Topic 4👥(Media represnetations)

What is the media gaze?

The way the media views things.

• The representations we say of CAGEDS groups in the media do not necessarily represent the diversity of these groups, nor the perspective that society has on these groups. The representations we see reflect the way that the media views these groups.

• Example = the representation of women in the sun as sexual objects is typical of the media gaze, where women are seen as sexual objects.

Why do media representations matter?

Gerbner and Gross argue that media representations can lead to symbolic annihilation.

Symbolic annihilation - where certain groups (CAGEDS) are omitted, condemned, trivialised, stereotyped or under-represented by the media. This leads to a distorted impression of the group by society or leads to them not being in the public consciousness at all.

Why else to media representations matter? (What would post modernists and Neo-Marxists argue?)

Baudrillard (2001) PM - Argues that the media representations of social groups can become hyper-reality for people who do not have experiences with the group in real life. This then leads certain groups to be treated in specific and often negative ways.

GMG (Neo-Marxists) argue that media representation will always serve the needs of the ruling class and reinforce their cultural hegemony. The representations will justify the existing inequalities in society.

How are the elderly represented in the media?

Newman(2006) found that: Older upper and middle class elderly people are often portrayed in TV and film dramas as occupying high-status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business executives. But in the news, two-thirds of stories showed older people negatively (as ill, vulnerable, or a burden). Even when stories were positive, they still included negative comments about aging, which reinforces stereotypes.

Sociological research suggests the elderly are represented as: grumpy, mentally challenged, dependent, a burden, lack of older women on tv, technologically incompetent.

What are the consequences of the representation of the elderly?

Carrigan found advertisers reluctant to use older models for fear of alienating younger consumers. However, recent research suggests that media producers may be gradually reinventing how they deal with the elderly, especially as they realise that this group may have disposable incomes, i.e extra money to spend on consumer goods.

• Reinforcement of ageism - people may assume elderly individuals are weak or incapable. This can affect employment opportunities, healthcare treatment and social respect and inclusion.

• Creation of social exclusion - lead to loneliness, marginalisation and reduced participation in society.

• Older people may internalise stereotypes

• However, more diverse modern representations may challenge traditional ageist attitudes.

How do the media represent teenagers?

• Teenagers are often portrayed in a negative way in the media: often shown as lazy, criminal, violent or genral troublemakers.

• Dick Hebdige identified two common media representations of the youth: Trouble - teens shown as deviant, rebellious, criminal. Fun - carefree, energetic, enjoying themselves, but still often trivialised.

• MORI poll 2005 found that 57% of stories about youth were negative, only 12% were positive. Especially teenage boys - portrayed as yobs, social problem and Involved in anti-social behaviour.

• Wayne et al analysed 2130 news items in May 2006. They found that young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society. They found that is was very rare for news items to feature a young persons perspective or opinion. They note that the media only delivers a one-dimensional picture of youth, one that encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding. - creates youth as a moral panic

What is the consequence of the media’s negative portrayals towards teenagers?

Leads to moral panic and hyper reality (Baudrillard). This is because the media often exaggerates youth behaviour and presents distorted images that audiences begin to treat as reality. The media may focus on rare but dramatic stories involving young people, making youth deviance appear more common than it really is.

AO3: However, not all media representations are negative, postmodernists argue that media representations are now more diverse. Young people are also shown as creative, politically aware, successful entrepreneurs, socially aware and role models. Social media allows young people to create their own representations rather than relying only on traditional media. / Audiences responses are not passive e.g may use personal experince instead or recognise media exaggeration.

How are teenagers represented in a positive way?

The media constructs youth identities and lifestyles because young people are a valuable consumer consumer group with their own spending power. The media often promotes positive, aspirational images of teenagers to encourage them to buy products linked to that lifestyle.

These positive images can act as role models, encouraging teenagers to behave in more positive or ambitious ways. ‘Fun’ teens are usually shown as popular, confident, attractive, intelligent and talented. These representations often celebrate diversity, showing young people from different ethnic and economic backgrounds achieving success.

How does the media represent children?

British children are often depicted in the British media in positive ways: cute, little devils, brave little angels, active consumers, modern, brilliant and victims of horrendous crimes.

What is the impact of how children are represented in the media?

Pluralists would argue that the media simply reflect audience demand for heart-warming or dramatic stories involving children.

Postmodernists argue that the media creates diverse, fluid identities, so children may pick and choose different representations. No single stereotype dominates society now.

What is the general representation of the different social classes?

• Favourable representation of upper and middle class- more exposure, positive light, mature, sensible, educated and successful.

• Over-representation of upper and middle class compared to working class.

• More restricted view of working class - less depth. Generally under-represented in the media, but when they are represented they are typically stereotyped in negative ways, with their feelings seen as arising from their lack of conformity to m/c values, norms and lifestyles. (Curran and Seaton)

What are the general features of the representation of the middle class?

AO1: Jones argues that ‘we are all middle class now’. Values and norms of the middle class are seen as the norm/aspirational. Creates the impression that the worries and interests of the well off are or should be important to everyone. Working class or ‘underclass’ are thus seen as abnormal or deviant as a result. Reiner (2010) Contemporary representations of people with wealth show them as examples of success within a meritocratic society. When people are shown as having enormous wealth, their achievements are celebrated and the audience is encouraged to identify with the culture of consumption and materialism that is portrayed in the lifestyle of the wealthy.

AO2: Most tv presenters are middle class and most journalists (54%) are privately educated. This means we get a middle class view of the world as default. So the news reflects middle class concerns. With new media, this is still the case as media influencers are typically middle class - reinforces their values.

What are the general representations of the upper-class?

Nairn: The royal family as a concept equates to niceness, decency and ordinariness. The royal family are deemed to be like us but not like us; the queen was sent as an ordinary working mother doing extraordinary things. E.g the difficulties she had experienced with her children which ordinary people can relate to, such as divorce.

Marxists would argue that this puts people under a fcc, the royals are not like us as they have a high soceital status and spread r/c ideology.

What are the general representations of the working class?

Criminal or deviant, lazy, dependent, uneducated or lacking culture.

The sun, daily star and daily mirror aimed at WC - as well as all other media-formats suggests that they have little interest in serious public affairs (government) and are more interested in infotainment. (Curran and seaton) GMG argue that there is little media content which discusses class privilege, class inequality, power differences.

Marxists argue that this dumbed down content fed to the w/c acts as a distraction from inequality - prevents revelation. However, newer media forms sometimes provide more diverse and positive representations. Pluralists would argue that the w/c have choice to consume this content, they are able to actively interpret it. W/c may see this content and engage with it the most as that is what entertains them - demand.

What evidence is there of the wc representations?

• Butshc - Royle family: w/c family of couch potatoes, who have low-brow absurd conversations and watch tv all the time. Leads to w/c internal siding their label and thy are seen as irresponsible rather than oppressed, they deserve to be in their positions - due to a lack of hard work.

• EastEnders script writer quoted in jones 2011: Eastenders was. ‘Created by middle-class people with a middle class view of the working class which is patronising, idealised and un-realistic.

• Lawler argues that the media has moved away from idealised representations and replaced them with words like chavs, white-trash and scum.- creates impression of hostile, worthless and disgusting. Helps m/c secure their identity and legitimise their privileges position over the working class.

• Shildrick - media do not represent the wider societal and structural issues which lead to a lack of socia mobility - like problems with the education system.

What do the different theorists ague about the representations of different social classes?

Marxists may argue that this representation of society in the media is done to legitimatise the site of inequality and maintain capitalist structures.

Neo-Marxists may argue that these representations are due to the media being full of white, middle class professionals and thus it simply reflects their views (hegemony).

Pluralists argue that the media is this way as it is responding to market -forces.

How is heterosexuality presented in the media?

• Broadly seen as ‘normal’ sexuality and men and women are often defined in relation to this. Women may be represented with a regard to their attractiveness toward men and vice versa.

• Heteronormative lens: Traditional media representations of sexuality have historically been viewed through a heteronormative lens, emphasising traditional ideas of heterosexuality as the norm. Male and female attraction is often depicted in fictional and non-fictional media.

Sexuality as part of the hegemonic feminine stereotype

Women’s sexual characteristics are often represented as a central aspect of the feminine identity. They are often defined by their physical attractiveness and sexual appeal to men. This objectification is part of what Mulvey called the ‘male gaze’ - particularly through advertising. Women are much more likely to be seen as sex objects than men, especially in pornogrpahy consumed by young men in particular.

How are the representations of male sexuality in the media changing?

Increasingly, men are also being seen as sex objects and is reflected in the growing coverage of men’s health, diet, dress etc. male sexuality is becoming a more important part of how they are represented.

McRobbie - men are beginning to face the same sort of physical scrutiny that women do. The metrosexual male stereotype has emerged in the media: heterosexual men are in touch with their feminine side, have refined taste in clothes, more in touch with emotions etc.

The symbolic annihilation of gay and lesbian sexuality

Gross - media have often symbolically annihilated gays be excluding, trivialising, condemning or made fun of them. Despite change, homosexuality is still under-represented/portrayed negatively by mass media.

Cowan and Valentine in a study of BBC, found that gay people are five times more likely to be portrayed negatively than positively. Cowan - 20% of people think TV is responsible for anti-gay prejudice.

G/L characters in media are usually cast and defined by their sexual orientation - appears more in sympathetic treatment of homosexuality i.e eastenders.

The sanitisation of gay sexuality (Gill, 2007)

To avoid risk of offending heterosexual audiences, or putting off advertisers, mainstream media represents gay sexuality only in a ‘sanitised way’:

• gay men rarely portrayed in a sexualised way - less kissing, touching. Instead they appear stylish and attractive to appeal to women, not to other gay men.

• Opposite for lesbians - more often portrayed as hypersexualised manner. Appealing to one of the ‘oldest heterosexual male sexaul fantsies’

What is the triple effect?

1. Appeal to gay and lesbian market

2. Not offending heterosexual media audiences ad advertisers

3. Nope challenging heterosexual ideology, but actively securing its continued hegemony as the norm.

How are the stereotypes changing? AO3

• Media still under represent G/L however this is changing - more growing acceptance and tolerance of a diversity of sexualities.

• Some change in traditional representation of G/L sexuality - stereotypes largely disappeared. More insight into G/L relationships, and other sexual identities.

• Popular gay celebrities e.g Gok Wan, Alan Carr confirm that. Media rep and audiences are beginning o change.

• Media companies have also realised that the G/L is a consumer market - refereed to as the ‘pink pound’ .they have money to spend.

What is Shakespeare’s view on disability?

Argues that disability is a social construction - created by the attitudes of society not the person themselves. A person may have an impairment, but society ‘disables’ them through exclusion and discrimination.

For example, a wheelchair user is disabled not only by paralysis, but by: buildings without ramps or lifts, inaccessible transport, employers refusing adjustments and negative stereotypes in the media.

Shakespeare argues the media often represents disabled people as: Dependent, inspirational ‘heroes’ and objects of pity. These stereotypes reinforce exclusion and inequality.

Evaluation of Shakespeare’s view

• some impairments make it impossible to take part in society just like others.

• Utilitarian: if by catering for impaired individuals more suffering is created for everyone else, than reduced for those with disabilities, it should not be done.

• An impairment itself can still involve pain, physical limitations and medical difficulties s disability is not entirely socially constructed. Social barriers and biological realities must be considered together.

What is the media gaze of disability? (AO1)

White, middle class, able-bodied men are those that control the media industry - so our understanding of disability is largely based on the media gaze of those men. In general, this gaze represent disability as a problem based on individual impairments, not as a problem created by society’s reaction to this impairment. If you do not have direct experience of disability, then popular views of disabled people come through media stereotyping - creating a distorted hyper-reality.

Represented as: helpless, dependent, victims. Media stories may focus on what they cannot do rather than their achievements or everyday lives. This reinforces the idea that disabled people are different from or inferior to non-disabled people.

What is the consequence of disabled people being represented in this way?

Disabled people may feels isolated, alienated, vulnerable and feel like they cannot live a normal life as they don’t fit into society - their identity is not valued. People may negatively view disabled people, could lead to a moral panic.

When disabled people are represented in a positive light e.g extraordinary individuals who ‘overcome’ their disability. E.g stories celebrating someone for achieving something despite their impairment. Although this is positive, this can create unrealistic expectations and suggest disabled people must be exceptional to be valued.

Symbolic annihilation of disability

AO1:Despite a significant number of the population falling under the definition of disabled in the UK they are under-represented in the media and if so in negative ways that they are symbolically annihilated.

AO2: Cumberbatch et al - content analysis showed only 2.5% of popular tv programmes portrayed disabled people despite them representing 20% (1 in 6) in the real world. In two thirds of the cases the portrayal was centred around the persons impairment instead of it being an incidental aspect of their character - this means we see disability as abnormal/remarkable and this continues to cast disabled people as outsiders.

What is the impact of disabled people being symbolically annihilated? AO3A

• we do not get an understanding of the true lived reality of disabled people and thus cannot understand their needs, or the way that society needs to change (symbolic annihilation)

• Misunderstanding — prejudicial understanding of disabled. May not see disabled individuals as complex individuals with specific needs, interests, faults, abilities; we see them in a reductive way.

• Disabled people find it more difficult to live a ‘normal’ life as they are continually treated as abnormal, which may lead to isolation and marginalisation.

What evidence is there that disabled people are portrayed negatively?

Philo (2010) GMG - half of peak-time programmes with mental illness storylines represented these people as threats to others; 63% negative portrayal of mental illness.

Philo (2014) found that this was changing from ‘mad and bad’ representation of mental health disability - fewer overly simplistic portrayals, but the ‘mad and bad’ violent psycho stereotypes persisted.

Briant et al: The proportion of articles linking disabled people with benefit fraud had doubled, calling them words like ‘scrounger’ - describing it as a lifestyles choice some. (2011) . Meida coverage describing disabled people in sympathetic and deserving term, especially those with mental-health related disabilities had gone down from 2004-2011.

Has the way disabled people are represented changed?

New media has contributed to change towards a more positive view of disabled people - starting to become seen as aspirational, not evil/burden however these portrayals are still evident.

Social media = increased visibility and self-representation.

Disabled people are more often portrayed as ordinary individuals with careers, relationships and interests rather than simply as victims or objects of pity. Social media allows disabled people to represent themselves directly, reducing the power of traditional media stereotypes. For example, events such as the Paralympic Games have increased public awareness of disability and challenged assumptions about capability and achievement.