Media Representations: Age Flashcards
How is childhood portrayed in the media?
As a very special, exclusive time of life that is in need of protection.
Fuller = children have become their own product with the introduction of children’s TV and computer games.
Aries = childhood didn’t always exist, and the media may be responsible for creating the image we now hold of childhood.
What are the different ways children are represented in the media?
As:
victims of crimes, being cute, being little devils, being brilliant/exceptional for their age, brave, as accessories or contemporary (to show adult nostalgia for the past)
Chandler = children often used in TV commercials, leading to more ‘pester power’. Stories about children written under the ‘media gaze’ rather than about the children themselves.
How is adolescence represented in the media?
The media often criticise young people, blaming them for societies’ problems e.g moral panics.
Wayne = content analysis of 2130 news items, young people represented as a threat to society (only 12% articles about teens positive), especially young men. Ironic as media need young people as their main audience = mostly use the new media.
McRobbie = media representation of young girls has shifted, now have ‘girl power’ where girls are active consumers who choose how to express themselves through a variety of products aimed at them via media.
How is middle age represented in the media?
Tend to be portrayed in a very positive light (ideal age), seen as educated, successful, family-orientated etc, and often appear in light-hearted programmes e.g Gogglebox
How is old age represented in the media?
Cuddy and Fiske = in UK sitcoms old people are presented negatively e.g forgetful/difficult, and in the US only 1.5% of TV characters are elderly (symbolic annihilation), or ridiculed based on ineffective mental physical or sexual capabilities.
Szmigin and Carrigan = media wary of using older models, may alienate young people.
White = lack of representation of older/middle aged women on TV, reluctance to move with the times in an ageing society. Double standard between men and women when it comes to ageing.
