2.33 creditsExternal Standard

MESSAGES, VALUES AND REPRESENTATIONS

Objective of this unit

• The overall aim is to understand and appreciate the need for critical analysis when reading, listening to, or viewing any media presentations.

• To appreciate how minority cultures are stereotyped which can lead to discrimination by the majority or dominant culture in a society.

Stereotypes• What is a stereotype?• We will be dealing with the issue of stereotypes in this study. It is

important to remember that while some stereotypes can be based in some truth, they can also be wildly inaccurate and unfair. Some stereotypes may have developed from a common, general and shared characteristic of a group of people – but they should be treated as generalisations.

Make a list of stereotyped characteristics of the following groups (these may be positive, negative or indifferent):

• Older people – 60+ Chinese Australian• Pacific Islanders Teachers Italian• American teenagers Rugby fans Homosexuals

Stereotypes can be based on race, age, culture, orientation, occupation or any other social division of people.

Homework• Track a mainstream news product for 5 days (Monday to Friday) and write about all the significant items about Maori stories.

(This can be newspaper / tv1 or tv3 news / radio news).

• Bring in 3 x examples of the stories you have found throughout the week. These can be cut out of the paper, podcasts or other.

Stereotypes• Remember how stereotypes are used by media producers to appeal to target audiences – such as in the 2.1 study of South Pacific Pictures / Outrageous Fortune and their target audiences? This is an example of how stereotypes can be useful.• What are the drawbacks of this use of stereotyping?

• In what instances are stereotypes a negative experience for people who are the target of these judgements?

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTU4QxF1rWI Watch this mini-documentary

What stereotypes exist of Maori?List the characteristics you can think of under the

following 3 headings:

Positive Negative Indifferent

Stereotypes• Beneficiaries• Poor or lower class• Criminals / drugs / gang affiliations• Violent• Protesting – land / foreshore & seabed / keep land tapu – preserve traditions

• Moko / kapa haka / cultural practices• Sporting – sing / dance / rugby / league • Dicotymy – Maori either make it or they don’t

In which media texts are Maori represented? Make lists of media texts you know of that feature Maori.

TV Print

Te Karere NZ Herald

Maori TV Tearaway / Mana

Smokefree billboards

Advertising –Domestic Violence / Drink Responsibly Ad / Quit smoking / Smokefree / C4 Labour party / Maori Party –political advertising

Film Radio

Te Movie Mai FM

Boy - father

Hegemonic and pluralist models•What is a hegemonic model in media studies? Look up ‘cultural hegemony’ for a definition and explanation.

•What is a pluralist model? This is the opposite of the hegemonic model?

• Documentary – The Modern Racist Paradigm

http://documentaryheaven.com/the-modern-racist-paradigm/

Study of mainstream news(Homework, week 9)FOCUS QUESTION:

How does the mainstream news in New Zealand represent Maori?

Use your chart and week 9’s homework to answer the following questions.

• In what ways are Maori represented positively in the past week’s New Zealand Herald? Give supporting evidence.

• In what ways are Maori represented negatively in the past week’s NZ Herald? Give supporting evidence.

• Draw several conclusions about the ‘truths’ and / or ‘myths’ and / or stereotypes which are being reinforced or challenged by this representation?

New Zealand Maori Film Assignmentemail to tp@macleans.school.nz by Friday 7th October

Research a NZ Maori film to compare to ‘Once were Warriors’. Present the information in a power point – with images.

• Title, director, writer, year, actors, production details.• Summarise the story or content of the film. What are the

key scenes – describe them. You can see this at www.nzonscreen.co.nz )

• Include 2 x reviews you have summarised (www.imbd.com or www.rottentomatoes.com or NZ Herald)

• Describe the key characters or people who feature in the film. What stereotypes of Maori are presented in this film. How do they represent Maori?

• Describe the key themes featured in the film. Do these themes also develop the stereotypes? How do they represent Maori?

Framing Maori – Documentary by Tere Harrion• This documentary addresses the issue of how Maori are represented in the mainstream media.

Stereotype or dominant image being presented.

Evidence and Message / Value being presented.

Effect of this

New Zealand Herald September 20 – 27th, 2011

Representation (Stereotype or dominant image being presented).

Evidence and Message / Value being presented (important ideas or lessons the producer is putting across)

Effect of this on audiences, on the group /culture / on society.

Once Were Warriors, dir. Lee Tamahori (1994)

• Use an entire A4 page to make notesRepresentation (Stereotype or dominant image being presented).

Evidence and Message / Value being presented (important ideas or lessons the producer is putting across)

Effect of this on audiences, on the group /culture / on society.

Lower class area / poverty affected

Dialogue about being on the ‘dole’ – Jake, “only $17 dollars less than what I’m getting now”

Beth Heke – unkempt, smoking, tattoo

Beth (tattoo on her chest); Nig has moko; Jake on his arms/fists – most characters smoke / Toots smokes weed / costumes – tank tops / black singlet / untidy clothes

Beneficiaries

Good singers / performers

Live in state-housing /setting / drinking at the pub –not at occupations. Jake gambles on horses.Jake/Beth sing at party / Pub karaoke / Boogie doing haka / taiaha. Singing at the tangi / marae

DrinkingViolence

Violence seen as ‘normal’ Beth’s best friend brushes off and makes a joke of Beth’s ‘hiding’.Beth is beaten at the 1st party scene. Jake beats a man in the pub, early in the film. Rape of Grace. Beats Uncle Bully at the end.

Once Were Warriors (1994)• Lee Tamahori directed this film, but it was written by Maori New Zealander, Alan Duff. • Features and themes include the characters inability to articulate themselves and their situation – with the exception of Grace, who is a prolific writer – yet she is the one who dies and her rape and suicide are the tragic and central events in the plot.• Jake’s inability to provide for his family, or to understand them or protect them – is exemplified in the symbolic act of cutting down the tree Grace hung herself from – even in this he is unsuccessful.• Other themes include the prolific and gratuitous violence. The effects of poverty and unemployment. Gangs and their role as a pseudo-family or alternative family unit. The break-down of the family unit – the wider whanau system (Beth’s disconnection with her family).

Once Were Warriors - 1994• How are Maori represented in this film? In this answer you will need to discuss the STEREOTYPES of Maori seen in the film – and how does the writer (Alan Duff) and director (Lee Tamahori) use this stereotype to convey messages. (give examples and explain the EFFECT / IMPLICATION/ CONSEQUENCES).•What is the overall effect of the messages and values in this advertisement? (EFFECT, IMPLICATION, CONSEQUENCES)

• Read someone else’s response.

•Write ‘EG’ next to an example used ‘EX’ next

to a good explanation and ‘I’ for an implication.

Two Cars, One Night, dir. Taika Waititi (2005)• This 2005 short film was nominated for an Oscar and was the

inspiration for Waititi’s feature length film, ‘Boy’ (2010).• It is a subtle and poignant story of children, distinct and separate

from the world of adults, yet the effect of the adult world is evident in their situation. They are waiting in a car park, outside of a pub, while their parents or carers are assumingly inside, drinking.• How is the adult world depicted? Consider the activity outside the

pub and the way it is filmed. The two interactions in the film between the children and adults – a strange old man on a bike who speaks Maori (but is not understood), and the driver of a car who has a moko and raises his eyebrows at Romeo.• What stereotypes about Maori are evident in this short film? How

are they presented to the audience?• How does this representation convey messages and values about

Maori to the audience? What effects might this have on viewers – both Pakeha and Maori?