AS level media (year 12) Representation of age

1. To discuss and identify how age
is represented in the media

2. • Quickly discuss and list how the following are
represented in the media:
– Teenagers
– Old people
– Middle aged people (45 – 55)

3. Age

4. After gender and ethnicity,
age is the most obvious
category under which we
stereotype people, and there
are a whole range of
judgements which go along
with our categorisation.

5. We quickly deem other people too
old, or too young.

6. We criticise mature women
for going about as mutton
dressed as lamb

7. We criticise young
girls for tarting
themselves up as jail
bait

8. Film stars who start to
show signs of aging in
their forties are swooped
on with cries of horror by
gossip columnists ("Movie
star gets wrinkles... and
her tits start to sag"
shocker!!)

9. What are the representations?
How are they constructed? Why are they constructed?

10. Dominant representation of young
people
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•
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Yobbish/anti-social behaviour
Chavvy
Gang culture
Disrespect
Drink and drugs
Teen pregnancies
• Which media texts perpetuate this image?

11. Eastenders: Martin Fowler
•
•
•
•
•
•
First character to be born in the programme.
Stereotypical youth from many news stories.
Anti-social behaviour with gangs
Teenage, unmarried father
Prison sentence for manslaughter
Continued criminal behaviour upon release

12. Moral panics!

13. Theorist - Stanley Cohen (1972)
• Studied youth groups in 1960s.
• A moral panic occurs when society sees itself
threatened by the values and activities of a
group who are stigmatised as deviant and
seen as threatening to mainstream society’s
values, ideologies and /or way of life.
• Mods & Rockers (1960s), football hooligans,
muggers, vandals, mobile-phone snatchers...

14. Working class males
• Represented as yobs.
• Stuart Hall (1978) argues that the negative
representation of young people is deliberate
as it justifies social control by authority figures
such as the police and government. The media
has a key role in this ‘social production’ of
news.

15. Jamie Bulger
(2000 – 2003)
No evidence was presented
that either boy had watched
‘Child’s Play 3’. The judge
made the connection and this
was picked up by the tabloid
press. It led to a change in
the law so the BBFC now has
to take into account ‘the
influence’ of videos as well as
their content.

16. From media text to legislation
1. Occurrence of deviant act or social
phenomenon.
2. Act or problem widely reported in media:
news outlets; internet chat rooms; fictional
narratives; video games…
3. Call for government control either from
legislation/policy initiatives or the more
vigilant operation of already existing social
controls.
e.g.:

17. How has Catherine Tate
represented ‘Nan’?
Is she stereotypical?
Why? Why not?
Look at her iconography.
What genre of programme
does she exist in?
How does this affect her
representation?

18. Pensioners

19. Does gender make a difference?

21. Film vs TV
Why do you think there are more opportunities for
older women in fictional TV than film?

22. Stereotypes
• Poor
• Fussy
• Senile
• Infirm
• Interfering
• Victims
• Dependent
• Kind
• Generous
• Happy
• Engaging in stereotypical pastimes

23. Sitcom
• Humorous idiosyncrasies:
– Forgetfulness
– Senility
– Grumpiness
– Saying the wrong thing
• Does this reinforce the stereotype?