OSP: Zendaya CSP - Language and Representations

 Introduction and background reading 

Read this Vox article on what makes Zendaya a great celebrity. Answer the following questions:

1) What was the 2015 Oscar controversy involving Zendaya? 

Guilianna commented on her hair and how Zendaya would smell like patchouli oil.

2) How did Zendaya control the narrative of that controversy?

She addressed the matter by saying that she showed up in that way to represent the good side of her heritage

3) What examples are provided of Zendaya using her celebrity to raise issues of race and social justice?

She brings up the fact that there were a few racist remarks made about her and how she looked and she says how they affect people.

4) Zendaya insisted on a black family in Disney’s KC Undercover show. How can we link this to the ideas of Paul Gilroy? 

This can link to Gilroy's theory of double consciousness and how black people are represented through the black people on the screen.

5) Who is Zendaya’s stylist and how did Zendaya use fashion and appearance to develop her celebrity persona? 

Law Roach does all of her costume and make up.

6) How has Zendaya influenced the representation of characters she has played? 

Such as the last question: she wanted a black family to be introduced into the series of KC undercover.

7) How did LL Cool J describe Zendaya? 

"Shes cool, you can manufacture fame, you can manufacture publicity, but you can't manufacture cool"

8) Do you agree with his assessment? Is Zendaya authentically cool or just another manufactured celebrity? 

I'm not too sure but I would probably say that she is a mix of both as she does seem a bit more relaxed and becomes serious when the time comes.

Zendaya textual analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Zendaya's social media. 

Social media analysis

1) Visit Zendaya's Twitter feed. Analyse her use of tweets - are they promoting her film/TV work, linked to fashion or sponsorship work or more socially or politically oriented? 

They seem to promote a lot of fashion related content.

2) Look at Zendaya's Instagram account. She has said this is the one account that is always 100% created by her - can you find any evidence of that in the way posts or images are constructed? 

they include screenshots from her fashion shows and movies she has done, but I would probably say that it isn't entirely made by her as it still contains a lot of fashion images in a studio way.

3) Watch Zendaya's 73 questions Vogue interview. How is this constructed to create a particular representation of Zendaya? 

She is seen to be more "down-to-earth" and "relatable" as she is in quite a normal setting and how it is in here home and the way that she talks to the audience.

4) Research Zendaya across any other social media accounts - e.g. Facebook. Do you notice any differences in how she represents herself on different platforms? Comment on text, images or tone/content.  

The facebook appears to have the same sort of content however they contain some activist content and charity content.

Representations

Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the article on Zendaya, social media, feminism and celebrity (MM81 - page 12). Answer the following questions:

1) What the concerns around social media discussed at the start of the article?

It’s not a new criticism of social media that it wreaks havoc on our brains, especially those of young people.

2) What example is provided of Zendaya’s authenticity – or possible lack of authenticity? 

She appears to be honest with her audience and how in 2017 she posted a "reacting to my first video" video in which she mentions how everything was fabricated in order for the children who were watching the show at the time.

3) What is the one social media app that Zendaya manages entirely herself?

Instagram

4) What are the issues highlighted by Billie Eilish regarding self-representation and feminism? 

She talks about how the comments are mean and for that reason she no longer reads them as they antagonise her for being a woman.

5) How authentic do YOU feel Zendaya’s media representation is? Is it the real Zendaya or a media construction designed to look authentic? 

I feel like there is a lot of her own things in her social media accounts as they appear to be relatable to audiences, there are also other things that she does such as supporting the feminist movement and how she donates to charity and is a partner of one.