Representation In Media
Definitions
Representation: is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.
Stereotypes: are a simplified representation of a person, groups of people or a place, through basic or obvious characteristics - which are often exaggerated.
Anchorage: Words that go along with images to give meaning to them in a specific context; includes captions in newspapers and taglines on film posters.
Women In The Media
Often times women are belittled and shown in a negative light by many newspapers. They are stereotyped to be manipulated and only useful in a kitchen at home. not to mention that they are sexualized in many images to draw in the attention of many male viewers.
What is the theory?
•Van Zoonen believes the media portray images of stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces societal views. The media does this because they believe it reflects dominant social values (what people believe in) and male producers are influenced by this. This is a patriarchy (a society ran by men for men) which dominates and oppresses women.
The Counter-type
Stereotypes
Assumptions that are held about a social group.
They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours.
Stereotyping is an important concept in terms of representation.
A Positive Stereotype.
•Focuses on positive elements of a group traditionally represented as bad.
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•Still an oversimplification of the enormous diversity featured with the group.
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Van Zoonen Theory
•In patriarchal culture, the way women’s bodies are represented as objects is different to the representation of male bodies as spectacle.
•Gender is performative – our ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performances of these roles. Gender is ‘what we do’ rather than ‘what we are’. Moreover, gender is contextual – its meaning changes with cultural and historical contexts.
The Different Between Men And Women?
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While men are dressed up in fancy clothing and are portrayed as clean cut gentlemen, women are made to look like objects for others to look at, they are objectified and mixed with suggestive sexual image.
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Vern & Bonnie Bullough (1993)
Vern & Bonnie Bullough (1993) - Gender roles are equated with masculinity and femininity, male as provider female as nurturer. These two concepts can help us understand how gender is social construction directly linked to heterosexual roles.
Mesculinity
Strong-
Rational-
Public, work-orientated-
Active-
Rough-
Uncaring-
Insensitive-
Femininity
-Caring
-Nurturing
-Sensitive
-Soft
-Not rational
-Family orientated
-Lazy
Analyse 'Wracking Ball' video and lyrics in the following way
Sound: find two examples of the lyrics and sound which relate to the female stereotypes (explain your examples)
very quiet but then loud. (very emotional)
"all you ever did was break me" - women are more delicate.
"i guess instead of using force, i guess should have let you in" - she suggests men are more closed off.
Mise –en-Scene: find two examples from the set, props, costume, lighting, makeup which relate to the female stereotypes (explain your examples). Add screen shots to support your reasoning.
-(on the wrecking ball naked) shown as a sex object. only white and grey colours, only colours are blue eyes and red lipstick making her the centre of attention.
Editing: find two examples of how the video was edited through e.g. the way the video was cut, the way the video was treated colour adjustment, brightness/darkness etc., use of special effects which relate to the female stereotypes (explain your examples). Add screen shots to support your reasoning.
- quick change in scenes.
-bright lights
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Camera work: find two examples of how use of camera work relate to the female stereotypes (explain your examples). Add screen shots to support your reasoning.
-shot from above (women are less important then men,
(Note camera work relates to choice of camera angle, close ups, mid shots, head shots, etc.)
Representation of Men
'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:
•Strength - physical and intellectual
•Power
•Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
•Physique
•Independence (of thought, action, finances)
Representation of Women
Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:
•beauty (within narrow conventions)
•size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
•sexuality (as expressed by the above)
•emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
•relationships (as opposed to independence/
freedom)
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Essay
These two images on these newspapers front pages stereotype women. In the mast head in bold it shows the headlines in standout colours, it also shows women as caring and nurturing towards their children as they worry that their child may gain cancer from drinking simple juice once a day, while the others headline (also in bold) suggest women need to lose weight and therefore suggesting they are sexual objects for men around them. In the copy in the first newspaper it describes mothers being terrified by the information that their children are basically drinking cancer, while in the seconds newspaper copy it highlights information on sexism in the work place as a employer forces an secretary to buy x-rated gifts and calls her 'sugar tits'.
The images and colours are used to draw in female viewers as they use feminine colour such as pink and purples as well as topics which generally relates to them (in a very sexist way). The first stand continues to develop the information surrounding the weight lost, work violation and child care, while the serif font reveals what else there is in the newspapers to read about and where about these articles are. These are right wing newspapers with right winged audiences meaning that the newspapers are showing perspectives these readers want to see and are representing right winged views.
Representation Of Regional Identity
Definition
•Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”
•South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny, richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers, etc.
•North England – often shown as being poorer, bad weather, lower class, aggressive, less culture, less clever, doing working class jobs such as builders, etc.
•Essex – often shown as being glamourous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying, being quite stupid
What is regional identity?
Regional identity is identifying a persons identity which is rooted not only in the setting of the film but also in speech, costumes etc and in the region they live in.
How can you identify regional identity?
– Setting
– Accents
– Dialogue
– Props
– Make up
– Class of characters
– Costumes
– Etc.
Class Representation
Social Class
Definition/ Defining Features
Working class Those individuals engaged in manual work, often having low levels of educational achievement. The classic, traditional working class jobs include heavy labouring and factory based work.
Middle class Those individuals engaged in non-manual work, often having higher levels of educational achievement. Classic middle class jobs include everything from doctors and lawyers to clerical workers.
Upper class The elite class that controls the majority of wealth and power in British society.
Media Representations of social class:
Summary of theories
Representations of poverty and underclass
• Portrayal usually negative and stereotypical,
• Portrayed in the form of statistics in news bulletin such as figures of unemployment,
• Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy,
• Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term chav is used as an amusing term of abuse for young poor people
Working class
•Presented in the stereotypical context of traditional working class communities such Eastenders and Corrie, Shameless
•Community values often praised but do not reflect reality,
•Working class communities have declined with the collapse of traditional industries such as coal mining,
•Often presented in the context of trouble, undesirable welfare scroungers, unable to cope with their delinquent children.
Middle class (stereotypes)
•Presented as educated and successful as well as able to cope with problems,
•Over represented in the media due to their lifestyle
•Representation fits in with the hegemonic ideology of the dominant class in society,
•Representation justifies the existing class structure and inequalities by suggesting people need to become more competent and successful in order to cope with life.
Representations of the working class
•Newman (2006) argues that there are very few situation comedies, television or drama which focuses on the everyday lives of working class who constitute a significant section of society,
•Newman argues that when in the media working class are often depicted in a very non positive light dumb buffoons (Homer Simpson) and immature machos (Phil Mitchell),
•Butsch (1992) – working class portrayed as flawed individuals (benefit cheats, etc.)
Hegemony
Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become—and seek to remain—dominant in society.
The development of the term “hegemony” in media studies follows the work of Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall
Stereotyping – theoretical perspective Dyer (1979) suggested that stereotypes are always about power – those with power stereotype those with less power. Hence he argued there were more recognisable stereotypes of gay men, non-white racial groups, the working class and women in society , and alternatively it was perhaps not so easy to point to media stereotypes of white, middle class, heterosexual men.
Hegemony
•Gramsci’s theory of hegemony can be visualised as the Middle classes (media, Judges (rule of law), Public, Education sector and religious bodies) using their influence to preserve the status quo.
•The poor and working class are often represented in an unsympathetic /biased way (trouble makers, deviant as a means of preserving the power of the middle and upper class).
•This is illustrated in the attached images
•Hegemony (theory) does not only apply to class it is relevant to gender (patriarchy) and race…
Media Representations of social class:
Summary of theories
Nairn (1988) – Monarchy
• “Royal Family” concept = niceness, decency, ordinariness,
• Royal family can be deemed to be “like us” but “not like us” – the queen seen as ordinary working mother doing extraordinary things,
Upper class
• Mainly represented through the coverage of the monarchy,
• Seen as well bred and cultured,
• Represented through their accents, estates, and a taste for shooting and hunting,
• Usually represented in costume and period drama.
Media Representations of social class:
Summary of theories
Representations of poverty and underclass
• Portrayal usually negative and stereotypical,
• Portrayed in the form of statistics in news bulletin such as figures of unemployment,
• Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy,
• Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term chav is used as an amusing term of abuse for young poor people
Race
Definition: The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics (which usually result from genetic ancestry).
Significance: Race presumes shared biological or genetic traits, whether actual or asserted. In the early 19th century, racial differences were ascribed significance in areas of intelligence, health, and personality. There is no evidence validating these ideas.
Ethnicity
Definition: An ethnic group or ethnicity is a population group whose members identify with each other on the basis of common nationality or shared cultural traditions
Significance: Ethnicity connotes shared cultural traits and a shared group history. Some ethnic groups also share linguistic or religious traits, while others share a common group history but not a common language or religion.
Race Representation
•Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal.
•Stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender, as media representation may be the only experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an audience may have (especially children and young people)
•Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth perpetuated down the ages.
•Race remains a hot issue on UK TV, because it’s always going to attract headlines!
•Often linked with immigration and questions of national identity – what does it mean to be British in the 2010’s?
Alvarado’s Race Theory (1978)Four key themes in racial representation:
–exotic (Spain flamenco dancer)
–dangerous (Scottish)
–humorous (Indians, loud Chinese people)
–pitied (Africans)
Black racial stereotypes
Stereotypes :Positive and negative stereotypes are often seen in contemporary British media.
–Musicians – jazz, hip-hop and soul
–Sportsmen and women
–Comedians
–Criminals
–Socially dysfunctional
–Prostitute/sexually promiscuous
–The stud/pimp
Archetype
The concept of an archetype appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychological theory, and literary analysis. Archetypes are also very close analogies to instincts in the sense that its impersonal and inherited traits that present and motivate human behavior long before any consciousness develops. They also continue to influence feelings and behavior even after some degree of consciousness developed later on.