Representations of ethnicity

What do we know about representation?

• The term representation refers to “the way the media constructs aspects of real life”

• Point of view, messages and values often underlie media representations.

• Representations often reveal the dominant ideology of the culture which created them

How do we define ethnicity?

The term ethnicity can often be confused with ‘race’, a word often used to categorize large amounts of people by factors such as skin colour.

Ethnicity is:identity with or membership in a particular national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, beliefs, and language

Task: What picture would you expect to see underneath these tabloid newspaper headlines?‘KEEP OUT, BRITAIN IS FULL UP’

‘THE FEDS ARE CHASING ME’

‘ONE IN 5 BRITONS WILL BE ETHNICS’

You have 3 minutes

The feds are chasing me.. Last words of 'gangsta' who was shot by cops

What kind of world is being constructed by these media representations?

What does this tell us about some media representations of ethnicity?

Remember: points of view, messages and values often underlie media representations

The feds are chasing me...

Last words of 'gangsta' who

was shot by cops

Audience positioning

Stuart Hall (1973)1. Preferred or dominant reading2. Negotiated readings3. Oppositional or resistant readings

Can you think of examples where audiences adopt these readings of media texts?

• Films• Newspapers• Charity campaigns• Television programmes• News

Remember...

Stereotypes are widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups.

“Stereotypes and mis-representation are even more dangerous when dealing with ethnicity compared to gender.”

Do you agree? Why?

The representation that is constructed through the media is often the only experience of different cultures that some audiences will encounter

Watch the following clip carefully

Analyse the way in which camera angles/shots and audio codes are used to construct representations of ethnicity.

Audio codes:Diegetic- sounds within the context of the world on screen. E.g. DialogueNon-diegetic- sounds that are outside of the onscreen world. e.g. Music

Changing representations of ethnicity

The representation of people from other cultures in the media has changed dramatically since earlier days where they were defined in terms of their potential for comedy or ‘foreignness’ Ethnicity is still, although perhaps less frequently, represented in stereotypical ways or as ‘other:’ as something different from the mainstream or the norm - suggesting that the dominant way of seeing things is still white