ethnicity

As Pieterse forcefully put it in 1992; “The legacy of several hundred years of western expansion and hegemony, manifested in racism and exoticism, continues to be recycled in western culture in the stereotypical images of non-western cultures.”

Theorist Sarita Malik points out the obvious in her essay ‘The Construction of Black and Asian Ethnicities in British media (1998); “The word ‘race’ in the cultural and political terrain has almost universally been aligned with Black and Asian people, as though they are the only racial groups that ‘own’ an ethnicity… Whiteness has been naturalized, as though it is an invisible ‘norm.’ When it is of course an ethnic group like any other. 

Malik argues: “Many feel that Black and Asian audiences are still not sufficiently catered for and that insensitivity towards issues of race and ethnicity still exist. The reality of a lived multiculturalism is not represented in the British media." Any cover that just has white artists on it supports this, but this screenshot I took of an internet search I did on google images for 'Top of the Pops covers' is really telling because you can see only one cover has anyone on it who isn't white. 

Malik suggests the key reason for this bias is that not enough people from different races create the media texts;‘Although it is now more common place to see Black and Asian people... who do not necessarily carry the race theme, the repertoire of imagery still remains limited. There are still too few Black people actually controlling the... images in terms of directors, screenwriters and producers." (Malik, 1998). 

It is relatively easy to argue that the music magazine industry does not cater fairly for all races in the UK for two reasons. Firstly, the majority of music artists on covers of magazines like; Top of the Pops, Kerrang, NME, Q and Total Rock are white therefore people of different races are not represented and discriminated against because of there absence from mainstream magazines (this supports Malik's ideas that, "Whiteness has been naturalised" & "Multiculturalism is not represented in the British Media" and Pieterse's idea of discrimination through; "Exoticism"). 

And, secondly because the majority of artists from different races that feature on Hip-Hop magazines are portrayed as criminals. The strange thing about this is, magazines from this genre are produced by and for the same ethnic groups as the stereotypes portray. In other words, Hip-hop artists and fans seem to be embracing the negative stereotype Stuart Hall highlighted in 1981 when he argued; "There is a grammar of race based on a traditional diet for the British Media that is based on the standard image of blackness being the social problem." A reason for embracing this negative stereotype relates to the same reason why negative portrayals of youth culture sell, it makes the magazine/artists/genre appear edgy and exciting to younger working class fans. 

Another reason for it could link to an interesting point raised by media theorist Sivanandan in 1983, Sivanandan said in terms of representation; "We don't want a balanced view. The whole society is unbalanced against us," and making it look balanced implies there is not a problem through using negative stereotypes it keeps racism debates open. 

As Pieterse forcefully put it in 1992; “The legacy of several hundred years of western expansion and hegemony, manifested in racism and exoticism, continues to be recycled in western culture in the stereotypical images of non-western cultures.”

Theorist Sarita Malik points out the obvious in her essay ‘The Construction of Black and Asian Ethnicities in British media (1998); “The word ‘race’ in the cultural and political terrain has almost universally been aligned with Black and Asian people, as though they are the only racial groups that ‘own’ an ethnicity… Whiteness has been naturalized, as though it is an invisible ‘norm.’ When it is of course an ethnic group like any other. 

Some of the more common stereotypes of American citizens include:

• Boastful and arrogant.
• Disrespectful of authority.
• Drunkard.
• Extravagant and wasteful.
• Generous.
• Ignorant of other countries and cultures.
• Informal.
• Insensitive.

Stereotypes in mexico: 

Hispanic Americans, like many other minority groups in the US, have long suffered from the effects of racial stereotyping. Typical stereotypes include: 

• The Greaser, 
• The Lazy Mexican, 
• The Latin Lover, the Mamacita, 
• Maids, slum dwellers, 
• Drug addicts, 
• Gang bangers,
•  Feisty Latinas, 
• The Mexican Spitfire,
•  And the Exotica.

Uk:

• They love the royal family 
• They have terrible food 
• All British people are English
• British people are rude 
• They are permanently wet 
• Everyone has a charming accent like the English folk on the tv  

In this scene of "The secret diary of a call girl" the non diegetic music shows that the main character, who is played by billie piper, who is a normal girl but also a prostitute. it is sexualised when she is on the screen but the music stops when it shows the disabled boy. When the music stops and shows the disabled boy, it shows that he is unattractive because of who the music stops when they show him. This could be seen as discrimination which shows support for the Evans theory, "Disable people are seen as childish, dependant and underdeveloped and are regrading as 'other' and are punished by being excluded from ordinary life. Thus popular images and rhetoric of disabled people abound which comfort us with people who are imperfect, helpless, unattractive, disgusting, shitty, dribbling." This shows that she is used as a sex object and that is what  the audience wants to get as a vibe. The diegetic sounds that are used in the scene are the Dialogue and the sounds that the dad hears in theban when he leaves. The dialogue that is used by Belle, is that she is speaking to him like he is about 2 years old. I think she does this because she wouldn't know how to treat a disabled person, so she talks gentle and calmly. 

In the next scenery, it shows his dad helping him out of his wheelchair which shows the boy to be weak and dependant. Before his dad left, he kisses him on the head which also shows that he is treated like a child, as well as that Belle says it is sweet when she sees men kiss. This shows that he is treated like a child outside of his home and inside as well. There is a vibe of awkwardness when it is just the two of them, Belle tries to be very carefully like he is a new born baby when really he is just a normal young boy who is trying to be like others with trying to forget he has a disability. 

Disability

The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.  
 
In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:

1. The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
2. An object of curiosity or violence
3. Sinister or evil
4. The super cripple
5. As atmosphere
6. Laughable
7. His/her own worst enemy
8. As a burden
9. As Non-sexual
10. Being unable to participate in daily life

Jessica evans (1998) drawing on the words of Freud and other psychoanalysis, statues: 

"Disable people are seen as childish, dependant and underdeveloped and are regrading as 'other' and are punished by being excluded from ordinary life. Thus popular images and rhetoric of disabled people abound which comfort us with people who are imperfect, helpless, unattractive, disgusting, shitty, dribbling. 

As Cumberbatch and Nergrine (1992), Barnes (1992) and Longmore (1987):

point out studies of the representation show that disabled people are screened out of television fiction or else occur in a limited number of roles. 

As Jordanova stated in in 1989. " the idea of otherness is complicated, but certain themes are common: the treatment of others as more like an object, something to be managed and possessed and as dangerous, wild, threatening. at the same time, the other becomes and entity whose very separateness inspires curiosity, invites inquiring knowledge. 

Medhurst argued in terms of power relations and the constructions of stereotypes; "they are awful because they are not like us" 

it is seriously worth nothing that theory concerning disability can be applied to the elderly with ease. according to evans (1998): 

"Old people in our culture are also segregated and treated as though they are waiting to die. there are close associations between dependency, illness, dying and eat. it seems that increasingly in our culture there are pressures that encourage a reversion to infantile feelings which have to be madly defended against" 

youth

Skins 

In the opening scene of "Skins", the non diegetic upbeat music shows that the teenagers in the tv programme is fun and also shows what they do and what they act like throughout the tv programme. When it shows Tony in the bed, it shows that he has naked people on his bed cover, which also shows he is obsessed with sex. Teenagers only care about sex when they got to the age of 14-16, they worry about loosing their virginity and being the odd one out. 

sexuality

The way that sexuality is shown to people in the world is a different way to the way it is shown in tv dramas and films. Sometimes in a tv dramas or films, you can never identify which one is gay, lesbian or bi-sexual. Theorist Andy Medhurst (1998) claims that sexuality disrupt representation claims, like those made by Dyer ("How we are seen determines in part how we are treated; how we treat others on how we see them; such seeing come from representation" Dyer, 1993) because in the REAL world you cannot 'see' sexuality. Unless someone tells you they are homosexual you have no way of knowing it. 

However, in the media stereotypes are used to explore ideological positions about sexuality. “Films and television comedies are full of images of gay men as effeminate screaming queens…It chooses that aspect of gay male behaviour (SELECTION), inflates it into the defining male characteristic of male homosexuality (MAGNIFICATION), then establish it as the most easily recognizable image (REDUCTION).”

“This is why stereotypes of sexuality strive so vigorously to create two, polarized sexualities, hetro and straight, and to insist with such obsessive reductiveness that people who belong to those poles are easily identifiable – hence the recurring presence across media texts of the screaming queen and his female equivalent the butch dyke.”

In real life, if there is a son or a daughter who knows they are a different sexuality to others, they want to tell their family members such as moms and dads. Sometimes the parents are not proud and don't respect their childs sexuality unlike when you notice in a tv drama their moms and dads have different perspectives. Here is an example from the tv drama Glee, where santana 

Hustle Genders

How is gender portrayed in the extract of Hustle through:

Camera work

Mise-en-scene

Sound

& Editing?

In the extract of Hustle the theories of Mulvey (1975), Mackillon (2002) and Gauntlett (2002) are both supported and distrupted through the media language present in the clip. I will now explore this in more detail with reference to how; camera work, mise-en-scene, sound and editing contributes to constructions of gender representation.

The opening shot is a low angle medium close up of middle aged male wearing an expensive suit. The camera angle gives him masculine status as it makes him powerful which could fit Gauntlet’s 2002 theory however, the way he is standing is not a masculine pose which means his character also fits Mackillon’s theory as he is looking more feminine. In the background there is a younger female character shown coming up the stairs to the clothing shop, the positioning seems to support traditonal gender roles as she appears lower down, and therefore less important, than the lead male character. The opening scene is accompanied by non-diegetic music that changes when the women comes into shot, it is quite feminine and it contributes to sexaulising the female character in a way that fits Mulvey’s 1975 theory. Furthermore, it contributes to de-masculinising the male character to a point where he almost appears camp which also fits with the dress shop setting and his job. The shots are linked together with a sound bridge and continuity editing is used to not distract the viewer.

The next shot is a high angle over the shoulder when the not so wealthy lady walks off and the male character notice there is another lady in shop browsing around, but it shows that he spots the expensive engagement ring first which she is clearly trying to show off.  Straight away he is interested in what she wants, and quickly jogs off to get the dress he told her about. This shows me that people who doesn’t have quite a lot of money gets treated disrespectfully like the middle aged women in the shop unlike the young lady who was approved more when she is shown with quite a lot of money. The middle aged women is shown as a house wife who stays at home who cooks and cleans for her children. When she says “I’ll come back later”, it shows us that she is not very affluent and doesn’t want to show the man that she cant afford it, so she says that so it takes his mind off how much money she has. The screen fades to black and shows the scene of the wealthy women with the dress on. This shot is called a tilt, with the camera moving up the women’s body of how gorgeous she looks in it. When the camera travels up the young women’s body, it is shown as a sexualised action. This supports Mulvey’s theory about women be sexualised. The sound bridge from the previous scene carries on but has diegetic sound of them discussing what the dress is like. When the male character tells the lady about how much money the dress is, there is some kind of drum role towards her deciding if she will buy it for that much.

genders

Laura Mulvey, 1975

"As erotic objects of desire for the characters within the story, and as erotic objects of desire the spectator."

David Gauntlett 2002 

"Images of the conventionally rugged, super-independant, extra-strong macho man still circulate in popular culture."

Mackillion 2002

In 2002 mackillion said males are now used in the similar way as women, in so far as they being presented as sex objects and are seen to be more image conscious and sensitive.


Women. 

• Sex objects 
• Should be in the kitchen 
• Can't protect themselves 
• Depression 
• Intelligent 
• Powerless 
• Skinny / large boobs 
• Victim 

Men. 

• Violent - abuse 
• Dumb 
• Creepy - smiling 
• Heroic 
• Attractive - muscles 
• Strong 
• Brave 
• Powerless

Sexism in magazines.... 

GQ magazines are sexist towards women due to the fact that men are shown in suits or full clothes where as women are shown with hardly any clothes on to attract the target audience to read it more. 

 

Sound

Diegetic Sound and Non-Diegetic Sound

Diegetic sound is 'realistic sound' where the source is visible on screen or where the source is implied to be present in the action even if the sound source is out of shot (e.g. a door slamming in another room or sirens in the distance) common examples of diegetic sound include: 

- Dialogue (characters voices)

- Sounds made by objects 

- music coming from instruments shown on screen

- ambient sound (background noise that would be present)

Non-diegetic sound is sound where the source is not present in the action nor looks like it is meant to be; common examples include:

- Mood music

- Dramatic sound effects that do not match the sound anything on screen would make.

- Narrators commentary.

Sound Terminology

Inside these two categories there are a number of specific terms for different types of sounds that you must be able to use in the examination when you analysis, make note on and write about the extract in terms of representation they are as follows:

Non-diegetic

Title music: theme tunes (connote genre/represent TV drama).

Score/incidental music: orchestral music used to connote tone/atmosphere.

Sound motifs: sounds associated with certain character (often a villain like the shark in Jaws) that connote something good/bad is about to happen.

Sound effects: used to connote atmosphere.

Voice over: often used to give the viewer an insight into the thoughts of a character (creating a bond between the audience and character), set the scene or progress the narrative.  

Diegetic

Synchronous sound: sounds that match what you see on screen.

Sound effects: realistic sounds that match the action on screen creating realism and/or connoting atmosphere e.g. gun shots, door opening/closing.

Dialogue: characters speaking (dialogue progresses the narrative and reveals the character's personality/views to the viewer). 

Ambient sound: natural background noise you would hear if the scene on screen were real - this is vital when creating realism. 

Camera Shots

Types of shots 

extreme long shot

long shot

medium shot

medium close up

close up

extreme close up


camera movements 


Zoom in

Zoom out

Tilt

Ditch tilt

Hitch cock

Tracking shot

Pan

Swish pan