“It was an outpour of heartfelt emotion without bitterness”
“Has this World Cup seen the rebirth of England” was the heading and this is trying to imply the re-birth of the British togetherness and culture of yester year when it wasn’t taboo to show pride in England. This article shows great maturity and proves me wrong in my views about The Sun lacking power.It’s a very dignified article and it suits the dignified English exit and fans.
“We may have lost a football match yesterday, but this World cup has seen us grow up as a nation”
Compared to the views when England looses, this is a breath of fresh air, the usually element of scapegoating has gone from The Sun and bad behaviour has gone from the fans. The tone of these article’s has changed and now they are hailing the losers as our “heroes”, which would have been blasphemy. Mp also uses an image of English flags still being flown even when England has lost, its very symbolic upon the moment and shows the red blooded patriotism the article is trying to put across. This article is trying to etherise the good points from this world cup, and speaks of how well behaved on and off the pitch. Mainly the point is to a nations growth… He does this by telling how far the English have come. They counted their lucky stars to get to where they have gotten.
Also the point which the “Sun says” column is trying to present is to be proud, and it says how it has also become “trendy” to be flying the flag. Symbolising that people are showing their pride. The way this article is written it’s as though the writer is writing on out level, reminding us of the mountains which have been over come to get England where it was. It also tries to provide a comforting ending with hope. “Sven’s team is YOUNG and will be ready to fight again in 2006”.
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The next article is by John Humphrys for The Sunday Times. This article in my view puts a different spin on the whole mood of the moment. Even from its title you can tell this. “It’s a game of two halves: the over paid and the exploited”. The article ponders deeper into the whole situation of football at this moment. And this in my mind is in out of tune from all the other articles written, one of the very few which doesn’t show images on England, but shows an image of Inamoto. The whole tone of this article can be blamed on the fact that the reporter isn’t an Englishman, and that he is welsh. He takes a very sarcastic spin on the article, for he isn’t the stereotypical football fanatic. He is the stereotypic moaner, the old man down the on the other side of the fence who keeps all the balls which come over the garden fence. He sarcastically tells of how well the “yobs” have behaved.
“…Football-phobes like me need them. We wrinkle our delicate little noses with distaste and mutter: “what else would you expect”…”
Although this article is applauding the “yobs” for not being so thuggish, I don’t think that this article is very in tune with the moment, I’d even go so far to say that it isn’t very tasteful. I didn’t really think The Sunday Times was so upper class and snobbish. How wrong I was… He is very much a bitter man. Although he is off the point of the moment, he is very much on the pulse of the broader picture of football, on how overpaid the players are and how exploited the fans are. He takes a spectators and unbiased view to this aspect of football. He isn’t taken in by the hysteria.
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“Why flying the flag brought out the best in the English” by Patrick Collins for The Mail On Sunday brews very much on the moment when the final whistle was blown and how Seaman was comforted by the younger captained Beckham. That was very much a memorable moment in history, and there is an animation of the moment beside the article. But to be quite frank there wasn’t very realistic patriotism or power behind the article. It was very professional and tame compared to the emotions and the feelings aroused by the other articles. He is very much the narrator. And this is a weak diluted depiction of the article in The Sun.
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Now this really is a poorly written article by Tony Leonard for The Star. I would be horrified if this was the main article following the English defeat, for this wasn’t really an article as such, but more of a “where was you and a how did u react” fusion. This must have been a side article for there wasn’t really much in it. Even the title “one’s as sick as a parrot..” tells a lot about this article, very little about the football and more about the Royals. I’m not one to be reading The Star but this seems to me like a “slurred” article where no real passion has been invested. It was a bland and uninteresting article of which the highlight of was the little “did you know” fact of “The break-fast rush fell short of the 2,800 mega watts reached at the end of England’s 1990 World Cup semi-final defeat against Germany.”
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The Observers article by Rhymer Rigby is a very humorous one, which I found enlightening but also of a stark contrast to those other articles I have analysed before. It’s an article on how the Football fever has hit widely across the world, even to those which haven’t a team to support pick teams to enjoy this great tournament. The animation depicts this article to a T. It very funny and it hasn’t a lot to do with the football side, but the supporting side to the game. The writer comes across as a well travelled person who has been surprised by the football fever. But as it goes on to say… “Of course there’s one major constituency that isn’t too thrilled about all this – the women of Indonesia.”
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