Representations in the Media

Age

Children

Youth

Old People

Heintz-Knowles (2002) - Children on American TV portrayed as motivated primarily by peer relationships, sports and romance

Rarely shown with coping with societal issues (racism, child abuse and domestic violence)

Representations = positive - pro social actions (telling the truth and helping others)

40% depicted children engaging in anti-social actions (bullying or lying etc.)

Chandler and Evans (2006) - Children represented in advertising in ways that socialise to become active consumers

Emergence of pester power - power of children to train or manipulate parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase children's status

Pester power creates greater anxiety among poorer parents, who often go into debt to provide for children's desires

Stoller and Gibson (1999) - Negative consequences of ageing for men focus more on occupational success than physical attractiveness

Elderly women shown in social, family and recreational settings and represented as passive, socially isolated, unpleasant and poor

Newman - Upper-class and middle-class elderly people, usually men, are often portrayed in TV and film dramas as occupying high-status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business executives and are portrayed as health, fit and socially involved

Age Concern (2000) - elderly are underrepresented across variety of mass media

Grumpy - Portrays old people as stubborn, conservative and resistant to social change

Mentally challenged - Involves loss or decline of mental function

A burden - Economic burden on society and physical/social burden on younger members of families

Lee et al. (2007) - Representation in advertising is low (15%)

in 91% of adverts, Portrays them as happy, active, alert, successful and content

Doesn''t reflect wide range of experiences (loneliness and loss of partner)

Robinson (2008) - Elderly preferred adverts where they were clever, vibrant and having a sense of humour

Cohen (2002) - Young people are relatively powerless and easy to blame for society's ills

Young people (esp. black males) are used as scape goats by media to create sense of unity in society

MORI - 57% of stories about young people were negative

12% were positive and 40% had articles about young people focused on crime

White et al. (2012) - over 40% of viewers were dissatisfied with the way they were portrayed in the media

Cuddy and Fiske - in the US, 1.5% of its characters were elderly, with a majority in minor roles

COVID-19 Pandemic - MPs and PM blamed younger people for spread of virus, even though they made decision to open schools up

Class

Upper Class

Neo Marxists argue mass-media representations of social class celebrate hierarchy and wealth

The monarchy, upper-class and the wealthy receive positive press as celebrities who deserve their position

Nairn (2019) - After WWII the monarchy developed close ties with the media industry and worked with them to reinvent itself as ‘the royal family’ and since then they have been represented in the media as a family that are ‘like us but not like us’, and the narrative of their lives is presented as a soap opera, and is part of our day to day media fabric, which encourages us to identify with the royals

The constant media focus on the lifestyles of wealthy celebrities tends to glamourize such lifestyles, suggesting this is something we should all be aspiring to, rather than focusing on the injustice of how much these people are paid compared to ordinary people

In films such as the King's Speech and shows like Downtown Abbey, an idealised picture is painted of a ruling elite characterised by honour, culture and good breeding

Newman (2006) - Media focus positively on lifestyles of the wealthy and privileged - Media focus heavily on consumer items such as luxury cars, costly holiday spots and fashion accessories only afforded by the wealthy

Middle Class

Many British newspapers (Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph)are aimed at the middle class and their consumption, tastes, and interests in material goods such as computers, music, cars, house, and garden design that can only be afforded by those with good standard of living

Content of newspapers such as the Daily Mail suggests journalists believe that the middle classes are generally anxious about the decline of moral standards in society and that they feel threatened by alien influences (asylum seekers, immigrants and terrorism)

Middle class (higher income) families seem to be over-represented on day time T.V. especially – in shows such as Homes under the Hammer, Escape to the Country and Antiques Show featuring typically very high wealth/ income families, and yet presenting them as ‘the norm’.

Working Class

Jones (2011) - Media coverage of working-class people constitutes a middle-class assault on working--class values, institutions, and communities, assume all working-class people are promiscuous, foul-mouthed racists

Curran and Seaton (2003) - Newspapers aimed at working-class audiences assume they are uninterested in serious analysis of either political or social organisation of UK society

Marxists see The Sun and Daily Star ( newspapers containing content on celebrity gossip and lifestyles and sport) as attempts to distract the working-class audience from the inequalities of capitalism - creating false-class consciousness

Pluralists argue that tabloid newspaper readers want it; in 2013, just under 13.5 million people read the Sun or the Sun on Sunday, whilst the Daily Mail attracts 12m readers

Underclass

Common language used to describe benefits as ‘undeserving’ included:

Fraud and dishonesty (including those such as ‘faking illness’);

Dependency (including ‘underclass’ and ‘unemployable’);

non-reciprocity/lack of effort (e.g. ‘handouts’, ‘something for nothing’, ‘lazy’, ‘scrounger’); •

outsider status (e.g. ‘immigrant’, ‘obese’)

Language used to describe benefits claimants as ‘deserving’ included:

need (‘vulnerable’, ‘hard-pressed’);

disability (‘disabled’, ‘disability’).

Baumberg et al found an extraordinarily disproportionate focus on benefit fraud: 29% of news stories referenced fraud. In comparison the government’s own estimate is that a mere 0.7% of all benefits claims are fraudulent.

Baumberg et al’s (2012) research ‘Benefits Stigma in Britain’ analysed a database of 6,600 national press articles between 1995-2011.

Ruth Patrick (2017) has analysed the representations of those on benefits and in poverty on reality television shows such as ‘Benefits Street’ and Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole.

Such shows emphasize the difference between the working majority (‘us’) and the workless minority (‘them’) and invites us to identify ourselves against benefits claimants, and possibly to see claiming benefits as something which is a choice, long term and morally wrong, rather than as something which is a necessity, usually a short term stop-gap before a return work

Marcus Rashford and campaigns for free school meals - presented in a positive light

Sexuality

Heterosexuality

Mcrobbie (1994) - Men are beginning to face physical scrutiny by both women and other men, as women have had to put up with - beauty stakes have gone up for men, and women have taken position of active viewers

New male stereotype ('metrosexual') - Heterosexual males who embrace 'female' side, are in touch with feelings, use moisturizer and designer cosmetics

Women are more likely to be seen as sex objects than men are, particularly in pornography, with even young boys and girls widely exposed to sexualised images of females

Homosexuality

Symbolic Annihilation

Gross (1991) - media have symbolically annihilated gay people by excluding them, or trivialising, condemning, or making fun of them

Gauntlett (2008) - although things are changing, gay people are underrepresented negatively in mainstream media

Stonewall (2010) - In a study of TV programmes, lesbian, gay and bisexual people were portrayed in less than 5% of the total programming studied (36% of that were negative)

Cowan (2007) - 1/5 of people think TV is responsible for anti-gay prejudice

Cowan and Valentine (2005) - In study of representations on the BBC, found that gay people were 5 times more likely to be portrayed negatively than positively

Growing Tolerance

Media companies have realised the gay consumer market (pink pound) is large and affluent - courting it through advertising campaigns and the provision of media products

The popularity of gay media celebrities like Alan Carr, Matt Lucas and RuPaul would confirm that media representations and audience reactions are beginning to change

Sanitisation of Gay Sexuality

Gill (2007) - Mainstream media represent gay sexuality in a 'sanitised' way to risk offending heterosexual audiences

Gay men are rarely portrayed in a sexualised way, like kissing, touching, and having sex

Lesbians rarely appear in advertising and other media in anything other than a sexualised manner

The media thirst for newsworthy, headline-grabbing stories around sexuality is now more likely to be quenched by stories about paedophilia

Disability

Stereotypes

Barnes (1992) - Identified number of recurring stereotypes of disabled people which regularly appear in the media

Pitiable and pathetic - Barnes claim this is a staple of TV documentaries which focus too heavily on disabled children and the possibilities of 'miracle' cures

Sinister and evil - Disabled people are often portrayed as criminals or monsters,, e.g., James Bond villains typically have a physical disability

Atmospheric or curio - Disabled people may be included in drama to enhance an atmosphere of menace, unease, mystery, or deprivation - They are to be watched in fascination by able-bodied audiences

Super-cripples - Barnes noted that disabled people are often portrayed as having special powers - Ross (1996)​​ notes that for disability issues to be reported, they must be sensational or heroic

Sexually abnormal - It is assumed by the media that the disabled do not have sexual feelings or that they are sexually degenerate

Incapable of participating fully in community life - Barnes calls this the stereotype of omission and notes that disabled people are "rarely shown as integral and productive members of the community"

Shakespeare - Media stereotypes of the disabled on television and film are "crude, one-dimensional and simplistic"

Symbolic Annihilation

Around a quarter of all adults, one child in twenty, and about 8 million people of working age in the UK were covered by the Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability

Cumberbatch et al. (2014) - In a content analysis of the most popular TV programmes in 2013-14 found that people portrayed as disabled represented just 2.5% of the TV population, compared to 1 in 5 in the real world

Ofcom (2005) - 42% of appearances of disabled people were in the context of programmes highlighting issues of prejudice, stereotping and discrimination

Social Construction of Disability

Biomedical model - disability is created or caused by physical and/or mental impairment

Social Construction Model - Disability is created by society that doesn't take into consideration the needs of those who fail to meet the idea of 'normal'

Barnes and Mercer (2003) - Media professionals are at top of hierarchy of credibility, they set the agenda for disability

Changing Representations

Netflix's Sex Education (2019)

Disabled characters are usually seen to be inspirational or someone to be pitted but with Isaac, he is seen as a divisive figure and shows wit and headstrong self-confidence – traits that are rarely, if ever, seen in disabled characters on screen

Sexuality

Series three also sees an intimate scene between Isaac and Maeve, which George feels acts as an “important cultural moment”, particularly for teen dramas, in normalising disability and sex.

The scene addresses the stigma, but in low-key fashion. George says it works because it “doesn’t pander” to its own significance and instead flows naturally in terms of the story and Isaac’s relationship with Maeve.

It sees the pair tenderly discuss each other’s needs and bust open society’s unspoken curiosity. Both George and Emma Mackey, who plays Maeve, spent a long time working with intimacy coordinators and disability charities ahead of filming – aware of the positive impact it could have on perceptions

Segregated by society by stereotypes

Channel 4 - Paralympic Winter Olympics 2022, Presenters will all be disabled

However, this is the first time it has occured

Marvel Eternals (2021) - Deaf character introduced

Theories

Pluralism

Representations reflect the dominant view that disability is dysfunctional for the individual and society.

Representations mirror social anxieties about impairment.

Representations reflect the courage shown by disabled individuals, particularly if they are young. It portrays the reality for carers and individuals.

Social Action/Constructionism

Impaired individuals are disabled by society and the mass media.

Media professionals have a view of disability (unfortunate, dependant etc)

Representations show everything a normal person would dread- tragedy, loss, the unknown.

Disabled rarely consulted by journalists. Representations reflect their low status and exclusion in society

Post Modernism

The medical viewpoint is in decline and our understanding of health and the able-bodied is changing.

Shown in more positive representations (such as in sport)

You can’t make generalisations, different TV stations may represent disability in different ways. (Gauntlett)

Ethnicity