Monday, 29 April 2013

Opening paragraphs and examples

Examples
Press coverage of the riots (P)
Ill manors (MI)
Top Boy (MI)
Youngers (MI)
Kidulthood/adulthood(MI)
Some girls(MI)
Our girl(MI)
Anuvahood(MI)
Attack the block (MI)
E20 (E-M)
inbetweeners(MI)
beaver falls (MI)
Time Out (P)
SBTV(E-M)
Young police on twitter(P/E-M)
Riots and social networking (E-M)

Paragraph
dominant representations such as negative representation of young people. Or positive representations of middle class and white people. These representations have been carried over the years due to the acceptance of these images within audiences. Due to the cultivation theory for example the repeated images of young people in hoodies and being portrayed as dangerous and a threat. As due to the these images repeated in print,moving image and e-media. Audiences have become more used to that and have hence created a stereotype of young people. Also another point could be hegemonic values where the middle class who own the media institutions will manipulate for their own benefit. Such as negative representations of working class young people in crime for example the London riots, in which the media marginalised out the young people as the villains.

Feedback
create a hypothesis
make sure you talk about the case study
talk about theories in more detail

Thursday, 6 December 2012

E20 questions

What representations of young people can be found in E20? This should be an extended answer with textual analysis and examples from what you have watched.
Representation of young people within the E20 show is to a great extent negative. For example how we have the opening of E20, where first of all we see the word E20 written in red almost like blood which connotes death and negativity etc, and then we have E20 written right next to the normal EastEnders title which shows the contrasts between two societies and two generations, relating to Said's theory of them vs us as how its the young people vs the older generations and their views. Furthermore another point to show the negative representation is the opening scene of episode 1 for season 3 we how a mother is chucking her half clothed daughter out of the house, which not only is a negative representation of young people, as they are shown to be lazy and good for nothing. But the scene also reflects negative representations of women and also black people as how with the whole idea of single parenting and the daughter being sexually objectificied. in addition you can also argue how the show reflects Gramscis theory of hegemony as how we see the young people from a working class are which can show how the media etc is owned by the middle class and are hence negatively representing working class so audiences accept this and the middle class can carry on their ruling as society will accept this as a norm for example how there's a shot of a young girl being arrested by the police.

Why might producers and audiences be more interested in negative stereotypes of young people?
- concept of hegemony- People see it as normal due to the moral panic
-current problem- people want to watch it more
-preffered and oppisitonal views- debates are sparked

What other examples of representations of young people can you find from British television? Can you think of any positive or unexpected representations of young people?
- positive- Young apprentice- Shows young people as aspirational and hard-working
-negative- Some girls 





Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Leveson inquiry

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron-agrees-to-draft-leveson-1466482
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/04/leveson-report-editors-regulation-no-10-meeting

Summary 
After many debates over whether the press should be regulated or not, it finally came to a decision that there should be some regulations on the press media after the leveson inquiry controversy.

My opinion 
in my opinion putting regulations on print media won't make a huge difference. As one side we can talk about how E-media is the current media platform and is the most used so if people are worried that their voice or the truth will be edited, social networking and e-media platforms are there for audiences to speak about what they feel is right. However to some extent we can say hegemony will take place as the ruling class will dominate the media, but then again with the uses and gratification theory we can say how audiences can decline and accept what they like n what they don't.

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Kidulthood Questions

What representation of young people in London do we see in the opening of Kidulthood? 
-in Kidulthood opening scene we see negative representations of young people. Such as they are being represented as stupid and violent etc. As how in the opening scene we see how a girl is beaten up in the class room and a another young boy working on a gun. This relates to social realism as how the movie is based on a school which is in west London  where shown to have majority working class families living there, it reflects the gritty life style and to get that sense of realism, we see the characters wearing uniform and going to class. Also we can see a sense of post modernist society as how within the high school opening scene there are different types of groups reflecting how society has different types of groups and have their clashes. 

Is it a fair representation?
According to a teenagers perspective it isn't a fair representation as the opening scene really reflects a negative representation of young people. As we see how violent and crazy young people, this can relate to Gramscis theory as we can say the media is controlled by the middle class and how the characters in the movie are working class we can say how the middle class want us to accept this negative reality of the working class. Furthermore also how news channels etc really emphasises on teen crimes older people and working class might think this is a fair representation due to how media institutions has injected this negative image (hypodermic needle) hence them thinking this is a fair representation.

Is it a good example of verisimilitude (think of realism or being true-to-life)?
to some extent we can say it does show a good example of verisimilitude as how the opening scene shows the atmosphere of a high school for example the students wearing uniform and going to class etc. However arguably we can say that it doesn't show a good example of realism as how some people might be able to relate to the situations other people can't showing a generalised image of teenagers, which isn't a good sense of realism. 

Has a process of mediation taken place with the film makers concentrating on one aspect of youth culture?
the process of mediation has taken place, as how the opening scene shows all these different negative interactions between teenagers and has put it in the opening. Furthermore with the use of editing and also camera shots for example low angle shots shows how certain people were shown to be more dominating then others. As how the we are watching and accepting the culture of youth as how the writer director is showing us, which isn't the actual truth its just the directors version of the truth. As overall not all west London youth culture is like this, however we are only seeing one side of it. 

Monday, 26 November 2012

London riots essay


A negative representation is better than no representation at all. Discuss this statement with reference to the group or place you have studied
A representation provides a model of how we see social groups, genders, individuals and aspects of the world we all inhabit. They are ideological in that they are constructed within a framework of values and beliefs. Representations are therefore mediated and reflect the value systems of their sources; no representation is never real only a version of the real. However when it comes to the case study we have being study which is young people’s representation within the media. No representation looks better than a negative representation. As for example after the riots the young people have had huge negative representation which not only changed their image within the media but also changed their image within the audience, hence creating a moral panic. As how within print, moving image and e-media there has been huge debates over the representation of young people within the riots and how the media represented them as for example news reports within the BBC showed images of young people breaking shops, being violent and just mindless people which injected (hypodermic needle) this negative image of young people as how with all the young people wearing  hoodies they made a huge generalized image of them and stripped all other identities that could be associated with a person for example background class etc. Which goes back to the point that no representation is better as then each young person from different classes, background’s etc. can build and define their own image/representation and not having audiences and the media reflecting a generalized image of the generation.

Within print media the representation of young people during the riots, was hugely negative. As within the articles they had similar images, where we either saw the young people having their face covered with hoodies stripping them of their identity. For example within the guardian article “trouble in the hood” where all the images had young people with hoodies making them all look the same, which resulted in the moral panic of how people in society had this fear of people wearing hoodies and had this generalised image of all young people being violent. Furthermore the play of words in which “trouble in the hood” not all made reference to hoodies but also gave this idea of these people being working class as the term “hood” is often used by working class youths. Which again not only negatively represents young people but now also targets the working class as another example is the daily mail where in the article “supermarket sweep” they made reference to the idea how the working class are actually taking advantage of the whole situation as at first the riots started in order to take stand on Mark Duggans death, however later the whole thing spiraled into this violent, stealing atmosphere. Where the article “supermarket sweep” really reflected how the working class youths are just these greedy individuals who are envious towards the middle class and are hence revolting by stealing. In this situation Gramsci’s theory can be used as how all these media institutions are owned by the middle class, arguably we can say that the middle class are using all these articles as an excuse to really penalize the working class so they can reinforce their power (hegemony) and reinforce their values upon society. Which then brings up the debate as whether it was the working class just revolting on the basis of the economic crisis and all the other welfare cuts or whether the media has just “mediated” and exaggerated the whole story as the riots took place during august which is known as “silly season” as during this time of year news is known to be slow therefore this big event could have been just taken and blown out of proportion. Relating it back to the question this negative representation was definitely not good as later other media institution fed on this image of young people and followed on to make movies and other moving image pieces of work which reinforced this negative representation, just increasing the moral panic.

Furthermore not only were classes being involved in this issue, but also race and ethnicity was used. Such as the article the evening standard “the broom army” where in this article they were talking about how after the riots a group of people gathered and cleaned up the town. However the image within the article only showed a group of white people, which just reinforced the idea of binary opposition as how in the article for the Daily mail we see this huge image of the authorities arresting a black man. This showed the idea of the white people being the heroes and the black people being the villains which shows how institutions didn't just represent the young people negatively but also the working class and ethnicities.

In addition movies and other television programs also helped in reinforcing the negative representations of the youth. For example movies like attack the block where we have the stereotypical young male black character that comes from a broken home who lives in a council estate and is violent etc. And then later in the movie he is the hero that kills the aliens but lastly is arrested for the damages he caused which shows how it’s a fight against society and the youth (Said’s them and us). And how even though the youth are trying to break their negative representation society will just keep reinforcing the label. Resulting in the youth behaving in the way they are expected. This shows that no representation is better as if the youth didn't have that negative representation, they wouldn't behave in the way they are expected.

In conclusion no representation is better than a negative representation. However with the media being involved no representation is unlikely to be there, as each group or individual will be stereotyped/ represented in a certain way by the media. Furthermore as also programs, movies etc are written and directed by certain people their view on the individuals will be shown in the piece work they are directing/writing, showing that how the representation they portray the audience will view. As especially the news as that are only source of information we are more likely to intake what they say hence the view of young people. Showing that no representation of nay group is unlikely and is better. 

Friday, 23 November 2012

AC/DC finally release albums on iTunes

Article 

Summary
AC/DC have become the latest rock giants to give in to Apple and make their back catalogue available through iTunes. However previously the band refused to put their albums up on, as they said "For us it's the best way. We are a band who started off with albums and that's how we've always been. We always were a band that if you heard something on the radio, well, that's only three minutes. Usually the best tracks were on the albums.". However later when the band decided to sell their albums on iTunes no statement was given as to why there was change of heart.

My opinion 
at the moment AC/DC songs are in the top 10 in iTunes USA store. Which shows that people are still buying songs online and the fact AC/DC took the decision to release their songs on iTunes it was a good idea as now the current generation can listen and buy their music, which increases sales and also silver surfers will be able to buy the album.