WEEKLY NEWS 24!!

Brussels Bombing

BBC new reported the story about the bombings that took place in a Brussels airport this morning. They say that at least 13 people were killed but they are not certain about the information yet. They showed recordings of people running away from the airport and also showed pictures of the damage that was caused. They believe it to be a suicide bomber who detonated the bomb along with another bomb in the airport. The main concern is that the bomb was located near the USA flights.

BBC news also reported that there was another explosion on a platform of a train station near the EU institution. The airport and transport systems have been closed due to Brussels raising its terror threats to the highest level.

The issue with this story is that it is highlighting the unpredictability of attacks similar to this one. By the attacks targeting the main airport in Brussels and the EU institutions people are becoming more worried about the safety in Brussels but also in other countries. BBC news reported that witnesses heard people shouting in Arabic before the explosions. The bombing took place 4 days after the main fugitive in the Paris attack was seized. The issue is that these attacks could be related which means there could be a bigger problem.
The reason why people need to know about attacks like this one is because people need to know that terrorism is a big problem which can affect anybody and it can happen any where. The only problem with reporting stories like this is that it can cause world wide worry and panic and people may feel as if no where is safe.

Regional Identity.

Regional Identity in TV Shows.

TV Shows:

Made in Chelsea, Rich Kids of Beverly Hills and Geordie Shore

Made in Chelsea focuses on the life of young adults living in Chelsea. This TV show is aimed at the aspirers who want to live the same life as the characters on the tv show. This show follows the stereotypes that the audience already have of the people living in Chelsea (the general stereotypes being stuck up, spoilt and posh). The characters within Made in Chelsea also sometimes follow these stereotypes as they are shown to be the typical Chelsea person. In the opening scene, it shows one of the characters playing polo and shows others at parties, dressed smart. The characterisation within this TV show are all very similar to each other backing up the idea that everyone in Chelsea act the same way. This is a negative representation of people living in Chelsea because it exaggerates the lives of those in the show, which suggests to the audience that everyone in Chelsea are spoilt and stuck-up. 

Class is also important in this TV show because the show focuses on the upper class and how they live. The point of the programme is to show to the audience what it is like living in the upper class in order to make the audience feel a if they want to live the same way. The audience for this programme are working class which means that the aspire to live like the upper class. By exaggerating the upper class the audience will be more attracted to watch the tv show because they want to experience what is like. In the Made in Chelsea it also gives a negative representation of class because due to the characterisation of the people on the show it gives an overall bad representation of everyone in Chelsea. By Made and Chelsea only showing one side of Chelsea means that all the people who aren't like the people on the show are seen like them anyway. You could argue that it is a positive representation of Chelsea because it does show the nicer side of London. Instead of focusing on the downsides to London, they are looking at elegance of London by including shots of London's architecture and popular tourist destinations.

Rich Kids of Beverly Hills is a TV shows based around some of the richest, young adults living in Beverly Hills. This program is to show the lifestyle of some of the people in Beverly hills. In this TV show I think that they show a positive representation of the young people living in Beverly Hills. Due to the show focusing on some of the richest kids, the audience is able to see what they do with their money. An example of positive representations shown in Rich Kids of Beverly Hills is when they have a blood donation party. They use their status to raise awareness and get people to donate blood. This is a positive representation because it shows that they are using their money to do good deeds and help other charities. However, there are negative representations of the people in the show. Often the characters within the show get into arguments over what some people would say, little things. For example, in one episode it shows two girls getting into an argument about a photo on Instagram because she thinks that she didn’t look good in it. This is a negative representation of not only the people who live in Beverly hills but young adults and the audience may see the characters in the show thinking that they are self centered and spoilt. The audience may end up to believe that allot of young adults are like this and that the people in Beverly Hills are also just as bad.

The class that is shown in Rich Kids of Beverly Hills is upper class. This is an important factor of the show because the audience are supposed to aspire to the characters on the show and want to live the life that they live. By showing the upper class life style, people are more likely to watch it because they want to experience it.

Geordie Shore is a TV programme where a group of people are put into a house for six weeks. The main focus of the programme is around the party life of the young adults living in Newcastle. This programme negatively represents the people living in Newcastle because the audience watch the show to look down on people. The characters on the tv show, again like the Made in Chelsea cast, are all very similar. The characters are loud, crazy and sometimes aggressive. The show is known for its crazy and massive parties where the people get drunk and do stupid things. This is a negative representation of the people in Newcastle as it focuses more on the down side to the city as it looks at the club scenes/atmosphere. The characters in this, like made in Chelsea, follow the stereotypes. In the program it shows the characters going out to clubs and getting drunk. This follows the stereotypes as it gives the idea to the audience that they are out of control and that they are loud people. You could argue that there are some positive representations of people living Newcastle as the show could be suggesting that they like to have fun and that they are sociable people. This is positive because even though the show focuses on a small group of people the audience use that to make judgement on the larger group of people. This means the audience gets the positive impression on the people of Newcastle. Class isn’t the main focus of the TV show, but the characters in the TV show are working class. Geordie Shore is aimed at the middle class because they will want to experience what is like to be working class and they want to see how other people live.

WEEKLY NEWS 22!!

BBC news reports on a stolen fire engine.

Two men aged 66 and 19 were arrested this morning after they had stolen a fire engine and then they went on to crash it into cars and houses. No one was injured ( except form one of the two men) in this event but allot of damage was created from the crash. Fire officers also said that there was damaged caused when the two men broke into the fire station to still the fire engine. This incident took place in Northern Ireland in Larne.

The issue with this is that it was to easy for the men to get a hold of the fire engine in the first place and that they were putting lives at risk when driving the fire engine recklessly. This is important for people to know about because if two men were able to break into the fire station, some one else could go further by breaking into another facility.

In my opinion I don't think that it should of been that easy for the men to get access to the vehicle and that the fire service should of been looking after their equipment. because so many people rely on the emergency services, they need to make sure that they are able to monitor everything they can in so nothing like this could happen again. 

The Intouchables.

The Intouchables.

Key Cast: Omar Sy and Francois Cluzet

Director: Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano

Writer: Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Themes: Friendship, love

Release: September 2012

Budget: 9,500,000 (euro's).

Key Scenes: 

A key scene within this film is when Driss is at Philippe's birthday and Driss starts to play the music that he listens too. This is important as it shows to the audience that Driss is now sharing part of his life with Philippe. This shows the two characters bonding further as they start to embrace the completely different backgrounds each other come from. This also shows to the audience that they have become the most unlikely of friends as they now trust each other to share information about their life. This is the same when Phillippe takes Driss paragliding. They are both experiencing each others life style and connecting with each other when they do this.

A key scene is shown right at the beginning of the film where we see Driss and Phillippe are in the car and they get pulled over by the police. This is important because it entices and attracts the audience to watch the film because they want to know what their story is and why they are in that situation. It also sets up the rest of the film because it this scene shows an event in the characters future then the film continues starting from the beginning of their friendship. 

The main theme of the film is friendship and these two scene clearly show and back it up. The two scenes shows the audience how they bonded and what their friendship was like.

Micro-features: 

An important micro-feature is performance as the point of the film is to show the audience that even though they are completely different they still became really good friends. The performance is important as the audience follow certain stereotypes of the characters within the film just from the first impressions. From the beginning of the film the audience decides what type of person the character is. So the performance is important as over time we see the characters develop and exceed the audiences expectations. Also the film is a comedy so the performance is particularly important because the characters have to make the audience laugh whilst also trying to present a serious message about disability and stereotypes.

Disability is a main theme in this film as the main character, Phillippe is a quadriplegic after a paragliding accident. Disability is shown positively as Philippe doesn't let his disability hold him back. He still goes paragliding and still leads a normal life by finding a love interest. This is important as in the media disabled people are often shown to be reliant on others and unable to live a normal life. This film goes against this by showing the main character, Philippe, living a happy life where he is able to do what everyone else can do.
However,disability is also shown negatively. In the first scene of the movie Philippe and Driss are speeding in a car when they attract the attention of the police. At this point Driss uses Philippe's disability to get out of trouble with the police. This is a negative representation because it shows to the audience that some people treat disabled people differently and that some people use their disability in order to get certain things.

Comparables:

A film that could be compared to 'The Intouchables' is 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004 Clint Eastwood). Although it is not a comedy it still has the main theme of friendship and raises the issues on disability. The similar themes and storyline of this film are similar to The Intouchables as it shows how people come together in order to help someone less fortunate. Both films heavily rely on friendship in order to make the audience  feel sympathy and also connect with the characters.

WEEKLY NEWS 21!!

The Oscars. Leonardo DiCaprio

At the 88th Oscars, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar for Best Actor for the film Revenant. Leo winning the award was the most tweeted moment in the Oscars history. The Oscars were covered by several news channels as it is one of the biggest events in the film industry.

Although the awards were the main focus of the event, the issue with the "Oscars so white" still played a massive role. The comedian and actor, Chris Rock (the host of the 88th Oscars) made comments about the issue through out the night saying he counted "at least 15 black people"

The issue with the news reports about the oscars is that they are mainly negative saying that Chris Rock went to far with some of his jokes and that the "Oscars so white" is a serious matter that should not be made fun of. In my opinion I think that this Chris Rocks approach to the issue should not be frowned upon as I think that it made the event less serious. Although it is a serious issue, it was a good thing to see the other side of the arguments by making it more humorous as it showed peoples different opinions to the matter.