Super.Human (Tokyo 2020) (Component 1)

Question 1

Who are represented in the Super.Human video?

Answer 1

Disabled people

Question 2

Is disability represented as Positive, Negative or Neutral within Super.Human?

Answer 2

Positive, shown to be able even if struggle is shown

Question 3

How does SuperHuman use verisimilitude?

Answer 3

Showing the reality of the struggles of the athletes such as the women in the wheelchair unable to get into the cafe.

Question 4

What typical conventions of charity adverts can be see within Super.Human?

Answer 4

• gore factors to form emotions
• shocking and hard hitting visuals
  -Tracking shots follow protagonist to involve the audience.
  -Close up shots position audience in close proximity to those in need.
• Slo mo, B&W, direct MOA

Question 5

How can the music in the advert be described?

Answer 5

The music can be described as contrapuntal which means the music contradicts what is happening in the advert.

Question 6

Why has the Super.Human diverged away from the conventions of charity adverts?

Answer 6

Charity adverts suffer from compassion fatigue due to the consistent emotional imagery, Super.Human has used other codes and conventions in order to avoid this problem and to avoid the typical representation that disabled people have within media

Question 7

Which cinematographer recorded the Super.Human advertisement?
And what film had he previously worked on?

Answer 7

Bradford Young - Oscar nominated cinematographer and first African American cinematographer to be nominated for an award in 2017 for his film ‘Arrival’.

Question 8

What was the Super.Human advertisement created to promote?

Answer 8

The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics

Question 9

What is the phrase used to describe the desensitisation of audiences to empathy based advertising?

Answer 9

Compassion fatigue

Question 10

What is the use of cartoon footage in Super. Human. an example of?

Answer 10

Intertextuality

Question 11

What happened to the ‘camera lens’ when it said “super.human”?

Answer 11

It smashed

Question 12

What is the name of the ad campaigns from 2012 and 2016?

Answer 12

Meet the SuperHumans

Question 13

What does compassion fatigue mean ?

Answer 13

Compassion fatigue is the physical and mental exhaustion and emotional withdrawal experienced when one has seen too many emotionally hard selling adverts.
(STRETCH - What is an example of an advert that causes compassion fatigue ?
- e.g water aid adverts)

Question 14

what is the importance of song in background

Answer 14

•intertextual reference to Buggsy Malone’s ‘So you want to be a boxer’ and shows the struggles of training and him being made fun of can link to disabled struggles
•can attract older audiences

Question 15

Who is swimmer Ellie Simmonds competing against in the advert?

Answer 15

Her past self

Question 16

How does Super Human avoid Compassion Fatigue?

Answer 16

• No Voice Over
• Upbeat soundtrack
• Creates relatability through struggles

Question 17

What is the slogan shown at the end of the advert

Answer 17

“To be a Paralympian there’s got to be something wrong with you”

Question 18

What disability does the weightlifter have?

Answer 18

He’s an amputee (no legs)

Question 19

What is the effect of the slogan

Answer 19

•Is ironic and re-contextualises common negative assumptions around disabled people
•Is self-deprecating and adds to the humour of the advert

Question 20

Why and how does superhuman break previous established stereotypes about disabled people in the 2020 advertisement

Answer 20

They focused on the more human side of the Paralympic athletes rather than the “super human” stereotypes used in their old advertisements