Age and the Media Flashcards
What stereotypes of children did a content analyst suggest?
Often portrayed as victims (Madeline McCann, Refugees)
Cute (TV commercials)
As little devils (Bart Simpson)
As Brilliant (Child prodigies/heroic - calling ambulance)
As brave little angels (long term diseases)
As active consumers
As accessories (Beckhams - stories focus on how their children humanise them)
As modern - how they know more ‘at their age’ than previous generations
What has the stereotype ‘as active consumers’ led to according to Chandler?
TV commercials portray children as a consumer appetite for toys and games
Led to the emergence of a new family pressure ‘pester power’
This is the power of children to manipulate parents to spend money and increase the children status in the eyes of their peers
How are children portrayed according to Heintz-Kowles?
Motivated by peer relationships, sport and romance and least often by community, school related or religious issues
Rarely shown coping with racial issues or family problems such as child abuse
Representations are largely positive
How has the representation of children changed?
40% of TV dramas show children being anti-social (lying or bullying)
Over the past 15 years there has been a move to more realistic dramas featuring issues from a childs point of view rather than an adults
How are youths targeted in the media?
There is a whole new media industry aimed at socially constructing youth in terms of lifestyle and identity (magazines, radio stations, networking sites - twitter)
They allow youths to project their identities around the world
Describe how youths are often portrayed
As a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority
Consequently constructed as folk devils part of a moral panic
Some behaviour has attracted the disapproval of those in authority
What did Wayne et al’s content analysis in 2006 find?
Young people were mainly represented in relation to violence - as perpetrators or victims of violent crimes
It was very rare for news items to feature a young persons perspective or opinion - media only delivers one dimensional picture of youth
These representations encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding - distracts from real problems (unemployment, housing)
What did Newman find about representations of elderly?
Upper and middle class are often portrayed in TV/film dramas as occupying high-status roles (judges, business executives) New programmes assume that an older male with grey in his hair and lines on his face somehow exudes the necessary authority to import the news
What do female newcasters complain about?
Older men are often paired with attractive young females and older women newsreaders are often exiled to radio
Older actresses rarely take lead roles compared to older men
How is old age devalued by media?
Through the advertising of beauty products aimed at slowing down/hiding the aging process
What did Age Concern (2002) argue?
Elderly are under-represented in all media
In 200, 21% of population were elderly but only 7% of representations on TV are that age
What did Landis (2002) find?
Media representations in the most popular womens magazines
9% of features were focused on elderly women
What did Lee et al (2007) find?
Representations of the elderly had increased to 15% in advertising, but these adverts portrayed the elderly as fit, active and healthy
What are the 5 stereotypes of the elderly when they appear in media?
As grumpy - conservative, stubborn, resistant to social change
As mentally challenged - declining mental functions
As dependent - helpless, dependent on family/society
As a burden - economically on society and/or as a physical and social burden on younger members of their families
As enjoying a second childhood - reliving their adolescence and engaging in activities that they have always longed to do before they die
