Representations of Ethnicity

Examples of ethnic minorities in the media for:

- Exotic

-Dangerous

-Pitied

- Humourous

- Sexualised



Exotic

In this music video for her song 'Whenever, Wherever', Shakira is represented as being quite exotic. To echo this idea, she is seen on a beach, singing in her native language and belly dancing.

Mode of Address

The mode of address, put simply, is the way in which a media text speaks to its audience.


Topshop



I think that the preferred reading for this website would be taken from women aged between 16 and 30, possibly towards the middle of the socio-economic scale. The language used is quite formal and sophisticated, however, it talks a lot about fashion and women's clothing.

Reception Theory

The Midnight Beast



The Midnight Beast is a comedy television show that follows the lives of a YouTube famous band called The Midnight Beast. It is aired on the channel E4 after the watershed.


Preferred Reading: For this television show, people between the ages of 16 and 22 would take a preferred reading. This is because they may understand the jokes and relate to the storyline and characters. They may also be fans of the band from YouTube and therefore, want to watch the television show for this reason.

Negotiated Reading: People who would not go out of their way to watch the show would take a negotiated reading of the television show. These people would be between 22 and 30 and would more than likely watch the television show for entertainment purposes or to fill time. These people may feel as though they have grown out of the humour in the show however can still relate to some aspects of it.

Oppositional Reading: Those that would take an oppositional reading of the show would be people who are not necessarily fans of the band or the humour in the television show. For example: people over the age of 30 from A/B socio-economic groups who would not particularly relate to the story lines. 




Ja'mie 



Ja'mie is an Australian comedy TV series that is about a private school-girl called Jamie. It is shown on BBC 3 at around 10 pm.  


Preferred Reading: I think that the preferred reading for this television show would be taken by people between 16 and 20. I also think that girls are more likely to watch the show, because the main characters are all female and therefore, they can relate more to the storylines and can better understand the language used.  

Final Coursework

Stereotypes of Age

05/02/14

 In all form of media today, different ages are stereotyped in different ways. Young people are often depicted in a negative way. The media often paints them out to be reckless, attractive, ignorant and wild. An example of this is when you type Justin Bieber's name into google. The top searches are all related to how he was arrested for drug use, drag racing and driving under the influence. This makes readers see him in a very negative light and sometimes makes people think that all people his age act this way.

Older people are stereotypically seen as being vulnerable, slow and often quite senile. This is quite the opposite to how younger generations are perceived. For example: when Prince Phillip, who is 91, became ill, The Daily Mail wrote an article that was entitled 'Prince Phillip to miss rest of Queen's diamond jubilee after being hospitalised with bladder infection (after standing for four hours on that boat in the freezing rain'. This headline along with the content of the article suggests that because he is a pensioner, he isn't capable of standing outside in the rain for that length of time.

Some people in the media, however, like to challenge stereotypes and break away from the norm. For example: American fashion brand American Apparel have recently released a campaign advertising lingerie with a 62-year old model. They posted the controversial image on their Facebook page with the caption 'Sexy has no expiration date'. This was so controversial because the stereotype of a lingerie model would be a young (in her twenties),  'beautiful' woman, however, they have chosen someone is a lot older and someone you would not typically see in this way.

Audience Task

 

Emma Stone has been used as the model for a range of Revlon lip products. This would appeal to a diverse range of people, particularly women between the ages of 16 and 35 and also, fans of the actress herself. The uses and gratifications are that she is someone to look up to, being successful and stereotypically 'beautiful',  and therefore, the audience can connect with her. Also, she is quite a current actress, having been in several popular movies over the past few years so people may aspire to be like her and think that if they purchased the project being advertised, they could do so. The colours used in the advert would appeal to women because a variety of pink and peach tones have been used, which are stereotypically quite girly coloured. Younger women would appeal to it more, because Emma Stone is fairly young herself and the makeup used is very youthful looking, suggesting that the products are more targeted towards them.