Disability in the Media

Disability- a physical or mental condition that limits a persons movement, sense or activities.

Is the word disability 'limiting' because of emphasis on what disabled people cannot do.

Disabled people tend to prefer the term 'dif-abled'

around 11.9 million disabled people in the UK rough;y 19%

Bransrons and stafford 2001- soaps rely on archetypal characters and stereotypes - ensure ready accessibility because stories have universal appeal about families and communities

stereotypes are about power, those who have power stereotype those who do not have power.

Paul Hunt 1966 - 'We are tree of being statistics, case, wonderfully courageous examples to the work, pit bale objects to stimulate funding'

5 examples where disabled people have features in films/ dramas / the news

Breaking Bad - Walter JR. Flynn
The undatables
Glee -Artie
Eastenders - Donna


disability representation
Charles Dickens A christmas carol (1883) Bob crachhit carries tiny tim in a scene from the 2009 Disney verso of a christmas carol
pitiable
pathetic


charities such as children in need
how are the disabled mediated
is the representation useful of detrimental?
the representations are useful as they allow the viewers an insight into their lives and makes them aware of what they endure and provide them with some understanding of their condition

however a lot of charities just show the bad and showing disabled people as completely helpless, forcing the audience to be sympathetic towards the victims and therefore will economically benefit from the audiences pity.

Just because people may have slight impairments, stereotypes on disability can cause people to assume that they are instantly less able

REPRESENTATION ON DISABILITY

• presents them as dependant on charity
• presents them as unable to look after themselves/ a burden 
• mediation purpose is to engender sympathy/pity
• patronising 

Disabled person is an object of violence and evil
Charles Darwin - Survival of the fittest - set of beliefs and practices that aims of improving the genetic quality of the human population

Eugenicists - reiterate ancient traditional fears that disabled people were a serious threat to British and european society. They set out to safeguard humanities future nu preventing the reproduction of defectives by sterilisation and segregation.  - Hitler & Jewish race

Does british society undervalue disabled people, in what way?

positive and negative

+Paralympics
+the theory of everything ]
+financial support
+legislation
+disabled mp's
+/-Parking spaces
disability is underrepresented

Statistics
disabled children are more likely to be abandoned by their parents than their able bodied pears.
they have less chance of being adopted
they are more prone to physical and sexual abuse.

Blazzing saddles - disabled man chained up and beaten and mocked
Full Metal Jacket - main character is slightly autistic
hangover - Alan - autistic
Bond films - skyfall (silva) and more
The bible - Cripples are connected to sin and sinners

Disabled people are more likely to be introverted and sensitive than violent and aggressive
they are more likely to avoid rather than attack others

disabled person as atmosphere of Curio
Disabled people are sometimes included in the story lines of films and tv dramas to enhance a certain atmosphere, usually one of menace mystery of deprivation, or to add character to the visual impact of the production. This dilutes the humanity of disabled people by reducing them to objects of curiosity.

300 - film -

lives too short - Ricky Gervais and Warwick Davis-  comedy figure, reliant on others

Disabled person as their own worst enemy, burden and as sexually abnormal

Disabled person is an object of ridicule

being mocked publicly is only acceptable if the negative images which ensue can be offset against positive one,  or if those being ridiculed are able to defend themselves should they chose

At present there are virtually no positive images of disabled people in the media

disabled  people to not have the resources/legal documentation to fight this discrimination

In what way does the media use of Jihad represent/misrepresent Islam?

1in 5 brit muslims sympathy for jihadis - In your opinion are these statistics true?

Is the media Islamophobic?

To what extent can /does the media influence public perceptions of Islam?

What is Islamophobia?

Dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.

Does the public accept negative media representations of Islam?

How might Gauntlett's theory on identity apply to Media representations of islam?

How is the Exam Marked

Explanation/analysis/arguement (20mark)

use examples (20mark)

use of terminology (20mark)

Discuss the view that 'Media Representations of youth reflect societies concerns and fear'

The representations of youth  in media texts tend to  be negative, generally illustrating youths to be mischievous and violent and associated with illegal activities. There has been a clear influx in the accumulation of media texts created which focus on the urban/industrial areas which heavily involve crime committed by the youth. However, these representations are not to be considered truthful to all youth and in fact only relate to the minority. This can therefore support the statement above as the representations created can be considered to be the concerns and fears of society. There are many statistics which confront these negative views which demonstrate the reality and truth behind the 'troubled youth'. It is evident that the negative stereotypes of youth have caused a struggle and strain with relationships between youth and the older generations. And perhaps due to the fact that the majority of people involved in the media industry would be significantly older than the discriminated youth and could therefore provide a sense of truth behind the statement that the media representations of youth reflect societies concerns and fear.

A media text which conveys youth in this particular perspective would be the film 'Bullet Boy' made in 2004. This film is based in London where violence, crime, drugs and vandalism feature heavily. A young black male is released from prison for stabbing and despite his best attempts to rejuvenate his life he gets dragged back into trouble through loyalties with other youths. Also the audience see his younger brother being introduced to the culture and following in the brothers footsteps as he rebels at school and also accidentally shoots his friends whilst playing with a firearm. The film concludes with the main character accompanying his friend with attempted murder, ultimately resulting in him being killed himself due to his association. The activities presented in the film reinforce the negative representations of youth and to a spectatorial audience these stereotypes could be deemed to be correct, and further enhancing their fears. This can be related to Gerbner's 'Cultivation Theory' which believes. "The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television"

However, in comparison to these forms of negative stereotypes of youth, the film 'The Young Ones' in 1961 portrays youth in a much more positive light. It presents youth as being pro-active communists who fight for what they love and in this case being their youth club. Although the fact that the teens were seen to be rebelling authority, it was for a much more positive motive. The teens are presented to be in a higher class through the vocabulary they use, appearance and activities they enjoy. They are shown to perform multiple musical numbers where they dance and play and run around the street which contrasts the vulgar, rebellious, criminal representations of modern day. Also due to the fact that the negative representations are now so frequent (particularly after specific events such as the london riots) a sense of reasoning could be suggested to replicate societies fears. This is because the youth are now being categorised to being a threat to society. In turn, relating to the process of Deviancy Amplification Spiralling theorised by Stan Cohen in 2011. This is a media hype phenomenon defined by media critics as a cycle of increasing numbers of reports on a category of antisocial behaviour or some other 'undesirable' event, leading to a moral panic.

Ultimately, it can be considered that the media representations of youth do replicate societies fears through the constant creation of media texts which conform to the aforementioned stereotypes, causing moral panic. Conforming to Giroux's statement that 'youth becomes an empty category in representation and reflects adult concerns'. The alternative view is that the consumers can interpret the content how they chose, either distancing themselves or agreeing with the representation.