Critics have accused the mainstream media of tokenism and stereotyping by creating extreme and exaggerated representations.

To what extent is this true for the group or place you have studied?

When audiences gain certain generalised views about certain groups of people, the media play on these stereotypes to create recognisable and identifiable characters for mainstream audiences. Although the stereotypes can be beneficial in soaps and sitcoms, where the exaggerations of these stereotypes are used for comedic effect, stereotyping also raises issues as it may cultivate audience to develop beliefs about certain groups of people, some of which are negative. Tokenism in the media also sparks debate as although different groups of people want to be represented in the media, they should add to the narrative rather than being included just as token characters. Tokenism and stereotyping have been seen across the media over the years, but some groups of people are now starting to take control over the way that they are represented, while some producers are breaking stereotypes to show alternative representations.

In the 1950’s to 70’s, only 20-35% of all TV characters were women. Gaye Tuchman described this underrepresentation as “the symbolic annihilation of women”. However, most texts had the token female. When they were shown, they were given the stereotypical housewife role and were represented as happy to stay at home cooking and cleaning. This stereotype helped to reinforce the patriarchal ideologies of the time because, as the cultivation theory suggests, the audience would be made to believe that the women represented in the media were examples of the ideal woman that everyone should strive to be like. Not only was the happiness of women exaggerated, but as this was the only representation of women that was ever seen, the exaggerated stereotype seemed normal. As the media was run by men, they created women how they wanted them to be by the way that they represented them.

During the Second World War, women posed a threat to men as they were given the jobs that belonged to men who were fighting in the war. The power and rights that women were now starting to gain threatened patriarchy, so the film noir era saw a backlash to these threats. The femme fatale of film noir represented the stereotypical view at the time that women with too much power are dangerous and shouldn’t be given the power that men should have. An example of this is Double Indemnity, a film that shows a woman using her femininity to manipulate men, which could be seen as a warning to male audiences that women with power are dangerous. Like most film noirs, the film ends with a man murdering the femme fatale, emphasising the stereotypical view that a man is needed to restore harmony. This cultivated audiences to trust the patriarchy of the time, restoring the hegemonic hierarchy.

The feminist era led to media texts representing women in a wider range of roles. Women were liberated and given more authoritative roles, showing the power that women now have. However, post-feminism caused women to revert to previous roles where they were objectified for the voyeuristic pleasure of men, as well as narcissistic pleasures as seeing men in films with beautiful women made male audiences members believe that they too could get these women. Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze believes that women in cinema have the role of pleasing an assumed male audience. However, post-feminism saw not only a rise in the amount of objectification of women in cinema, but across all platforms, especially with the new lads mags. The difference between post-feminism and the previous objectification of women is that the objectification had turned into self-objectification, with women now being happy to adhere to the male gaze. This brought back the ideology that the stereotypical woman is promiscuous and is happy to be, a stereotype that the media still maintains today. Although this seems negative as it is the male owners of the media that create these texts, post-feminists would argue that it empowers women as they have the choice of showing themselves and giving the men what they want.

Another way that women have tried to break their stereotypical subordinate roles is by being androgynous. As Judith Butler suggests, gender is only determined by how people behave, so by taking on stereotypically masculine characteristics, women appear to be more powerful and dominant as they are now the male gender. This is widely seen in the music industry, with artists such as Pink and Lady Gaga seeming more assertive by the way that they act and dress. By getting rid of the characteristics that are associated with the female gender, they also lose the stereotypes.

Soap operas use a lot of stereotyping to make their characters instantly identifiable. Also, every soap uses tokenism to include what they believe is all types of people in their soap. Eastenders included a character who was the token disabled character. However, he did not have a stereotypical role as rather than being a character for the audience to sympathise with, he was a Proppian villain, which highlighted issues about people with disabilities being represented as people to pity. There is also the token gay character in Eastenders but, like the disabled character, the two gay characters are not stereotypical. One of them is a strong fitness instructor, which does not follow the stereotype of gay men being androgynous, and the other is a Muslim, which raises debates about how homosexuality is viewed by different groups of people. While Eastenders uses many stereotypical roles, such as young people and chavs, they also include other characters who lead audiences to rethink stereotypical roles.

Young people are often demonised in the contemporary media landscape. This was recently seen during the London riots, when the news represented young people as violent and with no morals. As the news is mainly owned by the hegemonic elite, white, middle aged men, a Marxist would argue that young people were all stereotyped as destructive when it was only a small group of people to keep themselves in power. This same stereotype of young people being antisocial is seen in The World’s Strictest Parents as the young people are so bad that even their parents cannot cope with them anymore. When they are sent to other parents, the children of these parents have an alternative representation of young people as they are always respectful and well behaved. This influences the British youths to change when they get back home. This offers different receptions for the audience as while the dominant reading of the text is that young people are disruptive and need strict parenting to change, an oppositional reading is that it is not the young people that the fault lies with, but the way that they are brought up. This is because of the young people from other countries who do not have the stereotypical characteristics of young people in Britain.

Social Media and the London Riots

David Cameron considers banning suspected rioters from social media

"Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger are thought to have played a role in organising riots across the UK"

"The government is looking at banning people from using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook if they are thought to be plotting criminal activity"

"'Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill,' said Cameron"

"A move to disconnect potential rioters would mark a huge shift in Britain's internet policy, with free speech advocates likely to accuse the government of ushering in a new wave of online censorship"

London riots: hundreds answer appeal to clean up streets

"Facebook and Twitter mobilises hunderds of people to clear debris from streets on London's worst-hit communities"

"Many of those at Clapham Junction had been directed to the area from other parts of London by the online clean-up campaign, tagged on Twitter as #riotcleanup"

"Many saw the clean-up as a fitting riposte to the vilification of social media, which played a key role in the organisation of the riots"

"By 10am the tag was the top trending topic in the UK and the second worldwide"

Task 5

The Simpsons

Dominant: A dominant reading of The Simpsons is that it is a light-hearted programme that uses stereotypical families and situations for comedy.

Negotiated: A negotiated reading of The Simpsons is that it plays on stereotypes for comedy, which some people may find offensive, but the offence is not intended and it is merely for satire.

Oppositional: An oppositional reading of The Simpsons is that it is a racist and sexist programme that is ruining society as the representation of a typical nuclear family is very negative and our families will end up like that if people keep watching this rubbish.

My view is sort of negotiated, but oppositional to an extent.

Task 3

Media representations rarely challenge the dominant values of society, nor do they give a voice to those with little power. To what extent is this true for the group or place you have studied? Why?

The media industry is dominated by white, middle class males. Media representations often favour this group of people and marginalise others. This is seen with the representations of both women and the working class. Both of these groups of people are represented how the dominant groups in society would view them, which shows the hegemonic class structures of our society.

Before the Second World War, women were under represented in the media. When they were shown, they were represented in the roles that men thought that they should have, mainly as housewives. However, during the war, after women started to gain more power, posing a threat to men, they were represented as femme fatales, dangerous and evil women. This restored hegemony as people gained a fear of women and men were needed to restore natural order.


After the feminist movement, women had more equality as they were represented more. However, the audience were given the male gaze as women were objectified, so although they are given a voice, it is only allowed when they are providing pleasure for males. A post-feminist view is that women have the right to be objectified if they agree with it as they still feel a sense of power by being able to decide whether or not to give men what they want. Therefore, although some would think that women are not given a voice, post-feminists would argue that they are given a voice and they have power as well.


Another group of people who are rarely given a voice are the working class. In the news, the working class are represented as anti social and always getting into trouble. However, after the rise of reality TV, the working class now have more opportunity to represent themselves, and since the increase in the popularity of reality shows, the representations of the working class have changed. Programmes like Big Brother give the working class opportunity to represent themselves, therefore giving them a voice. It is clear that the working class are accepted as they always outlast the higher classes on Big Brother, and every successful contestant is from a working class background. This challenges hegemonic values as the elite no longer have as much power because now that the lower classes have been given a voice, they are more accepted by society.

Task 2

"Media institutions are right to feel threatened by new and digital media." Consider this statement and show how media institutions are reacting to technological developments.

Changing technologies and new and digital media have changed the way that audiences consume media products. User generated content has meant that audiences are no longer just consumers of the media, but producers too. Also, new and digital media has led to more plurality as there are so many more media products available. Although this has created many benefits for audiences, it could be a threat to producers and media institutions as there is less need for them. This is seen in many areas of the media, particularly with the news and TV broadcasting.

The newspaper industry has been in decline since new and digital media gave audiences new ways to consume the news. Online news means that audiences can now get news for free. Also, they can get it when they want, making it more accessible and convenient for audiences. This means that there is less need for audiences to buy newspapers as they can get the same content for free. Also, smart phones mean that audiences can get the news delivered directly to their phones while they are out.

To deal with the threats posed by news and digital media, institutions have had to change their media products. The Evening Standard, once a popular newspaper, is now given away for free as audiences stopped paying for it. Also, some newspaper websites have decided to introduce paywalls to stop audiences from being able to access the news for free. Rupert Murdoch released a new newspaper, The Daily, that is only available on the iPad, making the news less accessible, therefore increasing competition between producers again.

TV broadcasting has also been affected by new and digital media. Online catch up services, such as BBC iPlayer and 4oD mean that audiences can watch TV in their own time rather than at the scheduled time. Time shifting channels such as Channel 4+1 also gives audiences more plurality as they have a bigger choice of when to watch. The declining importance of scheduling is a threat to institutions as it makes it more difficult to target particular audiences. Also, online TV is always accessible so there is no regulation like there is with watershed.

TV broadcasting institutions have had to change so that new and digital media does not threaten them. Sky 3D and Sky HD give audiences a more cinematic experience that is not available online. Also, audiences can now record TV with technologies such as Sky+ so they can do their own scheduling but still watch TV rather than online TV.

Task 1

Compare and contrast the representation of teenagers in the two texts

In the trailer for Bully, teenagers are represented negatively. The protagonist is immediately shown to not be a nice person as he creates conflict with people. He is seen fighting people and intimidating them, which is a common representation of teenage boys. His appearance also signifies that he will be represented negatively as he has a rough appearance because of the way that he wears his clothes, as well as his lack of hair which gives him a thug-like appearance.

The opening for Skins also shows a negative representation of teenagers, however, it is a different representation. The characters of Skins are represented as being hedonistic and not caring about responsibilities. This is shown through the frequent amount of smoking and sex that is seen through the opening, which mirrors the current view of teenagers just caring about drugs, sex and rebellion.

Although both texts represent teenagers negatively, these representations are different. While Bully represents teenagers as disruptive and threatening, Skins represents them as hedonistic and irresponsible, but harmless. However, both of these different representations are dominant as these are the most common representations of teenagers.

Consider the view that the current representation of teenagers is simply another 'moral panic'

To what extent has new and digital media given younger audience the opportunities to shape their own media representations?

New and digital media has given people the chance to represent themselves as user generated content means that they can create their own media. Teenagers are frequent users of new and digital media so they have a lot of opportunity to shape their own representations. Texts such as YouTube, where users can post their own videos, give teenagers the chance to show people what they are like and be seen by a lot of people. Also, social networking websites such as Facebook give people the opportunity of social interaction with younger people, meaning that they can get to know younger people, so teenagers have the opportunity to shape their own representations.

"Media representations favour those with power at the expense of those without." To what extent do you think this statement is true?

Over time, media representations change, and it could be argued that these representations change with the balance of power in both society and the media industry. The media industry is dominated by white males, which is reflected through media products. As Stuart Hall suggests, the white race is favoured over any other, and whenever there is a token black man is a film he will mostly be represented as either the villain or the clown. This idea of hegemony, the power of the elite, is also shown through the representation of women. Before the feminist movement, women were shown in the stereotypical roles of housewives and, later, the femme fatale of the film noir era. This is because of the power of the patriarchal society that some consider we are still living in today. There have been many changing representations of women, and these changes are because of the changes in power.

Before the Second World War, women were subordinated into roles that showed them in what men considered their rightful place as the caring housewife. During the war, women had to take men's jobs while they were out fighting and men felt threatened by the power that women now felt. To sustain patriarchal hierarchy, the femme fatale character was created. This represented women negatively as the femme fatale is a powerful and dominant seductress who proves to pose a danger to men, and peace and happiness comes only with her downfall. A well-known example of this is Phyllis, the femme fatale of Double Indemnity. Phyllis is represented as the villain who lures Walter into crime. At the end of the film, the only resolution is to murder Phyllis, and the man has to be the one that restores the peace. This shows that the representations of women in the media favour hegemonic and patriarchal values over the subordinated women.

After the feminist movement, representations of women changed. As women gained more power, there are now less negative representations of women, although they do still exist. In Ashes to Ashes, the woman is still subordinated and is faced with misogyny from Gene Hunt. However, it could be said that the representations of gender roles in Ashes to Ashes satirise patriarchy to make audiences question it. This is also shown in Doghouse, where the misogyny from male characters leads to their downfall. While some argue that women are still being subordinated and objectified in the media, a stronger interpretation is that women decide to be sexualised by self-objectifying. This is seen in lads mags, as the women decide to pose in these pictures for the pleasure of men. They play up to the male gaze as not only do men gain pleasure from being voyeuristic, but the women get pleasure from knowing that they are being watched. It can be said that women gain a sense of power by luring men in and deciding what they get to see. Therefore, these representations of women do not favour anyone as there are benefits for both the active females and the passive males.

Although media representations of the working class in reality TV seem to favour those in power, the audience generally enjoy watching them. The majority of reality TV contestants are working class and through the construction of reality TV, it seems that producers try to make the contestants look common and try to represent a lot of their negative aspects as conflict is popular on reality TV. However, the audience seem to like the characters and working class contestants are more likely to win than someone from a higher socio-economic background. Although the way that the working class are represented seems to favour those with power, the way that audience members views them is against this.