Lily Allen- It's not me, its you

Date: 1st July
Tile: It’s Not Me, It's You
Creator: Produced by Greg Kurstin
Cultural perspective: English

This static image is an album cover for Lily Allen's CD "It's Not Me, It's You". It features a picture of Lily lying on a massive black and pink L, obviously standing for the first initial of her name. She is wearing a nice dress, looking feminine, classy and pretty in pink and smiling sweetly but the black veil contradicts it because it is an article of clothing fit for mourning. I think it links with her song lyrics "I don't know how am meant to feel anymore" showing she is confused with what society wants from her, receiving many mixed messages from society and the media. It Also links to the name of the album, "It's Not Me, It's You" suggests that she is not the problem, it’s how others perceive or judge her.

This album cover was obviously made to advertise Lily Allen and her music. The picture is quite eye catching with the large L placed in the centre, taking up quite a lot of space and the pink of Lily's dress next to it makes her stand out also. The use of the colours pink and black link back to what I said in the first paragraph about contradiction. I think the Pink symbolises Lily's fun, girlie, happy, party-girl image and Black is significant of the bad things people have said about her like being a drunken, rude and inappropriate loudmouth and stuff. To me, this shows Lily is not sure about how people see her, though I think she knows who she is and is simply letting people decide for themselves, which I like. I think if someone saw this CD in a music store, the image would attract their attention and it may stimulate curiosity, I know it would for me. Also, in my opinion, any Lily Allen fans would definitely check it out because it is something different from her, the cover is more grown up and mature compared to some of her earlier work.

Based on the overall feminine look of this album cover, I would say the target audience would mainly be females form the ages of about 16 to 40 because this is round about the age group that Lily's music is more suited to because of some of the sexual references in some of her songs on this album.

I think this album cover would definitely help the sales of the CD because I think it would appeal to the target audience with the title being the opposite of the clichéd phrase commonly used in break ups "It's not you, it's me", it would spark curiosity and intrigue. People would want to know more because in the sensitive situation of a break up, even though someone may be thinking that it is the other person’s fault, they use the excuse of having their own personal problems to get an easy way out and instead of hurting the person’s feelings. I think people would definitely be interested in this CD because I sure am, being a big Lily Allen fan myself.

film- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Director/creator: Chris Columbus
Cultural perspective: English
gender of creator/perspective: Male

This movie is about a young boy and his friends who go to Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards and all of the weird and wonderful goings on at the school during the year. This year, Harry, Ron and Hermione face a huge challenge when the chamber of secrets is opened and a mischievous yet well-meaning house elf called dobby keeps trying to get harry to leave Hogwarts for his own good. Within the chamber of secrets is a terrible monster that continues to terrorize the school and petrify students. Harry, Ron and Hermione must find a way to stop it and save Hogwarts from closure.

The main characters in this movie are harry, Ron and Hermione. The main characters in this film are very valiant and brave. They put themselves in danger trying to find out how to save the school and its students from a terrifying mystery monster. These characters seem to have a knack for getting themselves into trouble and it made them very interesting to watch. The characters are very likeable because of their kind and brave personalities which are demonstrated at various points throughout the film like when they must make the journey down into the chamber of secrets and face the giant basilisk.

My favourite character in this film is Hagrid. I found his character particularly likeable and interesting because he is not as he seems. At first sight, people are scared and intimidated by him because of his size but in the film we see that he is a "gentle giant", comforting Hermione when she was called a mud blood and just generally being a helpful and kind friend for the three kids when they need someone to talk to and trust. Hagrid is big, clumsy and a bit of an oaf just like his dog fang yet his personality makes him seem a bit like a big child who sometimes forgets about the rules like when he keeps accidentally telling the three about all of Hogwarts most guarded secrets.

The target audience of this film is probably children from the ages of about seven and up and perhaps not much younger because at some points this film can get a little dark and scary for very young children. As with all of the Harry Potter films, there are powerful themes of triumph over evil, strong bonds of friendship and magical and amazing adventures. I really liked this film because I am a big fan of the Harry Potter books and thought it was about as good as it could be considering how tough it must have been for the director to try and keep all the fans happy. It’s really cool to see another person’s take on the book and what they have done with it and how they imagined it to be, I think it gives the story a new feel but with the same level of awesomeness as the book. The only thing I would change about this film is I would probably try to add more of the little details that are in the book because I think people who have not read the books and have only seen the movies can’t really appreciate how epic the tales of Harry Potter really are. Also, I would like to see more quidditch because that has always been one of my favourite parts of the entire series.

film- The Dark Knight

Title: The Dark Knight
Director/creator: Christopher Nolan
Cultural perspective: American
Gender of creator/ perspective: male

In this, the latest instalment of the Batman series, Bruce Wayne and his vigilante shaddow the Batman, continue the seemingly endless effort to bring peace and order to Gotham and reign in the plague of crime that unfortunately but inevitably has infected the city, aided by Lieutenant James Gordon and recently selected District Attorney Harvey Dent. But a new and threatening character is stalking the streets. The Dark Knight faces a rising criminal known only as The Joker, whose haunting grin, psychopathic laughter, and ruthless morality makes him the most dangerous enemy he has ever come across. It becomes an agenda to Batman to stop the mysterious Joker by any means necessary, knowing that he is dealing with something that he has never seen before, getting himself caught up in The Joker's lethal game where the rules are sketchy and the stakes are high.

The main characters in this film were Batman/ Bruce Wayne, The Joker, Lieutenant James Gordon, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes (Bruce Wayne's previous love interest). These characters worked well together in the film and made for an interesting and exciting storyline. I think strong performances were made by all in this film (although not including Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays Rachel, for some reason I can’t quite describe this actress just annoys me, I thought she had a seemingly lacklustre take on this character and i think someone else could have done a better job on playing this role)

my favourite character would without a doubt be The Joker played by Heath Ledger. Heath's performance in this film absolutely blew me away, making the character of The Joker come alive, totally taking on the persona of a dark and sinister psychopathic mastermind criminal with none of the inhibitions or restrictions of normal society. I think his performance was very convincing and believable right down to his strange mannerism of always licking his scarred and mangled lips with a crazed yet amused look in his eye. The deliverance of lines was startlingly demented further outlining the wild and insane, yet still charismatic personality of this complex and intense character. my favourite line from the Joker was "whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you....stranger.." because he has personalised the clichéd phrase of "whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger" and I think it fits the character well because he seems to thrive on strangeness, peculiarity and the risk of danger. I think Heath Ledger more than deserved his Oscar for "best performance by an actor in a supporting role" for this movie.

i would recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of action movies, Batman, and insanely good performances. this was so much more than a comic book film, The Dark Knight truly delivers with drama, action, romance, horror, dark humour and the study of a psychopathic killer wrapped up in a detective-like story.