DLSA-MS-2016: Exploring Representation 3. Age

You will find examples of media texts that represent age in the different ways discussed. The London Riots.

Key words: Mediation, selection, omission.

You will research texts dealing with the issue of age and comment on how they have been represented in the media. Eastenders. Skins.

· Key words: Stereotypes, cliché. Representation.

AGE ON TV

The representation of people of different ages has changed massively over the years. Up until the 1950’s, there were really only two age groups shown in films and television (adult and child). This was because that most children left school at a young age and went straight to work and became adults.

In the 1950’s more young people started staying in education and began leading very different lives from both children and adults and so developed the idea of the “teenager”.

Having said that, there are still some stereotypes associated with different ages:

· Children – often shown as being young, innocent, naive, pure, sweet, helpless, powerless.

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.

· Teenagers – Often shown as being aggressive, moody, lazy, criminals, hate school.

It is significant when discussing the films to emphasise that they are representing working class youth, rather than youth generally. Middle class youths are absent from these type of representations.

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.

Representation of teenagers. BBC article Oct 14

· 20’s-30’s – Often shown as the ideal age for love, parties, fun, making money, being glamorous and attractive. In films the heroes are often this age group.

· Middle Aged – often shown as being past it, unattractive, not aware of popular culture, uncool, boring lives, dominant over others, no real connection to their kids, grumpy. In films the villains are often from this age group.

· Elderly – often shown as being unattractive, slow, weak, ill, confused, pathetic, powerless, not important, dependent on others.

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.

When considering age in a clip, you should be thinking about the following things:

· Can I identify what approximate age the characters are?
· Are people from different age groups shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours? If so, how?
· Is their age represented as being important in their life?
· Are people from particular age groups portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
· Are people from particular age groups portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?
· How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different age groups?
· What is the message the clip is trying to portray about age?