notes gender

THEMES IN MEDIA

Of the many influences on how we view men and

women, media are the most pervasive and one of the

most powerful. Woven throughout our daily lives, media

insinuate their messages into our consciousness at every

turn. All forms of media communicate images of the

sexes, many of which perpetuate unrealistic, stereotypical,

and limiting perceptions. Three themes describe how

media represent gender. First, women are underrepresented,

which falsely implies that men are the cultural

standard and women are unimportant or invisible. Second,

men and women are portrayed in stereotypical

ways that reflect and sustain socially endorsed views of

gender. Third, depictions of relationships between men

and women emphasize traditional roles and normalize

violence against women. We will consider each of these

themes in this section.

Underrepresentation of

Women

A primary way in which media distort reality is in

underrepresenting women. Whether it is prime-time television,

in which there are three times as many white men

as women (Basow, 1992 p. 159), or children’s programming,

in which males outnumber females by two to one,

or newscasts, in which women make up 16% of newscasters

and in which stories about men are included 10

times more often than ones about women (“Study Reports

Sex Bias,” 1989), media misrepresent actual proportions

of men and women in the population. This

constant distortion tempts us to believe that there really

are more men than women and, further, that men are

the cultural standard.

MEDIA’S MISREPRESENTATION OF

AMERICAN LIFE

The media present a distorted version of cultural life

in our country. According to media portrayals:

White males make up two-thirds of the population.

The women are less in number, perhaps because

fewer than 10% live beyond 35. Those who

do, like their younger and male counterparts, are

nearly all white and heterosexual. In addition to

being young, the majority of women are beautiful,

very thin, passive, and primarily concerned

with relationships and getting rings out of collars

and commodes. There are a few bad, bitchy

women, and they are not so pretty, not so subordinate,

and not so caring as the good women.

Most of the bad ones work outside of the home,

which is probably why they are hardened and undesirable.

The more powerful, ambitious men occupy

themselves with important business deals,

exciting adventures, and rescuing dependent females,

whom they often then assault sexually.

From Gendered Lives:

Communication, Gender, and Culture by Julie T. Wood, Chapter 9, pp. 231-244. 0 1994. Reprinted with

permission of Wadsworth Publishing, a division of Thomson Learning. Fax 800-730-2215.

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WI I H MEDIA

Other myths about what is standard are similarly fortified

by communication in media. Minorities are even

less visible than women, with African-Americans appearing

only rarely (Gray,

1986; Stroman, 1989) and other

ethnic minorities being virtually nonexistent. In children’s

programming when African-Americans do appear,

almost invariably they appear in supporting roles

rather than as main characters (O’Connor, 1989). While

more African-Americans are appearing in prime-time

television, they are too often cast in stereotypical roles.

In the 1992 season, for instance, 12 of the 74 series on

commercial networks included large African-American

casts, yet most featured them in stereotypical roles. Black

men are presented as lazy and unable to handle authority

as lecherous, and/or as unlawful, while females are

portrayed as domineering or as sex objects (“Sights

Sounds, and Stereotypes,” 1992). Writing in 1993, David

Evans (1993, p. 10) criticized television for stereotyping

black males as athletes and entertainers. These roles

wrote Evans, mislead young black male viewers in&

thinking success “is only a dribble or dance step away”

and blind them to other, more realistic ambitions. l&-

panics and Asians are nearly absent, and when they are

presented it is usually as villains or criminals (Lichter,

Lichter, Rothman, & Amundson, 1987).

Also under-represented is the single fastest growing

group

of Americans- older people. As a country, we are

aging so that people over 60 make up a major part of

our population; within this group, women significantly

outnumber men (Wood, 1993~). Older people not only

are under-represented in media but also are represented

inaccurately In contrast to demographic realities,

media consistently show fewer older women than

men, presumably because our culture worships youth

and beauty in women. Further, elderly individuals are

frequently portrayed as sick, dependent, fumbling and

passive, images not borne out in real life. Distirted

depictions of older people and especially older women

in media, however, can delude us into thinking they

are a small, sickly, and unimportant part of our

population.

The lack of women in the media is paralleled by the

scarcity of women in charge of media. Only about 5% of

television writers, executives, and producers are women

(Lichter, Lichter, & Rothman, 1986). Ironically, while twothirds

of journalism graduates are women, they make up

less than 2% of those

papers and

in corporate management of newsonly

about 5% of newspaper publishers

(“Women in Media,” 1988). Female film directors are

even rnonz-scarce, as are executives in charge of MTV It

is probably not coincidental that so few women are behind

the scenes of an industry that so consistently portrays

women negatively Some media analysts (Mills

1988) believe that if more women had positions o;

authority at executive levels, media would offer more

positive portrayals of women.

Stereotypical Portrayals of Women and Men

In general, media continue to present both women

and men in stereotyped ways that limit our perceptions

of human possibilities. Typically men are portrayed as

active, adventurous, powerful, sexually aggressive and

largely uninvolved in human relationships. Just as’ consistent

with cultural views of gender are depictions of

women as sex objects who are usually young, thin beautiful,

passive, dependent, and often incompetent and

dumb. Female characters devote their primary energies

to improving their appearances and taking care of homes

and people. Because media pervade our lives, the ways

they misrepresent genders may distort how we see ourselves

and what we perceive as normal and desirable for

men and women.

Stereotypical portrayals

of men.

According to J. A.

Doyle (1989, p. ill), whose research focuses on masculinity

children’s television typically shows males as “aggressive,

dominant, and engaged in exciting activities

from which they receive rewards from others for their

‘masculine’ accomplishments.” Relatedly, recent studies

reveal that the majority of men on prime-time television

are independent, aggressive, and in charge (McCauley

Thangavelu, & Rozin, 1988). Television programming foi

all ages disproportionately depicts men as serious confident,

competent, powerful, and in high-status ‘positions.

Gentleness in men, which was briefly evident in

the 197Os, has receded as established male characters are

redrawn to be more tough and distanced from others

(Bayer, 1986). Highly popular films such as LethaI

Weapon, Predator, Days of Thunder, Total Recall, Robocop

Die Hard,

and Die Harder star men who embody the

stereotype of extreme masculinity Media, then reinforce

long-standing cultural ideals of masculinity:’ Men are

presented as hard, tough, independent, sexually aggressive,

unafraid, violent, totally in control of all emotions,

and-above all-in no way feminine.

Equally interesting is how males are not presented.

J. D. Brown and K. Campbell (1986) report that men are

seldom shown doing housework. Doyle (1989) notes that

boys and men are rarely presented caring for others.

B. Horovitz (1989) points out they are typically represented

as uninterested in and incompetent at homemaking,

cooking,

and child care. Each season’s new ads for

cooking and cleaning supplies include several that caricature

men as incompetent buffoons, who are klutzes in

the kitchen and no better at taking care of children. While

children’s books have made a limited attempt to depict

women engaged in activities outside of the home there

has been little parallel effort to show men involbed in

family and home life. When someone is shown taking

care of a child, ‘1t is’ usually the mother, not the father.

This perpetuates a negative stereotype of men as uncaring

and uninvolved in family life.

Stereotypical portrayals

of women.

Media’s images of

women also reflect cultural stereotypes that depart markedly

from reality As we have already seen, girls and

this is my new link to themedia adavnced porfolio website

httpsilentscreamsproductionweeblycom.com

ques

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making .refer to a range of examples in your answer.

 

During the time of my production I have found that there are many websites that have aided my design and creativity process. This may consist of using websites such as photo bucket, Photoshop and photo flexor: they have all aided me in designing my poster for the teaser trailer. This was very useful because it made my work appear more professional and realistic. Also with the manipulating and editing my images it helped me choose my images wisely and to place a certain genre in them that I can’t do on any other program.

 

Also in the process of my production i have realized that developing my skills in terms of processing what i have learnt, which is to develop my understanding of the contant change of the media.Furthermore of have come to adjust to using photoshop, which has allowed me to do a lot of things like change the colour of my image and the background.This had proven to be very usesful because it help me stick to the genre of my film which is horror.

mostly when people are working on there digital technology, it also aids with your creative decision making as well.Using a Canon 50D camera has helped me produce images that are of higher quality and better definition.this is very important with posters as

 

My film trailer

comparitive essay Fish tank /Precious

In the fish tank, the character ‘Mia’ seems be the typical British teenager living in a counsel estate in England. However behind all of this façade, this teenager is seen to be physically abused in her home, searching for an escape that seems more desirable to her than anything. Similarly, Precious denotes the same matters when it is clear that precious gets physically abused by her mother as well. This is very interesting as both these characters seem to lack a responsible parent around and both seem to be deprived from standard living areas.

However, both these characters are very much different one way because of the way they choose to escape from reality, Mia for instance dances to free her herself from the pending problems of family life. Precious chooses to fantasize about romance and fame, being loved by everyone. This begs the question of whether these films are connoting that people who live in these cancel estate or welfare apartments have nothing but there dreams and hopes to live on.

In the Guardian newspaper online, one review of Fish Tank seems to have picked out a certain idealism that the film has. This could denote that the film seem to be idealising how people expect things to happen and how a turn of events could change everything. In the precious the turning point was freedom from her mother, and expressing her dark memories of what she had experienced as a child. This puts thing in to perspective for the audience because it creates a moment of reflection. Most of the people who had watched this film were White middle class people , and they had enjoyed it because it wasn’t something they were faced with. This was a film heavy set in a Black community, and the only white characters you would see were of higher authority. This film clearly outraged many of the Black community who didn’t want to be portrayed in the certain way.

In Fish Tank there were praises in the film critic circle for the film having a sense of realism .This could mean that people did agree with the fact that Britain and White British teenagers were simply this way, looking for freedom from a council estate flat and an abusive mother.

The one thing that was very much different from Precious was the inter- mixing of different cultures. This film seemed acknowledging of different styles of music and culture, most notably Afro-Caribbean culture   .

 

the last essay

How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic/social/collectivegroups of people in different ways? (50marks)

In the media , there are many examples of represetation that in turn have the ability to either create a negative stereotype or a positive portrayl.When we're  discussing ethnic,social and collective groups, one very interesting topic is that of the gypsy and irish traveller background .The media in recent years has put these people in a negative way which has left certain people in this ethnic group 'fustrated'; te media in it's contemparary form has a way of presenting media through mediation, to try and twist the actions of a particular group of irish and gypsy travellers, and make it seem as though a whole ethnic group are all the same.This then creates the dominant ideology that consumes the pupilc and turns them against or for, a particular subject.

 In the early fifties to the late sixties, irish/romani and gypsies were not highly discussed within the media because of more concentration being towards racial discrimination.

In ‘my big fat gypsy wedding' there are many connotations that suggest a certain negative depiction of a specific group of people. In certain countries over the years there is homogeneity in the way that particular vulnerable groups are seen t be presented. In connection to the falsely heightened representation of Gypsies in Britain, America had once victimized Black people; they were once the subject of humour and pitiless entertainment for the whites in the 20s and early. However in today’s society and the media tends to discriminate towards the working class more generic lifestyles and ways of living.

Marxists believes that this is due to the bourgeoisie being in power and the media directly reflecting the views and opinions of the upper-class people. This could be another explanation why contemporary media tend to give very negative or positive portrayals of certain group’s .In one letter of complaint by an eighteen year old Romani Gypsy traveller, a number of issues were highlighted to inform channel four of their unfair and ignorant representation of this generic group of people .One the very interesting part of this young man’s letter was that he pointed out that people usually associate Irish Gypsy travellers with Romani, even though their cultures differ greatly. It is very common for television shows to ignore how different ethnicities are, including the fact that my big fat gypsy wedding is a comedy, it is far too typical to assume anything serious of it.

mediation essay

In the media there are many interpretations and opinions of topics that can either make the public more informative, or unknown to the way the media can be easily mediated, to fit its purpose.

One example of how the media mediates its material is the London riots. Images were published in the daily mail embodying how a Black man was repeatedly vandalising property. This very image could be viewed on other news coverage websites with a white male doing the very same as the Black mail.

This cause great outrage and indignation amidst the debates about whether the riots were racially motivated. However this is a great example of how the media can intervene in changing the perception of a certain ethnic group. This mediation is very typical in within this type of general news coverage. Marxist provides one theory as to why the media might manipulate certain events and they believe that the media conglomerates in capitalist societies need to make a profit and therefore present certain ethnicities in a negative light because it sells. This is a very warped way of thinking as it basically suggests that the media has now resulted in deliberately portraying news negatively to make a profit.

essay!!

 “Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward”. How far do you agree with this statement in relation to the collective group that you have studied?

There have been many examples of the way the media tends to represent different groups in society. For example, young people may be presented as ‘wild and out of control’ in the news. The media is a vast and endless passage of communication for the world and may come across as complex in terms of representation. In this essay i will be discussing the ways in which collective identity relates to this theory.

When gender is presented in the media, it isn’t always straightforward or positive .For example shows like desperate housewives indicate that women typically spend the majority of time thinking about kids and gossiping about other women. Feminists would argue that the media deliberately represent women like this in order to keep the old stereotype in place. They also dispute that women are not like that in reality and T.V shows often neglect the ‘modern woman’ image. Women are continuously represented in an unfair and unequal ways in the media, this shows that the media isn’t simple enough to just look into.

Another version of this paragraph :
Gender has been represented in a number of ways one example the T.V show called 'girls;.This series has sparked many reviews both good and bad .Moreover, it is seen to represent women as strong and independent and more sexually liberal.However the down side of this is the way that the women are seen to be having to much 'liberation'.
Feminist however, tend to ignore the more important facts  like 'not all of the media is masogynic'

Moreover, identity is very complex and could be viewed in many ways. One show that represents a range of different personalities is Waterloo Road. This British T.V series focuses on a range of different children, all breaking out of the stereotypes set for them by society. The fact that show addressed issues like teen homosexuality and religion is very important in today’s media because it relates a lot with collective identity as a whole. If more T.V shows focuses on these different aspects of real-life problems then it quickly educates the audience not believe in the stereotypes that we have come to know.

In the music world, there are plenty of examples of the way gender is symbolized. For example girls aloud and there music videos show women as either in ‘skimpy’ outfits singing about a need for a male’s attention. This is typical of the music industry and the media, this also promoted that women are expected to be sex objects in order to be ‘loved’.

http://welovemediacrit.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/hegemony-and-media.html

hegemony

besides money, other forms of influence can be used by one group to dominate others. For example, control of the media can influence things such as what shows get aired or canceled and the degree to which a television station covers or does not cover certain news stories. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, however, this dominance was reduced because the Internet gave individuals and small companies more access and control over different forms of media, such as news and music.

People became able to self-publish music, videos, texts and other works of art rather than being under the control of broadcasting, publishing or other types of corporations. In addition, a greater variety of these works became available to consumers. News came to be disseminated through blogs and social networking websites in addition to traditional media outlets. All of these things reduced the hegemony of large corporations in the news and entertainment industries.This may have decreased the sense of 'britishness'  because everyones creating there own personal culture from what they view of the media .

• White was the majority ethnic group at 48.2 million in 2011 (86.0 per cent). Within this ethnic group, White British¹ was the largest group at 45.1 million (80.5 per cent).
• The White ethnic group accounted for 86.0 per cent of the usual resident population in 2011, a decrease from 91.3 per cent in 2001 and 94.1 per cent in 1991. 
• White British and White Irish decreased between 2001 and 2011. The remaining ethnic groups increased, Any Other White background had the largest increase of 1.1 million (1.8 percentage points).
• Across the English regions and Wales, London was the most ethnically diverse area, and Wales the least.
• 91.0 per cent of the usual resident population identified with at least one UK national identity (English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, and British) in 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b2xVVOc4Xc&playnext=1&list=PLEF68384428FF5474&feature=results_main

For the reason we watch Downton is to seek solace in a glorious past while trying to cope with the crises of the present. The kindly Crawley family and their beloved servants settle our nerves. Their fiction reassures us, drawing us to a time when life was simple – when, give or take the odd exception, people accepted their place in society, and when our isles were homogeneous and hermetically sealed, as one Lord Fellowes of West Stafford would have us believe.

Downton may be a presentation of British past however they tend ignore the fact that black people were also part of that history was rarely mentioned ,most of the time we view the white upper class people as or main view of how British society is .

Applicants for British citizenship will be expected to study a new book called Life in the UK, which goes on sale on Monday. Read a sample of its first chapter on the 'values and principles' of the UK

This tells us a lot bout how Britain prides itself on the vast knowledge they can provide.