Ideology

Task: What are your views?

Immigrants should not be allowed in the country to live after Brexit.
A females in power is not suitable for a multinational company.
Tories are business-minded and do not relate to society.
Men are better teachers because they spend more time on the job and not on maternity leave.

CHALLENGE: What has formed your ideas? Are you a passive or active audience consumer?

Core ideologies that you need to know, understand and apply to a range of media texts:

Feminism and Patriarchy
Multiculturalism
Postcolonialism and Ethnocentrism
Intersectionality

For each core ideology, we will also look at academic arguments and theorists that discuss this ideology at more depth.

Hall - Representation and Stereotypes - KEY THEORY

An object cannot holds a true meaning on its own, against which we can measure how true a representation is.
Media producers ‘fix’ meaning to construct representations.
Media producers (who are part of the hegemonic elite) only show limited representations, generating stereotypes.
Stereotypes can become naturalised due to lack of diversity in representations and audiences accept these stereotypes as real.

Define the following key words: hegemonic elite, fix, sterotype, representation.

Use the glossary here to help you.

Van Zoonen: Patriarchy and Media discourses

Step 1: Understanding the theory.

Highlight key elements of the theory.
Define the key words in the box below.

Stereotypical gender representations are constructed through ‘discourses’ (media texts), which reflect the values and attitudes of its producers. In western patriarchal culture, the way women’s bodies are represented as objects is different to the representation of male bodies as spectacle. These stereotypical and patriarchal representations might therefore oppress women in society - they might be seen as ‘lesser’ than men. The mass media play a crucial role in socialisation therefore teaching us

Key Words

Discourse

Patriarchy

Spectacle

Objectification

Oppression

Socialisation

Step 2: Theory in a nutshell

Summarise the theory by answering the questions:

What is the main argument of the theory?
What are the important key terms?
Why, in Van Zoonen’s view, are patriarchal representations bad?

Step 3: Apply the theory by deconstructing the front cover of The Sun.

Why has The Sun chosen to compare May to Thatcher?
What does the lexical choices in the headline tell you about The Sun’s views on May’s leadership style?
What is interesting about the choice of image here? Think about the saying - ‘You can tell alot about a person by their shoes’.
Think about the layout of this gallery - what is interesting about this?

Possible answers you could consider

The Sun chose to compare May to Thatcher to imply that May was trying to emulate Thatcher's leadership approach, which they viewed as a positive thing.
The lexical choices in the headline 'Heel Boys' suggest that The Sun sees May as a successor to Thatcher and views her leadership style positively. The choice of leopard print heels may be seen as symbolic of a bold and assertive personality, which could either be a positive or negative connotation depending on one's perspective. For example, the with the saying 'You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes' suggests that she does not shy away from her feminity however others may view this as an image that objectifies her and does not give her creadbility. Interestingly, the large image of her feet seems to almost 'crush' the other politicians suggesting that actually she may be more decisive and stronger than her male opponents.
May is depicted wearing shoes that are similar to those worn by Thatcher, which implies that she is trying to follow in Thatcher's footsteps. The image may also be interpreted as a symbol of power, as high-heeled shoes are often associated with authority.
The layout of this cover gallery is interesting because it features a large image of May wearing a similar outfit and shoes to Thatcher, with the headline placed above. The other images are smaller and placed below the headline, which draws attention to the main image of May. This suggests that The Sun sees May as the main focus of the story and wants to emphasise her similarities to Thatcher.

Butler: Gender perfomativity

Step 1: Understanding the theory.

Highlight key elements of the theory.
Define the key words in the box below.

To understand Butler’s theory, you need to differentiate between the fact that sex is biological and cannot be changed where as gender is a social construct that can change and be learnt over time. Butler focuses on gender in her theory.

Butler argues that ‘gender is performative’ and is constructed by ‘expressions’ , ‘rituals’ and ‘acts’ which are taught to us from a very young age. These acts are imposed upon us by normative heterosexuality. She argues that in order to ‘belong’ to a certain gender (e.g. a male or a female), you need to repeat these behaviours and ‘perform them as rituals’ to construct your identity. Everyone’s definition of gender will be different as the rituals they have learnt growing up will differ from person to person.

Key Words

Gender

Sex

Social Construct

Performance

Ritual

Step 2: Theory in a nutshell

Summarise the theory by answering the questions:

What area of representation does Butler’s theory argue?
What is the main argument of the theory?
What are the important key terms?

Step 3: Apply the theory by further deconstructing the front cover of The Sun.

How is Theresa May represented as a hegemonic female? Consider mise-en-scene and layout and design.
Is the Sun presenting the view that being a female prime-minister will define how well she can do the job?

Possible answers you could consider

Theresa May is largely represented as a hegemonic female in, for example, the large image of May's feet which almost objectify her. The use of the leopard print is a clear signifier that she is a women. Furthermore, the use of the heels is another indicator that she is a woman.
The use of the headline 'Heel, Boys' to suggest that May is a dominant figure who is in control, and the choice of leopard print heels could be seen as a symbol of power and authority. Her ability to do the job is foregrounded in a comparison to the only other successful female prime-minister, Margret Thatcher.

Gilroy: Postcolonialism and Ethicity

What was colanisation?

Colonisation refers to the process where one country takes control of another country or territory, often with the goal of exploiting its resources and people for economic gain. This usually involves sending people from the colonising country to live and work in the new territory, and establishing political and economic systems that benefit the colonising country.

Historically, many European countries colonised other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Colonisation often involved the forced displacement of indigenous populations, the suppression of local cultures and traditions, and the imposition of European languages, religions, and legal systems.

Step 1: Understanding the theory.

Highlight key elements of the theory.
Define the key words in the box below.

Many people continue to define their identity in terms of culture, race and ethnicity through the discourses (media texts) they consume.

Colonisation has had an immense effect on the representation of ethnic minorities in modern media. He argues that the Black Atlantic (the colonisers / the colonising countries) failed to mourn the loss of their empire and ethnic minorities are, as a result of colonisation, criminalised by modern media.

Modern Media creates an ‘us and them’ narrative, ‘othering’ ethnic minorities or outright ignoring them - he coins this term the ‘absence of representation’ (this is as important as marginalisation, in Gilroy’s words).

He calls this misrepresentation the postcolonial melancholia (the sadness experienced by ethnic minorities who are unfairly represented). Therefore, ethnic minorities and in particular immigrants from the British colony may be misrepresented or marginalised in the discourses they consume.

Key Words

Colonisation

Black Atlantic

‘Us versus them’

Othering

Marginalisation / Misrepresentation

Postcolonial Melancholia

Step 2: Theory in a nutshell

Summarise the theory by answering the questions:

What area of representation does Gilroy's theory argue?
What is the main argument of the theory?
What are the important key terms?

Step 3: Apply the theory by deconstructing contrasting ideologies of two newspapers.

Look at these two extracts from the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror.

How could you apply Gilroy’s postcolonial theory to this article?

Consider:

To what extent have ethinic minorities been constructed as ‘other’?
How has combination of elements of media language constructed this representation?
How does this reflect the ideological stance of the newspaper?

Possible answers you could consider

Daily Mail's cover supports some of Gilroy's views, whereas the Daily Mirror largely opposes them.
Mirror and Daily Mail have different interpretations of Harry and Megan's situation as a royal issue.
The Mirror presents a left-wing, progressive viewpoint, while the Daily Mail is more right-wing and traditional.

Daily Mirror

The story is presented as a 'Royal crisis' rather than solely blaming Markle, focusing on the human-interest aspect of the situation and highlighting issues with the establishment.
Given that the Mirror is a tabloid paper, the sensationalist angle is not surprising.
The headline is given prominence, with the image used as a visual cue to the story rather than focusing on an individual problem. The emphasis is on the crisis itself.

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail uses the text to divide the image in half, representing a divide between Harry and Megan.
The Daily Mail constructs ethnic minorities as 'the other' in line with their right-wing ideology; this is further emphasied by the smirking paralanguage on Markle's face suggesting she is plotting something.
The Daily Mail refers to Megan as 'they' in the headline, further 'othering' her.

hooks: Intersectionalism

Issues in the representation of black women in mainstream media

Black women face several issues in media representation. They are often portrayed as loud, aggressive, and promiscuous, perpetuating harmful stereotypes. They are frequently hypersexualised in media, depicted as exotic or 'other'.

Black women are also underrepresented in media, and when they are portrayed, it is often in a limited range of stereotypical roles. Light-skinned black women are given more favorable representation and visibility, while darker-skinned black women are often underrepresented or portrayed negatively. Media representation also erases the diversity within the black community, which compounds the negative effects of double discrimination faced by black women on the basis of both race and gender.

Step 1: Understanding the theory.

Highlight key elements of the theory.
Define the key words in the box below.

bell hooks’ theory is based on the general theory of patriarchy and postcolonialism.

hooks believes that the hegemonic elite control the media industries and their values and beliefs are the ones that we see in the vast majority of media products. This means that whole groups of people (which do not form part of the hegemonic elite) and their values are likely to be misrepresented/marginalised or ignored.

The concept of intersectionality draws attention to misrepresentations and stereotypes based on one or more of gender, race, class and sexuality, and their inter-relationship in any representation. ‘Intersectionality’ refers to the intersections of gender, race, class and sexuality to create a ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’, whose ideologies dominate media representations.

For example: whilst black women representation is slowly becoming more prominent in mainstream media, it is still largely seen in the minority. A black women with more intersections to her identity, such as being LGBTQ+ / non-binary might mean she is unlikely to see any representation in mainstream media.

Key Words

Patriarchy

Hegemonic Elite

Intersectionality

White Supremacist Capitalist Patirarchy

Step 2: Theory in a nutshell

Summarise the theory by answering the questions:

What area of representation does hooks' theory argue?
What is the main argument of the theory?
What are the important key terms?

Step 3: Apply the theory to a text of your choice

Choose a popular media text such as a movie, TV show, music video, or advertisement that features a woman of color as a main character or significant role. Analyse how the intersectionality of race, gender, and other social identities (such as class, sexuality, ability, etc.) are portrayed in the text.

Use Hooks' theory to examine how the representation of the woman of color character may be affected by the intersectionality of her identities, and how this representation may reinforce or challenge stereotypes and dominant ideologies.

Example from Friends:

Gender: The show portrays gender in a traditional way, with the male characters being portrayed as more dominant and assertive, while the female characters are often portrayed as more emotional and nurturing. For example, Ross is portrayed as intelligent and successful in his career, while Rachel is portrayed as struggling to find her footing in her career and personal life.
Race: The show is primarily focused on white characters, with only a few characters of color appearing in minor roles. This lack of representation reinforces the idea that whiteness is the default and normal, while other racial identities are not as important or worthy of inclusion.
Sexuality: The show often perpetuates stereotypes and negative attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people, such as Chandler's father being portrayed as flamboyant and over-the-top. This reinforces the idea that non-heterosexual identities are abnormal or deviant.

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