age

Question 1

positive stereotypes in media

Answer 1

6 stereotypes - content analysis
cute, little devils, brilliant, brave little angels, accorssories, modern

however - vary according to gender, social class or ethnicity eg muslim representations

Question 2

children perform pro-social actions

Answer 2

Heintz-Knowles - content analysis of American TV - many children portrayed as motivated by peer relationships and sport - rarely issues such as family issues

• positive and show them engaged in pro-social actions

HOWEVER - sociological studies focused on media representations of children in UK is quite limited - most studies are american - cultural differences in presentations

Question 3

children as active consumers

Answer 3

marxists - represented in TV adverts - socialise them into becoming active consumers

Evan and Chandler - new family pressure - pester power
children pressurise parents into buying unnecessary products - false needs - marcuse

marxists - creates anxiety for poorer parents - new media increases pressure

Question 4

media turn against non-conforming children

Answer 4

media overtly turn on children who do not confirm
the killers of Jamie Bulger - the sun held petitions to increase the sentence for the killers

Question 5

case studies

Answer 5

cuties 2020 - netflix - backlash for sexualising 11 year old girls - twerking dance crew - description

netflix - changed movie description

netflix responded - power of audience
marxism - controversy makes profit

Question 6

moral panics

Answer 6

youth often portrayed by new media as social problem - folk devils and part of moral panics

majority of moral panics since 1950s - centred around young people eg hoodies

Question 7

negative representation of teenagers

Answer 7

wayne et al - carried out content analysis - 2000 news items - 286 stories focused on young people - 18% young people victims or perpetrators of violent crime - negative representations distract from real problems young people face eg mental health

charlotte kelly - conducted research on language used journalists to describe young people who comes into contact with law - dangerous, need protection or are immature

HOWEVER - some documentaries do portray the complex issues young people face today, such as the recent increase of schools documentaries eg educating greater manchester

Question 8

functionalism - young people

Answer 8

media representations normalise and maintain social boundaries and expected behaviour

alongside other agencies of social control - the family, education and religion - the mass media functions to equip children and young people with appropriate norms and values required to be good citizens

form of boundary maintenance for young people

Question 9

pluralism - young people

Answer 9

media representations simply reflect social reality - young people commit more crime and deviance than any other social group

crime is newsworthy

Question 10

interactionism - young people

Answer 10

young people are frequently labelled by older generations as a threat to social stability because they often challenge their authority

media representations and moral panics surrounding youth crime are attempts at social control

Cohen - young people identified as folk devils - young people conform to media stereotypes (deviancy amplification) - gain status

Question 11

postmodernism - young people

Answer 11

media-saturated society - negative portrayals only small aspect of media representations - actually diverse and pluralistic

role of new media - young people are creators - citizen journalism - Jenkins

Question 12

stereotypes and stigmatised identities

Answer 12

emphasis on youth and beauty in TV - aging is undesirable - being old is stigmatised identity

Cuddy and Fiske - only 1.5% of characters on British TV were elderly

Charity - Age Concern - elderly are underrepresented across mass media - portrayed in 3 ways
- grumpy
- mentally challenged
- burden

Question 13

symbolic annihilation of elderly women

Answer 13

feminists - argued elderly women rarely included in mainstream TV and film datas but men are
radical feminist Sontag - double standard of aging

normalised in hollywood for male celebrities to date younger women

Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant - applauded for having girlfriend his own age - 11 year age gap - simply because she has grey hair - labelled as old

Question 14

accurate and sympathetic portrayals

Answer 14

recent research suggests that media producers are gradually reinventing how they portray the elderly - group now have more disposable income - grey pound

Lee et al - representation of elderly in adverts is still fairly low - 15% but majority of adverts portray elderly as golden agers who are active and healthy

Question 15

accurate and sympathetic portrayals eval

Answer 15

do they encourage pity and a sense of otherness

Question 16

the grey pound

Answer 16

companies increasingly using media to advertise towards elderly due to their higher disposable income

depicting elderly couples as happy, healthy consumers hoping to enrich lives through products - PM
eg 2015 John Lewis advert

Question 17

the grey pound eval

Answer 17

beauty products adverts often airbrush elderly women, or use young models for anti-ageing cream
- the olay advert featuring the model Twiggy was banned due to airbrushing in 2009

marxists - form of exploitation leading to false class consciousness in elderly communities

Question 18

interrelationship

Answer 18

upper class and middle class elderly people - usually men - often portrayed in TV and film dramas as occupying high status roles as judges

feminists - gender and age important relationship eg female actors neglected once age 40 but men can continue to play leading roles

elderly women - are mainly shown in social and family settings and represented as passive and socially isolated
Sontag - double standard of ageing