media representations of social groups

Question 1

how are age groups represented in the media?

Answer 1

youth:
- portrayed as deviant or rebellious (Cohen’s moral panics)
elderly:
-represented as burdensome or dependent
AO3:
reinforces stereotypes, affects self-image and societal attitudes

Question 2

how is social class represented in media?

Answer 2

working class:
- often depicted as lazy, criminal, or uncultured
- “poverty porn” (Benefits Street)
middle/upper class:
- shown as aspirational, intelligent, successful
theorist: Jones- demonisation of the working class

Question 3

how is gender represented in the media?

Answer 3

• women: passive, sexualised, domestic (Mulvey’s male gaze)
• men: aggressive, dominant, rational
• Ferguson: women’s magazines promote a ‘cult of femininity’
• Gauntlett: modern media promoted diversity and gender fluidity

Question 4

how is ethnicity represented in the media?

Answer 4

• ethnic minorities shown as criminals, threats, or exotic
  eg: moral panics over Black youth gangs
• Hall: media uses binary oppositions to portray the ‘other’
  AO3: tokenism exists despite increased diversity

Question 5

how is sexuality represented in the media?

Answer 5

• heteronormative dominance; LGBTQ+ invisibility or negative stereotyping
• increased LGBTQ+ visibility
• Dyer: media constructs queer identities
  AO3: still marginalised or tokenised in many mainstream productions

Question 6

how is disability portrayed in the media?

Answer 6

• pitiful, heroic, burden, or evil (Barnes)
• films showing disabled characters as objects of inspiration
• under-representation continues despite disability activism