Chappelle's Show And South Park example essay topic

A few decades ago television consisted of a small number of channels, today however there are more different channels than one can watch in a full day. Because a media company's number one goal, like every other corporation, is to earn the largest profit possible, media companies use segmentation to target niche audiences. Moreover, fragmentation-the large increase in the number of channels-has also created niche audiences. So, what's the big deal with fragmentation and audience segmentation? By creating niche audiences, both fragmentation and segmentation make advertisers' jobs easier. For instance, if a company wants to advertise toys, then the company will buy airtime on the network Nickelodeon; since Nickelodeon has children's programming.

The creation of niche audiences produces certain social questions about free will and freedom of speech; because audience groups are created and constructed. The following paper will examine two cable networks, Comedy Central and Oxygen, to determine the effects of such programming. First off, Oh! The Oxygen Network aired the film Whale Rider on the night of Monday, April 5, 2004. The following will be an analysis of the advertisements that were shown from nine to ten o'clock, and thus one can determine which audiences were targeted. Whale Rider is a film about a young Maori girl that wants to be the next leader of her tribe, but is at the same time shown resistance from her grandfather.

Paikea, the young girl, wants to participate in the training sessions conducted by her grandfather; but her grandfather is old fashioned and doesn't believe that a girl can become the chief. Paikea knows that she is destined to be the next chief and gets in trouble a number of times for her relentless attempts at trying to participate in the exercises. The movie has a subplot dealing with the relationship between Paikea and her father, but the film mainly revolves around Paikea's struggle to prove herself worthy to her grandfather Koro. Even though Paikea is much better than the boys at performing the ceremonial exercises, her grandfather is blinded by his prejudice. The film ends with a herd of whales being attracted to Paikea and getting stranded on the beach. Koro finally accepts Paikea's destiny when she risks her life by riding on the back of a whale to direct them back to the ocean.

The advertisements that were aired during the film included weight loss products-such as Jenny Craig, hair and beauty products-such as Revlon lipstick and Loreal shampoo, women's media products-such as the Ellen Show and the film Riding in Cars with boys, food-such as Prego and Pop Secret Popcorn, cleaning items-such as Woolite and Lysol, birth control-such as Ortho Evva patch, car insurance-such as G eiko and Allstate, and department stores-such as Stein mart. Surprisingly there were only four commercial breaks within the hour each lasting about three minutes. It's not hard to decipher that the typical Oxygen viewer is a female in her thirties, white, and suburban. The Oxygen Network tries to compete with Lifetime-another women's network-by targeting an younger audience. Usually Lifetime airs Golden Girl episodes or a clich'e movie that portrays Princess Diana, for example.

The film Whale Rider is very contemporary and appeals to a younger demographic because of its vibrant scenes, and the fact that the protagonist is young. The characters in the film are also more likely to be accepted by a young generation, where as an older person would not be able to relate to some of the characters. For example, the film contains a scene in which the elderly women are smoking marijuana. Paikea's father also does the unconventional by deciding to go to Europe where he fell in love with a woman; all this while his daughter stayed with his parents. Moreover, one can easily tell that the network is targeting the female demographic. Just the plot of the movie makes this point undeniable: a young girl overcoming the hardship of discrimination.

In my opinion the film is meant to target a person that is inner directed as according to the VALS system. The movie deals with a social issue-discrimination, the protagonist has a mission-to prove herself worthy and fulfill her destiny, and the film is, for a lack of a better word, artsy. People who are inner directed have lifestyles that are mission oriented, individualistic, socially involved and artistic. The film fits the inner directed psycho graph perfectly. Furthermore, the commercials aired on the network correspond to the stereotypical thirty year old woman.

For example, make up and hair products are mainly used by women. The food items mentioned, a pasta sauce named Prego and Pop Secret Popcorn, are items that a typical woman would be interested in. In a household, the woman usually prepares the food and cleans the house, thus it makes sense that the food and cleaning commercials would be shown on the Oxygen Network. There were a number of car insurance commercials during the film because women are good customers for insurance companies.

Women tend to be more responsible than men and thus are less likely to be in an accident or miss a payment. The fact that the Ortho Evva birth control patch was advertised suggests that the audience is young; since birth control is mainly used by women in their twenties and thirties. On the other hand the psycho graphic characteristics of the film did not correspond with the characteristics of the advertisements. In my opinion the products were aimed at outer directed individuals. For instance, Jenny Craig, the weight loss product, targets people that are concerned about their image and want to impress others.

The hair product and make up commercials also convey the same message by showing a famous celebrity or a young beautiful woman looking stunning because they use a certain product. People who are outer directed are belong ers and emulators and live lifestyles that are visible and material. The next analysis will be of Comedy Central and the shows South Park and Chappelle's Show which aired on Wednesday, April 7, 2004 from nine to ten o'clock. South Park is a thirty minute comedy that is aired on Comedy Central and is produced and created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The show originally grew out of a short film entitled "Jesus vs. Frosty" that was animated and created by the duo.

Four foulmouthed children, Kyle, Stan, Cartman, and Kenny, are the main characters, and they have outlandish and bizarre adventures in the town of South Park, Colorado. The show is one of Comedy Central's most successful shows and is now in its eighth season. This specific episode was a parody of the film Save the Last Dance. Stan and four others have to compete with a dance group from a different town because "they got served". Chappelle's Show is a thirty minute comedy skit show that focuses on current social issues.

Dave Chappelle, the host, uses satire and irony to explore different events occurring in the world. Chappelle tends to use hypothetical situations to asses certain racist and derogatory stereotypes. For instance, one of the episodes contained a skit in which a gay Ku Klux Klan member asks an African American family if they "could go back to Africa" in a flamboyant manner. The episode on April seventh included Wayne Brady as a guest. A scene was staged in which Dave was replaced by Wayne and Dave became extremely jealous. One of the funnier scenes from the show was a parody of the film Training Day in which Wayne Brady portrayed Denzel Washington.

Wayne forced Dave to smoke PCP and shot a person in cold blood. Chappelle's Show usually includes a musical guest at the end of the show. Past musical guests have included Mos Def, Talib Quali, Snoop Dogg, and Ludacris, and Mos Def has also acted in a few scenes. The commercials aired during the shows include video games-such as Splinter Cell and the Suffering, movies-such as the Punisher, Hellboy, the Johnson family vacation, and Kill Bill, T mobile-a cell phone company, and Enzyte-a natural male enhancement. The shows were each about twenty minutes with the rest of the airtime devoted to commercials. Both of the shows appeal to individuals between the ages of 15 and 25.

Because South Park contains a lot of explicit language and content, older viewers generally do not find it interesting or entertaining. Both of the shows have edgy comedy and content that are mainly appealing to a younger crowd. For example, Chappelle's Show has a lot of racist comedy which could be harder to handle for an older generation; since they might have experienced similar situations. The hip hop and rap musical guests that Dave Chappelle features are musicians that are also featured on MTV, a channel made popular by the young generation. Moreover, fans of hip hop and rap are mostly African American. Thus the basis that a corporate executive would use to classify the demographic for Chappelle's Show is African Americans between the ages of 15 and 25.

Furthermore the parodies of films that the two shows use are films that are viewed by young audiences. For instance, Save the Last Dance is a typical teenager film. Chappelle's Show and South Park are aimed at inner directed individuals as according to the VALS system. Just as mentioned earlier above, inner directed people are individualistic, experimental, and socially conscious. The show South Park deals with current social issues. For example, a recent episode addressed the hype over the Passion of the Christ film.

The writers showed how the film caused anti-Semitism; when Cartman took on a Hitler like role and organized the town against the Jewish community. Furthermore, both of the shows contain jokes about marijuana and other drugs, and thus the audience has to be somewhat experimental and individualistic to be accepting of such jokes. Surprisingly Enzyte commercials were shown a number of times during the hour. It would seem as though the Enzyte Company would chose a different network to air the commercial since Enzyte is a male enhancing product. One would think that middle aged men going through a life crisis would be most likely to use the product. Most people that play video games are young males, so it's not surprising that there were so many video game commercials.

Even within the commercial one can see that there is an eighteen year old boy that's enjoying the game. The movies based on comic books, The Punisher and Hellboy, are also aimed at the same audience. Boys are usually the readers of comic books in their youth; so when a movie comes out based on a super hero, the readers of the comic book and those that used to be readers will be very interested in the movie. Furthermore, those films and games contain a lot of violence and action which are generally more pleasing to males.

In my opinion the individuals aimed for the aforementioned products are interrelated. Interrelated individuals are a combination of outer and inner directed people. The films and games are purchased by the individuals for the purpose of pleasure, but at the same time those products have artistic value. Moreover some films contain moral lessons or deal with social issues. The break up of channels has had an overall positive impact on speech. One is easily able to watch what one desires.

In my opinion, fragmentation and segmentation have not created niche audiences, but have accommodated for niche audiences. Because individuals are diverse, niche groups existed before the increase in the number of channels. Furthermore, targeting specific audiences is still not an easy task for corporations. The film Whale Rider, for instance, is an inner directed product but the commercials shown were not compatible. In addition, when corporations know which audiences to target, then they save money on advertising. These savings can be passed onto consumers in the form of lower prices.