Joy Brett AS Media: Representation of regional identity

Representation of regional identity

Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a “North” or “South”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.” Regional identity is identifying a persons identity which is rooted not only in the setting of the film but also in speech, costumes etc. and in the region they live in.

Hegemony

Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become—and seek to remain—dominant in society. The development of the term “hegemony” in media studies follows the work of Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall.

Essex people

People from Essex are portrayed as being very stupid, constantly talking slang, party obsessed, and want to look glam all the time but actually look completely opposite and very cheap.

North England

People from North England are often portrayed as being heavy smokers, heavy alcoholics, and obsessed with drugs. They are stereotyped as having lots of kids, being unemployed, unskilled and and generally angry, and as a result, very aggressive. If they have jobs, they are portrayed as working in a labour based job such as builder.

South England

People from South England are portrayed as wearing suits, being in important job roles such as managers. They are also stereotyped as enjoying the finer things in life.

Upper class

• Mainly represented through the coverage of the monarchy,

• Seen as well bred and cultured,

• Represented through their accents, estates, and a taste for shooting and hunting,

• Usually represented in costume and period drama.

Nairn (1988) – Monarchy

• “Royal Family” concept = niceness, decency, ordinariness,

• Royal family can be deemed to be “like us” but “not like us” – the queen seen as ordinary working mother doing extraordinary things,

Middle class (stereotypes)

•Presented as educated and successful as well as able to cope with problems,
•Over represented in the media due to their lifestyle
•Representation fits in with the hegemonic ideology of the dominant class in society,
•Representation justifies the existing class structure and inequalities by suggesting people need to become more competent and successful in order to cope with life.

Representations of poverty and underclass

• Portrayal usually negative and stereotypical,

• Portrayed in the form of statistics in news bulletin such as figures of unemployment,

• Recent media interest in the labelling of the poor such as “chavs” which according to Shildrick and MacDonald (2007) suggest that the poor are undeserving of sympathy.

• Hayward and Yar (2006) – the term "chav" is used as an amusing term of abuse for young poor people.

The man in this newspaper cover is portrayed in a strongly negative light as the title of the piece calls him "vile", and singles out those who get help from the welfare state. The title alone creates a negative image of those who use the welfare system for help, which is completely untrue, as it puts a photo of a man with 17 children (not all present in the photo) as the face of the working class. This photo that the media selected feeds into the stereotype of all working class/unemployed people being breeding machines that steal from the state for their own personal gain, and not because they need help. The cover uses anchorage so that the reader immediately sees the title before the photo, and sees those who use the welfare system as almost like the "scroungers" of the state. The title overshadows the photo so that the audience do not in any feel sorry for those in the photo, and instead feel disgusted by it, and are unsympathetic towards him. He has however been used as an example of the working class, and all of the problems the media see with the working class. This newspaper is a right wing newspaper, so commonly be viewed by conservatives who are associated to the upper class. As a result, the reader, and upper class person, will feel sick to the stomach by the fact that those who use the "welfare system" are benefit cheats. The cover demonises those who are unemployed and in the working class. The attire of those in the photo yet again feeds into the stereotype, as they are all wearing tracksuits or sports gear, which is portrayed to be a typical lower class style of dress, as it is not smart, it is very casual and comfortable.

Working class

•Presented in the stereotypical context of traditional working class communities such Eastenders and Corrie, Shameless
•Community values often praised but do not reflect reality,
•Working class communities have declined with the collapse of traditional industries such as coal mining,
•Often presented in the context of trouble, undesirable welfare scroungers, unable to cope with their delinquent children.

Representations of the working class

•Newman (2006) argues that there are very few situation comedies, television or drama which focuses on the everyday lives of working class who constitute a significant section of society, Newman argues that when in the media working class are often depicted in a very non positive light dumb buffoons (Homer Simpson) and immature machos (Phil Mitchell),
•Butsch (1992) – working class portrayed as flawed individuals (benefit cheats, etc.)

Stereotyping – theoretical perspective Dyer (1979) suggested that stereotypes are always about power – those with power stereotype those with less power. Hence he argued there were more recognisable stereotypes of gay men, non-white racial groups, the working class and women in society , and alternatively it was perhaps not so easy to point to media stereotypes of white, middle class, heterosexual men.

Shameless TV Series representation of class

Mise en scene
In the series Shameless, we are first introduced to all of the main characters in a montage of each character. The main character Frank, is displayed as being an unemployed, lazy, alcoholic who is also aggressive, which feeds into the stereotype of northern men who are unemployed typically being displayed as being unnecessarily violent, shown in the clip in the bathroom where one man is told to beat up a random stranger. The other stereotype that is fed into is that those in the benefit system only go to the pub and constantly smoke, which the audience is unsympathetic of, as described in Shildrick and MacDonald's theory (2007), as they are taking for the state and feeding their addictions rather than taking care of themselves, making them undeserving of help, such as being sick all over themselves, as shown with Frank Gallagher, and described by Butsch (1992) .
The children's montages show them people being involved in criminal matter as they are approached by police which is a strong stereotype of lower class youths, as they are also portrayed as being heavily involved in violence and criminal activity, which is also shown when the youth has a bloody knife near his face, and this enables the stereotypical name of "chav" to spring into the viewers mind (as referred to by Hayward and Yar 2006). Overall they are portrayed as the most violent people in society, as shown in the clip where people are running around with their faces covered and a burning car in the background. This appears to be normal as the people are not phased by it, which reinforce the stereotypical idea that those from the lower class go out of their way to take part in criminal activities. The high rise buildings and council estate are the typical style of housing that lower class, unemployed, unskilled people are portrayed to live in.

Camera work
The fast zooming in and out on people has been done to reflect the chaos and face pace of the scene. The closeness of the camera on people's faces shows the tense atmosphere, such as the bloody knife right next to the young man's face. There are many shots of the camera moving alongside the characters while the action is going on, to make it seem like the audience is involved in the scene, as well as make it look like lots of action is going on. This is shown when the camera moves around the home with the Gallagher family as they are all running around. The camera also follows the family round while there is a riot going on, showing the stereotypical violent behaviour the working class. it follows them around like an action sequence, an shows the erratic behaviour of the main characters, as well as the stereotypical representation of those from the working/underclass.

Sound

There is a constant dialogue going on in the series, whether it be conversation, arguing, music, or narration. The characters are introduced to the audience by the main character who is not well spoken, can be hard to understand, and uses a large amount of bad language. This representation is shown in the theory of Newman (2006), that the working class are portrayed as dumb buffoons, which is shown in the way he talks and holds a conversation with people. There is the frequent use of playful music to make the scene seem as almost humorous, and childish. There is also of the use of sound effects such as when Frank Gallagher bangs his head, the exaggerated sound of him hitting his head feeds into the theory of Newman (2006) and the stereotype of the working class being buffoons who cannot take care of themselves.

Editing
The series has been edited so that it runs at a very fast pace, such as the fast movements of the cameras from one angle to another, and one perspective to another. It makes the lives of the working class look chaotic as it moves very fast. The way it has been edited is so that the audience feels like they are in the fast motion scenes with the characters and feel involved. The scenes are very short, with each scene not lasting more than a minute long, which can make everything seem very overwhelming.

Ethnicity vs. Race

Alvarado’s Race Theory (1978)

Four key themes in racial representation:

–exotic

–dangerous

–humorous

–pitied

•Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal.

•Stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender, as media representation may be the only experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an audience may have (especially children and young people)

•Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth perpetuated down the ages.

Black racial stereotypes

Stereotypes :Positive and negative stereotypes are often seen in contemporary British media.

–Musicians – jazz, hip-hop and soul