Student Riots

How are students and women represented?

The students creating the riot over tuition fees have been represented in the article from The Daily Mail in a very negative way. The headline for the article as quotes “Rage of the girl rioters: Britain’s students take to the streets again – and this time women are leading the charge” from the media have begun by stating it was girls who were causing the main chaos of the riot which you wouldn’t normally expect which is rather stereotypical as you would expect boys to begun a riot such as this one. Then the quote goes into mentioning the fact that women are leading the charge which seems the media are making it into a moral panic as the word charge to me relates to a war of chaos and devastation. This example is perfect because it is exactly the way how Stanley Cohen defined what a moral panic was and how it begun and escalated and how the media and I quote “intends on fashioning these episodes, stylising them, amplifying the nature of effects and turning them into a national issue when the matter could have been kept contained and under control” the few key words in this example are how woman are being negatively viewed and represented and how the whole ordeal was blown out of proportion.

My next example from the article is “at least 29 protesters were arrested for theft, violent disorder, and criminal damage” from this quote students have been represented as causing nothing but trouble for society and police as said at least 29 were arrested which is only an estimate so as you know it is more likely to be more. It has been made out to be an epidemic of violence and trouble for society and police. This riot is all over the rise in tuition fees for students relating to the change in politics which relates to the theory of cultural hegemony from Gramsci in 1930 which is the philosophic and sociological concept in the various social classes who have more authority over another person. Here we can see that as the tuition fees are rising and students would have ton pay more we can see they wouldn’t be in such a higher class therefore they are unlikely to afford the changes in fees so they have fought back and no have more authority over the police in the riot but it is the government who have overall authority as they have made the final decision to change prices.

My final example from the article is “ a female police officer suffered a broken hand and another officer had to be dragged out from a cordon with leg injuries when violence flared” from this quote students have been represented and seen as from the point of view from society as they have no limits the fact that they went to such lows to harm a female officer, the key word being female the media have wrote to turn this ordeal into a moral panic in society, which leads me to a theory stated by Eldrige 1997 who said “media reproduce the definitions of the powerful. We can see from this final example from The Daily Mail article that the media change the definitions from what they decide to write and it is keywords that I have mentioned in this article that change the definitions and thoughts of e.g. students and how they are seen and represented in media from their actions.

Moral Panic

What is moral panic?

Moral panic includes the theorist Stanley Cohen 1987 who first came up with the term moral panics. He defined the concept as worrying about the values and principles which society upholds which may be in jeopardy. He describes the characteristics as “a condition episode, person or group of persons who become defined as a threat to societal values and interests. He discusses how mass media intends on fashioning these episodes, stylising them, amplifying the nature of effects and turning them into a national issue when the matter could have been kept contained and under control.

Cohen's study begun from his interest in youth culture and how its perceived potential threat to social order. Throughout each era, a group has emerged who fits the criteria that Cohen has labelled as being turned into a moral panic or a threat, such as Skinheads and Rockers etc. They all become associated with negative aspects usually violence, which in turn also provoke public reaction usually calling for a police presence within the community.

Examples include
-football hooliganism
-drug abuse
-vandalism
-video nasties
-aids
-knife crime

An example of moral panic.

“Surely if the human race is under threat, it is entirely reasonable to segregrate AIDS victims otherwise the whole of man kind could be engulfed." (The Daily Star, 2nd December 1988)

This quote has been served to set up the start of a moral panic within society and what resulted from incidents was in effect the persecution of the minority group within society. Throughout history the mass media industry has been utilised as a tool to appeal to the public at large particularly in the field of politics.

What is the British representation of authority in social realist films?

A theory relating to the authority in social classes of people has been said by Gramsci in 1930 which was cultural hegemony which is the philosophic and sociological concept. In the various social classes who has more authority over another person which relates to what I am about to talk about in this essay. The theory claims that the ideas of the ruling class come to be seen as the norm. The social realist film I will be looking at and analysing is Human Traffic which is about five friends spend one lost weekend in a mix of music, love and club culture. Having watched the film the first authority figure I picked out and analysed in Human Traffic was Jip’s mother. Jip’s mother has the job of a prostitute which isn’t seen as upper class at all this occupation is seen as being in the lower class. When Jip goes to see his mother he is very unsettled as she is with a client in her flat. It is seen as his mother has more authority over him because he can’t stop her from doing her job and cannot protect her if it gets violent with her clients. She asks him to wait and he agrees to this show he won’t go against her and she has the higher authority. Just after the clip of the flat Jip is in the car with her mum’s client but this is not a true image, he is fantasising and what is going on has mentally affecting him. The client in the car is seen to the audience of having a higher authority over Jip because the client’s clothing includes a smart, business like jacket and he is holding a suit case made to look like a business man a typically thought of a high social class so he already has higher authority. As the clip goes on Jip cannot get a word in an doesn’t know what to say back to him then at the end of this clip he says strong language but when the camera reverses the shot to wear the client was sitting he has disappeared showing Jip didn’t have the confidence to say anything back until this fantasising image of the client has disappeared.

Location List

Graveyard scene where the female character sits next to a grave. This is used to show the audience quite easily that the reason the lead character is crying is that her parent is dead.

Bedroom scene where the female is looking through photographs of her mother and herself showing that she is thinking of her memories that she has. Thus this allows the video to flow as it tells the audience that the next scenes within the clip are memories.

The kitchen scene where a memory is shown between the mother and the daughter thus showing how ill she was yet how happy they were.

The living room scene where another memory is shown yet this time the mother is shown to be even more ill but putting on a brave face for the daughter. It is also used to have the main character and her mother singing along with the lyrics.

The park scene where the female drops the letter from the book and lets it fall to the floor allowing the viewers to see the letter burn. This shows who died as the letter is signed by the mother thus letting the audience know exactly what happened along with the graveyard scene.

CD advert 3

Inside of a magazine

HMV is promoting these three albums most people at some point in their life buy products from HMV so using the company to promote the albums is great because people are more likely to look at the advertisement to see what is on offer. HMV also tends to have a great reputation within the music industry of selling albums etc. so consumers are more likely to look at the advertisement and possibly persuade consumers to buy the product. Here we have three albums from different artists, the album covers have been pictured with the price and a short description below the album name. From the CD covers and the short description the consumers get an idea of the type of music it is e.g. “the legendary British band” and “traditional” key words from the description indicate the music may be more suited to adults and the older generation. The picture behind the three albums of the women posing is quite eye catching because she had a white face with red hair which in the whole page is the most eye catching piece and makes it more likely the consumer will look at the rest of the page. The picture of the women is similar style compared to the style of the two women on the two album covers. On the album of Cyndi Lauper she is holding an old microphone which indicates the music is older and most likely suited to adults and the older generation. The fashion style the three women are wearing in particular Cyndi Lauper appears to be a past fashion style bringing to conclusion of the music of an older style.