To begin with, Amy Winehouse, its quite hard to choose where to start, her life has been like a rollercoaster from the day her talent was spotted and she and her beehive entered the world of music. Amy has always been praised for her talent and music ability, the articles written about her refer to her as “The soul singer”, “most talented and important musical artist of her generation”. When she is refer to as “the soul singer” the word singer shows that the media recognise her talent, as they could have easily referred to her as just Amy, but it shows despite her “battling drug problems”, people realise what a credit she is to the music industry, so in this case, an article detailing her admission to rehab earlier in the week presents her in a very positive light about the girls talent, even though the articles about a negative subject.
But on the other hand they will easily highlight the problems she has had, in the same article” despite the singer’s lengthy and public downward spiral” The word lengthy makes it sound as though her problems have been going on too long and that she should have been able to sort them out. This therefore suggests that they see her as an unmotivated character, so she’s being presented in a more negative way than before.
The singer was then described in a separate article after leaving rehab in an extremely positive light. “Winehouse looked a million miles away from the girl who entered rehab 3 weeks ago” this is shown by the use of the word “million” really emphasis’s her transformation, so amy is again being looked at in a positive light. The transformation is then backed up with before and after images, with the now one being considerably bigger, suggesting that they are trying to only shed a positive light of the singer and that they are putting her past behind her, giving her a fresh start. The article is headed “new looks!, celebs have undergone transformations”, this basically sums up what the pictures and article portray, so even though they do refer to her drug abuse and depression about not going to the Grammy’s. The title obviously states that Amy’s new beginning is a good thing and that is how they want the readers to view the article, so far Amy has been presented as a very positive person, even after her drug abuse, showing that the public and magazines see her as a good and talented individual.
Unlike the other article about the singer, the third one is an actually interview with Amy and it shows that mentally, she sounds quite to stable, where in the others it only mentions her image and what she’s doing to her body with her drug use. “behind her wit lies a will of steel” the metaphor will of steel, implies that underneath the fragile, confused body is a very strong minded person, comparing her will to steel emphasis’s this as steel is exceptionally strong, so this comparison again shows her in a positive light.
So overall, Amy Winehouse hasn’t had the worst time with the media, in fact the articles usually include praise, as shown. Lucky for her, as many celebrities don’t have it this way, Kate moss being one of them.
Moss has been in light recently because of her relationship with Pete Doherty but those aren’t her only problems.
She is being presented as though she is struggling with things, “desperately trying to ditch the fags”. The word “desperately” really emphasis’s that she’s having battles with her smoking addiction, suggesting to the reader that she’s not very strong willed, so therefore building up a negative image of the supermodels personality.
The article then continues to add to her negative image by ending the article with “good luck with that, Kate”, suggesting she’s going to need the luck to give up, implying that she isn’t a determined character and probably wont stop smoking. So again the supermodel has been put down by the media.
In contrast to the negative newspaper article, she is then presented very positively in a magazine article. She is referred to as “the supermodel”, which shows that they acknowledge her career. If they were trying to give a negative overview of her, they would probably just refer to her by her name, and not mention anything of her very successful career. So by using this term to refer to her it presents her in a very positive and successful way.
The article is telling the readers that Kate is back, and she looks just as good as before. The text in the article is surrounded by images of Kate’s new adverts for Longchamp. The images are bright and shows that the supermodel is back, and confirming that she does look very good. So, she is presented in the media very positively.
Kate positive streak also continues as she has been the face of Rimmel London’s make up range for a number of years and there are article in shop windows, magazines and newspapers.
As Kate is the face of a major makeup brand it automatically suggests that she’s worthy of setting an example for people and it gives people the impression that she is a good, successful person as otherwise Rimmel London wouldn’t want her to advertise for them. So by representing this makeup company she is being present very positively in the media, showing that her career is very successful.
In the same Rimmel London advert , Kate is show as if people look up to her, imitate her slightly, as at the bottom of the full page advert is says “Kate wears full volume liquid lip colour in vibrant red.” As it states her name it suggests that the company acknowledge that people copy her style and that they thought it necessary to include which colour she was wearing so that people could wear the same colour, so this presents her in a very positive way.
In general Kate Moss is displayed in a variety of lights in the media, from an addicted, 40-a-day smoker to a top class supermodel who has just made a big and successful comeback into the modelling industry.
But compared to Kate Moss, Keira Knightly has been viewed in quite a negative way with the press, often focusing on her weight and comparing her to her Pirates of the Caribbean , 1, 2 and 3, in her role as Elizabeth Swan.
To begin with the young actress is presented and compared very negatively with other underweight celebs. The article is entitled, “It seems some celebs just love the skeletal look.” the way it uses the word “some” suggests that Keira knightly and other underweight celebrities are in the minority, the rest of then being supposedly “normal”. So by suggesting that she is in the minority, it immediately implies that its not right, even if she is just natural very skinny. So the media are presenting her negatively, saying that she is a bad example, as she is underweight. The title also uses the word “skeletal”, in my opinion a hyperbole, as this word implies that you can basically see all her bones in her body, which is untrue as the picture shown alongside the article does not confirm this, so the word “skeletal” was undoubtedly added for effect, as it again present Keira in a negative light to the general public.
Another magazine of a similar content also implies that she is underweight by showing an enlarged and grainy picture of the celebrity, with the slight hint or her ribcage showing through the skin being the main focus of the article. There is no caption with the A4 sized picture, but because it is grainy and of poor quality it makes the actress look positively ill. So by showing an unflattering picture of Keira, it again shows her as a very negative role model, and implying she has problems with her weight.
On the other hand in the same article, she is presented positively and is recognised for her role in The Pirates of the Caribbean.
