Madeleine McCann vs Shannon Matthews

What is the dominant (intended) meaning of The Daily Telegraph? How is the audience supposed to feel about the two families?  Do you take a negotiated or oppositional reading and if so, how / why? Make reference to reception theory in your answer. (15 marks) 

The dominant reading of the daily telegraph is that we should feel empathy for the Madeleine McCann family as they have been through a lot and genuinely cared about their daughter. This is immediately proven as the newspaper article portrayed Madeleine McCann as suffering from the catastrophe of her child being kidnapped as   "the mother of missing toddler Madeleine McCann is so traumatised by the kidnap of her daughter that she cannot bear to be parted from her two-year-old twins at night". This demonstrates that the Daily Telegraph believe convincingly that she is deserving of pity   and considering the fact that it is straight away mentioned on the news story, it reinforces  that they want this to be the dominant reading.  In contrast to this, Shannon Matthews’s families’ dominant reading is that we should despise them as they knew all along where the girl was.  This is reinforced by the fact that "she was being questioned by detectives on Monday night after allegedly breaking down in tears in front of a police family liaison officer". This shows that she was being interrogated as they expected that she knew where the child was. Considering she "broke down in tears", it shows that she was guilty of something as she wouldn’t have been crying to the “liaison officer" if that was not the case.  This shows that the dominant reading clearly was to make her seem guilty as " the police got more time to question Shannon Matthews " according to the title immediately illustrating that she was not innocent and the writer want to make that very clear.
Personally, I take a negotiated reading as we should  feel empathy for Madeleine McCann family. I think this because: her child was taken away from her so it's understandable for her to feel devastated , she had no clue that it was going to happen in the first place and she did sincerely care about her child as she even cuddled her " Cat toy" for comfort showing that the child was important to her.  However, she could have taken care of her child more carefully in the first place to prevent the kidnapping from happing. This makes my reading negotiated as I am  examining  both side of the argument. Furthermore, I am negotiated for Shannon Matthews because honestly what she did was despicable as she put the child in a place where she felt scared and confused as kidnapping is a terrible experience for any  kid. However, her getting  violated by the press the way that she is was a little harsh as they use an unattractive pictures to make her look unappealing, add unnecessary information such as that she has 7 kids to make her seem slutty and constantly reference the interrogation that they give the mother to show that it is definitely happening and should happen.

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Madeleine McCann vs Shannon Matthews

Hall notes that representation is “contested”, in particular the representation of those with less power in society.  He argues that news coverage can be hierarchical.  To what extent is this evident from the two readings? Make reference to Hall’s theory of representation in your answer. (10 marks)
Hall notes representation about those with less power within Society is extremely evident within the two reading. For example, in the news article about Madeleine McCann the parents mention that "They help us get through this." The people they are referring to are the Sunday telegraph which shows that they had a solid support group from the newspaper company. Moreover, this shows that they have more support in society as "the sunday telegraph" seems to be offering their services to help ensure that the family are living securely after everything which has happened. This shows that due to the fact that they have more power; they are not being opposed but rather supported by society. In contrast to this, Karen matthews is being demonstrated as inferior in society as " The Daily Telegraph understands that Miss Matthews, who has seven children to five fathers, was arrested on Sunday as she sat in a police car with Det Con Christine Freeman." In between this part of the extract, it states she had "seven children to five fathers" this unnecessary as they are writing about the fact that she is going to jail but to make it look justified; they put those few words before it to make it seen that she definitely deserves to be in jail and that she should be disregarded by society . This reinforces halls notes on "contested" as she is being belittled to show that she has no say once so ever.

Madeleine McCann VS Shannon Matthews 

Analyse the choice of pictures used in terms of framing, shot type and mise en scene. Compare their representations of the social class of the two families. (10 marks)

Kate McCann                                                                    Karen Matthews

            

 The picture of Kate McCann and one of her twins is a mid-shot which incorporates the mother trying to carefully take the twin down the slide.  The use of the hand gesture of her holding her hand tightly and having her arm around her waist connotes that she is being caring and loving towards her as she is doing the best she can to prevent her falling of the slide chaotically. Moreover, the girl is wearing the stereotypical colour of pink which conveys that the girl is quite feminine and that the mother likes her to look like a stereotypical little girl.  The fact that we can see an outline of the slide lets us know that she is in some sort of playing area, demonstrating that the child  and the mother is of a higher class as they are able to play which these particular types of equipment. In this image, their social classes in comparison to Karen Matthews is shown in a way that makes them appear to be very sociable thereby making them seem to have a higher social class as they are more engaged with society.

In contrast to this, Karen Matthews  is showcased to have a dull looking face this is due to:  her slightly closing her eyes, the bags underneath her eyes, the expressionless facial expression and her  putting her head down in way that makes her look vulnerable. All of this connotes that she is extremely exhausted and makes her seem to be pretty beaten down by society. In particularly, her looking down connotes that she tends to isolate herself from her surroundings and that she doesn’t have a dominant stand in terms of her social class.  In addition to this, she is also wearing a dark green jacket so instead of her symbolising renewal and safety perhaps the picture is purposely used to show that she's opposes those attributes or is lacking that. This shows, that she is of a lower social class and is disregarded by society.

Furthermore, the second picture shows her smiling and wearing clothes which consists of different colours which connotes that as a child  she was positive and lively but now, she is the complete opposite and is represented  as someone who shouldn’t be liked within society.

In conclusion, the social class of Kate McCann family seems more superior in contrast to Karen Matthews’s family.

          Is using Snapchat/ instagram a good use of cognitive surplus?

• Instagram is a good use because: you can share anything and allow people to see it publicly.
• Snapchat is  terrible because: it is all temporary so anything you try to do to 

In my opinion, Snapchat is a excellent use of cognitive surplus as it incorporates various components which allows you to be collaboratively involved with the media. For example,

Clay sharkey/shirky- excess brain
Cognitive Surplus focuses on describing the free time that individuals have to engage with collaborative activities with new media. Shirky's text searches to prove global transformation can come from individuals committing their time to active engagement with technology.

Media
Sharron matthews had 7 children with 5 different partners. where as, Madeleine McCann had two year old twins who she genuinely felt traumatised for losing. Madeleine McCann has become a extremly "protective parent". Shann



find quotation/ evidence from article. Roughly 3 for each. Discussion/ analysis of each piece of evidence. Conclude: how does social class compare
2 paras+ a short senetence conclusion.
private conversation between PM and McCans.
suggests that she has power.
upper middle class.
child psychologist- flew out- connotes wealth " threatened legal action against polize"- suggests wealth
suggests power
empathetic, griefing, responsible mother-connotes middle class loving environment.
Use of personalised quotation- connects with McCanns.

 

Find examples of language used in each of the pieces to describe the parents of both children. How does this language differ? What are the messages and values on social class? (10 marks)

Madeleine McCann

• The mother of missing toddler Madeleine McCann is so traumatised by the kidnap of her daughter that she cannot bear to be parted from her two-year-old twins at night.
• protective parents
• As she sat on a park bench clutching Madeleine's favourite Cuddle Cat toy
• deepest, darkest chasm
• I haven't been able to use the camera since I took that last photograph of her."
• expressing their frustration about certain things

Karen Matthews 

• who has seven children to five fathers
• One of the friends allegedly claimed that Miss Matthews had known where Shannon was throughout the 24-day search.
• Shannon failed to return from school after her a swimming lesson on Feb 19
   
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media: The Mother's of: Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews  


Find examples of language used in each of the pieces to describe the parents of both children. How does this language differ? What are the messages and values on social class? (10 marks)
 
Kate McCann  is a compassionate and caring mother as she clearly cared about her daughter's well being. This is successfully proven as the mother was "so traumatized by the kidnap of her daughter that she cannot bear to be parted from her two-year-old twins at night". This demonstrates that her daughter Madeleine McCann was so close to her heart that the idea of losing another child she truly cares about would be devastating; she is mentally disturbed by the experience and wouldn't be able to deal with losing another child. In comparison to this, Karen Matthews is a careless mother and is accused of having " seven children for five different fathers" . The fact that the news article purposely references this conveys that she is an unfit parent, didn't take into consideration that she could conceive an unwanted child, and had no intention of actually looking after the children that she had. Kate McCann is showcased as having a superior social class as she isn't being frowned upon in society. On the contrary, it’s been written in a way which encourages us to feel sympathy for her as she is "traumatised" so we should empathise with what happened to her. Whereas, Karen Matthews is being frowned upon as she is mentioned to have "seven children for five fathers" making her look like a prostitute or someone who is some sort of disgrace to society.

Kate McCann clearly knew her child and was emotionally scarred "as she sat a park bench clutching Madeleine's favourite Cuddle Cat toy". This shows that she was sincerely worried about her child as she held a toy that her child cherished dearly to comfort her. In contrast to this, Karen Matthews was aware of her child's whereabouts and pretended that she didn't as "One of the friends allegedly claimed that Miss Matthews had known where Shannon was throughout the 24-day search". This shows that she had a hidden agenda all along which perhaps could have been to gain some sort of income as she did ask for "donations from the fund set up to find Madeleine McCann". 

In conclusion, Kate McCann is described as a mother who cared about her daughter Madeleine McCann and really missed her. Also, supported by society and had a higher status in terms of having a solid foundation of people who felt her grief due to the newspaper article. whereas, Karen Matthews is demonstrated as being careless and shamed by society;  giving her a group which detests her due to the newspaper article.