Media Diary: Representing Issues...
Choose two texts that you consume that represent the same issue.
Then deconstruct how that issue is portrayed in different ways - is it fair, balanced, stereotyped, exaggerated or all of these things! Then discuss WHY it is represented in this way.
Soap operas and other TV dramas are a good place to look for these; but so are magazines, websites, charity adverts and of course, newspapers.
Choose two texts that you consume that represent the same issue.
Then deconstruct how that issue is portrayed in different ways - is it fair, balanced, stereotyped, exaggerated or all of these things! Then discuss WHY it is represented in this way.
Soap operas and other TV dramas are a good place to look for these; but so are magazines, websites, charity adverts and of course, newspapers.
Left: The Platt family have had their fair share of issues in the past, but are they realistic?
Right: Do some newspapers use stereotypes when representing issues as a way of spreading fear and distrust?
Whilst much of the history of media theory has concerned itself with analysing the representations of people - or rather groups of people within society (gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, nationality to name a few); there is no doubt that it is the media's representation of issues that often grabs our attention, hooks us into a text or even keeps us watching the same TV show, reading the same magazines or visiting the same website for years on end!
It's fascinating to consider just how much our view of the world is shaped by the representation of issues we see on our screens. Gerbner would argue that the texts & products we consume merely reinforce how we felt about an issue in the first place - however, are there issues that we only encounter via the media? If so how prominent a role do they have in moulding our thoughts, feelings, anxieties and prejudices towards that issue?
You must include images or video of the text in your blogpost and you must
also use the categories 'Media Diary' AND 'Year 12 Week 4'
