Ethnicity

 Theorist Sarita Malik points out the obvious in her essay ‘The Construction of Black and Asian Ethnicities in British Film and Television (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.

1)    Examination – relationship between audiences of the media and the messages they transmit.

-       Theorists focus on issues around ‘textuality’ and ‘context’ by analysing how various media forms choose to select and present information on different racial groups.

2)    Investigation – possible connections between the consumers of media images and those in control of its output

-       Dynamics between ownership, control and content

-       Focuses on the ‘process’ of media production and considers wider social, political and economic implications of the media

-       It is connected with issues of authorship and examines whether those in control of output (largely white middle class men) effects the type of images the media produces.

Functionalist Vs The Marxist

1)    The functionalist view, argues that program makers ‘cater for what the public wants’ and simply reflects attitudes, tastes and opinions on ethnicity

2)    The Marxist view is that those in the control of the media output shape how audiences view race.

Equal opportunities

-Following viewer complaints and general criticism, this concept was taken seriously by the BBC in 1977 when the committee ruled that; ‘liberal pluralism’ must be the ethos behind programming in order to ensure ‘Good broadcasting’ would reflect the competing demands of a society which was increasingly multi-racial and pluralist’ (BBC charter 1977)

Liberal Pluralism – A philosophy and political principle that argues for the universality (“sameness”) of humanity

This does of course scream ‘STEREOTYPING,’ and as Malik argues they are; “palatable because they help us to decode people. They simplify the world and its subjects. Thus the ‘Asian immigrant’ or the ‘Black mugger’ tells us more than just that; our stream of consciousness builds on the basic information (issues of language, cultural values, social background etc automatically follow) to create detailed (though not necessarily accurate) profiles of what a person constitutes.

“We often find it easier to blame/focus on the stereotypes than appropriate blame on those who control them…the way we use stereotypes in cultural production is as revealing as which stereotypes we choose to represent. Stereotypes, in themselves, are not necessarily offensive or harmful, but the interests they can serve and the context in which they are used can be.” (Malik 1998).

Mise en Scene

Stereotype that all gang members are black (Malik 1998) “black mugger” and have a gun and the majority of police officers are white.

Includes one or two black police officers – equal oppoturtunties (BBC charter 1977)

Inner city London, flat block – usually people of ethnic origin – it shows these people live in not very nice houses with mess and graffiti every where, like a squat.

Doors have no windows because it’s a dangerous area and they may get smashed.

People in charge are white reflects that people high in media output are largely white middle class men (Malik 1998)

Black person in tracksuit – lower class

Black people causing trouble – shown because people don’t want things to be too politically correct (sivanandan 1983)

How is youth represented in the extract? (skins)

How is age represented in the abstract?

Refer to:

Camera work

Mise-en-scene

Sound

Editing

In 1904 Stanley Hall argued that all youth propel are, “adolescence is inherently a time of storm and stress when all youth people go through some degree of emotional and behaviour upheaval.” The media language in the extract supports Hall’s theory in a number of ways, but also at times disrupts this and moves more towards the arguments concerning mixed metaphors of; “youth is fun and youth is trouble” that Hedbridge (1988) and Osgerby (1998) put forward concerning the media and youth stereotypes.

The extracts first of all starts with non-diegetic up beat music, with a series of short clips that reveal the modern day setting and the characters. The whole montage is link together with this non-diegetic up beat music. The non-diegetic music acts as a mixed metaphor when read alongside the images because the shots show the characters being trouble/rebellious while the sound makes the whole thing seem ‘fun’ which connotes that the extract links and supports Hedbridge and Osgebery’s idea of youth as a mixed metaphor.

In terms of the images themselves, there are a number of shots that tell the viewer a lot about the representation. One of the first shots in the extract was a series of clips; these shots were at a close up camera angle with a boy smoking drugs and teenagers kissing. This links in with Hall’s theory of youth being rebellious and shows that they don’t care about what they are doing. Also in these shot clips, there is a medium shot of teenagers on a trampoline, this connotes that they are having fun, which also links in with hall’s theory of youth. After these montages of short clips, it goes to an extreme close up of a boy in bed. Whilst in this camera shot there is a diegetic sound of bells, and an ambience sound of tweeting birds. This then connotes that it is the morning and this boy has just woken up. Then the camera zooms out to a high angle shot of the boy lying in bed, however the mise-en-scene of this is that on the duvet there is a naked man and women, which connotes that he is ‘sex mad’ which links in with Stanley Hall’s theory of youth being mad about sex. The scene around him lying in bed is that his room is very tidy. This breaks the stereotype of youth being lazy and messy because he has a very tidy room. After the high angle shot, it goes to a cut away shot of him getting out of bed, with R&B non-diegetic music, which connotes crime so again it goes in with hall’s theory. The next clip is another montage of him working out, the clips are at a medium close up, but the boy is in his boxers, so this links in with hall’s theory because he is not wearing much. After this there is an over the shoulder shot of the boy looking in the mirror after working out. This connotes that he is self absorbed and likes the way he looks, this links in with hall’s theory because he is impressed with him self; it also links in with Osgerby theory of youth stereotypes because most youth look at them self in the mirror. Next there is an ambient sound of his alarm on his watch, then he walks to the window, there is a 1-2 shot of his alarm clock to him walking to the window. Next there is an over the shoulder long shot of a middle aged women naked in the window opposite. This portrays the boy looking over to the women and taking an interest in her body which connotes that he is sex mad linking in with hall’s theory. However, she is breaking the stereotypes because she is teasing the boy and encouraging him to continue looking at her and is enjoying his attention. There then is a medium long shot of a young girl that is wearing a low cut top and a mini skirt, this shows that she has been out all night and has a hangover because she looks rough; with this it links in with hall’s theory because she is out late and drinking and this is the stereotype of youths. Also it links in with Hedbridge’s theory because she is out having fun and causing trouble. The editing during the shots of Tony, the girl and the neighbour is parallel editing. The next part of the extract is when the boy tony is turning up the music to max to annoy his dad; this is also done because he needs to make a distraction for his sister to come in. By turning up his music this connotes he is rebellious and most teens play loud music, so this is linking in with hall’s theory because he is being rebellious. Next the dad comes in shouting and swearing. This connotes that the dad is as bad as the son because he is acting like him. This links in with Richard Butsch (1992) theory because he says that working class males in the media are presented as “incompetent and ineffectual, often a buffoon, well-intentioned but dumb. In almost all working-class series, the male is flawed, some more than others”. So this quote represents the age because the older women in the house across the street is acting like the teens and so is the dad that comes in swearing. Also to link in with his dad, he comes in to the room naked so this also links in with Richard Butsch’s theory of male representation. The last bit to add is that the boy has all his clothes neatly folded in his draw. This breaks the stereotype of youth representation because youth are usually really scruffy and have messy rooms, whereas in this extract his room is very tidy and he has neatly folded clothes.

Key Theories

Youth
Stanley Hall (1904) “adolescence is inherently a time of storm and stress when all young people go through some degree of emotional and behaviour upheaval. 

Dick Hedbridge (1988) “youth is fun and youth is trouble.”

Bill Osbery (1998) “mixed metaphors appear when stereotyping youth. Dual stereotyping of youth creates these mixed metaphors.”