4.5 media representations - age Flashcards
How are British children often depicted in the media?
- as cute
- as little devils
- as brilliant - child prodigies
- as brave little angels - suffering from long term disease
- as accessories
- as modern
How are children presented in extreme cases?
- as evil - e.g. when children kill other children
What are the two main representations of childern?
- mischievous or innocent
- they are vulnerable when victims of strangers, but are represented as holding considerable ‘pester power in persuading others to buy products for them
What does Heintz-Knowles(2002) argue about the representation of childhood in the media?
- children are often portrayed as motivated primarily by peer relationships, sports, or religious issues
- they are rarely shown as coping with societal issues e.g. racism
What percentage of TV dramas depict children engaged in anti-social actions?
40%
How do TV commercials affect childhood?
- they socialise children to become active consumers - they are encouraged to have an appetite for toys and games
What do Evans and Chandler(2006) argue about TV commercials?
- this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure: pester power
What is meant by pester power?
- the power of children to train/manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods
What is the impact of pester power?
- creates great anxiety among poorer parents who will often go into debt to provide for their children’s desires
What does Wayne(2007) observe about the representation of youth?
- confirms the overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the youth in the UK
- 82% focused on young people as either perpetrators or the victims of violent crime
- the media delivers a one-dimensional picture of youth, on that encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding
What do Marxists argue about the representation of the youth?
- the ruling elite target certain individuals as folk devils e.g. the Mods and Rockers - to distract the WC from their true position in society
- young people are represented as a problem group which in turn leads them to become a problematic group in society
What do interactionist argue about the representation of young people?
- young people are frequently labelled by older generations as a threat to social stability because they often challenge their authority
- the moral panics that often result are attempts at social control
What do pluralists argue about the representation of young people?
- they simply reflect social reality
- young people commit more crime and deviance than any other social group
What do postmodernists argue about the representation of young people in the media?
- in media-saturated postmodern societies, negative portrayals are only a small aspect of media representations which are diverse and pluralistic
What do functionalist argue about the representation of young people?
- they function to maintain and normalise boundaries of socially expected behaviour
- they remind adolescents what is socially expected of them and the punishments they can expect of they transgress
What did the charity Age Concern(2000) argue about the representation of old age?
- the elderly is under-represented across a variety of mass media and that media portrayals are generally ageist
What are the four main representations of old age in the media?
- grumpy
- mentally challenged
- infantile
- as a burden
What is meant by the grumpy representation?
- these characters tend to be portrayed as conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change
What is meant by the mentally challenged representation?
- suggests that growing old involves the loss of mental functions
What is meant by the infantile representation?
- represents them as helpless and dependent on younger members of the family/society
What is meant by the ‘as a burden’ representation?
- the elderly are portrayed as an economic burden on society OR as a physical and social burden on younger members of their family
What do Lee et al (2007) suggest about the representation of the elderly in advertisements?
- it is fairly low (15%) BUT 91% portray the elderly as ‘golden agers’ who are active, alert, healthy, successful and content
What do Stoller and Gibson(1999) argue about the representation of old age in the media?
- elderly women are mainly in social, family and recreational settings and are presented as passive, socially isolated, unpleasant and poor
- although men also face negative stereotypes and loss of status as they get older, these experiences occur at a more advanced age’
