Candidate number Candidate’s full name
4003 Isabella Avanzato
Record of initial ideas
To be completed by the candidate
This page records initial meeting(s) with your supervisor to agree your project ideas. Additional pages can be
submitted if more than one idea has been explored.
My idea(s) for topic/title
I would like to do a project that relates to media or law, as I am interested in these areas and intend to study
something linked to these subjects in the future. Five possible ideas I have are as follows:
'How is the male gaze used in advertising in the 21st century?' - I am passionate about feminism which I could
explore through this topic, as well as it being linked to media which I am interested in. In this I could perhaps
explore examples of advertising that employs the male gaze, such as the male M&M characters versus
Ms.Green, or the contrast between how men and women are photographed on Rolling Stone magazine covers.
In addition, I could research into sexualization, the female gaze, the demonisation of femininity; tests such as
the Badgers & Winters or Bechdel test,; and theories: foucauldian disciplinary power, and objectification theory.
'How does the media affect how UK politicians / female politicians are perceived?' - This would expand my
interests further than my Politics A-level and link well to my interest in media. If I were to focus on female UK
politicians, one idea I could explore is the glass cliff phenomenon where women in leadership roles are more
likely than men to be promoted to leadership roles during periods of crisis when the chance of failure is high -
such as Theresa May during Brexit. Otherwise I could explore the effects of marketing, for example how Boris
Johnson (who was privately educated and comes from a wealthy family) is marketed to appeal more to the
general public - for example his real name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson yet he is called by his first
name by the public.
Media law & the policing of influencers - I am equally interested in media and law so this topic would combine
both very well. I am unsure on the question for this idea, but the topic is very current with the rise of social
media, influencers and cancel culture. I could evaluate to what extent influencers follow the law, including ASA
and CAP codes - for example not illustrating clearly their post is an advertisement, or asking followers to
participate in food challenges that encourage binge eating. In addition, I could also research whether
influencers have a legal obligation to tell their followers when a post is edited or that they have bought
followers.
Are celebrities above the law? / Does the criminal justice system favour celebrities? - I am interested in
studying law so the question would support this, yet I can bring in media as well by looking at how the media
presents these celebrities. This topic could be good for an EPQ as I could compare how ordinary people are
punished by the criminal justice system in comparison to how celebrities are dealt with. It would be important to
research into varying factors that could influence this too. Also I would be interested to look at how if the way
celebrities get treated in jail differs to the general public. If I were to choose this idea, I could also incorporate
elements of the previous idea into the project too as it would be relevant as influencers are a more modern
form of a celebrity.
Law & female beauty standards - Although this links to law which I would like to study, it also means I could
explore feminism as beauty standards often stem from the patriarchy. I could explore how even though there
are statute laws in place to protect women, such as the Equality Act 2020, often female beauty standards are
still stereotyped - for example for air hostesses, waitresses, and school outfits still which may have mandatory
makeup or skirts.
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, Candidate number Candidate’s full name
4003 Isabella Avanzato
My ideas for research and development of my project
I narrowed down my five ideas and have chosen 'Are celebrities above the law? / Does the criminal justice
system favour celebrities?' as my topic, as it interests me the most, combines law and media, and there should
be many resources of different types (e.g. legal documents versus online tabloids) that will be applicable. My
aims are to become more knowledgeable in depth in my topic, prepare myself for further education, and to
improve my independence, confidence, and skills like time management, planning, essay writing and
referencing.
I aim to cover three main areas in my project. Firstly comparing how ordinary people are treated by the criminal
justice system in comparison to celebrities, then celebrities who appear above the law and those who don't,
and finally exploring factors that influence results (i.e. gender, race, wealth, popularity, appearance, and type of
celebrity e.g. athlete or musician etc). The EPQ generally takes 120 hours to complete so I will have to manage
my time effectively to ensure that all my research is done before embarking on my written product.
The purpose of research in this context is to gather different information to enhance my understanding of the
criminal justice system and celebrities in relation to it, to help form my arguments, and to back them up with
evidence so they are more reliable. Although, I may face some barriers in obtaining research. For example, up
to this point I have not always been able to access resources as they are either owned by universities, or are
locked academic journals and legal documents - so I may have to contact organisations to access them in the
future. Similarly, I do not have a great knowledge of legal jargon which means some resources are harder to
understand. As I plan to use CAP and ASA codes that apply to influencers and Law Reports to research
celebrity case studies, I will need to do more research into this.
So far, through google scholar I came across the article 'The Entertainment Effect: Do Those Within The
Entertainment Industry Receive Preferential Treatment When Facing The Justice System?' by Andrea L.
Sturniolo. Although it is by a university student so is not as reliable, it has helped provide me with background
knowledge and an insight into varying cases of how celebrities who have broken the law have been treated.
Additionally, I have started reading the book 'Celebrity Culture and Crime: The Joy of Transgression' by Ruth
Penfold-Mounce, who is a successful senior lecturer in criminology at the University of York so is more reliable.
It looks at the link between crime and celebrities, drawing on Foucault's theory of governance, so will be a
useful resource once completed.
What I intend to research next is specific celebrities who have committed varying crimes, expanding on those I
have brainstormed so far (including: Robert Downey Junior, OJ Simpson, George Michael, Britney Spears, The
Beatles, Michael Jackson, R Kelly, Harvey Weinstein, Caroline Flack, Donald Trump and Oscar Pistorius). For
example, Caroline Flack was arguably treated the same way or worse than the general public, versus Donald
Trump and UK MPs who broke Covid-19 laws who seem to be above the law as they haven't been punished. In
addition, I would like to explore if crimes should be judged by the context of the time period or present day
standards - as seen through the Top of The Pops DJs of the 1980s. Also, I would like to potentially conduct
primary research to see if the public believe celebrities are above the law and their opinions on why or why not
this may be the case.
My summary of the comments and advice from my supervisor
My supervisor agreed with the topic I have chosen as I should choose something I am interested in (in this
case media and celebrities), perhaps relevant to what I would like to study at university (law), and must not
cross over with my A-level specifications (as 'How does the media affect how UK politicians / female politicians
are perceived?' would have done with my Politics A-level). Now I have narrowed my question ideas down to
this topic, my supervisor advised that I should narrow it down further. I have also learnt in my taught content
sessions that broad titles such as these often weaker as it could result in my essay structure and argument
becoming confusing and research will be too broad for me. I should also be aware of reliability and bias in
resources I use so although I should continue researching broadly as I have been doing, I should try and use
some more academic works. Additionally, in order to keep up to date with my EPQ my supervisor suggested I
should look at time management and planning techniques - such as mind maps, revision schedules, urgent-
important matrix or SMART goals which we have learnt about in taught content sessions.
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, Candidate number Candidate’s full name
4003 Isabella Avanzato
Modifications I have made as a result of my discussion with my supervisor
As my topic is too broad, I have decided to narrow it down further by either perhaps focusing on a certain crime,
choosing celebrities from certain locations (e.g UK or USA), contrasting two celebrities, or evaluating if
celebrities previously were above the law in the past compared to now. By continuing to research it will help me
discover a more specific line of enquiry I am interested in to narrow these ideas down to my working title.
For time management, I have decided to use a Gantt chart with goals for each month as it visually shows
progress (which benefits me as a visual learner) yet isn't too confining, rather than other techniques my
supervisor and taught content sessions suggested such as mind maps which are too broad for me, or schedules
for each day which I'd find too restrictive. By following my Gantt chart, I should have my working title ready by
next week after further research into the topic.
Furthermore, after discussing types of resources I am more aware of bias and unreliability, especially as my
topic is very relevant to media so lots of my online resources (such as wikipedia or tabloids) will likely be biased.
Therefore, I have made a research table where I can gather my sources and analyse the reliability of them. I will
also try and use more academic sources which I can access through e.g. JSTOR and Google Scholar, as well as
my local library which I plan to visit.
Date 03/11/2021
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