Summer Task 3 - Representation (how
media forms portray events, issues, individuals and social groups)
One of the
key principles underpinning the A Level Media Studies course is the concept of
representation and the role the media plays in shaping our understanding of the
world. Media theorist David Gauntlett argues that:
"Popular media has a significant but not
entirely straightforward relationship with people's sense of gender and
identity." ('Media, Gender and
Identity', 2002)
Essay title: Discuss the role the
media plays in shaping our views and opinions on any one group in our society.
Is this representation positive or negative?
(e.g. specific
groups within gender, age, disability, regional identity, ethnicity, sexuality,
class/status etc.)
The media plays a role in shaping our views and opinions on
groups in our society in a variety of ways. The initial statement of shaping another’s
opinion is a negative concept but within terms of the media they can give light
and darkness upon any social group depending on their presentation to the
audience. My example of a group in our society is women in the media. Women are
both negatively and positively presented in the media but in modern times misogyny
in the media is a commonly occurring theme. The role in which the media plays
is the influential role as proven by the theory of the Hypodermic needle model.
The hypodermic needle model is simply explained by the media producing
something, for example an article in the Sun newspaper quoting that ‘all women
are paid less than men’ as this has been produced in a public newspaper most of
the reading audience do not question the quote and believe it just to its place
in the media. This furthermore supports my point of the media have an
influential role on society because the majority of spectatorship of any media
believe everything they have been presented with. This influential power could
be used both positively and negatively again but in most cases the media convey
through their publishing’s false controversies and unproven stories or facts.
Linking back to my example of misogyny in the media many women are publicly slurred
by the media and are given a bad name or reputation from this as proven by my
example of the hypodermic needle model. Referring
to gender and identity the medias role as the influential factor of people’s
views and opinions is misused putting forth those of high social and economic class
than lower. An example would be the way in which an elderly women of the social
and economic class group A would be presented in comparison to a young woman from
a social and economic class group of C or D. The difference between these would
be major, even though they may both be presented to different niche audiences
it is typical that he women of higher social and economic class would receive praise,
whereas the other women would be slatted using explicit descriptive words. An example
from theorist David Gauntlett would be Gender Diversities and this is a key
point in the example of misogyny in the media as there are many more accounts of
female negative representation than male, especially when the appeal to the
male audience in most cases come to the theory of the Male Gaze by Laura Mulvey
because men may only chose to pay attention from the placement of visually
fulfilling women which again is a slur against women in the media as they are
shaping the society’s opinion and views of women as a whole as they may only
been seen in a visual and sexual non intelligent light. To conclude I believe
that the Media fulfils a negative influential role in shaping our views and
opinions towards women as a whole in media due to the lack of truthful coverage
and their use as an eye catching sentiment of many media products.
