A negative representation is better than no representation at all

The word representation can be defined as a description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way or as being of a certain nature. Teenagers especially have been stereotyped negatively ever since the ‘Mods and ‘Rockers’ event occurred. Nothing much has changed since then as teens are still being represented as the feral youths that were represented back then. Some may argue that any representation is better than nothing at all as teens are being shown in the media; however a majority of that coverage seems to be negative publicity, therefore giving a general negative representation, in this essay I shall sum up both the pros and cons of a negative representation and shall assess which is better.

Some may disagree with the statement as teenagers for example would argue that no representation at all would mean that there would be less of a negative stereotype, therefore meaning that there would be less of a stigma attached to teens. The media have played a big part in the negative representations of teens For example this statement can be linked to current examples such as the London Riots has given young teens a negative representation as the mass media have portrayed youths within London to be ‘feral’. This is reinforced by the images portrayed by institutions such as the guardian which have carefully handpicked images of young delinquents committing utilitarian crimes; this is an example of hegemony – the dominance of one social class injecting dominant ideologies into audiences which can also be linked to the theory of hypodermic needle. This has affected many teens within London as it may have led to Howard Becker’s theory of self-fulfilling prophecy, where by the label attached becomes true. Also a theory which can be linked to the negative representations of teens within the media is the dependency theory, this theory talks about how people look to the media for true representations, therefore if a representation is negative then teens would be stereotyped as negative, therefore a negative representation would not be better than no representation in this case.

On the other hand some may agree with the statement as for celebrities a negative representation would benefit them more than no representation at all as a bit bad publicity Is good publicity for celebs as it keeps there name circling around the media, which informs audiences that that person is still around, For example the negative representation of  jimmy savile may not be positive, but it has kept his name circling around the media which may not be good for him but it has made people remember him, therefore for celebrities a negative representation is better than none at all.

Personally I would disagree with the statement as a young teen living in London, this negative representation that surround teens like myself within London is generally negative, having previously been formed by the moral panic that was created by the Mods and Rockers, I think that this negative representation has hindered a lot of the youth within London, especially as the constant negative publicity that has been portrayed across all 3 media platforms, especially print has altered a lot of people views/opinions of teens in general, injecting views that teens are ‘feral’, etc. I therefore believe that no representation is better than a negative one as the constant negative representation that has surrounded teens in society has altered a lot of the choices we as teenagers have made, as they form the opinion that the representation is not going to get better, so why not do as the media portray us out to be (self-fulfilling prophecy).

Lord McAlpine

The BBC will pay £185,000 in damages to Lord McAlpine following the Newsnight broadcast in November which wrongly linked Lord McAlpine to allegations of child sexual abuse. Although the programme did not name Lord McAlpine , however he has indicated that he now intends to sue the Institution BBC after it led to him being identified on the internet (twitter, etc). George Entwistle the ex director general, stated that "We should not have put out a film that was so fundamentally wrong. What happened here is completely unacceptable" he goes on further to say "I have taken clear and decisive action to start to find out what happened and put things right." He also admits that the institution was facing a bad crisis of trust in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. In my opinion i don't think that the programme newnight should close as this incident is similar to ITV's this morning where a list of  pedophiles was revealed on national TV including Lord McAlpine as one of them, this lead to Institution ITV being fined a sum of £125,000 similar to BBC. I think closing a show like newsnight will only cause even more problems for institution BBC as the recent story on jimmy savile has put them under enough pressure already.

This was the tweet that Sally Bercow tweeted which landed her in a lot of trouble. She argues that her tweet was just mischievous and not libellous and  if she gets sued for it then so be it.Personally i think that the tweet was wrong as the accusations made on BBC Newsnight were false and that the tweet was just another way to get at Lord McAlpine himself. However i don't think the tweeter should be fined as this is a form of pluralism, having the opportunity to voice your own opinions, but in today's society i think that with sites like twitter, peoples voices are becoming suppressed as it has seemed to land alot of people in trouble, for example the Tom Daley and Riley incident .

Sources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/20340847
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/15/bbc-lord-mcalpine-compensation-newsnight
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/bbcs-newsnight-report-implicating-lord-mcalpine-in-child-sex-abuse-should-never-have-gone-out-8303444.html

Case study - Young people in London

The representation that I can gather from looking at  the jpeg cutting from the newspaper article called 'trouble in the hood' is that young Londoners are portrayed as feral as the image shown within the article shows young Londoners being delinquents as they battle against authority by committing utilitarian crimes, showing an overall negative representation of young Londoners placing them in the news for negative reasons

Media theory which can be related to this could be the hypodermic needle as the representation that is shown within the article is injected into audiences creating stereotypes and opinions on certain ethnicity's and gender, another theory which could be related could be Stuart Halls reception theory as audiences might take a preferred reading that all teenagers are feral and delinquents, which again creates a negative stereotypical image of young Londoners

This text can be referenced to in an exam as it is a prime example of negative representation of young teens (Londoners) within the media, as it surrounds the issue as to why young teens form such a strong anti subculture which causes them to become delinquents within society. Also the fact that a lot of media theory covers the issue of teens and negative representations which would benefit this text being referenced in the exam as there would be a lot to write about.

The representation that I can gather from looking at the jpeg cutting from the newspaper article called 'broom army' is overall positive as it puts young Londoners in a positive light as they sweep to reclaim back their streets. However from looking at the image, it is clear that a majority of the sweepers are predominantly white, therefore portraying the image that other races/ethnicities don't care about their streets

Media theory which can be related to this could be

media story

ITV to pay Lord McAlpine £125,000 in damages

Institution ITV agrees to pay a sum of £125,000 in damages to retired politician after Philip 

schofield revealed a list of politicians that had been linked with child sex abuse on the 

programme this morning with current prime minister David Cameron. McAlpine said he was 

"pleased to have reached a pragmatic settlement with ITV". His law firm,  RMPI, said in a 

statement that ITV has agreed to "remove from public records all media coverage relating to 

the defamatory incident". 

My view/feelings on this story/article is overall mixed as i think that what Philip Scholfield done               was wrong as the list was broadcasted on national TV which i also think was institution ITV fault for broadcasting it in the first place. I thought that the list should have be given to PM David Cameron in private, off screen. Therefore the fine charged was an appropriate one as there was other ways to deal with the issue raised. However it leaves me with a question as to why  Philip Schofield wasnt fined and his job is jeopardy  as he was the one who researched and handed over the list in the first place.

Young people in London

Case study: Young people in London

As you know, our case study is the representation of young people in London.

Today's task:

Look through the newspaper cuttings from the week of the London riots in summer 2011. Make notes on the texts that you could refer to in the exam should you choose a question on representation. The following questions may help:

1. What kind of representations of young Londoners can you find?
2. Can you link them to any media theory?
3. How might you use these texts in an exam answer?

Think about how you could use these texts or notes to answer an example question such as the following:

A negative representation is better than no representation at all. Discuss this statement with reference to the group or place you have studied.

This was an actual question from the A2 exam a couple of years ago and is useful to make sure our notes are relevant to a representation essay.

A negative representation is better than no representation at all?

Discuss the statement with reference to the group or place 

1.Young Londoners are 'Feral'

media story

All three-year-olds swear, says the sick dad who posted RVP vid of son

29 year old Arsenal fan sefki suleyman posted a video of his 3 year old son Kye, who sang a foul-mouthed chant about former arsenal star Robin Van Persie. The 29-year-old said: “I am sorry I took the video. I’m really not a bad dad. I love my boy and I love Arsenal.
“I got caught up in the emotion of watching a game with him. I shouldn't have had my boy singing the word ‘c***’

Being an Arsenal fan myself, i think that this type of behavior is unacceptable, getting a 3yr old to express your feeling on a certain football player is just outrageous and getting him to sing a foul-mouth chant is even more shocking. For me football is just a game, at the end of the day i have views on certain players but i don't go expressing them through 3 year old children. The strangest part of this article is when the father states that 'all 3 year olds swear' this just made me question his parental skills, whether hes mature enough to even have a child. overall this story gives a bad reputation for arsenal fans, which will hinder the club further down the line

Story: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4634943/All-three-year-olds-swear-says-the-sick-dad-who-posted-Robin-van-Persie-video-of-son.html

Feminism Essay New

To what extent do you agree with Judith Butler's theory that gender roles are socially constructed?

The 21^st century in which we live in, plays a massive role in influencing different attitudes and behaviour of those within it. These differences are reflected in society where primarily the media plays a big part in the advance of certain gender-related social roles and behaviour traits. In this essay I shall discuss the debate whether gender roles are socially constructed or not 

Judith Butler, a post-feminist believes that traditional feminists are wrong to divide society into ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ and argues that gender is not biologically fixed, and that by dividing men and women, Feminists accidentally reinforce the idea of differences between the two genders. Butler further believes that gender roles are a ‘performance’ and that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology.

In society today, the feminine is usually characterised by nurturing, innocence and compassion, whereas the masculine, however, is characterised by strength, independence and intelligence. A clear representation of this in today’s society would be the media, where it plays a big part in supporting Judith’s Butlers theory about gender roles being socially constructed, adverts targeted at men showing how men should act and behave, being the ‘breadwinner’ by default, reinforcing Butlers theory about gender roles being socially constructed. Similarly adverts and magazines portray women in a sexual way but showing their compassionate and nurturing side.

This type of social construction of gender can also be seen within the print platform where a recent Guardian blog on children's toys in Morrison's is an excellent example of reinforcing Butlers post-modernist view that gender is a 'performance' and that male and female behaviour is socially constructed rather than the result of biology, this is explaining how due to socialisation, we receive our own identity where colour is one factor which separates boys from girls, as seen in this article where the colour blue symbolises the boys toys and the colour pink symbolises the girls toys. This does not empower women, instead does the opposite as the kind of toys you would see on those shelves would be doll houses and baby dolls, which may connote the typical housewife which stays at home and looks after the kids.

Social construction of gender can also be seen within politics, where some women have gone against the norm of the typical gender role. A recent example would be Julia Gillard, who has recently been in the news for defending her position as PM for Australia by slamming down opposition Tony Abbot over sexism. This has gone against the theory that gender roles are socially constructed as she has disapproved the label attached to women that their sensitive, emotional, compassionate women and has proven that women can be strong and independent.

In conclusion because of this societal influence, girls and boys act the way they do because of the way they have been socialised, the media being a major factor/influence in the decisions we make. Examples such as the Morrison’s article reinforces the way gender roles have been socially constructed as colour blue and pink have been used to identify gender, blue being for boys and pink for girls. Therefore supporting Judith Butlers theory about gender roles being socially constructed