltd, it is available from Monday to Friday each week on many public transport services across the United Kingdom.

The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in 14 UK urban countries. In its first five years, it achieved a readership

 of over 1 million daily readers, making it the UK's fourth largest daily newspaper, after The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. In October 2008, its total certified distribution for that month was 1,361,306.It now prints approximately 1.3m copies daily, and officially has some 3.5m readers, as of March 2010.

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register The Times is owned by the News Corporation group headed by Rupert Murdoch. The Times is the first newspaper to have borne that name, lending it to numerous other papers around the world, including The Times of India (1838), The New York Times (1851) etc. The target market for the broadsheet would be working - upper class, it's aimed at people who want to read something that gives them a well-informed, well structured and thoughtful piece of writing which will give them something to think about.

Here is a prezi describing the demographic of each paper, showing the age, ethnicity, gender, rationality, social class and social issues. I will also bee looking at the changes in content.

Cultural changes and Changes in content on Prezi

Changes in Style and Content in Print on Prezi

Newspaper Layout.

Coronation street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford in North West England. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960. It is produced at the Granada Studios in Manchester by Granada Television and shown in all ITV regions. Since first being aired, it has been one of the most financially lucrative programmes on commercial television, underpinning the success of its broadcaster ITV and its franchise Granada Television. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running TV soap opera currently in production.Within three decades coronation street has changed dramatically, with the use of different camera movements/shots, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. These devices were used to give a particular look,message, feeling and emotion to the audience. The specific years ill be analysing will be an episode from 1961, 1979 and 2011 which ill explain the how the technical categories have changed and why.



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Opening scene( establishing shot) and
wide shot to show intimidation.

1961 - The opening credits to coronation street are dark, gloomy,miserable,black and white and dull. This connotes many different things, for example it suggest there is no glamour what so ever in this soap opera, the fact there are drape northern houses codifies the economic status. Also the musky and old appearance gives the impression that the area is not cared for, its back in time with the old pavements which seem to be unmaintained. The camera shots and movements seem to have a few bumps on track which connotes they didn't have as advanced and experienced camera men or equipment ( to do with budget ensemble shots). The opening scene is in a bar/pub, which suggest were the episode is specifically set (northern part). The characters in the opening shot are dressed smartly and sophisticated, which connotes they could be wealthy and important,also the bar/pub itself looks quite stylised. There are no uses of cutting or close ups as there are mainly medium/long shots, this suggest there are no specific or important characters, that everyone has the same importance in the soap. There are the uses of low angles which ironically reverses hiraci, as its a wider establishing shot it shows the "community support" which suggests who's the most intimidating person out of the two women arguing. Also the fact they are all wearing similar clothes again shows no specific importance, they all look and dress the same so there for they are the same. Although there are no uses of close ups there are the uses of screen time which connotes who are the important and main characters. There isn't any silence throughout of the episode, the scene is very nosey also the sound quality isn't as advanced as it is now obviously which makes its difficult to understand.

1979 - At this time things were more advanced and technical, as its shown in colour, uses or different camera angles/shots and movements to connote and evoke certain feeling or atmosphere. There was the use of mise-en-scene, being costume to suggest the characters class, personality and style. For example the old man in this scene is in this scene is wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown which is stereotypical for that age group, also connotes vulnerability. Compared to the other character in the scene which is a middle aged man, in black leather jacket, smoking in the old mans house which connotes he's rebellious or a villain character. Also the use of angles and head room to suggest character roles. The opening to this specific episode was a long and slow intro, with just the male character walking around suspiciously, there's is the use of tracking shot and complete silence. Also he's body language suggests his character as he (flung things on the table) connotes he doesn't care, makes the audience not appeal to him, also the silence creates tension and suspense. The opening was more like a film, which adds realism to the soap. The old mans house seems very homely, due to the colours and furniture for example : picture frames on the walls could suggest hes a family man, or was. Also the types of furniture in the living room (wardrobes) which could suggest his class (house is to small) which makes the audience sympathise with the character. Close ups are used to obviously show emotion and reactions, to involve audience which also adds realism. ( specific episode I analysed from below)

The opening credits in 1979 compared to 2011 :

In 1978 the opening credits connote the class, style and economic state of coronation street at this particular time. the opening credits are incredibly dull, grim, musty and boring. The shots are extremely static and show no movement or feeling at all. The shots immediately go into showing the rows of tight houses,lined up next to each other which all look old and washed out with musky colours, also the houses are all identical which seems to be never ending. This connotes that the everyone is the same, there is no individuality that every ones "dull and boring" which isn't necessarily true but this is what the credits suggests. It also shows the economic state, with the run down roof tops which shows class and status, with there being no sense of glamour, life or colour. In this case the colours are dirty, musky, dull, boring and miserable ( navy,dark green, grey,black,brown etc). Also the fact that there is no one in the credits accept for a cat suggests there is no life to the street, no lively, exciting good-feeling atmosphere.

2011 - Episodes from 1960 till now are complete opposites in every way, just by the opening credits immediately gives 2011 Coronation street a whole different atmosphere and outlook than before. Firstly the colour pallet is bright, romantic and vibrant which connotes Coronation street is a "happy and welcoming" place which gives a positive feeling to the audience. Camera movements used are tilting, panning, crane shots to show a variety of different parts of the street at different angles. Editing such as CGI (the pigeon, last shot) are used to connote the soap is more advanced and technical. Each shot had specific things in and out of focus to suggest important props/parts, also every shot had edited in sunlight to again make the whole credits look brighter and happier. This is used to connote Corrie is a welcoming and friendly place.There are people in the 2011 opening credits compared to there being none in the 1961 and 1979 to again show its a lively, sociable and busy place

Britain as a Culture has dramatically changed, being the things that we are interested in and the types of characters and story lines soap operas convey through the soaps. Society have become far more accepting over certain types of characters, being disabled or mentally unstable characters and homosexuality, which where taboo topics within soaps. Particularly around the 1960's homosexuals etc, where not socially accepted and therefore where not portrayed and represented within soaps, other characters that were not represented in soaps where other cultures and different age groups. Especially as Britain is now a multicultural country, which need to be represented in British soaps. The main characters which consisted within soaps in the 1960's were usually middle to elderly aged, usually consisting of women. In comparison to now, where all age groups are represented, with different cultures, religions and sexuality.

 As you can see here, a image of the cast of Coronation Street in 1960, where there cast seem to consist of the white minority, middle aged to elderly, more female characters and characters who all have similar costume, style and look, which do not separate the different personalities and class within the cast. As all the men and women are dressed and look alike, as they do not have their own identity or personality. It was very unlikely that a character under 9 would have a role in British soaps in the 70's compared to now where in some cases, young characters take the lead roles and plots. The reasons for the specific characters being represented in soaps was because they wanted to be aimed at a mass audience, however there is a great lack of identification of other people in our society. For example In 1970 there were around 375,000 Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in Britain, by 1993 the figure increased to 1,620,000, causing Britain to become a multicultural society who need and should be represented in British Soaps.

There has also been a change in storylines There has been a dramatic change in the specific plots and story lines that consisted within British soaps, the main reason for the change in story lines is because soaps in the 70's did not handle with any taboo topics and would generally have plots which associated with everyday argument's and issues. Story lines are not the only changes but the type of characters who play in the main story lines. Around the 1960s the only characters that consisted within the soaps were middle aged/ elderly men and women, therefore the story lines would need to be appropriate for people of that age group which was realistic and believable. Storylines in the 70's tended to be expected, obvious and definitely not complicated, being affairs, petty fights etc. In comparison to extremely touching, serious and controversial storylines and issues, such as paedophilia, child swapping, homosexuality, child killings, teenage pregnancies, incest and suicide. Soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders create controversial storylines because whether we as a culture and society like to admit it or not is that these 'shocking and controversial' storlyines do happen in this day and society. They also would have happened around 30 years ago but people wouldn't like to talk or associate a whole storylines with things that our society at the time didn't accept of felt comfortable with, such as homosexuality etc. Link to 10 most controversial soap storylines. The video below is about the complaints against the most controversial soap storyline, being the baby swap in Eastenders.

Not only has the storylines changed, but the people who consist within the plots, 30 years ago a child or teenage actor wouldn't of even be in a soap let alone be involved with a serious storyline, for example the again controversial storyline in Eastenders of Whitney, a 16 year old girl who is being sexually abused by her step dad who she then falls in love with. This is a very uncomfortable, serious and shocking situation to watch, which would have never been allowed to be shown 30 years ago in a British soap, the reason why soaps tackle these situations is so that people of any age or group can some how relate to the story, as what happened to the teenage girl in the soap could possibly be happening to a huge number of teenagers in our society.

Recent harrowing Emmerdale scenes showed Aaron assisting Jackson in his suicide.

Homosexuatlity within a soap would have never been in a soap 20 years ago as it is a tabboo topic which at the time was not accepted in our society, also that the character who plays a gay man is from a strict muslim culture where he has been forced to marry a muslim women due to his culture.