Unit 1B - Media Flashcards
Social Groups -
Van Dijk (1991) Media representations of minority and majority ethnic groups
Ethnicity
Stereotypes to portray black people in the media:
1) Criminals - ‘mugger’ —> moral panic/folk devil
2) Abnormal - contrast ‘normal’ values of ‘host’ community
3) Threat - tabloid scares e.g asylum seekers
4) Dependent - less developed countries, exploitation
5) Unimportant - ‘Institutional racism’, priority given to issues affecting white people
Social Groups -
Malik (2002) Inaccurate representations of ethnicity, tokenism
Ethnicity
Media doesn’t accurately reflect ethnic reality of contemporary UK —–> members of ethnic minority communities declining to watch mainstream TV channels & switching to new cable/satellite networks specifically designed for minority ethnic audiences
Social Groups -
Barker (1999) Ethnic representation in Eastenders
Ethnicity
EastEnders is multi-ethnic & reflects changes in representations of minority ethnic groups —-> contains range of black & Asian characters with significant roles
Criticised for using stereotypes as black & Asian characters cast as doctors & shopkeepers —–> programme fails to to engage with wider structural forms of racism
Social Groups -
Tuchman (1978) Symbolic annhiliation of women
Gender
‘Symbolic annihilation’ of women –> narrow range of roles for women
Mass media; largely ignore women/ portrayal in stereotypical roles of victim and/or consumer —–> Traditional roles/’domestic’ pursuits
Social Groups -
Gill (2008) Change from passive to active representations of women in advertising
Gender
Change from passive to active representations of women in advertising
Recent media representation within advertising portray powerful women who are not recipients of the male gaze —-> such portrayals often conform to the ‘beauty myth’ —-> cannot be seen as evidence of fundamental change in representations
Social Groups -
Gauntlett (2008) More equal gender roles in media
Gender
More equal gender roles in media
Gender representations in films since 1990s - men & women have similar skills & talents —> men still tend to take leading roles e.g Spiderman/Knocked up
Present a challenge to conventional masculinity (traditional behaviour fundamentally flawed) - females = more assertive
Social Groups -
Jones (2012) Portrayal of working class ‘chavs’
Class
‘Chavs:The Demonization of the Working-class’
Media use of ‘chav’ represents a way of condemning working-class people & working-class culture
‘Chavtainment’—–> TV shows/films dedicated to working-class Britain that negatively portray these individuals
Social Groups -
Dodd and Dodd (1992) Representations of working class characters in EastEnders
Class
Both continuity and change in media representations of working-class characters in EastEnders - show has managed to introduce elements of realism
Social Groups -
Price (2014) Portrayal of underclass and ‘poverty porn’
Class
‘Poverty Porn’
TV programmes that examine the life of the poorest in society
Media representations intend to exploit a programmes content in order to have a particular shocking effect on the audience and to shape people’s response to the content
Social Groups -
Nairn (1988) Representations of the Royal family
Class
Representations of the Royal family as a ‘soap opera’ —-> media support seen as linked to reinforcement of a sense of national identity e.g national events = public holidays
Negative or controversial actions by Royal family members are reported in news but are typically forgotten quickly & replaced with positive portrayls
‘Like us, but not like us’
Social Groups -
Heintz-Knowles (2002) Portrayal of children
Age
Ways in which children are portrayed in entertainment TV - examining portrayal of child characters:
- Motivated most often by peer
relationships/ romance
- Almost never shows them grappling with
important issues
- Commercial: engage in anti-social
behaviours that often yield positive results
- Minority ethnic backgrounds = under-
represented
- Girls & boys almost equally represented
but her are differences; girls twice as likely
to show affection…. Boys 60% more likely
to use physical aggression to achieve goals
Reflects an adult perspective on children
Social Groups -
Landis (2002) One-dimensional portrayal of older people
Age
Stereotypes in representations of older people in TV and film
‘One-dimensional’; ignore complexity of real characters:
- Grumpy old man
- Feisty old woman
- Sickly old person
- Mentally deficient
- Depressed or lonely
- Having wisdom
- Busybody
- Having a second childhood
Social Groups -
Miliband (1969) Media as new ‘opium of the people’
Marxism
Ruling class use the media to control society by creating a false picture of reality that presents capitalism in a positive way
Media has replaced religion - takes proletariat’s attention away from exploitation & oppression of the capitalist system —-> Allows ruling class to control and dominate working-class
Social Groups -
Hall (1981) Stereotyping ethnicity from a neo-Marxist perspective
Neo-marxism
Stereotypes ethnicity (black people) - media operates with three overriding stereotypes
1) The Native - offering nobility, dignity & savagery
2) The Clown/entertainer - expressive, emotional & stupid
3) The Slave - devoted, childlike, cunning, untrustworthy & maybe mocking
Social Groups -
Whale (1980) Pluralist view of media representations
Pluralism
‘Broad shape and nature of the press is determined by no one but its readers’
Media representations of social groups both reflect the diversity evident in society and the demands of their audience
Media supplies what the audience demands
