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To what extent do Zoella and Attitude reflect the social and historical context of the time when they were made?

In this response, I am going to argue that both Zoella and Attitude and reflect the social and historical context of the time they were made to cultivate ideologies for the audience. I will write this response with reference to Lisbet Van-Zoonen's male gaze theory, bell hooks' theory that femisism is for everybody and stuart halls theory of representation. Zoella is a youtube channel which is ran by Zoe Sugg, an online celebrity. Attitude Online is an adaptation of an existing paper magazine called attitude and it was created in 2014. It was since bought by 'stream publishing' in 2016.

It is evident in the Zoella 'pizza taste test' video that there is no sexualisation which which is subversive of conventional media where women are shown to be sexualised to maximise profits. Instead, Zoella uses the mise-en-scene of hegemonically 'normal' clothing in a societal context. This reflects the time that the video was uploaded as it would appeal to her primary target audience of teenage girls. This subverts the representation of women in conventional media products. where they are sen in less clothing to attract a 'male gaze'. Zoella as a whole, doesn't fit in with Lisbet Van Zoonen's male gaze theory because she subverts the stereotype. Attitude is completely the opposite. It uses the sexualisation of straight men such as footballer 'Cristiano Ronaldo' to attract a homosexual male gaze. This is reinforced by the 'boys' section on the website with the mise-en-scene of the thumbnails containing images of 'buff' men in little clothing.

In attitude online, the consistent use of images of men with a particular body type may cultivate ideologies surrounding body image. This cultivation is an ideology that gay men need to look a certain way to fit in with other men. In a societal context, this may make a homosexual gay audience feel out of place amongst other gay men. This hyperreal representation of men, according to Jean Baudrillard, puts an unrealistic expectation on gay men because of the ideologies of the producer. In relation to historical context, the ideology that the producer is trying to cultivate is that it is okay to be openly gay in today's society. This may be why the online magazine, which is more explicit than the paper magazine, was only founded very recently in 2014. In comparison to Zoella, the stereotypical expectations of what women should look like are reinforced through the mise-en-scene of a stereotypically attractive woman doing things that could be described as 'innocence'. Both of these texts can be explained using Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity because in Attitude, men are seen to look as men should look, strong and muscular whereas Zoella represents women as being attractive and innocent which reflects the time at which both media products were created as people want to fit into the hegemonic norms of society.

In Zoella's video where she advertises her new range of candles, the mise-en-scene of the high angle mid-shot of her alongside the highkey lighting connotes purity. The high camera angle suggests that the audience has power over Zoe Sugg which may show her as vulnerable. The white background on the web 2.0 Attitude Online website also connotes purity and innocence which may suggest that gay people want to be accepted in todays society as they were not previously. In accordance with Stuart Hall's theory, both women and gay men are being represented as being victimised in today's society just as they were historically. This is further evidenced by the use of articles on Attitude Online describing 'homophobic attacks' and by the mise-en-scene of Zoe Sugg's unsexualised clothing across her youtube channel which suggests she has not yet matured and portrays her as vulnerable. In accordance with Roland Barthes' theory of semiotics, both of these examples may be hermeneutic codes to make the audience question why people are viewed in a particular way by society thus cultivating an ideology that gay men and heterosexual women are victimised.

I believe that the website for Zoella and Attitude online conform to specific stereotypes about teenage girls and gay men. For example, the layout of both websites are very similar as they are both web 2.0 sites meaning that they have a better user experience. I think that the thumbnails that are used on both websites show the extent at which society has evolved through history to become more accepting of gay culture and equal rights for women. An example of this for Zoella's website would be the thumbnail for the majority of the posts containing images of her which empowers women. Gay culture is embraced through the mise-en-scene of the 'pride' flag on the majority of the thumbnails on the Attitude Online website. Further evidence of the evolving of society would be an older paper magazine cover of Attitude magazine which constructs a stereotypical representation of gay men through the mise-en-scene of nail varnish and makeup on a mans face. The binary opposition in the meanings between that cover and the newer articles on Attitude online suggest that the extent of the evolve in society is huge due to the shift of people buying into stereotypes and the modern use of more complex representations.

In conclusion, the extent at which Zoella and Attitude reflect the time that they were made is a large extent due to the use of makeup and food in Zoella's videos to anchor the audience as it is 'normal' for her primary target audience. Attitude Online reflects society at the time that it was made due to the conflict of gay being seen as normal with the articles ...