Part 1

REPRESENTATI ON
AGE
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates.
What does the media tell us is a typical teenager? A typical elderly person? Draw and dress your representation, considering:
Appearance Behaviour Speech Relationships with others
Was your representation: Positive? Negative? Problematic?
Where did you get your information from?

Did you take a dominant or negotiated reading?
Focus on typical ideologies about the elderly

Research focusing on media representations of the elderly suggests that age is not the only factor that impacts on the way the media portrays elderly people. Newman (2006) notes that upper class and middle class elderly people are often portrayed in television and film dramas as occupying high-status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business executives.
Moreover, TV programmes seem to work on the assumption that an older male with grey in his hair and lines on his face somehow has the necessary authority to impart the news (or host a light entertainment programme). However, these older men are often paired with attractive young females, while older women newsreaders and presenters are often exiled to radio. Leading female film and television stars are also often relegated to character parts once their looks and bodies are perceived to be on the wane, which seems to be after the age of 40.
Sociological studies show that when the elderly do appear in the media, they tend to be portrayed in the following one-dimensional ways:
As grumpy conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change.
As mentally challenged suffering from declining mental functions.
As dependent helpless and dependent on other younger members of the family or society.
As a burden as an economic burden on society (in terms of the costs of pensions and health care to the younger generation) and/or as a physical and social burden on younger members of their families.
As enjoying a second childhood as reliving their adolescence and engaging in activities that they have always longed to do before they die. Or just being a bit cheeky.
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.
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates. AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding when analysing media products and processes, to show how meanings and responses are created.
Lets look at some adverts featuring the elderly. Make notes on your given advert and be prepared to share your ideas with the class. Does your advert represent the elderly in a stereotypical or challenging way?
Text 1: Shreddies ding dong advert
Text 3: Age UK thank you advert
Text 2: Wonga sliders advert

Text 4: Guinness swimmer advert
Constructionist approach a reminder:

The thing itself / the opinion of the encoder / reading and response of audience / context of society within which the representation takes place
Focus on typical ideologies about teenagers

There are generally two very broad ways in which young people have been targeted and portrayed by the media in Britain. Dick Hebdige in his Subcultures book (1979) identified these two representations:
Teenagers as trouble Teenagers as fun
Teenagers as trouble
Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority and consequently constructed as folk devils as part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950s have been manufactured around concerns about young peoples behaviour, such as their membership of specific deviant sub-cultures (e.g., teddy boys, hoodies) or because their behaviour (e.g., drug taking or binge drinking) has attracted the disapproval of those in authority.
What is a moral panic?

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that seems to threaten the social order.
According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), a moral panic occurs when "[a]
condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests."
Those deviant groups were labelled by Stanley Cohen as folk devils. He identified teenagers as one subculture labelled this way.
Cohen based his theory on the media reporting of conflicts between two teenage tribes of the 1960s, the Mods and the Rockers.
The main criticism was that they were seen as a threat to law and order largely through the way the mass media represented them, in the form of what Cohen calls the 'control culture'. Largely this refers to the
media sensationalising an event and then calling for a punishment to be set to persecute the offenders.
The five characteristics of a moral panic Concern awareness that the behaviour of the
folk devils is likely to have a negative impact on society.
Hostility a clear division between them and

us.
Consensus widespread acceptance that the

group in question causes a real threat to society. The moral entrepreneurs are vocal at this stage.
Disproportionality the action taken is

disproportionate to the actual threat by the accused group.
Volatility moral panics tend to disappear as

quickly as they are formed, due to a wane in public interest or the focus of the news changing to another topic.
Are teenagers a moral panic?

Wayne et al. (2008) conducted a content analysis of 2130 news items across all the main television channels during May 2006. They found that young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society. They found that it 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. Moreover, they argue that it distracts from the real problems that young people face in the modern world such as homelessness, not being able to get onto the housing ladder, unemployment or mental health and that these might be caused by societys, or the governments, failure to take the problems of youth seriously
Why are teenagers represented negatively?

Teenagers become a scapegoat for fears about family breakdown, violence in society, consumerism etc. Teenagers have no voice so cannot fight back. Teenagers have their own culture (values and behaviours) which differs from the established adult culture.
Troubled teens often come from a position of disadvantage: economically or educationally impoverished; a low class or ethnic minority background; a broken home or culture of neglect; social isolation or awkwardness. How do UK TV shows fit this ideology?
Teenagers as fun
There is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructing youth in terms of lifestyle and identity. Magazines are produced specifically for young people. Record companies, Internet music download sites, mobile telephone companies and radio stations all specifically target and attempt to shape the musical tastes of young people. Networking sites on the Internet, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, allow youth to project their identities around the world.
Why are teenagers represented positively?

Teenagers have their own money to spend on their own interests. It makes sense to sell them positive representations to identify with, so theyll spend their money on these aspirational items. These positive representations could act as role models to encourage teenagers to act in a more positive way.
Fun teens are often popular, intelligent, fit conventional ideas of beauty, and have some sort of talent, overcoming any ethnic or economic disadvantage to celebrate diversity. How do Disney films
fit this ideology? Can you think of any other examples?
Lets look at some texts featuring teenagers. Make notes on your given text and be prepared to share your ideas with the class. Does your text represent teenagers as trouble or as fun or as both? Is it a challenging or stereotypical representation?
Text 1: Kidulthood trailer Text 3: Misfits trailer Text 5: Scouting advert
Text 2: Boots advert Text 4: Skins trailer Text 6: High School Musical trailer

Is there a difference between UK and US representations of teens?

Homework:
Using the suggested texts (and any of your own), analyse the representations of teens in either the UK or the US media.
Suggested texts:
US
90210 Glee Gossip Girl The OC Smallville Suburgatory Teen Wolf The Vampire Diaries One Tree Hill
UK
Misfits Skins Inbetweeners Kidulthood Hollyoaks Eastenders, Corrie etc. Waterloo Road
Bring your ideas to next lesson, ready to discuss whether there is a difference and, if so, why that difference exists.
Theres one more group we havent thought about yet...
?
List the stereotypical qualities of a child as represented in the media.
Focus on typical ideologies about British children are often depicted in children
the British media in positive ways. Content analyses of media products suggest that eight stereotypes of children are frequently used by the media.
As victims of horrendous crimes some critics of the media have suggested that white children who are victims of crime get more media attention than adults or children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
As cute this is a common stereotype found in television commercials for baby products or toilet rolls.
As little devils another common stereotype especially found in drama and comedy.
As brave little angels suffering from a long-term terminal disease or disability. As brilliant perhaps as child prodigies or as heroes for saving the life of an adult.
As accessories stories about celebrities such as Madonna, Angelina Jolie or the Beckhams may focus on how their children humanise them.
As modern the media may focus on how children these days know so much more at their age than previous generations of children. As active consumers television commercials portray children as having a consumer appetite for toys and games. Some family sociologists note that this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure, pester power, the power of children to train or manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase the childrens status in the eyes of their peers.
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates. AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding when analysing media products and processes, to show how meanings and responses are created.
Lets look at some adverts featuring children. Make notes on your given advert and be prepared to share your ideas with the class. (How) does your advert feature these typical representations?
Text 1: Evian advert
Text 2: IKEA Playing with my friends advert
Text 3: Cancer Research UK advert Text 4: John Lewis Christmas advert (2011)

children/ teenagers/ the elderly

Part 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Part 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

REPRESENTATI ON

Was your representation: Positive? Negative? Problematic?

Where did you get your information from?

Focus on typical ideologies about the elderly

As grumpy conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change.

As mentally challenged suffering from declining mental functions.

Text 2: Wonga sliders advert

Constructionist approach a reminder:

Focus on typical ideologies about teenagers

Teenagers as trouble Teenagers as fun

What is a moral panic?

Hostility a clear division between them and

Consensus widespread acceptance that the

Disproportionality the action taken is

Volatility moral panics tend to disappear as

Are teenagers a moral panic?

Why are teenagers represented negatively?

Why are teenagers represented positively?

fit this ideology? Can you think of any other examples?

Text 1: Kidulthood trailer Text 3: Misfits trailer Text 5: Scouting advert

Constructionist approach a reminder:

Is there a difference between UK and US representations of teens?

Theres one more group we havent thought about yet...

Text 1: Evian advert

Text 2: IKEA Playing with my friends advert

Constructionist approach a reminder:

children/ teenagers/ the elderly

You might also like