Example Bank
Examples are your evidence. A Scholarship candidate walks into the exam with eight to twelve examples known deeply — text, industry context, audience reception, and the arguments each can serve. This page helps you build that bank.
What makes an example "Scholarship-ready": you can deploy it for at least three different concepts, you know how it was funded and distributed, you know how real audiences responded, and you can compare it with at least one other example. One example known this well beats ten known by title.
Your example bank
Add your own examples below. They are saved in this browser only (localStorage) — they won't follow you to another device, so use Export to back up or move your bank.
Add an example
No saved examples yet. Add your first one above — start with a text you already know well from class.
Suggested starting points by media form
These are categories of example, not a syllabus. Choose cases you can actually watch, read, and research — your independent knowledge is the point.
Film
- A Taika Waititi film (Boy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jojo Rabbit) — NZ voice, global circulation.
- A blockbuster whose marketing, casting, or reception became a cultural argument.
- A low-budget film that broke through — what it proves about industry gatekeeping.
Television
- A long-running NZ drama or soap (e.g. Shortland Street) as an institution: funding, representation over decades, audience loyalty.
- A reality format and its editing ethics, audience contracts, and franchise economics.
Streaming
- A non-English-language hit that travelled globally (e.g. Squid Game) — contra-flow and platform power.
- A high-profile cancellation or commissioning decision and what it reveals about the model.
Music video
- A music video that triggered representation debates — and the artist's response.
- A te reo Māori release that reached mainstream or global audiences — language revitalisation through pop form.
Advertising
- A brand "purpose" campaign that was praised, accused of woke-washing, or both — commodified politics.
- An iconic NZ campaign and what its humour or imagery assumes about national identity.
- Influencer marketing disclosure controversies — advertising disguised as authenticity.
Journalism
- An NZ investigative story with measurable consequences — journalism's case for itself.
- Newsroom closures/cutbacks in NZ and the funding debate that followed.
- One event covered very differently by two outlets — framing in action.
Social media
- A viral moment you can fully reconstruct: origin, amplification, monetisation, aftermath.
- A platform policy change (moderation, age limits, API access) and the power struggle around it.
- A creator's platform-dependence story: algorithm change, demonetisation, migration.
Gaming
- A game as narrative/representation case study — plus its fandom and modding culture.
- Monetisation ethics: loot boxes, live-service models, and regulation debates.
- Games as social platforms (concerts in-game, streaming culture) — convergence in action.
Podcasts
- A true crime podcast and its ethics — entertainment built from real harm.
- Podcast intimacy and parasocial trust: why audiences believe hosts.
- An NZ podcast that found an audience without legacy media backing.
Documentary
- A documentary that changed policy or public opinion — and the debates about its fairness.
- Streaming-era documentary style: true crime aesthetics, re-enactment, "documentary as content".
New Zealand media
- NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho funding as industry intervention — pick one funded text and trace why it exists.
- The structure of NZ media ownership and its consequences for diversity of voice.
- How NZ media covered a defining national event — unifying or dividing?
Māori and Pasifika media
- Whakaata Māori / Te Karere — by-Māori, for-Māori media as counter-representation and language revitalisation.
- A Pasifika-led screen story and its navigation of community expectation and mainstream industry.
- Rangatahi creators using global platforms for te reo and tikanga content.
Global franchises
- One mega-franchise (Marvel, Star Wars, Pokémon…) traced across film, streaming, gaming, merchandise — convergence and risk management.
- A franchise diversity controversy: casting, fan backlash, corporate response — representation as battleground.