MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS
In this album Katy Perry is being represented. Because she is naked it has connotations of the artist being sexually active, which also links to her facial expression. She is not smiling, but is tilting her head and squinting her eyes making her look sexual and seductive. Also the way in which she is positioned on the cloud, and the effect that makes it look as though it has been painted, it is similar to a naked portrait. Portraits are more often than not painted for celebrities, members of royalty or some one who is considered a person to admire. Because Katy Perry is represented in that way, it is playing with the audience by making us think that Perry is some sort of Godess. This is also done by laying her in the clouds. Because she is so high up that she is actually in the sky, it denotes that she is an artist to look up to, (maybe a role model) but certainly suggests how 'amazing' she is by presenting her laying in the clouds. The institution Katy Perry currently belongs to is Capitol Records, who are responsible for presenting the artist in this way. What may be an influence to how Katy Perry is being represented here is the fact that back in 1942, Capitol Records recorded their first song called 'Moon Dreams' by Martha Tilton. Because of the history link with how painted portraits were used to present someone important, their may also be a link here.
The way that Katy Perry is represented is an accurate judgement, which is shown within the music video to the song that the album features. Throughout many videos by Katy Perry, she is wearing revealing outfits, wearing very little or wearing nothing at all. Again this conotes the sexual desire and seduction.
Also, contrasting against this sexual and seductive use of representation, the artist is also presented as sweet. This message is put across by the background and lettering, which is made to look like candy cane and candyfloss. This contrast gives us mixed messages, giving different opinions to the audience. Doing this may help to attract a wider audience range, by appearing to be both naughty and nice.
MEDIA LANGUAGES & FORMS
The connotative levels within the album cover are that Katy Perry is in the male public eye. This is shown by what she is wearing (nothing) and the position in which she is lying in. Because her legs are up and her toes are pointed, it makes her look graceful. Her upper body shows an open arm line, which prevents them from blocking her face. It also makes her look comfortable in that situation because she isn't trying to hide her body. This also projects her as being confident, which again is shown by her position. The denotive levels of the album are that Katy Perry is a 'Godess'. She is shown laying in the clouds, making her look dreamy and heavenly. The significance of this is that it relates to the title of the album a lot; 'Teenage Dream'.
GENRE
The genre that this album artwork belongs to is pop music. The conventions that it follows makes it this genre, for example the use of bright and eye catching colours. It uses pink, red and blue as it's main colours which all stand out on the cover. The colour pink connotes sweet, romance, flirtatious and sexual. This is the ultimate message that Katy Perry is trying to put across here, therefore using this colour was crucual. Red clashes with pink, which makes the album cover quite unique. It both contrasts in looks, and connotations. The connotations of red are danger, warning, passion and love. These connotations are also a way in which Katy Perry is represented in the picture, and so using both of these colours shows a variety of attitudes for the artist. In some ways, this album cover goes against the conventions of a pop album. This is because it doesn't use an extreme close up as it's artwork, but uses a long shot. This allows us to see the full body of the artist which in some ways makes it quite controversial. This is because the artist is naked, and perhaps shows that because she is so popular, she is now that recognisable that the audience don't need to be presented with an extreme close up of the artist's face.
MEDIA INSTITUTIONS
Capitol Records are Katy Perry's current record label, and are American based. The influence that the record label may have had on this album is the fact that the label's first artist recording was Martha Tilton's 'Moon Dreams'. This reference to the history of the label links to the history of the representation. The album artwork is made to look like a painted portrait, which was done in the olden days instead of taking photographs. The record label is owned and controlled by Johnny Mercer and Buddy DeSylva. This matters because it was Mercer who over looked the recording of 'Moon Dreams', and that track would have influenced his idea to represent Katy Perry in this way.
MEDIA VALUES & IDEOLOGY
MEDIA AUDIENCES
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