It has been said that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. Discuss.
It is in human nature to stereotype people/places to make it easier to understand why they do certain things. These stereotypes are not always necessarily positive. Negative representations of certain groups of people or places can be used for comic purposes or in sitcoms/soap operas to create a narrative that would interest the audience. The representation of women is an example of a group of people stereotyped negatively for many years.
Before feminism originated in the 1960s, women were represented as being inferior to men in terms of mental ability and the use of practical reasoning. In relationships, it was a common sight when the wife was beaten by their husband for disobeying his orders or disagreeing with his views. This kind of awareness was not properly launched until the mid-1960s. Even though there were pockets of feminism around after the Second World War, originating after female uprising due to their workload during the war, the 60s brought about a new kind of culture where teenagers were to be respected and treated as equals to adults, and pop culture was at its peak. Especially after female contraception was introduced and women were able to have intercourse with whoever they wished, adding on to the Equal Pay Act in 1963, where it became legislation for all women to be paid equally to men when they are working in the same jobs. Because of this, the representation of females in the media changed dramatically from the narrow-minded black-and-white household products advert degrading women's roles in the home, to contemporary social issues that affect everybody and not just aimed at undermining women. Therefore, it is unclear whether, in terms of the representation of women, the advertisements of the time were reflecting social concerns or whether they were only illustrating the situation of the time.
There are many other groups of people who are represented in both negative and positive lights, depending on the situation of the time. For example, my case study research discusses the representation of white British politicians in the Media. It has often been the case that they are seen as lacking awareness of contemporary social issues that affect society. In the current century, it has been the case that the Coalition government formed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have been criticised immensely for their narrow-mindedness. Nick Clegg, head of the Liberal Democrat party had made a personal pledge to students going into higher education to reduce tuition fees and cut costs that would keep them in a difficult financial situation. However, because of the turn in poitical tides, he immediately changed his policies to conform with the Conservative party, contradicting his promises to the public. This has brought a lot of negative crticism onto himself by the media - who are speaking on behalf of the British public, and looking for somebody to blame for the country's economic decline.
An alternative representation of white British politicians would be that of Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s, when she was seen as a hero after normalising and drastically improving Britain's economy. However, even though this positive representation existed, it soon declined with Thatcher's power and increasing respect from the public. This was a great step for feminism, as she was the first female British Prime Minister, there to govern a patriarchal society that hadn't yet conformed to the idea of equality between men and women. She could, however, be seen as a complex individual. It could be argued that she was not really succeeding in governing the country as a woman, but used strong masculine movements and tone of voice to connect with her people. The positive representation soon changed when she was challened in the well-known interview in May 1982 on BBC One. After her sinking of the Argentinian battle ship "Belgrano", she was criticised and insulted by a a housewife on live television. This created great controversy as it began the trend in public authority. The fact that somebody who had virtually no authority in society whatsoever was able to go onto national television and criticise the Prime Minister of her own country seemed to suggest that their power was declining.
This became a milestone in the journey through insulting comments and satirical television programmes such as "Have I Got News For You" and "Mock The Week", who crticise authority figures on a regular basis, purely because the media has gained this amount of adequate power that it is now able to criticise any public figure without getting into any sort of trouble. Royalty has also been target of negative representation since the end of the 20th Century. 60 years ago, it would have been impossible to insult the royal family in the media as it would possibly have been considered an act of treason, for which one could receive a prison sentence. However, it has become a common aspect to see the royal family being criticised for their narrow-mindedness and lack of public awareness. They were once seen as the perfect family, who society was technically supposed to learn from and look up to. It set an example to the rest of the country on how to live their lives with manners and etiquettes. But since the media has become involved in private aspects of royals' lives, the public seem to witness problems that exist in everyday families, such as domestic arguments and divorce. Because these issues would not have been as obvious 60 years ago as they are now, it is obvious that the representation of royalties does reflect the social and political concerns of its time.
In terms of politics, part of my representation case study focuses on the representation of Tony Blair, who was the British Prime Minister during most of the Noughties. At the start of his government, he was represented as a very intelligent individual who was aware of all political and social issues of the current age. However, by the time documents were leaked about the war in Iraq after it was crticised for being unjust and denied by the Prime Minister, he was virtually weakened and bombarded with insults. The information that was revealed to the public proved that the Prime Minister was acting out of the public's safety and interest when it went to war with Iraq, who contained no weapons of mass-destruction as he had claimed. This, in turn, became another huge turning point in the representation of politicians in the media, as it has set a new level of expectation for consumers of these texts, meaning the public are now more conscious of how they view the actions of those in authority and what effects they would have on the country.
In conclusion, it is certainly the case that media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created. As seen in many examples, the media illustrate public opinion regarding contemporary social issues, and their views on the political situation of the time, therefore giving the public what they want. This Pluralist view seems to be in the public interest as they are consuming information that reflects their opinions, giving the media their complete trust when it comes to these issues.
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