“Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward”- Stuart hall argues that the media appears to reflect reality but rather they construct it.
Take for example the London riots, with the space of three weeks tabloids and broadsheets portrayed teenagers, especially working class boys as reckless, thugs who downgrade society and we would be better without. This led to a negative and stereotypical view of teenagers; further the news articles don’t consider the majority of teenagers that actually don’t do anything bad, but rather amplify the negatives in order that the portrayal of teenagers can become more widely associated. Due to this portrayal of young boys in the media it has led many young boys to be more wary of other teenagers causing the amount of the knife crimes to increase according to new research.
The London riots further caused a moral panic to take place in Britain as people were threatened by news reports, “parents had to carry children out of burning homes, leaving a lifetime of possessions behind to be destroyed" this quote on The Independent. As the news showed varies clips of teenagers destroying properties and starting fires, this caused the media and society to construct a stereotype of teenager’s collective identities.
But at the same there were few news reports of teenagers actually doing some good therefore leading the news to create a binary opposition.
The media further demonstrate a hegemonic view in that audiences reflect what they are viewing, what I mean by this is that they follow the trends and personality of someone they relate to and interact with. Take for example Richard dyers star theory. Nicki Minaj where she constructs an image of being the perfect human being that can be copied through her dress and grooming and attitude. Through her music videos she highlights that she is the focal point and should always be the focal point where she continues to be objectified and being presented as a sex object, she subverts the stereotypical view of women having less dominance in a relationship. Many fans of Nicki Minaj have created a subculture in that they follow the way she exaggerates the image of sex appeal and femininity and the same time creates an image that she is innocent, which her fans follow.
Youths following it also create a negative collective identity in that a counter culture is created and a moral panic can be caused towards their parents.
Nicki Minaj through the media create an ideology that she is a “Barbie doll”.i.e. the perfect image at the same time she demonstrates that she is dominant through her lyrics and persona, this creates a binary opposition and also a confusion to the her target audience because they are confused to what she is actually selling but as a business it means they can actually sell more. Therefore, it states that stars are allowed to create and construct their representations in the media through many different things that are seen to be influential to others.
By this then youths interact with the media in order to create their collective identity, Richard Jenkins, says that we need to interact in order to form our identity. So with the increase of negative portrayal of youths in the media no wonder why they develop negatives collective identities, if there was more positive representations then it might lead to youths having more of a positive identity, this leads to the complexity of media representation. But it has been highlighted that youths don’t like media, by the guardian editor John Naughton “Young people don’t like us. Who can blame them”. This means that youths are now using web 2.0 more as a means to interact with each other and develop their collective identity. Henry Jenkins says “Teens are constantly updating and customizing their profiles online, adding photos and songs and posting to each other’s walls” while this can be interpreted as just playing around these activities can be a means for teens to construct their and experiment with their identity.
Though this can be a means for youths to use the winship notion of complexity, media still continues to find a means to exploit and portray a negative image; for example, during the London Riots, many youths used Web 2.0 to communicate with each other about the riots, and due to some comments that may have been sent through twitter and Facebook that linked with the London Riots, youths had got prison sentences from it and overall blame the use of web 2.0 as the cause for the London riots.
The hypodermic needle model and the two step floe suggest that most of the times youths accepts these negative messages and actually decide to imitate them.
Therefore I agree with the statement of “Media representations are complex, not simple and straightforward” as there is a lot of negative and positive representations of the youths and it all comes down to how somebody mediates the message that they are receiving.
-By Graham Oddoye
Extremely strong in places but I cannot give this more than a C as it is rather bombarded with theories. Don't just use these are buzz words but rather explain them in depth, OK? Think about the structure I gave you and try and use it to the best of your ability. Much better though!
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