2.4.2

Quality Street - Narrative

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Intertextuality and Narrative

Intertextuality helps to create meaning within the advert. Narrative is constructed in the advert.

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Intertextuality

  • Intertextuality helps to create meaning within the advert.
  • The regency period is referred to within the advert through the use of the portrait of Miss Sweetly and Major Quality.
  • The costumes and hairstyles of the character pay homage to the Regency period, and offers nostalgia for the audience by helping to remind them of better days.
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The Regency period

  • The Regency period was between 1811 and 1837 when England was under the rule of the Prince Regent and was defined by elegance.
  • This time period shared many characteristics with the 1950’s in terms of the developments made in technology, the population boom and appreciation of architecture and fashion being considered more highly.
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The characters

  • The characters of Miss Sweetly and Major Quality have become synonymous with the Quality Street brand.
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Narrative

  • Within the advert Propp's theory of narrative can be applied.
  • The man who is centred and surrounded by the women, appears to be shown as the protagonist and the hero.
  • The advert can perpetuate a patriarchal narrative, reflecting the idea that society is unequal and men are at top of it making the decisions. This echoes the way society functioned during the 1950’s.
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Multiple narratives

  • The women on the other hand surround the man as if he is a saviour, making them damsels in distress who need saving.
  • The positioning of the characters helps to create different narratives:
    • Either the women are choosing a chocolate.
    • Or the man is choosing a woman.
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Costumes

  • The women are dressed in different colours with different hairstyles, mirroring the different choices that are available in the chocolate box.
  • The man's costume has connotations of formality and wealth.

Jump to other topics

1Overview

2Component 1: Section A

3Component 1: Section B

4Component 2: Section A

5Component 2: Section B

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