Media Essay

It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.

In today’s modern society, mostly all media texts portray certain types of representations. In general, representations can either have a positive impact on individuals and society or a negative impact. There are many reasons for why different representations are created depending on certain age groups. For example teen knife crime specifically targets the teenage age group of 13-19 year olds as they are stereotypically represented and associated within this subject area along with being the most involved in knife crime.

Issues such as teenage knife crime create major social concerns within society. For example, news reports on the increase in street knife crime amongst teens, creates a moral panic within societies, especially the cities in which these crimes are taking place in. By creating moral panics, a great deal of awareness is made public and therefore more crime prevention acts will be put in place in order to calm the anger and fear of society members. However on the political side, the government could be held responsible as it could be argued they are not doing enough to keep our streets safe and give more opportunities to youngsters so that they do not resort to extreme measures such as committing crimes. This will then question the reliability of the government as they would be seen as the real culprits and therefore will cause ripple effects within society as it could become dysfunctional and cause anomie. This in comparison to historical representations of teens differs majorly. Back 30 years ago teens were essentially represented as ‘miniature adults’. They were given households and family responsibilities at an early age and were expected to earn good with a job in hand. Whereas in today’s society, teens are mostly dependent on governmental initiatives such as EMA, Job seekers allowance etc causing them to get involved in unnecessary problems. This stereotypes them as rebels as they are causing un-needed trouble as a result of being caught in the spirit of age (Zeitgeist). Therefore, political and social concerns are represented in a negative light for the specific age groups of teenagers.

On the other hand, women are represented in a negative light as they are sexually objectified for example in The Sun page 3 or magazines such as Lads Mag and Men’s health. Here women are represented as deviant as they break away from the typical traditional values that women are expected to have. For example, they are expected to have motherly natures and self respect, whereas in today’s day and age women are sexually objectified for other men to take pleasure from. However this is a result of self objectification which is why women can be represented as deviant as they are objectifying themselves out of their own will. This intertwines with the ‘femme fatale’ which was introduce in the 1940’s where women were breaking out of the typical values of a women as they were housebound. Whereas, the ‘femme fatale’s’ did the total opposite as they were represented as being “mysterious, seductive and deviant” like shown in double indemnity in contrast to how they are expected and should be which is “simple, caring, and obeying” this caused major social concerns, especially for men as their masculinity was at risk causing them to build misogynistic opinions regarding women. This is because women were doing things that only men should have done, in the sense of dressing up in suits, smoking cigars etc. Also, this caused concerns for women as members of society feared that other women will be influenced and therefore anomie will be caused within society. Judith Butler talks about gender performance being “undone”. This refers to in some aspects, becoming the opposite sex, in which case is true of the femme fatale.

In addition, magazines such as the “Lads Mag” is aimed to gratify the needs of visionary pleasure for men. This promotes voyeuristic behaviour as men are tending their needs without the other person knowing they are looking at them. This causes social concerns within society as people are accepting this type of voyeurism as they are doing all of this is covertly, and forming typical representations of women, by stereotyping them as sexual objects. This then will effect in influencing their minds where in effect they will treat women according to the opinions they form of them therefore will cause major social concerns within society.

Media Essay

“Digital media have, in many ways, changed how we consume media products” who do you think benefits most audiences or producers?

In today’s modern society, the media has in many ways changed the way in which we consume media products. It has essentially made it a lot easier for audiences to consume media products as a result of new and digital media, in specific; E-media. In comparison to print and broadcast platforms, which were once categorized at the top of the hierarchy, E-media has now taken over and is considered one of the main platforms in regard to media consumption, as audiences have now become active whereas they were once considered passive. Unlike before, Web 2.0 and new and digital media has now enabled audiences to consume media products more actively as now they are considered producers as well as consumers. This is achieved as audiences are now able to voice their opinions as a result of UGC (user generated content). This gives them power and in effect changes the way in which we consume media products today.

The use of E-media has incredibly increased over the last ten years according to the ‘Podcast News’ where people spend 32.7hours a week on the internet. This can be considered a result of the audiences increasing interests in social networking as 23.6hours out of 32.7 is spent on social networking sites alone. However, current major Social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube that had emerged in 2004 have now over a million registered users. This indicates that social networking sites have now become a “norm” for society as it gratifies audiences need of entertainment as well as social interaction. Therefore everyone now feels they need to be a registered member because if they are not, then on some occasions they feel they aren’t fitting in as well with others that are. Furthermore, although using Facebook for example eliminates communication problems that people may have if they are shy or physically unable to converse face to face, sites such as these enable them to gain their confidence and communicate via networking sites in various ways e.g. Facebook chat and private messaging. This also gratifies the audience’s need of support in regard to communication. However Facebook is now being criticised for “dumbing down” its audiences according to Marxist theorists such as Karl Max. Marx argues sites such as Facebook and Youtube are exploiting the minds of the vulnerable. He describes this as the “elite” dominating and undermining those under them. This is done through majority of the adverts seen on networking pages that are paid to be there or even messages being sent out to branch out in business matters. This according to Marx influences how we think and therefore we as passive audiences are unconsciously being brainwashed. Therefore to an extent it can be argued that we as audiences are now consuming media products in the way we are influenced by the elite to do so and in effect the elite benefit the most.

Networking sites are now leading its audiences to become fully dependant on them. Facebook which is now owned by Google gratifies their needs of entertainment and social interaction. Therefore, people now communicate via Facebook and Twitter a lot more than they would in real life. As a result we consume media products a lot more as we are now fully dependent on the internet’s networking sites spending majority of our time on it and in effect creating a privatised relationship with the internet by revealing our personal details and communicating through websites. This reveals how much we rely and trust networking sites, as we are more than happy to reveal personal details over the internet. However, media convergence has played a major role in changing the way we consume media products and creating that privatised relationship with networking sites. Smart phones i.e iPhone and Blackberry’s all have Facebook applications and Youtube apps luring its audiences into using them a lot more frequently. This is because it allows consumers to access things in their own time and space, and therefore meeting their needs. As a result it reaches out to a mass audience and gratifies their needs, giving them the power to chose when and where to visit and communicate via networking sites. Therefore, overall audiences are given a lot more power as a result of web2.0 and new and digitial media which effects how we consume media products as we now consume, produce and do things according to our own will as active audiences.