Media Representations

Representations of Children (under 14)

‘Seven Deadly Stereotypes’

• Victims

• Cute

• Devils

• Brilliant

• Accessories

• Kids these days!

• Angels

Representations of Youth (14-20ish)

Youth media industry has sought to create youth culture through its media products - industry has grown and expanded into other areas

• hugely influential on youth identity and lifestyle - media companies create the concept of youth and what it means to be a teenager in the UK today

Pluralists - products are primarily giving youths what they want, reflecting their identities and responding to market needs

Attack on Youth - Cohen

Mods & Rockers

• media reaction to clashes - creates folk devils

Media presents youth as “bad behaviour”

Attack on Youth - Wayne et al

Content of news programmes across the main channels

• 82% items concerned young people and violent crimes

Modern Links to Age Representations

• Kardashians

• Golden age

• Immigration (unite the flags)

Representations of Older People (65+)

Five Stereotypes

• Grumpy

• A burden

• Infantile

• “Demented” or Confused

• Second Childhood

Representations of Old People - Cuddy and Fiske

older people are largely invisible or presented in a negative of way

• US older characters 1.5% of characters

• more likely to be portrayed as having impaired mental, physical or sexual activates

Age and Gender

Differences in stereotypes between older men and women

• men - depicted positively as desirable romantic partners for younger women or distinguished figures like leaders, experts, and successful professionals

• women - often rendered invisible or symbolically annihilated in media imagery

Age and Gender - White et al

older viewers felt stereotypes on television = lack of representation of middle-aged and older women

• viewers criticised the media for being insulting and out of touch with an aging society

Age and Gender - Szmignin and Carrigan

increasing numbers of older individuals with disposable income - may lead to more positive images of aging emerging

• cautious about older models in advertisements, fearing alienating younger audiences

How are the Upper Classes represented according to Neo-Marxists?

Mass media representations of social class tend to celebrate hierarchy and wealth

• hardly ever portray the classes in a critical light, or pay attention to inequalities in wealth and pay or the overrepresentation of public-school products in positions of power

However - new media doesn’t represent upper class as kindly anymore e.g. Prince Andrew scandal

The Monarch - Nairn

Monarchy has successfully converted much of the modern mass media

• rare to see criticism presented as ‘like us’, but, ‘not like us’ - Queen was just an ‘ordinary’ working mother doing an extraordinary job

• reinforces national identity

Representations of Wealth - Newman (Marxist)

Media overwhelmingly spotlight the affluent lifestyle, fixating on luxury goods

• disproportionate coverage despite limited public ownership - impact on wealthy

Criticising Media’s neglect of Capitalisms injustices

Representations of Wealth - Pluralist

Representations of the rich, their lifestyles and the business world are justified:

• UK as meritocracy - media represents the idea that talented people are deserving of high rewards

• Stories motivate people to work hard - attain these rewards - benefits the economy

• Focus on finance, stocks and shares may merely reflect the importance of these sectors for the economy

Representations of the Middle Class

3 types

• Over-represented - targets middle-class

• Dominant - Owen Jones: ‘we are all middle class now’

• Anxiety - anxious about contemporary society and prone to moral panic (e.g. immigration, youth)

Representations of the Working-Class - Newman

often represented and stereotyped as a problem in the media - marginal and problematic

• e.g. Jeremy Kyle Show: they are the problem!

Representations of the Working-Class - Glasgow University Media Group

Representation of industrial struggle with workers represented as awkward and a problem

• in contrast, employers are presented as reasonable

e.g. miner strikes 1980s

Representations of the Working-Class - Jones

Media coverage of W/C people constitutes a M/C assault on W/C values

• journalists: “liberal bigotry” - fleckless, promiscuous, foul-mouthed racists

• issues of poverty, unemployment and single-parent families suggest personal inadequacy of the W/C - rather then gov policies and poor business practice as the main cause of social problems

Representations of the Working-Class - Curran and Seaton

W/C often assume they’re not interested in serious analysis of political or social issues

• simplified into conflicts between personalities for their consumption (e.g. Sun & Star)

• presented unintelligent or as violent and prejudged

Representations of the Working-Class - Salt of the Earth

W/C people as simple but decent “normal people”

• significant quantity of media products out there that represent W/C life positively or realistically, often produced by writers and filmmakers with a pro W/C political message

Coverage of Poverty and Underclass - McKendrick et al

poverty was marginal in the media

• little exploration into the causes

(Poverty is often dealt with in the media in a very impersonal way, focusing on statistics rather than individual stories of living with poverty)

Coverage of Poverty and Underclass - Cohen

Media “trumpeting the good fortune” of British capitalism - less attention to its ‘causalities’

• media revels in the suffering of the poor by commissioning shows that deliberately portrays the poor as parasitic scroungers

Media reinforces the popular view that the poor are poor because of their own depravity and weakness

• media fails to see the connection between deprivation and wealth

The Stigmatisation of the Poor - Shildrick and McDonald

Media labelling suggests that the poor are undeserving of public sympathy

The Stigmatisation of the Poor - Hayward and Yar

Label ‘chav’ is now used by newspapers and websites as a familiar and amusing term of abuse for young people

The Stigmatisation of the Poor - Lawler

Media uses discriminatory and offensive form of language to utility and socially stigmatise what they depict as a peasant underclass or white trash

• symbolised by stereotypical forms of appearance

Social Class Representations - Marxists

Media representations of poverty serve to suggest that this economic status is self-inflicted rather than caused by the social organisation of capitalism

• profit and wealth needs to be justified as deserved

Mass media are an ideological agency that function to maintain, legitimise and reproduce class inequalities

Social Class Representations - Pluralists

Representations reflect the reality of capitalistic society

• reported because they fit news values of what is newsworthy

If W/C people didn’t like them, they would not invest in the types of the media in which these representations are mainly found

What are the two broad sociological views of disability?

Bio-Medical Model - disabled people are disabled by their physical and/or mental impairments

Social Model - disabled people are disabled by society (by prejudicial, stereotypes and attitudes)

Six Stereotypes of Disabled People - Barnes

PISSSA

• Pitiable and pathetic

• Incapable

• Sinister and evil

• Super-cripples

• Sexually abnormal

• Atmosphere or curio

‘Super-Cripples’ - Ross

For disability issues to be reported - must be sensational, unexpected or heroic to be interpreted by journalists as newsworthy

Crude, One-Dimensional and Simplistic - Shakespeare

Media stereotypes of the disabled on television and films are “crude, one-dimensional and simplistic”

• “use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut”

Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of disability

Raising money for Disabled People - Roper

Telethons (e.g. Children in Need - aim to raise money for disabled) rely too heavily on ‘cute’ children who are not representative of the range of disabled people in the UK

• telethons focused on entertaining the public rather than helping able-bodied society to understand the everyday realities of what it is like to be disabled

Newspaper Representations of Disability - Williams-Findlay

Examined the output of two broadsheet newspapers, The Times and The Guardian to see whether their coverage of the disabled had changed between 1989 and 2009

• steep decline in the use of stereotypical words such as ‘brave’ - but both negative and stereotypical representations of the disabled were still in present in both newspapers still assumed that disability was ‘tragic’ and they were ‘afflicted’

• disability is not regarded as newsworthy by either journalists or their audiences

Newspaper Representations of Disability - Watson, Philo and Briant

Compared and contrasted tabloid media coverage of disability in 5 British Newspapers in 2010 & 2004

• significant increase in the reporting of disability

• proportion of articles that described disabled people sympathetic and deserving terms had fallen

• media portrayal of some groups of disabled people (mental health conditions & hidden disabilities) was particularly negative - often described as welfare ‘scroungers’ who were undeserving benefits

Media Representations on Media Representations of Disability - Pluralism

Media reflects the dominant medical model of disability when portrayed disabled people in the media

• mirrors societies anxieties around disability

• reflects the admiration of disabled people - ‘inspiration porn’: disabled people as courageous and inspirational

Media representations portray the reality of the everyday experiences of disabled people and their carers

Media Representations on Media Representations of Disability - Social Construction

• Medical professionals set the agenda for media portrayal of disability - disability is unhealthy, unfortunate and tragic, dependent on others

• Reflect the prejudice that able-bodied people feel towards the disabled

• Disabled are rarely constructed by journalists because they concur with the medical view that disabled people are incapable of leading a ‘normal life’ - negative representations

Media Representations on Media Representations of Disability - Postmodernists

Dominant discourse is fragmenting as the disabled politically organise themselves, their voice and independently construct find their own identities

• medical metanarrative is in decline and the perspective of the disabled that impartment does not mean unhealthy, deficient and dependent is increasingly heard and acted upon

Representations of Ethnicity in Media - Akinti

Media discussions of minority-ethnic groups focuses too much on problems

• symbolic annihilation of minority-ethnic groups

Representations of Ethnicity in Media - Van Dijk

4 representations of black people

• Criminals

• Threat

• Unimportant

• Invisible

Minority ethnic groups as Criminals - Van Dijk and David et al

Journalists have demonised Black young people (African Caribbeans) - threat to law-abiding white society for decades

Minority ethnic groups as Criminals - Back

Reporting of inner-city race disturbances involving minority ethnic groups as ‘riots’ - disturbances are irrational and criminal = controlled by justifiable use of police force

• Journalists barely use the word ‘uprising’: would suggest that members of minority ethnic groups may have genuine grievances in terms of being the victims of racial attacks

• Idea that people are angry enough to take the streets to rebel against injustice very rarely forms part of the media coverage of such events

Minority ethnic groups as a Threat - Moore et al

British coverage of Muslims from 2000-2008 - over 1/3 of stones focused on terrorism

• differences between the Muslim and British community (forced marriage, wearing of hijab/veil)

• stories regarding attacks on Muslim community and islamophobia was rare: Islam as dangerous, Multiculturalism as bad, Clash of civilisation, Islam is a threat to the British way of life

Minority ethnic groups as Unimportant - Van Dijk

Some sections if the media imply that the lives of white people are more important than the lives of non-white people

• e.g. murders of BAME people reported much less extensively than similar killings of white people

Minority ethnic groups as Unimportant - Ligali

Black victims of crime are not paid the same degree of attention by the news as white victims

• Sir Ian Blair - claimed institutionalised racism characterised with British media’s reporting to violent crimes - seriously neglecting black victims

The Tokenism of Ethnic Minority Groups - Shah

broadcasters overcompensate for the lack of executives, producers, directors, and writers from minority ethnic groups by putting too many Black and Asian faces on screen, regardless of whether they authentically fit the programmes they are in

• ethnic-minority actors are merely ‘props’

Representations of Ethnicity - Pluralism

Media provides the public with content that aligns with their preferences and interests, as failure to do so would result in a lack of profitability

• portrayal of Black individuals as criminals and Muslims as a potential threat in news reports mirrors genuine concerns and anxieties within society

Newspapers act in accordance with the desires of their readership, with the expectations of highlighting issues will prompt action from those in positions of authority

• people choose not to buy these newspapers due to the diversity of media in Britain

Representations of Ethnicity - Instrumental Marxist

Media is an ideological apparatus that operates to divide and rule the W/C while diverting their attention from the inequality inherent in capitalism

• Hall - ethnic minorities are targeted by media moral panics, which seek to criminalise them and portray them as folk devils threatening the stability of white society

This narrative justifies the allocation of resources towards social control measures aimed at ethnic minorities

• media amplifies issues such as Muslim extremism - diverting attention away from the exploitation experienced by the W/C

Representations of Ethnicity Instrumental Marxist Criticisms - Hollingsworth

some anecdotal evidence that some tabloid owners, editors and journalists subscribed to racist views however he stated this was only a very small proportion of media professionals

Representations of Ethnicity Instrumental Marxist Criticisms - Cottle

Guardian focused on investigating the death of Stephen Lawrence and the Institutional racism that undermined the investigation

Representations of Ethnicity - Hegemonic Marxist

Explains why mass media representations of ethnic minorities tend to be negative

• most owners, editors and journalists are White, and consequently subscribe to a particular consensual view about how society should be

• product of economics rather than ideology or racism - white opinions & interest due to being the majority of the audience

• consensus approach means that media professionals do not want to risk alienating their White audience by focusing on minority cultures or interests - interests of Black people and Muslims are marginalised or rendered invisible

Representations of Ethnicity - Cottle (Hegemonic Marxist)

Pursuit of large audiences had led to the tabloidisation or dumbing down of news

• complex issues are less likely to be explained to audiences

News is likely to be reduced to simplistic soundbites and dramatic statements that highlight conflict but fail to capture or illuminate the complexity of race relations in the UK

Symbolic Annihilation -Tuchman

Women’s achievements are often not reported, or are condemned or civilised by the mass media

Presentation of Women -Tunstall

Biased - women as busy housewives, ignoring the fact that well over half of British women work

• men often portrayed as active and in position of powers - little reference is made to men’s material and domestic status

Male Gaze - Mulvey

Camera looks at a women in the same way as a man does - sexual/decorative beings

• 2012 - 1300 news reports portrayed women in limiting roles

Objectifying Women - Bates

Media is guilt of sexually objectifying women in lyrics and videos

‘Just the Women’ Report

Women who had achieved some level of social status as politicians or actors were often denigrated and humiliated by the media

• Stalinas - journalists often pass negative comment on how women dress, their weight, looks, sexual and family lives

Equating Happiness and Popularity with Slimness - Orbach

Media perpetuates the idea that slimness equals success, health, happiness and popularity

• encouraging young girls to be unhappy with their bodies

• potential for eating disorders

• adverts encouraging dieting and cosmetic surgery

Media Empowers Women - Gauntlett

Magazines for young women today emphasise that women must do their own thing to be themselves

Media Empowers Women - Plant

Interprets if feminine technology that has the potential to destabilise patriarchy

• allows women to explore, subvert and create new identities

Negative Effect of New Media on Women

Women who use the new media may subject of everyday sexist reputations encountered in older forms of media

• women rights campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez subjected to 50 rape and murder threats every hour for two days in 2013

Men Representations - Children Now

Media Representations of men do not reflect the changing work and family experiences of most men

• violent, leader, problem-solver, confident, successful, athletic, rarely shown in workplace, rarely at home

• 1/3 boys had never seen a man doing domestic chores on TV

Demonisation of Men - McNamara

Media representations failed to portray the reality of masculine life

• 80% of media representations of men were negative - ‘irresponsible risk-takers’, incapable of communicating their feelings or controlling anger

Moving away from Traditional Masculinity - McNamara

20% of media representations show the metrosexual male - take care of their appearance in terms of consumering toiletries and fashion products and unafraid to express emotional vulnerability

Moving away from Traditional Masculinity - Gauntlett

Men’s Health transmit Metrosexual Values - “fundamentally caring, generous and good-humoured” on “helping men to be considerable lovers, useful around the home, healthy, fashionable and funny”

• moving away from traditional masculinity - embracing new forms: celebrate fatherhood and emotional vunerability

Media Representations on Gender - Liberal Feminists

Media representations are slow to change in response to women’s achievements: ‘cultural lag’

Media Representations on Gender - Mills (Liberal Feminist)

Newsroom is a very male culture that can be off-putting to females

Media Representations on Gender - Lauren (Liberal Feminist)

15 women accounted for only 27& of creators, directors, writers - disproportionately found in costume design, make-up and hair: less status and are paid less than male-dominated technical areas

Media Representations on Gender - Marxist Feminists

Stereotypical images of men and women in the media are economic - by-product of media conglomerates need to make profit in capitalist societies

• focused on the content of women’s magazines: media make profits from advertising rather than sales, promote ‘false needs’

• diet industry is worth $100 billion a year in the USA alone: encourages women to invest in the beauty market is an increasing emphasis in media content on retaining youth and resisting ageing

Media Representations on Gender - Wolf (Radical Feminists)

Media deliberately dupe women into believing in the ‘beauty myth’: women see these goals as central rather then competing with men for positions of power

• false consciousness

Media Representations on Gender - McRobbie (Radical Feminists)

Much of the media prosecuted towards young women today constitutes a form of ‘popular feminism’: “girl boss”/”girl power”

• new form of feminism: rejection of the feminism of previous generations that focused on patriarchal forms of exploration

• have to develop their own language for dealing with sexual inequality

Media Representations on Gender - Gauntlett (Postmodernists)

More positive about representations on gender - relationship between mass media and identity has challenged traditional definitions of gender and are in fact a force for change

• new emphasis in men’s media on men’s emotions and problems: producing a greater diversity of feminine and masculine identities

Media Representations on Gender - Pluralists

Concept of symbolic annihilation underestimates women’s ability to see through gender stereotyping and manipulation

• feminists are guilty of stereotyping girls as impressionable and easily influenced - no evidence that women take notice of media content or that it profoundly affects their attitudes or behaviour

• media simply reflects social attitudes and tastes - women were really unhappy in ways they were represented: would not buy media products which support this, such as women’s magazines

The big gay plotline - Bachelor et al

Gay representations did appear in the mainstream media - weren’t generally ‘integrated’ into plot lines: gayness was part of the plot, seen as a source of anxiety, or as target of teasing or bullying

• mainstream young people’s media, lesbianism was completely invisible

Stereotypical ‘Signs of Gayness’ - Dyer

Media construct stereotypical ‘signs of gayness’ such as vocal tics, facial expressions, stances, and clothing, to ‘make visible the invisible’

• consequently if a person demonstrates these signifiers during their everyday behaviour - labelled as ‘gay’ by their peers and subjected to prejudice and discriminated by others

Three Main Signifiers of Gayness - Dyer

• Camp - use of irony and exaggeration by characters that are generally regarded as extremely flamboyant figures of entertainment: negatively reinforces traditional ideas of masculinity

• Macho - exaggerating masculinity: openly sexual look, transforming practical male clothing such as safety helmets and police officer’s caps into erotic symbols

• Deviant - often stereotyped as deviants by media representations: rarely presented in a sympathetic matter

Other Common Stereotypes

Association with HIV/AIDS - focused strongly on gay community and furtherly supported a stereotype of gay men being particularly promiscuous

• AIDS were reported on in a less sympathetic way in relation to gay men than for other suffers - suggesting that they brought the disease upon themselves

Symbolic Annihilation - Stonewall

LGBTQ were disproportionately co-signed to the status of comedic relief - presented as something to laugh at

• especially found to be the case with representations of lesbianism, frequently presented as over-sexualised and exotic, for male’s viewing pleasure

Coverage: unhappy, distressed, bullied and rejected by their families & little reference to lesbians or trans people

Trans People in the Media - Mermaids

2012-2018 - coverage of stories about trans people over the last 6 years writing roughly three and a half times as many articles

The Pink Pound - aka Rainbow Washing

Pink economy has now been recognised by advertisers - many gay men and women are professional people with no dependants and large disposable income to spend on consumer goods

• companies have actively countered gay and lesbian consumers through gay-positive advertising and marketing campaigners

Representation of LGBTQ Community

Representations within the new media are most positive - much of content is user-generated

• LGBTQ organisations and individuals have constructed hundreds of sites that offer advice and support to LGBTQ people

Critics of mass-media representations of LGBTQ - increase in number of positive representations of LGBTQs in commercials, films and television shows but there is still a long way to go before such sexualities are portrayed in ways that are neither stereotypical nor judgemental