representation of young black men

Gramsci's theory of hegemony: relevant to the exploration of racial representations in the media. It focuses on culture and ideology.
Many of the racist images on past television and cinema are now fading from western screens. These can be explained in hegemonic terms in relation to colonialism and white supremacy. His notion of hegemony can be used to identify elements of the old racist stereotypes and new and the representations of racial minorities in current media.

Hall points out racist stereotypes which have evolved in the media of a less liberal society. He points our three base images of the grammer of race employed in old movies. 1) slave figure. eg dependable, loving Mother with the rolling eyes who is attached devoted to "his" master. The message given here is that the slave is someone who is willing to serve their master and wait on him. Their devotion allows a white audience to displace any guilt about their history of colonialism and slavery.
Consequence: relates to Gramsci's idea of spontaneous  consent, where individuals voluntarily choose to accept the world view/ hegemony of the dominant group.

Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: Report by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny

Institutionalised Racism. The inquiry found that Unwitting racism can arise because of a number of different reasons.

• The lack of understanding, ignorance or mistaken beliefs.
• From well intentioned but patronising  words/actions.
•  From unfamiliarity with the behaviour/cultural traditions of people or families from miniority ethnic communities.
• Racist stereotyping of black people as potential criminals/troublemakers.

Sir Paul Condon at the time Police Commissioner stated that he recognised individual officers can be and are overtly racist. 
Mr Panton, the barrister acting for Greenwich council argued that if the colour of the victim and the attackers was reversed then the police would have acted differently.
Conclusion: Must be a change so that there is a genuine partnership between the police and all sections of the community.
Part 2 of the inquiry. One universal area of complaint was to do with the use of police powers of stop and search as stats for 97/98 showed that black people were on average 5 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than white people. Black people are also more likely to be arrested than white or other ethnic groups.

The media re-present groups, however, no media representation can be neutral. Representations are shaped usually  by genre, the target audience and the dominant ideologies in society.
Some critics would argue that representations reinforce dominant idelogies in society, ideologies of gender promote sexist  representations of women. These ideologies create inequalities and subordination appear natural. <---- STUART PRICE. A-Z MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION HANDBOOK.

Others would argue that representations in the media can challenge dominant ideologies in society.

Dossier

Trailer Trash Teens

Primary research: Jeremy Kyle show. This show represents people from a sub working class culture. It is aimed at people from the same background and class so that they can judge their own class.
Litte Britain
Catherine Tate
Fish Tank
Precious

Theories: The characters in these shows, films and programmes are used as folk devils according to Cohen. This is to whip up a moral panic for the audience.
All of the characters are portrayed in a stereotypical way according to what they wear, where they live, the way they speak and the lifestyle that they have. The characters are mostly chavs or common from a working class background. They do not work and are deprived in many ways; financially and materially.

Comparing Fish Tank with Precious

The representation and the collective identity of the two main characters in Fish Tank and Precious is socially disadvantaged girls. Mia is the main protagonist in Fish Tank and is represented as a typical teenage girl from a sub working class culture. This is shown through the mise en scene such as where  Mia lives and the costume that she wears. Precious is the main protagonist in the film Precious is also presented in a negative way; a teenager who is pregnant and who is about to give birth to her second child. This essay will compare the two ways that these characters are portrayed in the two films.

Poverty, social housing and single parent families are the themes in Fish Tank. Mia lives on a council estate in Essex and lives with her Mother who appears to not work/have a job. This is noticable as the film is set during the day and her Mother is at home. The film is very realistic as the camera is handheld and the audience gets a point of view feel of Mia's character and lifestyle. Through this we see that she plays the typical social realist protagonist who is angry, frustrated and alienated teenager. Her Mother is overtly sexualised, abusive and irresponsible. However, as the film continues the audience learns that Mia is physically abused in her home and searches for an escape.

Precious also gets physically abused in her home by her Mother. Precious' Mother is also very mentally unstable, this shows that both of these characters have irresponsible parents and that they do not have a strong bond/relationship with their Mothers. Both protagonists also seem to be deprived by their living conditions and the fact that they come from working class backgrounds. Precious also wants to escape just like Mia in the film Fish Tank. However, they both choose different ways of escaping their dysfunctional families.

In the film Fish tank the Patriarchal ideology is challenged through the narrative outcome as Mia escapes and survives. She escapes by herself without no ones help and her Mother's boyfriend is exposed. The audience see that he is a liar and a cheat as he has his own family. This is an alternative represention as she actually escapes and comes out at the other end. The end of the film shows a positive representation of Mia; that she is a strong and a heroine. Where as, at the beginning of the film she was portrayed as a 'trailer trash teen'.

The difference between Mia escaping and Precious escaping is that Precious receives help and support from people when doing so, however Mia escaped by herself. Precious received this help from a teacher and a social worker, both of which were White adults. This represention of the White teacher and social worker helping out Precious was not popular amongst Black communities because of ethnicity issues amongst society. The Black communities wanted to see them being more aspirational and dealing with problems themselves instead of depending on White citizens.

Blumer and Katz's theory called the Uses and Gratification theory explains that we consume the media for entertainment, to compare the characters identities with our own, for social interactions and for observations. This is a key element as the audience voyeuristically see the grim realism of what both character's go through. The audience see the poverty of others and the unpleasant acts which the both Mia and Precious go through.

In conclusion, Mia and Precious are both portrayed negatively at the beginning of each of the films. Their characters are very similar as they are both teenagers suffering from abuse and have irresponsible parents. However, they both escape their families differently and show how they want to break free in different ways. Mia shows it in a very symbollic way; trying to let the chained up horse free. On the other hand, Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily existence through imagination and fantasy. In her mind, there is another world where she is loved and appreciated. Therefore, there are dominant representations as well as alternative reprensentations of the two female characters.

Essay on gypsies

How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic/social/collective groups of people in different ways?

Contemporary media represent different groups of people in a number of different ways. For example, through the use of costume, language and behaviour. Some representations have a major affect on people's lives and the way  that they are viewed by others. This essay will be focusing on the representation of Romany gypsies and Irish travellers in films, television programmes, newspapers and in the social media.

The main words associated with the terms 'gypsies' and 'travellers' are caravans, thieves and pikeys. People associate the terms with them words because of the way that they are represented in the media today. The documentary 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' is commissioned by Channel 4. It follows the travellers around showing the audience their lifestyle, how they communicate and their beliefs. It portrays gypsies and travellers in a very negative way and because of this the audience then attaches a negative label to them all. The programme is produced for entertainment however, this affects the reading as the representation of gypsies and travellers is mediated on a large scale. For example, the brides in each programme wear big meringue dresses to show that 'the bigger the better'. They also have big tier cakes and brand new cars. This shows that they have money and are very rich. The fact that is has been made for entertainment means that the editors may manipulate what we see in post production in order to make it more controversial.

Channel 4 have stayed away from the mainstream programmes like the ones shown on BBC and ITV. Instead they have gained the audiences trust through exploring and presenting stories of minority ethnic, social and collective groups. As not a lot of programmes focus on these groups we know very little about them therefore, the audience is more likely to trust the representation that Channel 4 present as this is the only source of information about these groups.

There is a strong  representation of women in the documentary 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding', this is for them to get married at quite a young age and to become a Housewife. Their role presented in the programme is to stay at home and complete the domestic roles in the house such as cleaning and cooking, whilst the husband goes to work and provides for the them. The programme also shows that a lot of young girls drop out of school at an early age in order to become a good Wife and get married. Therefore, this is their main priority over education and live to please men and make them happy. However, the programme 'Thelma's Gypsy Girls' shows a different side to Gypsy girls and they are choosing a career and work over being a Housewife. In this programmes Thelma teaches a group of young girls how to sew and make dresses. She shows them that there are other directions and things in life than just depending on their husband; they can also provide and earn their own money.

Feminists would criticise the way that women are represented in the programme 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding', as it shows an inequality amongst the two genders. It presents men as the male dominant figure and the women as dependant on men. Mulvey would argue that the presentation associated with women is that they are sexualised, she calls this the Male Gaze Theory. The Gypsy women wear limited clothing and a lot of their flesh is shown. Therefore, they are used as sex objects through the costume as well as the way that the camera angles them up and down and focuses on certain parts of their body. This creates pleasure for men and makes it seem like they are inferior to men. There are also advertisements which do this in the media, for example this advertisement is used to sell alcohol and reveals the figure of a woman to attract a wide audience, especially men.

In conclusion, there are many negative representations of Gypsies and Travellers in the media. They are always frowned upon and used as folk devils in order to create a moral panic.

Essay

With reference to any group of people you have studied discuss how their identity has been mediated.

Cultural identity is the identity of a group, culture or of an individual. I explored this topic further by looking at British youth and how it has been mediated through a number of representations such as the dominant and absent representations. This term mediated is when something in the media is exaggerated which then influences the audiences views and perceptions.

The Marxist theory fits well with this idea as the theory holds the view that the ruling class control much of our behaviour. This is because their values and beliefs are put across in the media and they are the ones who own and control the content. Therefore, Marxists manipulate the way we think and their views change and alter our opinions. For example, in newspaper articles they always portray British youth in a negative way such as 'troublemakers' this mediates their identity and makes the audience believe that all British youngsters behave like this. This is a stereotype and makes the British youth the 'folk devils' in the media. This creates a moral panic to attract a wider audience and to make more money.

This view that identity in the media has been mediated also ties in with the hypodermic syringe model. This is because it states that our behaviour is influenced by the media; what we hear, see and read about. For example, Bandura conducted an experiment called the bobo doll, he found that what the little girl had watched on television which was a violence she then copied this behaviour and became violent towards her doll. Therefore, this theory explains that the audience is more likely to copy and display the behaviour seen in the media.

There are many things associated with the identity of British youth in the media. For example, in films such as Kidulthood the guys tend to wear 'hoodies' and play certain roles such as 'thugs'. This could be a form of mediation and is seen as the dominant representation of British youth. The media hardly ever portrays them in a positive way, so the audience then label them negatively because of the portrayals within in the media. The Marxists would describe this as capitalism as the ruling class are in control and dominating the working class.

Absent representations refer to the groups or cultures that are not represented at all in the media. For example, deliquency is mostly represented in the media. There is only a small portion of the media that portrays British youth in a positive way. Some articles in newspapers tend to report the good grades that students get from exams. However, this is not the main focus of the newspapers it only counts for a small part of it. But, when the riots happened this was published all over the newspapers and was the main focus of it. Therefore, the owners and journalists see bad news better than good news as they see it as more newsworthy.

In conclusion, the identity of British youth is mediated greatly. This influences and has an impact on the audiences thoughts and views. The media, including films and newspapers only focuses on the negative aspects of British youth rather than the positives. This creates a stereotype about them and a creates moral panic in which the audience view all British youth the same. They do not see them as having their own identity and being their own person.