Media Representations Flashcards
Mulhern
REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIONALITY - Irish
Irish presented in 2 ways:
1 - homesick, drinking guiness, listening to ballads
2 - too successful to be homesick, making megabucks in the city, reporting wealth home via skype
Vir, Hall and Foye
REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIONALITY - Scottish
- Those living in the highlands feel under repped in media
- Scotland left behind in sport coverage, and an abusive drunk
Graham
REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIONALITY - Welsh
- Media forces nationals into TV programmes leading to ‘tokenism’.
- “Gavin and Stacey - it’s all [about] portraying Wales as thick”.
Vir, Hall and Foye
REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIONALITY - Welsh
- Reality tv can be exploitative through shows eg dirty sanchez
Van Dijk
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
- ethnic minorities presented in 5 ways:
- Criminals - mugger = stereotypically presented as black. SEEN IN TOP BOY; black criminals, white officers
- Abnormal - cultural practices of others = abnormal eg arranged marriage.SEEN IN BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM; Jess’ love for football contrasts traditional norms
- A threat - tabloid scares of immigrants taking jobs + using welfare SEEN IN “Immigrants ‘Taking Jobs’ from Britons, Say Critics of EU”
-The Guardian, 2016 - Dependent - images of less developed countries focus on “coup-war-famine-starvation syndrome”. SEEN IN Unicef adverts; african countries have no clean water, mud huts, disease
- Unimportant - Sir Ian Blair: media = institutionally racist; reports crime on black/asian more than whites. SEEN IN STUDY BY MEDIA STANDARDS TRUST (2012); 22% OF CRIME REPORTS ON BLACKS (3% OF POPULATION IN UK)
Malik
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
- whites: britain presented accurately multicultural. ethnics: presented very poorly.
- Broadcasters guilty of tokenism + stereotyping
- Culture of minorities ≠ accurate due to lack of them in positions of power in media
*
Barker
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● studied Eastenders: guilty of
stereotyping. eg Asians/Blacks =
Doctors/Shopkeepers.
● Were presented as having limited,
stereotypical traits.
● Key characters = white
Husband & Hartman
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● media creates culture of racism by
focusing on conflict, and portraying
minorities as a source of problems
Hall
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● Ethnic minorities depicted through the lens of a white director eg. slaves,
natives, entertainers
Moghissi
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● media = muslims huddled together,
associated with terrorists + mistreat
women.
Nayak -
● Moral panic post 9/11 and 7/7
Children Now - Fair Play
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● video games = white heroes,
minorities are villains or stereotypical
roles
Malik
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● reality shows more inclusive eg
goggle box, BGT.
● Shift in representation in new
forms of media
● eg. YT/Tiktok/IG = black history
month posts, #’s and movements eg. #blm #stopasianhate
Barker
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● Eastenders is changing; now
minorities represent london fairly,
blacks/asians have meaningful
stories and roles
Hall
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
● refers to overt racism declining,
and inferential racism occuring.
● This is where a positive message is
being displayed, yet a racist
message subconsciously conveyed
eg. expect black person to be evil.
● This is positive as it shows racism
is no longer normalised
Gill
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
Nayak
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHNICITY
Tunstall
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- media: women = domestic, sexual, consumer, marital focused, ignoring the fact many women go to work.
- men = rarely nude/defined by marital or family status
Tuchman
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- symbolic annihilation of women: either presented stereotypically, or not all.
- Traditional ideals: mothers, housewives, sex objects.
Ferguson
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- cult of femininity: the idea that excellence for women is achieved through being family oriented and nurturing.
Glascock
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- male/female aggression = physical/verbal.
- Differences found behind the camera, as women portrayed through male directors eyes.
Katz
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- Media’s inability to shift from stereotypical ideals of being a man leads to “epidemic of male violence”.
- TV/porn/ads/video games send subliminal and conscious messages reinforcing violent, sexist, homophobic ways of thinking.
- Men who agree with equality seen as doing it to “get laid”.
- Directors: don’t make characters who do this as “no one wants to watch” —> self fulfilling prophecy
Easthorpe
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- hollywood Films, computer games transmir the view that masculinity based on strength competition aggression and violence is biologically determined and a natural goal for boys to achieve
Gauntlett
TRADITIONAL/NEGATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- magazines aimed at men sexually identify women and picture traditionally masculine men.
- they also add retributive masculinity - a way to reaffirm masculine authority by glorifying what’s traditionally male
Gill
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- Significant shift in women in ads
- (passive objects of male gaze) → NOW active, independent, sexually powerful
- 3 core presentations of femininity
- Image of heterosexually desired midriff
- Vengeful sexy woman - punish male counterpart
- Hot lesbian - holding onto woman
Westwood
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- Transgressive female roles in british TV
- This means breaking hegemonic social and moral norms
- This empowers women
Glascock
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- Supports Westwood; range of independent women in media
- Eg. Tomb Raider - Lara Croft is physically strong and clever (archaeologist)
Gauntlett
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY
- Media presents range of gendered images/ideas
- This gives people diversity of choice when creating their gender identities
- Younger audiences open to female lead characters
- However lead females have focus on appearance
- Male lead characters now have thoughtful/caring side
- Eg. spiderman 3
Gauntlett (2008)
- Magazines aimed at young women promoted independence
- Female popstars eg Lady Gaga promote financial/emotional independence
- Eg. “I’m a woman of choice”
- Friends Sitcom = men/women more equal
Easthorpe
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- magazines now promoting;
- Emotional vulnerability
- Being in touch with emotions
- Treating women as equal
- Caring about appearance
- Fatherhood
Nixon
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- The New Man; 1985 Levi’s ad, acceptable to care for appearance
Mort
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- Increase in hair gel/cologne etc
Whannel
CHANGING/POSITIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY
- David Beckham presented in contrasting ways
- looks, football, competitive, committed = traditional real man
- Family oriented, spends a lot of time effort and money on his image = metrosexuality
Nairn
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UPPER CLASS
- Monarchy’s power = close ties to media
- Reinvented themselves as “Royal Family” - relatable
- A family that is “like us but not like us”
- Eg. The princess of Wales visits South of Wales
- Royalty reinforces sense of nationality
- Queen = figurehead, affects calendar, attends sports
Leech
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MIDDLE CLASS
- m/c lifestyle = “ideal”
- Media created “cereal packet family”
- Socially constructed image of what a family “should be”
- eg cheerios ad
Jones
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MIDDLE CLASS
- m/c over repped in media
- Media is closed shop for m/c
- Media rep of m/c is + as its created by m/c journalist
- newspapers/magz targeted towards m/c lifestyles
Ehrenreich
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MIDDLE CLASS
- m/c often presented as knowledgeable, and helping w/c ‘s problems
- w/c presented as beneficiaries, and subject of discussion my m/c experts
- eg. Supernanny
Newman
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF WORKING CLASS
- Media hyper-fixates on wealth to distract w/c
- cars/holidays gives w/c unrealistic “goals” to achieve
- Makes wealth appear “deserved”
- Justifies ruling class’ position
Dodd and Dodd
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF WORKING CLASS
- Eastenders = presents nostalgic view of w/c communities
- However this does not accurately reflect the modern day w/c
Jones
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF WORKING CLASS
- His book “Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Classes”
- Discusses how the word chav is used to condemn and belittle the w/c
- Chavtainment: how the media presents w/c as negative; bigoted slothful and aggressive
- eg. Little Britain
Baumberg et al
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UNDERCLASS
- 29% of news stories referenced benefits fruad
- Govt. said 0.7%
- Benefits = undeserving:
- Fraud and dishonest (“faking”)
- Dependent (“underclass”)
- Lack of effort (“lazy, scrounger”)
- Outsider status (“immigrant”)
Golding and Middleton
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UNDERCLASS
- Content analysis
- Welfare issues not discussed unless they were connected to other social issues
Price
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UNDERCLASS
- Developed concept of poverty porn
- Refers to the media exploiting participants of TV shows and their lifestyles to entertain
- eg. Benefits Street, Jeremy Kyle
Nairn
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF UPPER CLASS
- Whilst traditionally positive, it’s changed
- Media headlines; “The Monarchy’s laughing stock” (Prince Harry) - The Guardian
Reiner
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF UPPER CLASS
- Social mobility promoted in media
- Representations of the wealthy focus on their hard work, success and meritocracy
- Molly Mae: “everyone has the same 24 hours in a day”
Draper
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF MIDDLE CLASS
- Modern middle class goes together like strawberries and herrings
- m/c is now very diverse
Devereux
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF WORKING CLASS
- Media = positive and realistic w/c portrayals
- The Royle Family - not welfare etc., generous, content, grateful
Dodd and Dodd
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF WORKING CLASS
- Eastenders - broach issues eg. drug/alcohol abuse, crime such as rape/murder, suicide, abortion, homosexuality
Price
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF UNDERCLASS
- Discourse analysis (how is language used)
- Shows eg. Benefits Street present characters as decent/compassionate people captured by unfair society
- However, this is often missed by viewers
Heintz- Knowles
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- content analysis of children’s shows
- children motivated by romance, not school
- characters engage in antisocial, with + outcome
- minority children underrepresented
- whilst b/g equally rep, b = use physical agg, g = show affection
- this stereotypical representation creates moral panic, young ppl live up to this label
- Eg Simpsons - Bart pranks and gets away with it
Griffin
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- media portrays youth as:
- dysfunctional (no positive function)
- suffering a deficit (always feeling disadvantaged; excuses)
- deviant (against societal norms)
Wayne
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- 82% out of 286 stories with young people as main subject featured them as perpetrators/victims of crime
- Stories ignored how young ppl are affected by housing/education/health problems
Women in Journalism
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Study called Hoodies or Altar Boys, examined how teenage boys were presented in news
1. Negative language eg. thugs, brutes, scum
2. More stories on teens and crime than anything else
3. Few stories showed them positively
4. 85% teen boys; “news = negative, but reality TV = fair portrayal”
5. Teens very weary of other teens due to media stories
Kelly
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- Journalist language of young people;
- Dangerous
- In need of protection
- Immature
Cohen
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- Media portrays youth as dangerous and deviant
Landis
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- stereotypes
- grumpy old man
- feisty old woman
- mentally deficient
- have wisdom
Cuddy & Fiske
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- In US TV shows, only 1.5% featured elderly
- Usually played minor, comedic roles
- Depicted their mental, physical and sexual capacities as ineffective
Milner et al
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- Media dont show an equal portrayal of aging
- To do this, they should show the challenges AND active aging
Carrigan and Szmigin
TRADITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- studied old people in media
- whilst older consumers are growing, less likely to be portrayed in ads
- smelly and incontinent (cant control bowels)
Examples of tv dramas that show realistic portrayals of childhood
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- Wonder
- Gravity Falls
Postman
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- The idea of childhood has disappeared as a result of children interacting with the media
- Children are sexualised within the media
- Media creates a world where adults/children share same music,sports,language,literature,films
- Children wear adult clothing eg heels, dresses
- Internet leads to children being exposed to adult content
Osgerby
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- Recurring theme of “youth as trouble”
- Media changes reflect cultural developments and the spirit of the times
- 50/60s - youth represented positively due to post-war prosperity and hope
- 70/80s - youth linked to rebellion and breaking norms eg. protests
- Eg. jude bellingham, greta thunberg, luke littler
Lee et al
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- Old ppl under repped
- 15% of ads
- But of those, 90% were positive
- Elderly portrayed as “golden agers”, enjoying healthy active lifestyles
- Gender diffs
- Old men - more visible in the media, assoc. With high status and work
- Old women - assoc. Family and poverty
Biggs
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- Larger number of old people appearing in soaps
- Old people repped as more active
Carrigan and Szmigin
CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF ELDERLY
- Advertisers were now targeting older people as consumers due to the grey pound
- This leads to an increasing amount of positive images/role models
- Grey pound = old ppl have a lot of money and are an important consumer group
