Textual Analysis of Fawlty Towers and its representation of 'Britishness'

“Little Englander” – Fawlty Towers A Textual Analysis of Nationalistic Ideology by MATTHEW BARTLEY, University of Sunderland from Jaskirt Boora

A good link and video about the BBC Censorship of a Fawlty Towers episode: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/bbc-rewrites-tv-history-with-fawlty-towers-censorship-20130124-2d9ng.html#ixzz2IvP4hgQ2

Reception Theory

Chose 3 programmes at random from iPlayer

ITV Player or 4od (Watch first 5 mins) and discuss who would take

A Preferred Reading

An Oppositional Reading

A Negotiated Reading

Discuss reasons behind your answer.

February 7th 2014 Homework

Age Representation

You need to collect examples of Representation of Age in the media.

1) Young people

2) Old people

3) Stereotypes of age in media

Points to remember

• The representation has to come from a specific media text. ie (Old age is represented negatively in a recent article in the Daily Mail, the article is about ............)

• The representation should be contemporary (within the last 2/3 years)

• How is the representation created ? Visual Image, Language, Mode of Address etc

Try to get Rich texts that you can use for Representation of Age/Gender etc.

This is a good example as you can use it for both Age and Gender.

Representation of Age

Representation from Kim Fyson

A great link on representation here: http://www.revisionworld.co.uk/a2-level-level-revision/sociology/mass-media-0/media-representations-age-social-class-ethnicity-gender-sexuality-and-disability

Below is there section on Age....

Representations of age

Media representations of different groups of people based on age (i.e. children, adolescents and the elderly), also generalise and categorise people on the basis of stereotypes.

Childhood
British children are often depicted in the British media in positive ways. Content
analyses of media products suggest that eight stereotypes of children are
frequently used by the media.

• As victims of horrendous crimes – some critics of the media have suggested that White children who are victims of crime get more media attention than adults or children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• As cute – this is a common stereotype found in television commercials for baby products or toilet rolls.
• As little devils – another common stereotype especially found in drama and comedy, e.g. Bart Simpson.
• As brilliant – perhaps as child prodigies or as heroes for saving the life of an adult.
• As brave little angels – suffering from a long-term terminal disease or disability.
• As accessories – stories about celebrities such as Madonna, Angelina Jolie or the Beckhams may focus on how their children humanise them.
• As modern – the media may focus on how children ‘these days’ know so much more ‘at their age’ than previous generations of children.
• As active consumers – television commercials portray children as having a consumer appetite for toys and games. Some family sociologists note that this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure, ‘pester power’, the power of children to train or manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase the children’s status in the eyes of their peers.

Youth
There are generally two very broad ways in which young people have been
targeted and portrayed by the media in Britain.

• There is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructing youth in terms of lifestyle and identity. Magazines are produced specifically for young people. Record companies, Internet music download sites, mobile telephone companies and radio stations all specifically target and attempt to shape the musical tastes of young people. Networking sites on the Internet, such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, allow youth to project their identities around the world.
• Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority and consequently constructed as folk devils as part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950s have been manufactured around concerns about young people’s behaviour, such as their membership of specific ‘deviant’ sub-cultures (e.g., teddy boys, hoodies) or because their behaviour (e.g., drug taking or binge drinking) has attracted the disapproval of those in authority.

Wayne et al. (2008) conducted a content analysis of 2130 news items across all the main television channels during May 2006. They found that young people were mainly represented as a violent threat to society. They found that it was very rare for news items to feature a young person’s perspective or opinion. They note that the media only delivers a one-dimensional picture of youth, one that encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding. Moreover, they argue that it distracts from the real problems that young people face in the modern world such as homelessness, not being able to get onto the housing ladder, unemployment or mental health and that these might be caused by society’s, or the government’s, failure to take the problems of youth seriously.

The elderly
Research focusing on media representations of the elderly suggests that age is not the only factor that impacts on the way the media portrays people aged 65 and over. Newman (2006) notes that upper class and middle class elderly people are often portrayed in television and film dramas as occupying high-status roles as world leaders, judges, politicians, experts and business executives. Moreover, news programmes seem to work on the assumption that an older male with grey in his hair and lines on his face somehow exudes the necessary authority to impart the news.

However, female newscasters, such as Anna Ford, have long complained that these older men are often paired with attractive young females, while older women newsreaders are often exiled to radio. Leading female film and television stars are also often relegated to character parts once their looks and bodies are perceived to be on the wane, which seems to be after the age of 40.

Sociological studies show that when the elderly do appear in the media, they tend to be portrayed in the following one-dimensional ways.

• As grumpy – conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change.
• As mentally challenged – suffering from declining mental functions.
• As dependent – helpless and dependent on other younger members of the family or society.
• As a burden – as an economic burden on society (in terms of the costs of pensions and health care to the younger generation) and/or as a physical and social burden on younger members of their families (who have to worry about or care for them).
• As enjoying a second childhood – as reliving their adolescence and engaging in activities that they have always longed to do before they die.

However, recent research suggests that media producers may be gradually reinventing how they deal with the elderly, especially as they realise that this group may have disposable incomes, i.e. extra money to spend on consumer goods.

- See more at: http://www.revisionworld.co.uk/a2-level-level-revision/sociology/mass-media-0/media-representations-age-social-class-ethnicity-gender-sexuality-and-disability#sthash.ImltEmge.dpuf

Cultivation Theory task

What are the main points of the cultivation theory? Use examples and diagrams to illustrate your points.

Find examples of how the cultivation theory can be applied to the representation of age.

Cultivation Theory

Very good link on the cultivation theory: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/cultiv.html

Another very good link here: http://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/

Cultivation theory from Hoang Minh

Effects and audiences lessons 2 and 3 from hgaldinoshea

Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV

Gdigm gender stereotypes from david-rowland

Gender Representation Case Study Task

Find the following examples and write how they link to audience, what visual/technical/audio codes identify them as that category:

FEMALE

1. Sexualized/objectified Female (advertisement) 
2. Domestic woman (film/tv show) 
3. Post feminism (music video)

MALE

1. Dominant/aggressive male (advertisement/music video) 
2. Male stereotype, such as: geek/jock/action hero/joker (tv show/film) 
3. Metrosexual/new man (from a newspaper/magazine example)

Guidance for January Mock Exam

January Exam Revision Sheet

Question 1

(40 marks)

This question will be a Textual Analysis of Print based material.

You should revise how to analyse Film Posters and Magazine Covers.

Be Familiar with the words and meanings of VISUAL CODES, LAYOUT AND DESIGN, LANGUAGE AND MODE OF ADDRESS.

 

Question 2

(one 10 mark question and one 20 mark question)

This question will deal with Audience.

You should revise the different types of Audience based on AGE, GENDER, RACE, REGION, SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS.

You should also revise USES AND GRATIFICATIONS theory.

Question 3

(30 marks)

This question will deal with representation of GENDER.

You should revise and find strong case studies of GENDER representation in the media today. Chooses a variety of examples from PRINT (newspapers, magazines etc) VISUAL (Television programs, Films, Music Videos and Advertisements)

You should use THREE good examples and be as detailed as possible.

The Representation Project

Fantastic website on representation of gender in the media: http://therepresentationproject.org/

Media Audiences

Media audiences from churchillmedia

Media Audiences - Television, Meaning and Emotion

The Handbook of Media Audiences

How to Avoid Gender Stereotypes

An interesting video from TED

Gender in children's television and films

Gender in children’s television worldwide from Mavaddat Javid

Read the full article here: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9402.html

Gender roles in Disney Films:
http://filmandmedia12.wikispaces.com/Gender+Roles+and+Stereotypes+Found+in+Disney+Films

Race and gender in Contemporary Hollywood

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Magazine Front cover research from Harriet Thompson

Textual Analysis Of Magazine Front Covers from aman-sahota9

News, Gender and Power

Representation of Gender in the media

Representations of gender in the Media from Jaskirt Boora

The representation of men in the media from smcmediastudies

The representation of women in the media from smcmediastudies

Representation in the media gender from Craig Osborne

35 Horror Movie Posters that will inspire you

Click here for more info: http://www.youthedesigner.com/2011/10/21/35-horror-movie-posters-that-will-give-you-the-creeps/




Any student that is creating Movie Posters should check out this article.

Pre-Production deadline end of next week

You should all be aiming to complete your pre-production by the end of next week. You will need to upload your coursework pre-production onto your blog for your first assessment and working at grade.  Remember we are working towards the following deadlines:

See year at a glance for more info: http://kecasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/p/year-at-glance.html

The Power of Photoshop

This video shows how the media creates unrealistic expectation of women.

Tips when creating Print Media

Tips when creating print media from christimothy12

High graded print based coursework 2013

Excellent media coursework 2013 from david-rowland

Assesment of Blogs