6.4 Theorists Flashcards
Media representations of class, gender, ethnicity and age groups
The Glasgow Media Group
Class
Their study of television reporting of industrial disputes, for example, argued that the working classes had less direct access to the media and less control over how they were portrayed. If they were represented at all, it was usually in a negative way
Nairn
class
According to Nairn after WWII the monarchy developed close ties with the media industry and worked with them to reinvent itself as ‘the royal family’ and since then they have been represented in the media as a family that are ‘like us but not like us’, and the narrative of their lives is presented as a soap opera, and is part of our day to day media fabric, which encourages us to identify with the royals.
Media representations of royalty also reinforce a sense of national identity: The Queen is the ultimate figure head of the country and royal events form part of our annual calendar, as well as the fact that royals are often in attendance at other national events, such as sporting events for example.
Jones
class
Suggests the working classes are represented as feckless racists who hate immigration and multiculturalism – coverage of Brexit seems to offer support for this.
Ehrenreich
argues that, for the media, to be ‘working class’ means being:
* inarticulate
* old-fashioned
* uneducated
* lazy
* incapable.
She suggests that these representations silence working-class voices, making them both literally and metaphorically unable to speak.
Mulvey
Gender
Body representation forms part of a wider set of ideas about beauty, attractiveness and how women in particular should look and behave. This is particularly relevant in unstated assumptions that female beauty is both heterosexual and largely for the benefit of what Mulvey called the male gaze.
This reflects the idea that female lives are viewed, sometimes literally, through a masculine lens and controlled by male needs and desires. The male gaze defines feminine identities in ways that are attractive to men. It objectifies females, seeing them only as objects of desire.
Where the media shape social perceptions of femininity, it follows that there are important consequences if women are unable or unwilling to match these perceptions, because of their ethnicity, class, size, ability or other characteristic. For example, young women are portrayed as objects of desire, but elderly women are not.
Mulvey also suggested that the male gaze is so widespread that it is often accepted by females, who see other women through the gaze and objectify each other.
The male gaze exists because most media have been controlled by men. In the case of film, it has been the norm for a male director give directions to a male cameraman so that the viewer sees the action through the eyes of a male lead character.
Gaye Tuchman
Gender
Developed the concept of Symbolic Annihilation to refer to the under-representation of women in a narrow range of social roles, while men were represented in a full range of social and occupational roles.
Tuchman also argued that women’s achievements were often not reported or trivialised and often seen as less important than things like their looks
According to Tuchman, women were often represented in roles linked to gender stereotypes, particularly those related to housework and motherhood – a good example of this being washing powder advertisements in which mothers and small daughters are working together, while men and boys are the ones covered in mud.
Tebbel
Argues that women are under more pressure than ever before to conform to the Beauty Myth. She argues that the body and faces of real women have been symbolically annihilated, replaced by computer manipulated, airbrushed, artificially images.
Killborn argues that media representations present women as ‘mannequins’ – size zero, tall and thin, and with perfect blemish-free skin.
Orbach further argues that the media continues to associate slimness with health, happiness, success and popularity
Ferguson
Gender
Conducted a content analysis of women’s magazines from the end of WWII to 1980 and found that representations were organised around what she called the cult of femininity, based on traditional, stereotypical female roles and values: caring for others, family, marriage, and concern for appearance.
Ferguson noted that teenage magazines aimed at girls did offer a broader range of female representations, but there was still a focus on him, home and looking good for him.
The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation in 2006
Found that there was little coverage of women’s sport, but what little coverage there was had a tendency to trivialise, sexualise and devalue women’s sporting achievements. HOWEVER, this later example may be something that has changed considerably over the last decade
In ‘The Mouse that Roared’ Henry Giroux
Gender
argued that women were represented in a narrow, restricted and distorted range of roles.
Supporting evidence for Giroux lies in the historical representation of female characters in Disney Films – where the typical female character is a sexualised yet delicate princess who needs to be rescued by a stronger male character.
Examples of where Disney reinforces female stereotypes include:
- Snow White – who cleans the house of the male dwarves and is eventually rescued by a male prince because she is pretty.
- Beauty and the Beast – In which Belle endures an abusive and violent beast in order to redeem him.
- Ariel – who gives up her voice to win the prince with her body.
- Mulan – who wins the war almost single handed only to return home to be romanced.
David Gauntlett
Gender
Argues that there has been an increase in the diversity of representations and roles of women in the media since the 1970s, and a corresponding decrease in stereotypical representations, which broadly reflects wider social changes.
Grant et al
Gender
Grant et al. (2006) suggest that women face ‘a double jeopardy of age and gender discrimination’ that has a different impact on women of different ages.
Younger women, for example, face a range of pressures – how to look, dress and behave, to conform to media ideas (notions) of femininity. Older women must confront the problem that if women are defined purely by their sexuality, attractiveness and desirability, they suffer from a reduced identity once they lose these characteristics.
Gilmore
Gender
Arguing that the media stereotype men into ‘the provider, the protector and the impregnator’.
Earp and Katz
Gender
According to Earp and Katz the media have provided us with a steady stream of images which define violence as an ordinary or normal part of masculinity, or in their own words….
“The media help construct violent masculinity as a cultural norm. Media discourse reveals the assumption that violence is not so much a deviation but an accepted part of masculinity”.
Children Now
Gender
Conducted research in the late 1990s and found that there were six common types of representation of men in the media
The joker – uses laughter to avoid displaying seriousness or emotion
The jock – demonstrates his power and strength to win the approval of other men and women
The strong silent type (James Bond) – being in charge, acting decisively, controlling emotion and succeeding with women.
The big shot – power comes from professional status
The action hero – strong and shows extreme aggression and violence
The Buffoon – a bungling father figure, well intentioned and light hearted. (Homer). Hopeless at domestic affairs.
