Media Representation

Media Representation

Nigel Farage - EU Representation

Nigel Farage is influencing the direction of the EU, by stating that the Uk does not have the resources, nor the capabilities to support this many refugees. This is directing the EU referendum towards leaving the EU. This has advantages and disadvantages. For example, its true that this should kick the lazy English people back into gear, and we may be able to re-negotiate tariffs with other none EU countries. On the downside, a large part of our workforce is from the EU, meaning there will be a lot of employees that are short of staff. But in turn this will create a large amount of jobs, for the public and should help to relief the unemployed. The immigrants are portrayed as a problem, and are treated as an inconvenience.

Task 3: you will be required to copy the common stereotypes and theories used by the media in the representation of the following groups. 

Youth/Age

Gender

Ethnicity

Race

Regional identity  

In a 1999 research paper Ann Gould identified 6 key stereotypes in the media’s representation of youth. These are:

Rebellious

Artificial tribe

Sexual

Nihilistic

Violent

Self-destructive

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xszmmz

The inbetweeners - Stereo types

The youthful, are hooligans and menaces. As shown in the clip above, two of the boys, kick flowers and vandalise a town sign.
Teenagers are also, portrayed as always wanting to engage in sexual activities. Which one of the boys clearly demonstrated. The friends of one of them, asked his mother, to play a video game.....which involved bouncing up and down a lot, sexualising her even more.
There is also the stereo type of the nerdy snitch. One of the main characters is asked by a teacher, to tell him who vandalised the flowers in the town center. 

Representations of women across all media tend to
highlight the following:

Beauty (within narrow conventions)
Size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
Sexuality (as expressed by the above)
Emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
Relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active (Mulvey).

Often their passivity extends to victimhood. Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories.

Women have often suffered from a Narrow set of representations in the media

They are often linked to the domestic situation

 Women as housewives or mothers. 

OR as sex objects (sexualised and objectified) represented to entertain and titillate the male 

They are shown as… 

Young 

Slim 

Overwhelmingly white 

Conforming to our image of ideal beauty (perfect skin, hair and alluring gaze).

Laura Mulvey: 

She was a theorist and a feminist 

Mulvey, came up with the concept on male gaze in 1975. 

Here Mulvey wrote a very influential essay ‘Visual pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. Stating that women are used for visual pleasure- women are made to seem like sexual objects through voyeurism. 

she argued that women took the passive part of a film and that all men played an active part, in her eye the women were objects

Van Zoonen – feminism and patriarchy.

Van Zoonen believes the media portray images of stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces societal views. 

The media does this because they believe it reflects dominant social values (what people believe in) and male producers are influenced by this. This is a patriarchy (a society ran by men for men) which dominates and oppresses women.

In non Fictional Media 

women’s roles tend to be smaller and fewer than their male counterparts. 

Due to the Patriarchal nature of our society - women are less likely to be the source of leading news stories (politics, business, law and religion stories.)

Since their roles in these areas tend to be fewer in number.

Representation of Men

'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

Strength - physical and intellectual 

Power 

Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above) 

Physique 

Independence (of thought, action, finances)

Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). If they submit to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial balance. 

It is interesting to note that the male physique is becoming more important a part of representations of masculinity. 

Masculinity and Violence

One area that has been the focus of much study is the relationship between males and violence in the media. 

Earp and Katz (1999) studies male representations in the media and found “a widespread and disturbing equation of masculinity and pathological control and violence.” 

They claim that the media is responsible for a steady stream of images that define ‘manhood’ as connected with violence, dominance and control - and create it as a normal and accepted part of masculinity. 

The Metrosexual 

One recent development in the representations of masculinity is the Metrosexual ( mid 1990’s) 

The young single man with a high disposable income, living in the city - as it is near to the best shops. Metrosexual man is not gay but is often confused with being homosexual. 

He is objectified and sexualised (turned into a sex object) which goes against traditional representations of masculinity.

The Fool/ Buffoon 

The fool stereotype is a tried and tested formula  e.g. the bungling father in TV ads and Sitcoms. Usually well intentioned and light hearted, these characters range from slightly inept to completely hopeless in work or parenting and domestic situations. 

On the surface it may seem a very pejorative representation of men However they still always come out on top! 

Lana Del Ray is naked and in a feral position - looking innocent and childlike

Naked - attracts more attention 

Objectified

Less powerful

Vulnerable

Looking slightly down

Female being used for more views

Just the woman of the year - Not focusing on her achievment

Looking to the side of the camera 

Slim 

Makeup

Less serious - looks like she’s just posing

Defensive position

Tinnie is in a suit - looking more formal and grown up 

No male of the year award 

Clothed

Formal

More authority 

Looking upwards lights - shadow is present behind - seen by more

More rights

Solo artist - have a title

Looking straight at the camera

Upright - power stance 

Representation of Regional Identity

Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”

North vs South (England)
North

Typical Manchester stereo type:

Heavily accented, hard working, working class, farmers.

South

Essex – often shown as being glamourous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying, being quite stupid

South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny, richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers, etc.

Representation of Class

The general system

Upper Class

Nairn (1988) – Monarchy

• “Royal Family” concept = niceness, decency, ordinariness, 

• Royal family can be deemed to be “like us” but “not like us” – the queen seen as ordinary working mother doing extraordinary things, 

• Mainly represented through the coverage of the monarchy, 

• Seen as well bred and cultured, 

• Represented through their accents, estates, and a taste for shooting and hunting, 

• Usually represented in costume and period drama.

Middle Class

Presented as educated and successful as well as able to cope with problems,
Over represented in the media due to their lifestyle
Representation fits in with the hegemonic ideology of the dominant class in society,
Representation justifies the existing class structure and inequalities by suggesting people need to become more competent and successful in order to cope with life.

Working Class

Presented in the stereotypical context of traditional working class communities such Eastenders and Corrie, Shameless 

Community values often praised but do not reflect reality,

Working class communities have declined with the collapse of traditional industries such as coal mining, 

Often presented in the context of trouble, undesirable welfare scroungers, unable to cope with their delinquent children. The working class are represented as needy
Newman (2006) argues that there are very few situation comedies, television or drama which focuses on the everyday lives of working class who constitute a significant section of society,
Newman argues that when in the media working class are often depicted in a very non positive light dumb buffoons (Homer Simpson) and immature machos (Phil Mitchell),
Butsch (1992) – working class portrayed as flawed individuals (benefit cheats, etc.)

Under Class

Representations of poverty and underclass 

• Portrayal usually negative and stereotypical, 

• Portrayed in the form of statistics in news bulletin such as figures of unemployment, 

• Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy, 

• Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term chav is used as an amusing term of abuse for young poor people 

In this newspaper article, the word and ideal of the people being "vile" is very evident. However once someone has read this article, they then realise that the man that this article is about, has in fact killed 6 people. The idealism behind this is that all working class and underclass people are like this. That hard working people are working hard, paying their taxes, living their lives, to support people like this, ie people who live on benefits. The use of anchorage here is prominent, because without the text, it could seem like many things it is not. For example it could be a family photo that turned out badly. However with the main headline shows that it is something that the media want us to detest.

The with further reading, it is clear that the man in the middle is a criminal who killed 6 people(in order to get a better house, through method of burning his old one, during which the 6 children did not make it out of, and died), and preyed on people who are vulnerable and want children, to reap the benefits of.....benefits.

However the anchorage, of the caption and the picture, makes people think that all people living of benefits are like this. That is not the case.

Shameless season 4 episode 1

Large amount of violence, during which the music turns peaceful and, almost normal or generic, as if to say that whatever is going on is perfectly normal. Desensitised from violence. Swearing around children. Poor parenting skills, overt sexual behaviour in public around children.

Accents are important because this is set in manchester. This helps to generate the representation of manchester as a bad place.

Irresponsible, cannot cook for themselves, pizza on the chair. Stubbing of toes. Generally unorganised. anti social, almost a gang mentality because of the toilet incident, and people owe others money and this causes the people whom they owe it to, to begin to get annoyed, and start making threats.

Racial Stereotypes on TV

Race remains a hot issue on UK TV, because it’s always going to attract headlines!

Often linked with immigration and questions of national identity – what does it mean to be British in the 2010’s?

The media do not generally represent the different racial stereo types fairly, and because of this it makes people see those different stereo types in the wrong way, because of how the media portrayed them. 

They are often misinterpreted for either comic effect, lack of information or because someone does not like that particular group or stereotype.

Four key themes:

Exotic

Dangerous

Comic

Pitied

Black Racial Stereotypes

Stereotypes :Positive and negative stereotypes are often seen in contemporary British media. 

Musicians – jazz, hip-hop and soul 

Sportsmen and women 

Comedians 

Criminals 

Socially dysfunctional 

Prostitute/sexually promiscuous 

The stud/pimp