Thursday, 22 September 2011

What are the social implications of the ways in which different media represent social groups?

Notes from reading the chosen essay:


- Perspective of the youth is always from an adults’ interpretation in order to ‘serve the needs’ of adults’ society.
- Using peoples theories which support your argument, strengthens it (regardless of whether this subverts or conforms)
- Rebel Without A Cause – good example to use in supporting the era of youths out of control and generating their own identities. Young people are still related to the likes of knives, crime and theft. - The view of the youth of today remains the same. (slightly altered view)
- Use other forms of references – newspapers, films, tv.
- A strong negative representation of the youth is perceived.
Media construction is a dominant source.
- Misfits = stereotypical imagery ohf working class Brisitsh youth. Giving teenage protagonists superpowers creates a positive view. Perhaps minds of the media is changing slightly? Youths  seen in a positive light.
- Mass media products represents young people in such negative ways. Technological developments offer young people the opportunity to construct their own representation and respond to mass media representations


Using key terminology and backing up theories and idieologies with appropriate evidence is shown and elaborated. The use of films/tv and how that represents the era of the youth is demonstrated clearly. The explanation of different films/tv series represents how the view of the youth has been alternating and changing through the years. Mass media production dominates the way youth are perceived through the news and other sources which makes it impossible for the youth to be portrayed the way they want as adults have control over the way we are represented.

Relating theories to the London Riots 2011


Henri Tajfel
Social identity theory – 1979.
Understanding the psychological basis of intergroup discrimination. Tajfel attempted to identify the minimal conditions that would lead members of one group to discriminate in favour of the in-group to which they belonged and against another out-group.
This can relate to the London Riots as the youth were portrayed by the media in a negative light which made us collectively the ‘out-group’ leaving the elder and ‘mature’ class and viewers of the news to be the ‘in-group’.
“After being categorized of a group membership, individuals seek to achieve positive self-esteem by positively differentiating their ingroup from a comparison outgroup on some valued dimension. This quest for positive distinctiveness means that people’s sense of who they are is defined in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’.” – In other words, the riots and looting from the perspective of those involved was changed from a negative to a positive. People genuinely believed they were benefitting from it, as it would help their families and thinking it was right because others around them were doing it and were majorly influenced by the acts of others. Many united as one as they helped themselves and helped each other to carry the loot from one place to another. Tajfels theory shows that there is a strong distinction made by the media about the ‘youth’ that damaged the streets of London. 
Stuart Hall
Hegemony and Cultural studies
Crime statistics, in Hall's view, are often manipulated for political and economic purposes. Moral panics (e.g. over mugging) could thereby be ignited in order to create public support for the need to "police the crisis." The media play a central role in the "social production of news" in order to reap the rewards of lurid crime stories. – This suggests how much of a dominant role the media has against the viewers, so by seeing the riots, they can portray the rioters in a way which they want them to be shown to the viewers, creating a biased and stereotypical opinion of the situation.
‘Culture is not something to simply appreciate or study, but a critical site of social action and intervention where power relations are both established and potentially unsettled.
Stuart Halls believes that identity is affected by history and culture, therefore an ongoing production. The past has had an impact on the future so we see and expect a domino effect to occur.
Caroline Howarth
So you’re from Brixton? Struggling for Recognition –
Those who live in Brixton are often represented as ‘different’, ‘other’ and ‘inferior’. Already this creates a negative buzz about Brixton and by having the riots escalate to that location, from Tottenham originally, may not have come to a surprise to some. ‘Media images of Brixton, for example, portray the area and those who live there as threatening, aggressive and criminal.’ She goes on to say that ‘those who live there, and those who are well acquainted with the area, maintain that in spite of these inceptions, Brixton is a vibrant community, proud of a multicultural past and present.’ This suggests that the perceptions of those who aren’t associated with Brixton will automatically assume that Brixton is a rough area and perhaps not the best place of interest.  Prejudice representations create images to us via the media as it was mentioned that only ‘young black youth’ were rioting in Brixton. This, of course, is inaccurate information as many other cultures of all ages were involved also. However, the majority choose to ignore it as we are so enticed with what we read and watch on the news.

Thursday, 15 September 2011

How are teenagers and young people in the media portrayed?

i have chosen to look at the TV series 'The Inbetweeners' because i believe it is quite a contraversial tv series and depicts a strange portrayal over teenagers and the youth of today. It follows 4 teenage boys who think about one thing, girls. except for Will who is interested in his studies. Will represents the youth of today who are interested in their education and are able to balance out their social life along with their working life. He is immidiately classed as a 'nerd' as he wears the typical glasses and holds a briefcase in the very first episode. He doesnt show an interest in girls because he doesn't think he can get anyone due to his looks and the clique he is with. They are embarrassing and get picked on by some of the bigger boys which shows that they hold no dominance unless its 'behind closed doors'. One of the characters, Jay is portrayed as a woman hungry teenager. He spends a lot of time talking about girls and tries showing off to his friends about what he has done in his sex-life but his friends know hes still a virgin and this is shown clearly to us as an audience too. This portrays teenage boys as a typical sort as we'd expect them to boast about the prettiest girls as they try to increase their 'rep.'
Furthermore, the boys decide to show a rebellious side as they bunk off for the day. They try and get served with alcohol also but are unable to do so, and in effect get caught bunking too. This portrays young people as the stereotype that they expect us to be which is exxaggerated and makes us assume that all teenagers are like that, and gives older viewers a negative view of the youth.
Throughout the series we see their identities change to fit into other groups and to be popular. This supports Jacques Lacans theory of the 'mirror stage' which holds the concept of imitating what we see around us and
adopting a new identity which we believe is the 'real us'. For example, in one series, to impress a girl, Simon tries to change his ways to be more noticed. He also starts making more time for her and less time with his boys which is the typical expectation when some you like is on your life.
The boys hold a collective identity even though they have completely different lifestyles. They interact with each other so much like going on a lads holiday in the movie that affinity is formed between them.