topic 4: representations

Question 1

representations of ethnic minorities

Question 2

Van Dijk - “ethnic minorities as criminals”

Answer 2

black crime and violence is most frequent issue found in media coverage

Question 3

“ethnic minorities as a threat”

Answer 3

pose a threat to white culture

Question 4

“ethnic minorities abnormal”

Answer 4

the british media has been accused of creating flase cultural stereotypes around the value systems and norms of other cultures

Question 5

“ethnice minorities as unimportant”

Answer 5

the media implies that the lives of wite people are more important than the lives of non-white people

Question 6

“ethnic minorities as dependent”

Answer 6

stories about less developed counries tend to focus on the ‘coup-war famine stravation syndrome’ they imply that the countries problems are caused by stupidity, tribal conflict, too many babies, laziness, corruption and ubstable political regimes

Question 7

“ethnic minorities are unstable”

Answer 7

ethnic minorities are under represented on TV

Question 8

what does Agbetu state the 3 attributes a black person has within the media?

Answer 8

1. involved in criminality
2. involved in sports
3. involved in entertainment

Question 9

representations of the monarchy

Question 10

Noirn

Answer 10

the monarchy has successfully converted much of modern mass media to its cause, so that until fairly recently any criticism of the institution or members in it was rare

Question 11

AO3: scaling back of working royals

Answer 11

• scaling back the number of working royals shows that the queen is acting based off public demand and pressure as the taxpayer does not want to be paying for royals cars, secruity etc

Question 12

Newman

Answer 12

Argues that the media focus very positively on the lifestyles of wealthy and the priviledged

Question 13

newman - business & finance

Answer 13

large amounts of media is dedicated to daily business news and stock markets despite the fact little own stocks and shares

Question 14

what is the pluralist perspective on representations of the elite?

Answer 14

• the media view the UK as a meritocracy and the media representations of the wealthy are representative of the idea that talented people are deserving of high rewards and motivates people to work harder

Question 15

AO3

Answer 15

• much more public consciousness and criticisms on actions of the wealthy
• films such as ‘the wolf of wall street’ and ‘the big short’ showcase some of the negatives of the wealthy
• stock markets affect everyone hence why they’re reported so often

Question 16

representations of the middle class

Question 17

“middle class as overrepresented”

Answer 17

in dramas, middle class families as predominant. They are generally protaryed as concerned about manners, decency, decorum, respectability etc

Question 18

“media is mainly aimed at middle classes”

Answer 18

Lots of british newspapers are aimed at the middle class and their consumption, tastes, interests in material goods

Question 19

“Media reflects middle class concerns”

Answer 19

journalists believe that the middle classes of england are generally anxious about the decline of moral standards in society and that they feel threatened by alien influences

Question 20

“most media professionals are middle class”

Answer 20

in news and current affairs the middle class dominate positions of authority

Question 21

representations of the working class

Question 22

marxist - newman

Answer 22

notes that there have been very few situational comedies, dramas or films in the past 10 years that focus on the everyday lives of the w/c

Question 23

jones

Answer 23

argues that the media mounts an assault on w/c values, institutions and communities

Question 24

what do marxists argue newspapers do to engage the w/c?

Answer 24

newspapers aimed at w.c focus on celebrity gossip, human interest stories and simplistic interpretation of complex political issues

Question 25

AO3: pluralism

Answer 25

they would argue that publications are simply responding to audience needs and desires

Question 26

Mckendrick et al

Answer 26

coverage of poverty is marginal in mainstream media and that the cause and consequence of poverty are rarely explored through the media

Question 27

Cohen

Answer 27

argued that the mass media is concerned with ‘trumpeting the good fortune’ or british capitalism that it pays less attention to its casualties

Question 28

“creating a social stigma”

Answer 28

the use of words like ‘chav; in the media is another way of suggesting that the poor are undeserving of public sympathy

Question 29

Lawler

Answer 29

argues that the media use this discriminatory language to vilify and socially stigmatise what they depuct as a peasant underclass or white trash

Question 30

representation of childhood

Question 31

heinzt-knowles

Answer 31

children are often portrayed as motivated by peer relationships, sports and leasr often by community and school-related issues - rarely seen as coping with societal issues

Question 32

evan and chandler

Answer 32

children represented in adverts and commercials socialise them to become active consumers and this has led to the emergence of ‘pester power’

Question 33

representations of youth

Question 34

wayne et al

Answer 34

found that 82% of main television channels foucsed on young people either the victims of, or more commonly, the perpetrators of violent crime - extremely rare for news items to feature a young persons perspective

Question 35

functionalist perspective of representations of youth

Answer 35

media representations function to maintain and normalise boundaries of socially expected behaviour and expected punishments

Question 36

pluralist perspective of representations of youth

Answer 36

media representatives reflect social reality - young people commit more crime than other social groups and it is newsworthy

Question 37

interactionalist perspective of representations of youth

Answer 37

young people are frequently labelled by older generations as a threat to social stability and mroal panics result as an attempt of social control

Question 38

neo marxist perspective of representations of youth

Answer 38

the agenda as far as the reporting of youth is concerned is set by older people and consequently negative

Question 39

postmodernist perspective of representations of youth

Answer 39

in media-saturated, postmodern societies, negative portrayals are only a small aspect of media representations which are actually diverse and pluralistic. with new media, youth are accomplished creators.

Question 40

representations of elderly

Question 41

age concern charity

Answer 41

argue that the elderly are underrepresented in general across a varitey of mass media and portrayals are generally ageist

Question 42

“grumpy”

Answer 42

paints elderly people in a bad light light who spend their time bemoaning the behaviour of young people and complaining about the modern

Question 43

“mentally challenged”

Answer 43

suggests growing old involves the loss and decline of people’s mental functions

Question 44

“A burden”

Answer 44

the elderly are portrayed as an economic burden an society and/or physical and social burden on younger members of their family

Question 45

Lee et al

Answer 45

notes that representations is still low at 15% but the majoirty of these advertisements portray the elderly as ‘golden agers’ who are active, alert, healthy and content

Question 46

AO3 of lee et al

Answer 46

does not reflect the range of experiences people have when they age (e.g loss, health problems)