Task 5

Task 5- Simpsons Episode - Principal Charming

Dominant reading:
The episode of the Simpsons is very humorous and is a good  family orientated.

 
Negotiated reading:
The episode of the Simpsons is humorous and entertaining as well as informing as every episode has a moral message.

Oppositional reading:
The episode of the Simpsons is a treat to family values as it promotes bad manners and it’s also a treat to children’s intellect as it dumbs them down and that there is no humour to the jokes. In addition the episode is very childish and lacks purpose or meaning as it fails to educate or entertain or inform the audience of anything significant. Lastly it’s another example of Americanisation promoting negative stereotypes.

Task 4

Task 4- What is the effect of the scene on the audience? Use as many theories in your answer as possible to show you understanding of these theories. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JONqZt6_eG8

Hyperaemic needle is one of the effects the texts has on a passive audience as the institutions/producers are able to inject there ideologies on to the audience. The ideological messages that come from this particular scene are that violence and crime is acceptable this is shown by the number of people who are engaging in this activity. It’s also highlighted by the emphasises being a big gangster who is shooting rounds and rounds of ammunition and his gun signifies power, respect and loyalty these are some of the ideological messages the director want the audience to take in.

Desensitisation can also be applied to this piece of text as the audience for a good one minute are exposed to violence in the form of gun shots and shooting emphased by the loud deigetic sounds and people being killed which suggest that if a passive audience who don’t question the significant of this type of violence are constantly exposed to this type of violence it will become normal in society and in other media products.

In addition the copy cat theory can also be applied to this text as the indented audience (target audience) for this film Scarface is males and females above the age of 18. However it also appeals to a younger audience as young as 14 years old have been exposed to this particular text. Exposure to this type of material without censorship is damaging to society as young people will not be mature enough to question the text and therefore be passive to the ideological messages that they pick up from the text such as being violence allows you to get your way and that its normal walking around shooting people. This will lead to kids modelling the protagonist and forgetting that the text is fictional and there have been cases were violence acts that have taken place in society have been influenced by this particular text.

Lastly the cultivation theory can also be applied to this particular text as a constant exposure to violence such as films such as Scarface and other films which have violence can lead to it having a negative effect on the audience and society as these acts of violence, sex and even drugs may become normal in society as the theory means the audience are unable to draw the line between fiction and reality.

Task 3

Task 3- "Media representations favour those with power at the expense of those without." To what extent do you think this statement is true?”

Historically media representation has favoured those with power for example ‘Mans world’ (1947) is a British film which represented women as being inferior to men this was shown by women who were cooking and cleaning and other domestic jobs for the benefit of men. This was a dominate representation of when as society was constantly presented with these negative representations of women this had a negative effect on society as passive audience failed to question these representations of women resulting in the cultivation theory were it were it became normal in society as they began to think this was how society was meant to be. This negative representation was constructed and presented by those in power at the time which would be middle class white men according to hegemony these people were in charge of the creative side of the production of films and other media products. This negative representation allowed them to stay in control in society through these representations and these perspectives were never challenged for a number of years as there were no women in media institutions to represent women in society. The main reason women were portrayed negatively at that time was because they were seen to be a treat to the hegemonic values.

In addition young people are also shown to be negatively represented through the media for example in print ‘Britain a nation of yobs’ a headline in the Sun 2007 which illustrates that Britain is under attack by young yobs. Politically this is also shown by laws recently made targeting young people such as ‘stop and search’ related to gun and knife crime, this is all shown in the media to raise concern and to create a Moral panic this allows the elite and the power to convince society that these people are a treat which makes it easier for them to get treated negatively ‘ How we are seen, determines how we are treated’ said Stuart Hall which favours those in power as how we are represented on TV, internet and film as well as other medial platform has an impact on how we are treated in society.

Furthermore ethnic minorities are resented as being ‘Immagrants’ and this is shown through British soaps for example Mr Indeep in Eastenders an elderly man from India is shown to not fit into society and he is constantly alienated this is illustrated by the fact that he can’t speak English , so this negative representation of Ethnic minorities again favours the powerful and elite in society as it focuses the audience on the concerns of those ethnic minorities meaning society are less able to challenge the status quo and the hegemonic values of the powerful.  

There are hardly any positive representation of young people in the media maybe because positive representations of young people do not sell and are less profitable as less audience consume it. This is outlined by the British film Adulthood which depicted young people in a negative way made £3million revenue compared to another British film ‘School is cool’ which depicted young people at school and making a positive change in society but only made a total revenue of 50,000 which outlines the fact that the media owners (the most powerful and elite) are again making more of a profit of negative representations of young people then positive representations of young people.

Task 2

Task 2- “Digital media have in many ways changed how we consume media products” Who do you think benefits most audience or producers

In this essay I will be arguing weather audiences or producers benefit most from the change in media consumption.

Firstly audiences have benefited from new and digital media as they are being exposed to more content and are seeing more representations due to Citizen Journalism which allows ordinary people to report on a moral panic a good example would be the democratic protests in the middle east against the government which has made it difficult and dangerous for journalist to get to the protest and report on them and they have relied on normal people filming footage from those protests. This is a benefit for the audience as there able to view raw footage and there is no longer restriction to the content they are able to view as they are able to demand for content and get it instantly. This means that the users and gratification theory is being met as the audiences of today are being entertained and informed more than ever.

In addition audiences are able to accesses media content using a number of devices such as mobile phones, itouch, iphone ect. This means that audience are no longer restricted from viewing media content on just a television they can also access this content instantly and in cases such as BBC and Sky news able to access this content 24 hours due to rolling news. Furthermore audience are no longer passive they are more active as they can leave a comment on news articles meaning they are not just being injected with the ideological messages of the mainstream media they can become active and challenge these view.

Furthermore as your lifes have become busier with work and other commitments we have no time to consume as much media content as we once did. This has lead to the rise of iplayer, 4OD, ITV player and other on demand sites. These services allow consumers to watch whatever program they have missed at whatever time they wish. However this has lead to the drop of ratings on some TV series and due to the low demand of programs when they are airing live has lead to them being scrapped. In addition it’s also caused producers problems in terms of scheduling they don’t know when to play some shows as they feel during peak times the consumers would miss them and just play them online. This has caused channel 4 producers problems in particular as advert companies have in the past refused to sponsor them or fund them due to the low demand for those programs whiles they are playing live or the low ratings.

Moreover the rise of interactive services such as Sky+ and Freeview record has also lead to a fall in demand for live TV as these services allow you to pre-record episodes and even whole series of TV shows which you want to watch at a later date. This again gives the producers a problem as they don’t have much people watching the shows live again effecting relationships that have with advertising agencies. However the advantages it has to consumers outweighs the disadvantages as they are able to consume media products whenever is convenient for them. In addition they are able to keep up with their favorite media products without feeling they are missing out. On the other hand some of the disadvantages to consumers are that they are less sociable and have a negative impact on society as people become withdrawn and self schedule what they want to watch, for example TV shows you would normally watch with your family get put off and people watch them individually making people less sociable.

Task 1

Task 1-Compare and contrast the representation of teenagers in the two texts.
In the trailer for skins it illustrates a positive representation of young people in society as it shows young people making something of their life’s this is highlighted by the mis-en-scene as the costume they are shown to be wearing is school uniform which shows that they are still in school where as in the Bully trailer young people are shown to be wearing tracksuits hoody and hats which signifies crime and anti-social behaviour outlining that these groups of people are shown to have a negative representation. In addition in Bully the protagonist is shows to be violent when he’s walking around the streets of London and shown to be aggressive this shows a binary opposition when it comes to the protagonist in Skins which is shown to be polite and caring

Some may argue that both TV shows are a negative representation of young people because they are shown to be around drugs, sex and violence and they young people are being represented in both texts and young people both represent a minority group in society. Due to this fact it’s easier to misrepresent this group of people as they have no power in society and this allows institutions higher up in the hierarchy to attach a stigma to these groups of people as they are lower down in society there’s not a great chance that they will not question this representation this is linked to heygonmy.

To conclude young groups of people are negatively represented in these British films due to the current economic situation of these groups of people as the ONS recorded that “36% of young people are unemployed which is roughly 200,000 young people”  this alongside the recession has made it hard for young people and the working class. It could be argued young people are a burden on society as they are not in employment and not having a positive effect on the economy and society hence this could be the
reason they are negatively portrayed in British films and ultimately have to take responsibility for this negative portrayal of young people.

Task 1-Consider the view that the current representation of teenagers is simply another ‘moral panic’.

“..Young people from ethnic minorities are still 26 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people”.  The metropolitan police setup operation Trident in 2006 to tackle black on black violence. The government introduced ASBO’s in 2002 to tackle anti social behaviour from young people. Lastly Minister David Cameron’s “Hug a hoody” campaign in 2008 encouraged people to embrace young teenagers, This created a moral panic as young people were portrayed as violent and thugs by the politicians “Britain a nation of yobs”. The tabloid press focusing on “Our contemporary society has recently been overcome by the moral panic” this can be illustrated by social issues such as the killing of young Kiyan Prince aged just 15, who was stabbed outside London Academy in Edgware in May. He was a promising player of Queen's Park Rangers' youth team. The killing of actor Rob Knox, aged just 18 who was a promising young actor and had just finished recording Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince 

“A moral panic can be put into focus by the continued use of stereotypes and the public’s overreaction at threat to society”  “29 young people were killed in London 2007, 20 young people murdered on the streets of London in 2008, between 2009-10 24 young people died violently on the streets of London.”  These social issues have also had an impact on the way young people are represented in British Tv shows such as Bully and Skinsn as they are seen as dangerous and killers leading to Moral panic (Stanley Cohen) which is “A surge of public concern about an issue or group socially defined as dangerous, the reaction of the media is blown out of proportion compared to the actual treat the group pose”  This has left many young people in society helpless as they feel they are being generalised and misrepresented “As it is, a young man in Britain today is unlikely to pick up a tabloid newspaper without seeing himself reflected as a ‘terrifying teen’ or’ heartless hoodies’ wielding a knife or binge- drinking” (The reflective view of representation) which suggests that society is conforming to the ideological messages that are being depicted in British TV shows such as ‘Bully’  and ‘Skins’  and allowing these stereotypes to shape society. “The absence of plausible alternative representations means that the values wrapped up in the stereotype come to appear a ‘common sense’ to ordinary people”.  Arguably the target audience will become desensitised to issues surrounding violence as these films routinely represent violence as normal. This may lead to an increase in violent crime as viewers of these British films may feel acts of violence are acceptable in society.

Task 1-To what extent has new and digital media given younger audiences the opportunity to shape their own media representations?

New and digital media has had a great impact on shaping the representation of young people. Due to web 2.0 young people are able to upload positive representation of them doing positive things in society such as volunteer work as well as youth club work helping young kids in their community better themselves. UGC is also a powerful tool young people use to shape the way that they are perceived in society by portraying positive representations of themselves. They have been able to do this by posting positive material on YouTube such as music and other creative work allowing them to show a positive representation of young people for example there is a YouTube channel called ‘Westmovers’ which also has a blog they post up videos weekly of them making a positive impact on the community by organising days out for the young people in their community and post the videos up YouTube and promote further events. New and digital media has allowed them to branch out and post and share videos with friends and family using sites such as www.myspace.com, www.facebook.com, www.bebo.com as well as many other social networking sites this allows to also reach out to a particular online community they have created and inform them of all the positive activities they are doing as well as keeping them constantly posted with updates.

A good example of the power of the internet surrounding young people would be the student protests against a rise in tuition fees in the mainstream news they were representing young people as being hooligans and aggressive as well as anti social. This was outlined with footage of them smashing windows of building and damaging other forms of properties. However there was a representation of peaceful protesters which was not highlighted in the news, this gave rise to students filming footage of peaceful protests around London on their phones and putting it up on the internet showing a much positive representation of young people which was not being portrayed in the news.

The advantages to new and digital media are that it’s very cheap to maintain and that it reaches out to a mass audience. This allows young people to get their message across and outline positive representations of themselves. Furthermore new and digital media promotes freedom of speech and freedom of expression and gives young people that platform to get there voice heard again encouraging Liberal Pluralism In addition the majority of young people consume new and digital media such as the internet, not many young people read newspapers or listen to the radio meaning this positive representation which is being put out there will get consumed by allot of young people in society. To conclude new and digital media is a powerful tool that groups in society not just young people can use to shape how they are seen by society.

Section A

1.       Compare and contrast the two texts, with particular reference to the representation of teenagers?

In the first text ‘Metro’ there is a single black youth which is shown to be holding a gun which represents violence and lawlessness. In addition the young male seems to be wearing for costume a hat which covers half of his face suggesting he doesn’t want to be identified. In contrast the daily mail shows a group of young white males standing together in a crowd similar to the newspaper article the teenagers seem to have the face covered again with hoodies suggesting they don’t want to be identified. In addition one of the white teenagers seem to be drinking openly the idea of young people drinking connotes anti-social behaviour and excessive drinking.

2.       Consider the view that the current press treatment of teenagers is simply another moral panic?

The media represent young people as being dangerous and killers leading to Moral panic (Stanley Cohen) which is “A surge of public concern about an issue or group socially defined as dangerous, the reaction of the media is blown out of proportion compared to the actual treat the group pose” This has left many young people in society helpless as they feel they are being generalised and misrepresented “As it is, a young man in Britain today is unlikely to pick up a tabloid newspaper without seeing himself reflected as a ‘terrifying teen’ or’ heartless hoodies’ wielding a knife or binge- drinking” (The reflective view of)

“..Young people from ethnic minorities are still 26 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people”. The metropolitan police setup operation Trident in 2006 to tackle black on black violence. The government introduced ASBO’s in 2002 to tackle anti social behaviour from young people. Lastly Minister David Cameron’s “Hug a hoody” campaign in 2008 encouraged people to embrace young teenagers, This created a moral panic as young people were portrayed as violent and thugs by the politicians “Britain a nation of yobs”. The tabloid press focusing on “Our contemporary society has recently been overcome by the moral panic” this can be illustrated by social issues such as the killing of young Kiyan Prince aged just 15, who was stabbed outside London Academy in Edgware in May. He was a promising player of Queen's Park Rangers' youth team. The killing of actor Rob Knox, aged just 18 who was a promising young actor and had just finished recording Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince

To conclude young groups of people are negatively represented in these British films due to the current economic situation of these groups of people as the ONS recorded that “36% of young people are unemployed which is roughly 200,000 young people” this alongside the recession has made it hard for young people and the working class. It could be argued young people are a burden on society as they are not in employment and not having a positive effect on the economy and society hence this could be the
reason they are negatively portrayed in the media and ultimately have to take responsibility for this negative portrayal of young people.

3.       There are always concerns about new technology. In your view, what are the possible benefits and problems attached to social networking, particularly on the Internet?

The benefits to social networking are people are able to communicate with one another. They are able to post video on to their profiles illustrating their views directly from YouTube. This can be a concern as individual can post views which may be found to be offensive, extreme or disrespectful. However YouTube regulate their content and fish out any inappropriate content anyway which eradicates any concern. Individuals can share these views with friends and family it can also be posted onto blogs which back up the content of the video in words, some may argue that this encourages Liberal Pluralism as it allows the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech and challenges the hierarchy and hegemonic values.

“The hegemonic model acknowledges that much of the media is controlled by a relatively small group of people (who are generally male, middle class and white) and that the viewpoints associated with these groups inevitable become embedded in the products themselves.”  However in reality this isn’t the case the elite and most powerful are middle aged white men according to Althusser who argues that the media is like an ‘ideological state apparatus' where the ruling class pass down their values onto society and use their social statues/position to manipulate the audience, making their views appear ‘right’. “The fact is that the media have the power through selection and reinforcement to give us very influential portrayals of a whole range of groups, situations and ideas.”  Antinio Gramsci argued that media ownership and control makes you very most influential these people are mostly made up of wealthiest middle aged men, portraying people lower down in society in such a negative way to ensure that they remain dominant in society and maintain high up in the hierarchy eliminating any sort of competition this is done through propaganda. “A dominate class or group maintain power by making everyone accept their ideologies”.  That people lower down in the hierarchy or lower down in society are easier to victimise and demonise.

Representation Essay

It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.

I agree that media representations are often reflected through social and political concerns

In the early 70’s women in society were concerned that they were not recognised to be equal to men and this sparked the feminist movement. The fact that women were not seen to be equal to men meant that during this period there were no women working in the media. The people that were working in the media were middle aged white men who reinforced the hegemonic values by oppressing groups of people in society which were known to be treating (women) to the hierarchy. The media did this through media representations so women in the 70’s there were two different types of representation of women. They were either shown to be a domestic housewife looking after her husband and family, doing the cooking cleaning and all the house work. Another representation is women were shown to be ‘femme fatale’ they were shown to be dangerous and fatal to men. Women were misrepresented by being shown to smoke and shoots of them holding a gun which reinforced they were dangerous. This created concerns which lead to a moral panic and ever women were seen to be dangerous and evil as this moral panic was reinforced by the media representation of women in the media. Women saw this as a concern and began to express there freedom of speech and expressions by burning their bra which was a symbolic icon reinforcing the control of men on women so they chose to burn them. Media representation also shows that women after the war started the suffragettes movement which illustrated there concern and was reflected through media representations all over the world as women got together and protested dominating news values as this was a significant political movement as they aimed to gain equality.

Laura Mulvey ( 1975: Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema) argues that the audience that consume these media representations look at women in these media text in two ways voyeuristically and fetishistically for example in a cinema men observe women in a media text voyeuristically as they are not being washed by the women being represented neither are they being watched by the following audience also consuming the media text as the cinema is dark. This gives rise to a concern depending on the way the audience interpret these media text could lead to the objectification of women in the media. This could be a concern of the age as women are powerless to defend themselves due to the whole concept of voyeurism and them just being watched through the ‘male gaze’

Historically the media has been responsible for reinforcing stereotypes surround women to reinforce the patriarchal society this is done my subordinating women and representing them as being housewives and domestic servants. This was portrayed by having them play roles were they would be inferior to the male actors and would be playing a supporting role these helped to reinforce that men were dominate in society. This also prevented the audience from challenging the status quo as the audience would have been desensitised to images of women doing domestic work which would have made this they of representation acceptable in society.

However media representation has changed over time and pro feminism representation shows that there is now the female gaze were women sexually objective men by just seeing them as decorations this is clear in some D&G and Armani fragrant adverts

Judith Butler (Gender and Performance) argues that “Gender is not fixed but constructed” this can be true as media representation of males and females constructs the way we see that gender and how they are treated in society.

 Zeitgeist refers to the spirit of the age.