Genre theory- Exam practice

"Audiences feel safe with the idea of genre". How far do you feel this statement is true?

Audiences feel safe with the idea of genre, because it's something they understand. They understand iconographies of a genre such as guns, horses, desserts and cowboy hats signifying that its a western. In some ways society likes the boundaries of genre as by knowing the genre, they know what to expect from the text. For example they know that at some point there will be a fast paced fight scene or dramatic explosion in a action film.

Secondly, genre is culturally dependant in the society it's created in. This allows audiences to identify with characters, events and the genre itself. For example the reality genre is very much apart of British culture and is known as Reality TV by its audiences, although its a hybrid genre of soap opera, game shows and cinema verite something that audiences may not know.

This idea of hybrids becoming new genres is where boundaries get mixed and may confuse audiences. With a new genre, audiences might not know what to expect as they are unaware of the codes and conventions it adopts. This however is based on audiences being very unaware of the media which is unlikely and in somecases audiences might like the mystery of a new genre- they want to explore where the genre is going. And as the more recent reality TV and Docusoap genres have become so popular, it suggests that audiences do like new genres and changes to TV.

Therefore, I think audiences do feel safe with genre and should do because producers use genre as a way of strongly communicating to their audiences- like stereotyping. Producers wouldn't do something extremely out of place as they might lose audiences. However, there are examples of changes in genres have been successful as they adopt from existing genres.

News Values- Exam practice

Analyse a news broadcast in terms of news values employed during selection and construction, possible gate keeping and possible bias in the broadcast. How explicit are these factors to the audience? Does this matter?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b010r2nj/

Frequency is one of BBC's news values as they had mentioned protests in Libya and the recent attempts at protesting in Syria. As in the last few months Lybia and Egypt have been in the news with protests, BBC see it fitting to report on these events. There is also continuity news values here as there is repetition regular updates on these ongoing events.

The report on Kate Middleton and future King, William, is a perfect example of refering to the elite as it is about royalty, and this is seen as a world wide event signifying the BBC's patriotism. Their particular focus is on where she grew up in Bucklesberry interviewing people from her village that knew her. This report could therefore be linked to proximity as she grew up in England.

Another report linked to proximity is the death of a 15 year old girl who lived in West London. Though lots of shots showed her friends and family crying, reinforcing this idea of British community, which I sense is what the BBC want to portray themselves as; patriots also highlighting how they choose to focus on local news.

In terms of the way the show was structured, the gatekeepers have decided to show news outside of Britain as negative with news about Lybia, or Afghan criminals escaping their prison. The news became closer to home, with the death of the teen, and negative news about the IRA rejecting a visit from the Queen. The news report ended with a positive one; the royal wedding.

There was a bias report about the IRA report as the reporter said only 300 people turned up to the affair, in a village of 10,000. In particular, the tone was mocking the IRA to make them seem inferior and almost childish for rejecting the Queen's visit.

These factors are not explicit to audiences. The news report I watched was only 10 mins long and audiences would recgonise that the BBC have chosen a few reports to briefly show. However, they might believe that reports are chosen in more simpler ways like the most important or biggest stories. In some ways, its not important for them to be aware of this mediation of the news as audiences are becoming more active and are aware of the internet and its abilities to provide information all events going on in the world. The News is just the primary source of information that hopefully insipires audiences to inquire more information.

The only downside to this, is many audiences would trust that those 10 mins of information is enough for them to know for the day, before they go to bed.

Gender Studies- Exam practice

"The male gaze dominates Hollywood movies". Using the top 5 films of the week, would you agree with this statement?

1. Source Code (12A)



2. Little White Lies (15)



3. Limitless (15)



4. Your Highness (15)



5. Red Riding Hood (12A)



It seems that male gaze still dominates hollywood. It appears that if women are significantly present in a film, they are the object of male gaze. For example, in Your Highness, although Natalie Portman's character is a strong female, she is still sexually objetified by the shot of her stripping off by a lake. The shot is vouyeristic and takes the viewpoint of the two gazing male protagonists. This contrasts with the protgaonist of Red Riding Hood where she doesn't seem to be the object of male gaze, most likely because she is the protagonist and she is represented as young and innocent, rather than a sexual object.

If women aren't an object of male gaze, then they seem to be not present in these films. Both Limitless and Source Code have little attention on women. In Source Code the female protagonist seems to bring little to the plot, other than be a general representation of "normality" as it is the male protagonist who is the changing factor in the film. A Marxist would argue that this brings out hegemonic ideologies about gender; men are the active ones while females are the passive ones.

The only text that doesn't seem to have commented on gender roles is Little White Lies. This might be because it's a foreign film so doesn't contain Hollywood ideologies.

Postmodernism- Exam practice

To what extent would you say that contempoary television news broadcasting is postmodern?

The news is very postmodern as there is inertextuality, bricolage and metanarrative, and Baudrillard's simulacra and hyper reality theories are also present.

Firstly, it is said that intertextuality and bricolage is a concept of postmodernism and it could be said its present in the news. Intertexuality is when one texts refers to another to add meaning. Sometimes, the news almost refers to itself. For example a news report might have content from the last report such as the same images or same dialogue, but with more information. This give audiences who have seen the last report a feeling of develoment in the event. For those who haven't seen the previous report, they are still able to follow the event. This is what is expected from post modern texts; all audiences should be able to understand whats going on wheather they've watched the intertextual reference or not.

There is also a sense of bricolage in the news. The news and documentary have very similar elements e.g. the sound bridging, voice overs, expert interviews, accounts from real people, footage from the event that links to the story. However, the news mixes in this live event styling, with reporters, presenters and live footage. The the news, which has be regarded as its own genre could have arguably been adopted by documentary and live events.

Metanarrative is also in the news as is provides a range of narratives (reports and stories) that help shape our society and culture.

Bauldrillard came up with the simulcrum and hyperreality theories which is "the simulation of something which never really existed". Live news simulates event around the world in our own society, so we think we are experiencing the event it when we are not. The event we are experiencing isnt real as no one in the "actual event" is watching it from the comfort of our home.

Overall, I would say that the news is very post modern as it has all the ingredients of a postmodern text, from intertexuality, to the simulation of reality.

Censorship- Exam practice

Will we ever reach a point where as an audience, we are so desensitised that we don't need the bbfc anymore?

I don't think the BBFC would ever stop.

If audiences do become more desensitiesed to texts, then producers would make their films more and more explicit and there will always be age groups that these films would be unsuitable for such as young children.

Some may argue that the BBFC won't be needed in the future as audiences are becoming more desensitiesed. This is due to things like lad mags with sexual content on the front covers being displayed openly in shops or explicit songs being played on day time radio or daytime music channels rather than being after watershed. This exposure to extreme content is also seen in video games like COD that is often played by younger childern below the certificate rating.

Some may feel that as many young people do already ignore ratings of texts they consume, that there is no point to the BBFC. However, cases from the past suggest that the BBFC should continue to exist and where possible people consider the rating before they let others watch if. the Jamie Bulger case is a clear example of why the BBFC exist. Two young boys had taken a little 3, Jamie Bulger, attacked and killed him. The methods they used to kill him were also present in the film Childs Play 3, which one of their parents had rented. This suggests they had watched the film and were influenced by it. The film is rated older than the kids, which instantly deems the film inapproprate for their age. This shows that if a text is not appropriatly cataogrised for different age groups, it could have a negative impact on audience, such as the copy cat theory and media effects theory.

If audiences do get more desensitied in the future, maybe instead of getting rid of the BBFC, maybe consider adding higher age ratings or creating a new way to classify films and other texts.

Media Ownership- Exam practice

Disney has four major sections of their conglomorate: The Walt Disney Studios entertainment, Disney Consumer Product, Media networks and Parks and Resorts.

The Walt Disney Studios Entertainment

This is where all their shows are produced and created, some of these companies also distribute films. There are also some theatre companies and music labels as they also produce their own music. They also own some non Disney related compaines like Touchstone pictures which produce a range of films.

Parks and Resorts

Disney is famous for its resorts, originally the ideas of the first owners, the Disney Brothers Rob and Walt. They have Parks in different coutries and other things like curise lines and clubs.

Media Network

In terms of owning companies outside the "Disney" brand, this is their biggest success. They joined the ABC network to create Disney-ABC Television Group which is responsible for all the ABC and Disney's channels and shows. They also own ESPN incorporated and its channels.

Disney Consumer Products

This is all the things available for audiences to buy. This includes their films and shows, merchandise and any other items that are Disney brand. They also have a publishing company for publishing their famous disney books.

Representation and Regulation- Exam practice

Family has more stereotypes than Eastenders as it representations are very limited compared to the diverse range of representations seen in Eastenders. Mostly represented in Family is gender; men through the father, Peter, and women through the mother, Lois. Men are represented as loving gadgets like cool cars, and never listening to their wives which are a dominant representation of men. Women are represented as practical as Lois asks if they can afford the expensive car. She is also represented as a mother who is always tired and worn out as she is resting on the sofa, and the baby begins to cry (though it can talk) for her attention. Women are also represented as a sex object as on the news, the presenter was shown just as her legs, not her body or face. Interestingly, her opinions are voiced even though it’s limited to 2 taps of her shoe for yes and one for no.

This contrasts with Eastenders where there are a range of representations of different groups. Firstly women are presented as chatty and nagging signified by a character nagging her husband and another woman nagging a teen for his behaviour. Women are also represented as always being concerned with love as one character is really excited to go on a webdate with someone else.

There are alternative representations of men, such as being sad and emotional, as one character grevies his child, and other men being concerend about him and caring towards him.

Unlike usual, ethinic minorties are represented as caring and concerened about their communitity, which is an alternative representation in a post 9/11 era.

From this episode, the most stereotyped group are teenagers. They are seen as angry aggressive, teasing and troublesome signified by one character getting angry from being teased by another. This stereotype of teens is reinforced by the way another teen is dressed. While the whole family is eating at the tabele, one is wearing a cap, hoodie and tracksuit bottoms.This character always dresses like this, reinforcing negative and typical expectations of teens.

As a result, Family Guy has a lot more stereotypes than Eastenders because it uses stereotypes as a way of creating humour. Audience would be able to identify with these comic characters because they are the extremes of what they recognise in their own lives. The fact that it's an american show again suggests why there are extremes because their crude and offencive humour involves a lot of stereotyping.

Most of the groups in Eastenders are represented fairly, as not all groups are represented in stereotypical ways such as men being emotional and caring.Though there is less stereotyping, there seems to be some of women and teens and questions if the institution still has hegemonic values as the men are represented fairly where women and teens are not.

Task 4: Gangster films

From 5.30 to the end

What effects theories are relevant to this scene from a gangster film?

Scarface presents many ideologies about a gangsters life and the hyperdermic needle theory would suggest these ideologies will be "injected" to its audiences who will too adopt them. Some of these ideologies include drugs, money and guns are factors needed to live a poweful and exiciting life as all the gun shooting is exiting for audiences. This shows how powerful the media are and the responsibility that producers have over what they produce,though relies on audiences being passive.

The extreme violence seen in Scarface could mean audiences become desensitied to things like violence and other things seen like drugs. This theory considers that too much exposure to things in this scene like extreme gun shooting, blood and gore means that audiences will become desensitised to it in real life. This raises concern about violence in the media and if we see too much though, like the hyperdermic needle theory it relies on passive audiences, and it is hard to prove or measure its effects on audiences as there are many other contributing factors.

The copy cat theory, more pushed by the media iself, suggest that if audiences (usually children) see it in the media, they they will go and copy it. This text would be an example of a film that might lead to "copy cat" behaviour as it involves a lot of dangerous but exciting violence, but also its an iconic film and still today shows use it as intertexual reference. The theory reflects concerns of parents and communities, however it seems to be more of a moral panic created by the news. Though the Jamie Bulger case seems fitting to this theory, the suggestion that Childs Play 3 had a hand in the matter was finally dismissed by the court.

All these theories rely on passive audiences, but they can be active too, and this theory applies to Uses and Gratifications. This suggests that audiences take from a text whatever they wish. For example, to some audiences this could be "information" on what kinds of large guns are available, but to others this is just "entertainment" for cartharsis. This realises the power audiences have, though some might argue this theory give too much credit of power to audiences.

Finally Reception analysis and enthography suggests audiences create their own meanings from text basedon their background. For example, someone who has been apart of gangs and gun violence in the past may take different readings and views of this text compared to someone who has grown up with a more sheltered life. Though this takes into consideration people's life experiences, again it belives in the power audiences hold when the power is more likely in the hands of the institutions producing it.

Task 5: Readings

Dominant reading: The Simpsons is a funny show that reflects life in America. The characters always do something more extreme than you expect which makes the show exciting.

Negotiated reading: Some of the jokes are a bit extreme but the characters are entertaining. You can see how the producers are satirising the "American Dream"

Oppositional reading: The Simpsons is a show that makes it socially acceptable to mock and riddicule different groups of people, through what they call "comedy". Its not funny or clever, its just silly and offensive to Americans and other countries.

I think I take a negotiated reading. I understand why people would take a dominant reading but you can see how they satirise the american dream and family life with extreme sterotypes of America and American families.

Task 3: Representation essay

"Media representations rarely challenge the dominant values of society nor do they give a voice to those with little power". To what extent is this true for the group of place you have studied? Why?

When looking at historical representations of women and familes, they are very much fixed by shows like Father Knows Best and films like Double Indemnity. These ideologies were created by the dominant in society- powerful males. Now, in a post feminist era with very active audiences, you'd think that texts gave all goups that were subordinated in the past, a voice to represent themselves, but this is not true in all cases. Some text are still ideologically fixed to the past, usually for comic entertainment. This essay looks at how women and families have been represented over the years, and how and why these representations have been created so.

Media representations favour dominant values of society and this is seen with historical representations where men used their power of the media to subordinate women. During the war, men had to go and join the force, and women had to leave their homes to experience work and jobs to esure the economy and business still existed when the war ended. When the war did end, men returend to see that women enjoyed the power and freedom they'd been given and demanded more. In a bid to gain control of society, men used the media to perpeturate negative representations of women to subordinate them again. This was in the form of the femme fatale; a deadly and dangerous woman who was seen in film noirs from the 1940s. A particular example of one is Phyllis from Double Indemity; her innocence and charm made her more deadly as the man she seduced did not notice her manipulative and deceptive nature, like the audience would have seen. This made men lose trust in women as they all belived women evil and deceptive like the ones shown in films reinforcing the hypodermic needle theory. This shows that the elite with their hegemonic values- the “idea of domination of one group over another" (Gramsci, A.)- is able to inject their values making them dominant and unchallnged by subordinated groups.

This power struggle wasnt over for women as the feminist era rose, where women were set to gain equality within society. As a result, more modern texts give women a voice which they didnt have before, making the statement not entirely true. Doghouse is a example where female zombies are a metaphor for deadly women who are out to get men who treat women badly- the kind of men that create dominant ideologies to favour the powerful and elite in society. Some of the zombies are seeminly the typical, helpless female like the bride who never got married, but the twist is she has the knife, the phallic symbol of power and contol. She stabbs the most mysogynistc character in the hand, which could be signifed as defiance against the powerful and elite in society. This shows that not all represenations favour those in power but aim to reflect the anger of the subordinated.

However, it could be argued that these women only pose a tempoary threat to the men in the film as they escape. This could be mocking of the femninst movement as to men it only posed a tempoary threat as women still haven't gained equality. Therefore this would suggest that men are still using the media to perpetuate negative representations of women being angry, annoying zombies, that don't succeed in attacking men.

Hip hop and rap videos have also played a part in rarely challenging dominant values of society as the men have the money and the power and control, while the women have no power and are just objectified. In 50 CENT's P.I.M.P video, men are glorified, as they are all dressed in white, living in beautiful houses with nice cars and "magic sticks" to represent their status and manhood. This contrasts with the women, who are only sexually objectified, they never talk except saying "We love you Snoop Dogg" again focusing the attention to the men. A particular shot is an extreme low angle of a scantity clad woman dancing and you can seen up her skirt. The shot is slowed down providing a voyeristic view. This is Laura Mulvey's male gaze and the text forces all audiences to identify a male view point. This focus drawn to men in the text and also when viewing the text suggest men perpetuate the dominant ideology of men being in power, and give little voice to women who are just there to be vouyered.

This contrasts with the Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is The Love?" gender is no concern, but they are attempting to challenge dominant values by questiong "where is the love" and literlly giving voices to those without power. The narrative of the text is the group, like an actvist group or mini force, go around the city, sticking up "?" like anti- status quo propaganda. They are trying to challenge what's dominant in society through their song and video. They also give voices to those without power, by making a range of people, different ages, gender and ethnicity lipsync the song, to be apart of this society- challenging group. This shows that not all instituions allow the dominant values to always be reflected and ignore the powerless.


Historically families were represented to fit what males wanted, it didn't challenge the norms nor did it give power to those without. Father Knows Best, an American TV show which showed a family; a housewife, loving mother that was expected of women during the 50's, a doting daughter that wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, signified by them both dressing the same. The father was the man of the house and when he came home for work, the rest of the family were ready to greet him. The son wanted to follow his father's footsteps too as he dressed in a suit like his father. And they had a little daughter, who was happy being the innocent loving daddy's girl. These representations of each family member, was in some way created to benefit men in society, suggesting they had control of the media and made it a dominant value that everyone should abide by. This was a role model for families across America.

Some modern texts still have historial values such as the Simpsons where a negotiated reading might be that family are still nuclear, and have very typical roles within the family making the text fit dominant ideologies about perfect families. Like Father Knows Best, The Simpsons has a housewife mum, a breadwinner father and 3 children. However a dominat reading is that The Simpsons satirises the so called "perfect nuclear family" as they are far from perfect, more dysfuctional through their comic nature. Though the Homer Simpson is the breadwinner at a dangerous powerplant, he is lazy, childish and rather ignorant of social issues such as homosexuality seen in a particular episode. Lisa is a young daughter that reflects the feminist era, as she smart, mature and one day wants to become president of the USA. These alterntive representations not only provide comedy, but give voices to those without power (through Lisa) and mock the ones with power (Homer). This shows that not all texts reinforce dominat values, and if they do they might use them though satire.

Finally, it could be said that Everybody Hates Chris only perpetuates one stereotype of black familes, and rather than giving them a voice, a voice of dominant values is metaphorically talking for them. Though the show represents a ethic minority family, it does nothing to challenge black stereotypes, but only reinforces them to create humour. The family are loud, embarrasing to the children and comical. Though some audiences might respond to in in terms of uses and gratifcations- they might see it only as entertainement- some might repond to it in terms of the hypodermic needle theory- audiences might see this as what all ethic minority famlies act this way. Therefore some modern representaions still favour the powerful as subordinate groups are sterotyped through comdey. This however, like the hypodermic needle theory relies on audiences being passive.

To conclude I think in historical representations were never challenged as the elite had full control of the media; they could manipulate groups and represent them in whatever way they wanted to benefit themselves. More modern texts uses these representations and use humour/comedy to satirise how society use to work. As audiences are becoming more active, they are able to take different readings of texts to distinguish what they feel is a accurate representation, or at least in some way that representations are constructed.

Task 2: New and Digital Media essay

"The new generation of UK media power players are going straight to their audience via web" www.mediaguardian.co.uk, Monday July 14 2008.

How have media institutions responded to the opportunities offered by new and digital media?

Media institutions are beginning to suffer due to the free content, flexibility and portability that the internet allows. Therefore TV broadcasting institutions like the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and print institutions owned by Rupert Murdoch, have made use of new digital media, in order to reach their audiences and keep hold of them.

In TV broadcasting, institutions have now made their shows available from their website in order to keep their audiences. These are called catch up services; BBC I player is the most popular accounting for 98% of catch up service internet traffic. Others include 4OD by Channel 4 and ITV player. Due to the introduction of web 2.0 the internet has give audiences more freedom and power and this has led to more demands in what they want. Catch up services mean that audiences don’t have to stick to scheduling giving them the choice to view it when they please. This also gives new audiences the chance to view shows as they might have not been able to view it in the past due to scheduling. This shows how the freedom that broadcasting shows on the internet can guarantee audiences for these institutions to keep them alive.

New and digital media developments led to the deregulation of TV into digital channels, and this has provided a way for institutions to broadcast more on TV. Now most of the first 5 channels have HD channels and time shift channels. For example channel 4 has 11 channels, 3 are HD allowing audiences to view shows in better quality for their digital TVs and 3 are time shifted allowing audiences to view a show an hour after it was first broadcasted. These technological developments allow institutions to reach and give more freedom to their audiences without the use of the internet.

As social networking has become very popular in the last few years, with sites like Twitter and Facebook, TV institution ITV attempted to join in with the new and digital craze. In 2005 they bought Friends Reunited, one of the first social networking sites, for £175m but 4 years later sold it at a loss for £25m. This shows how difficult it is for institutions to get into the e-media platform to keep business alive, but also how fast moving the e media industry is; Like Myspace, a site could be big and popular and in a few years forgotten about.

C4 attempted a more successful business decision again in the digital TV sector in order to keep profits alive. They joined Emap to create 4Music, a music channel that brought 28m revenue.

As TV content is free online, many assume audiences always expect free content and will do things like opt out of the license fee so institutions like the BBC will lose out, but that isn’t always the case and there are possible opportunities for the institution to benefit from it. Micropayment is a small business for paying small fees for TV content, which has often been criticised as audiences are too comfortable with watching free content. However, according to the entertainment company, Freemantle Media, their research says audience are “willing to pay small amounts for on-demand TV programmes from 5p up to as high as £2”. This infers that pay-walls and micropayments could have a successful place online because the institutions will benefit from the audience who are willing to pay for an online service. This has been a similar idea of Rupert Murdoch who has added a pay-wall for his successful and well regarded online version of the news newspaper, The Times (thetimes.co.uk/tto/news). The success of the pay-wall hasn’t been fully analysed but the institution expected a loss of 90% of consumers, but so far has only lost a third. Therefore, if institutions decide to put up a pay-wall for TV it would be beneficial as it is clear that audiences are happy to pay for TV if they choose not to stick to scheduling.

Newspaper institutions could benefit from citizen journalism, something that the introduction of web 2.0 and active audiences has allowed. As audiences can now produce their own content and post it on line, newspaper institutions can use some of their user generated content to help research events that should be in the news. For example the journalist researching the Ian Tomlinson case was successful because he embraced the “mutualisation of news. The guardian journalist, Paul Lewis, came across someone who had filmed Tomlinson getting beaten up by the police and later that day Tomlinson died of a heart attack. Without the user generated content from the citizen journalist, the police wouldn’t have discovered what had happened to Tomlinson. This shows how media institutions can optimise existing content online for themselves.

Ability to add comments
Audiences might expect free content from now on- the might have to continue to make it free- cant make profits
Audiences want more interaction
BBC add chat service
Will this mean institutions constantly have to adapt to audience’s needs
Marxism- powerful obtaining audiences
Pluralism- more freedom and choice in terms of audience consumption
Murdoch and Myspace
News content online
The Daily newspaper- online only

Post 9/11 and the media

What are the issues raised regarding representation of ethnic minority groups?

Since 9/11, the media have prejudice behaviour towards ethinic minorities, in particular muslims and groups from middle eastern countries. They make audiences feel that like the group that did the attacks, most ethinic minorities pose a threat to society and this is called orientalism.

This can be seen in texts like the news, where examples like "muslims buring poppies" and "christians burning the qu'ran" still managed represent all muslims as negative people but only one man as wanting to burn their holy book who in the end, apologies and was forgotton about.

The film Four Lions (Morris, 2010) is about 5 muslim extremists who plan to bomb their area. Though looking at a very serious theme and topic, the text is a black comedy and mocks these 5 people, by putting them in ridiculous and comical situations. By making the matter comical, it makes the text more approachable, but also negativly represents muslims as violent and destructive but also silly and incompetent.

This however contrasts from West is West (Emmony,2010)the sequel to East is East. According to a Guardian review, though its focused around being a British Muslim and the struggles they have to face, it seems to ignore major events like 9/11 and its effects in society. The reviewer said:

"anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the current turmoil among British Muslims, or even just some sense of what lies behind Pakistan's current troubles, will leave disappointed – as a chronicler of Pakistan, Khan-Din is concerned to present the most harmless, cheery view possible....Think of all that's happened since 1999. You wouldn't have guessed it from this."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/19/west-is-west-review-pakistan

This suggests that either the media has moved on from the negative post 9/11 attitudes towards Muslims, or that when faced with representing Muslims, they would rather ignore the real issues that still unfortunatly exist.

Task 1: Section One practice

Watch the trailer for Bully (2001) and the opening of Skins (Series 1, episode 1, 2007).

Answer the following exam questions

1. Compare and contrast the representations of teenagers in the two texts

Both these texts have a negative representation of teenagers, showing them as troublesome but one is more comical while the other is serious.

The representation of teenagers in ‘Bully’ are serious and extreme mostly sutured by the voice over of the mother saying they “smoke”, “drink” and “don’t do anything”. The most shocking representation is their violence with shots of one punching another character in the face, a shot of one raping a girl and a shot of one hitting a base ball bat towards an unknown character. Though in more contemporary representations there are news reports of knife crime, gun crime and violent deaths amongst teenagers, this text seems to exaggerate a dominant representation of teen.

This contrasts to the troublesome nature of the teenagers in Skins. They appear to annoy their parents to create humour, such as the protagonist turning the radio to max and ignore his father but refusing to turn it off or locking the bathroom door and exiting through the window. What is more comical is how this was apart of a plan for the teen girl to sneak in who reflects a dominant representation of rebellious teens who sneak out at night to parties for example.

Not only does this represent teenagers as mischievous and annoying, but also willing to help each other out and clever as their extreme and funny plan left the father unsuspicious of both the son and daughter.

Similarly, towards the end of Bully, the audience get a sense of community between a group of teens, even though they plot to kill a fellow member. This also brings ups issues of rivalry between teenagers such as gangs which is often shown about teens in the media.

Both texts also look at sexuality, which is always linked to the representation of teenagers. Again Bully takes a more serious view to it while Skins look at it in a more comical way. Bully’s trailer signifies that there is a lot of sex and nudity with shots like a low angle of a girls bum, a close up of a girl’s legs, and many shots of people having sex. The most noticeable and shocking shot is the still shot of a girl screaming while having sex which suggests she is being raped.

This contrasts with the themes of sex and nudity in the opening of skins. The establishing shot zooms out to see the protagonist lying in bed with a duvet cover of a naked man and a naked woman, which is comical. Also he checks the time on his watch and promptly looks out his window to stare at his naked female neighbour who shockingly doesn’t seem to be bothered that a teen boy is staring at her. This reinforces teen stereotypically seen as being concerned with the opposite gender.

2. Consider the view that the current representation of teenagers is simply another ‘moral panic’

Cohen believed that the media can sensationalise particular news and constantly recreate ideologies about certain groups, usually negative, and he called this ‘moral panics’. These are defiantly present in the media as the same representations of teens are causing parent and other members of society to be concerned or even fear teenagers. Some might argue that current representations aren’t just moral panics but truly represent teens today. This may be due to events in the news such as an article in the Metro about teens recruiting gang members via YouTube. Audiences might see these constant negative representations of teens as the truth as the news represents itself as the truth.

Others say that these are only moral panics and misrepresent teenagers. The media is mostly the cause of these moral panics, as one big event can trigger the media to select certain reports that constantly reinforce particular stereotypes of teens, at the moment, its is often about teenagers and pregnancy, drugs, alcohol and violence. As the news selects what they think is news valuable content, it makes it hard for other teen representations to be shown, cornering them into particular stereotypes and creating moral panics.

3. To what extent has new and digital media given younger audiences the opportunities to shape their own media representations?

The introduction of web 2.0 and the rise of the internet have had a major impact on all members of society, especially teenagers and younger adults. These young people that many years ago were powerless and not heard amongst others in society now have the ability to represent themselves via the internet.

Firstly the introduction of social networking sites have played a big part in shaping representations. With sites like Facebook, teens can now represent who they are with information such as their interests in music, TV shows and films. Though this provides basic information, audiences get to see what sort of people teenagers are really like rather than basing it on what they see in the media.

Though Facebook allows democracy amongst audiences, its often been negatively represented in the media for privacy and safety issues. This moral panic about safety and privacy could lead to bad representations of users, who are typically teens and young adults. This therefore means that teenagers’ ability to represent themselves has little purpose as larger media institutions still uses the site as a platform to negative stereotype the group. This also reinforces hegemony theory where the “dominant classes rule other classes” (Gramsci).

Web 2.0 has also allowed many well regarded media platforms to be available on the e-media platform, but also allow audience participation in a way that was not able before. Now anyone can comment on things like blog, magazine and newspaper websites and catch up services websites. All major institutions allow audiences to comment allowing themselves to represent their groups.

However, there is a sense of representation and stereotyping with these institutions and who they are targeting. For example, the guardian is a well regarded newspaper and is targeted at adults who are well educated, and therefore are more likely to comment, which allows them to be represented through a well regarded institution. On the other hand, E4’s popular comedy series Inbetweeners, has more comments from younger audiences as they are the target. This may be a negative representations teens as they “love the inbetweeners”, a show full of negative stereotypes of teens which others might see as a true representation. Therefore, the platform and institution that audiences comment on could reinforce particular stereotypes about them.

Section A practice

Exam paper: http://store.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/pdf/AQA-MEST3-W-SQP-07.PDF 1. Compare and contrast the two texts, with particular reference to the representation of teenagers (8 marks) Text 1 and text 2 both represent teenagers, but do it in very different ways. What is most noticeable is the misrepresentation but now dominant representation of teenagers in text 1; as “teen thugs” or “gangsters”. Not all teenagers are like this, but are often represented like this because of past issues in the media like gun and knife crime that was seen as a “moral panic” in the last few years, which suggests why this paper was written in 2007. This moral panic was quite problematic as many people began to believe teenagers were all thuggish which led its being seen in all aspects of the news and gaining high news values, which reinforces the cultivation theory; as groups constantly get represented in a particular way, audiences begin to believe that the representation is accurate, though this relies on audiences being passive when consuming the news. Interestingly text 2 is challenging all these representations and stereotypes, by attempting to change the attitudes of audiences towards teenagers by not referring to them as “gangs” but “groups”. Unlike text 1, this text is aware that audiences have pluralistic views towards the stereotypes of teens as it says that anyone who has been “victimised” by them will find this “hard to swallow” and that by calling all teens “gangs” will offend them. While text 1 blames teens for their difficult behaviour signified by them actively “recruiting over the web”, text 2 uses research to suggest that teens involved in criminal activity have been brought up in “conflict and single parenthood” signifying their troubled behaviour is not entirely their fault. These texts bring up issues power as text 1 uses its power to reinforce stereotypes about teens through research (being the particular gang who recruit online). The other text uses research to challenge these fixed ideologies about teens. 2. Consider the view that the current press treatment of teenagers is simply another moral panic (12 marks) 3. There are always concerns about new technology. In your view, what are the possible benefits and problems attached to social networking, particularly on the Internet? (12 marks) One of the issues that social networking brings up is ownership and control. Audiences are becoming more powerful which has allowed them to have moe control of the internet with the introduction of Web 2.0. In particular, audiences have more power on websites like Facebook, twitter, and even Youtube as they can represent themselves by actively joining groups for example. This is both beneficial to audiences and producers as they work together to produce content. However a Marxist would argue that institutions such as YouTube exploit audiences for content, which they host and make money out of. On the downside, audiences could in the future expect more power and more content to choose from, putting strain on institutions or even consumer-producers within the audience. Another issue with social networking is how is has taken over face to face communication. Though the internet on a wide scale has benefited audiences across the globe because they can communicate to anyone in the world, social networking has gotten to a point where audience live in this “virtual world”. This is also called hyper reality where “the simulation of something which never really existed” (Baudrillard, j.) or the “virtual irreality” (Sparrow, P.) which can have a negative impact on society’s basic form of communication; face to face talking! There are also a lot of recent concerns to do with privacy and safety on social networking sites. Sites like Facebook encourage audiences to provide information about themselves such as likes and hobbies but also more personal information such as location, employment, education and age. Piracy

It has been said that “media representations often reflect the social and political concerns of the age in which they are created”. Discuss.

Media representations very much reflect social and political concern, current affairs and cultural traditions. They are often created to subordinate or maintain a stereotyped group such as women, reinforcing the idea of hegemony. On the other hand, some institutions use representations to challenge existing ideas and stereotypes to make changes or reflect our diverse society. There are a range of representations of women since the 1940, as in society, they’ve constantly battled with men for equality or power. To keep them subordinated, the media- usually male- use their representations to “symbolically annihilate” (Tuchman, G.) them. These representations of women are also seen in American family sitcoms from Father Knows Best to recent shows like “Everybody Hates Chris” where family roles and ultimately women’s roles in the home are constantly changing.

The 1940’s representations of women were created by the elite to subordinate them, as their rising power was a concern in society. During the war, all the men were fighting so women left their housewife role to do jobs to keep society running for when the men came back. When they did come back, the women had higher expectation and wanted more control and power over what they wanted. This led to the know representation of women “femme fatale”. This representation was first seen in film noirs and now known as one of its conventions. The word translates to “deadly woman” as she was manipulative, seductive and money or power driven. An example of this is Phyllis from “Double Indemnity” (1944). To the male protagonist, she is beautiful and innocent, which leads him to help her achieve what she wants, which involves killing another man. But to the audience, it is clear her intentions are sinister through how effectively she is manipulating the protagonist. Especially to a male audience, this would make them not trust women and ultimately subordinate them. A Marxist and a Feminist would argue that this also shows that hegemony – the “idea of domination of one group over another" (Gramsci, A.) - does exist in society as in fear, the men dominated and ultimately subordinated the women. Therefore, it can be said representations reflect the social and political concerns of society, as the 1904’s poorly represented women, as they were feared of taking control.

The 1950’s had a representation of women as house wives, but also a complete family that only functioned in one way, which could suggest this representation, was model a “perfect family”.The 1950’s sitcom “Father Knows best” showed how a perfect family should be; the mother was the housewife, the doting daughter that aspired to be like her, signified by the fact they were dressed similar. The father is the breadwinner, who comes home from work to see a loving family, and the son, who again is dressed the same, aspires to be like him. A Marxist would argue that these representations would have been constructed in order to maintain order in society where the men were in control of the family, and the women would adhere to his rules. Even the title has hegemonic vales as “Father Knows Best” almost dictates power to the male figure.

More recent representations of women have reflected their aspirations of equality within society. For example “Doghouse” (2009) follows a group of guys, who badly treat their women, to a remote area where female zombies attack. This film uses the horror form to create a powerful message, as these zombie women are out to get these men for treating women badly. One of the first zombies seen is a corpse bride attempting to attack with a knife. The corpse bride instantly signifies a spinster, who possibly didn’t get married or was left at the altar by a man, highlighting her reasons for revenge. This dominant representation of bitter but sad and lonely women has been subverted and challenged as she is now actively trying to gain equality. It could be said by killing these men they are removing men who subordinate and therefore restoring gender equality. This corpse bride has a knife and stabs Danny Dyer’s character, who out of all the men is the most misogynistic. This phallic symbol could foreshadow women’s aspirations of equality and acts as a painful warning to men - as he screams when his hand gets stabbed. There are plural readings in this text as some may argue it’s a feminist text, as like the theory, these women are attempting to gain gender equality. Some might argue it’s a post feminist text, as where these men are misogynistic, the women attempt to destroy these men in order to regain equality. However, As the genre is a satirical horror, some may argue it’s another way of subordinating women, as they are “zombies”, feared monsters who are mindlessly attacking men with little purpose or result. Therefore, this does suggest representations are constructed to reflect social issues as the text is focused on gender equality for women.

Like Doghouse, The Simpson's takes its family stereotypes and adds a contemporary twist, which aims to break these traditions and reflect our diverse society. The set up of the family is simple and similar to Father Knows Best from the 1950's; the father is the breadwinner, the mother is a housewife, and they have three children, 2 girls and a boy. However, some of these representations are subverted, such as the father is lazy, as we often see him sleeping over a box of doughnuts at work in a dangerous power plant. Maggie is the baby who can't talk or walk, but often is seen doing things like fighting other babies with a broken baby bottle. Though these representations are exaggerated and clearly constructed, they do have a purpose. They aim to breakdown any sort of historical stereotype to release groups from expectations. However, some may argue that as the show has be running for so long in many countries, these representations are becoming fixed and are creating newer dominant representations of gender, especially towards men.

Though The Simpson is a sitcom and full of comedy, it sometimes uses characters to reflect contemporary issues and concerns. For example, in the episode 'Homer’ phobia, Homer is forced to deal with homosexuality, and his responses or lack of them at first, reflect peoples attitudes to it in society. At first homer is unaware of the new shop owner John's sexuality. He suggests inviting him and his wife to their home, but Marge says "I don't think John has a wife". This lack of understanding or awareness of John's sexuality could be a metaphor for how society ignores or rejects that people are gay. When Marge tells Homer John is gay, his first response is to scream and say "Oh my god! Oh my god". The institution cleverly reflects some people's negative attitudes towards it. In society "it seems that gender is determined and fixed as it was under the biology-is-destiny formulation" (Butler, J.), or gender is “a costume, a mask, a straight jacket” (Lerner, G.) that the media create and society adhere to. However, this episode attempts to challenge this dominant reading about gender and sex.

Though many of these shows appear to reflect the current issues within society, it could be argued that they are only there for entertainment. In particular, Doghouse and The Simpsons latch onto what’s current in society and rather than take a viewpoint, they mock the weaker or subordinated group. For example, Doghouse could be seen as mocking women who are the subordinated group within the film, pushing them down further. Similarly in The Simpsons, it could be argued that the show has strong American comedic values that involve explicitly targeting groups and mocking them through the ignorant and sometimes shocking represented characters like Homer and d Bart.

To conclude, I think that media representations do reflect social and political concerns. In the past, they were unfortunately used to subordinate or create fixed ideologies about how groups should be. This reflects the ridge structure of society in the past, where men were in control and in terms of the hypodermic needle theory; they injected their ideologies and passed it onto everyone else. Now due to the democracy of the internet and other aspects of society, the media uses representations to reflect the diverse nature of society. They are sometimes used to highlight current issues and make us open our eyes to our own ignorance and taboo subjects. Other times they are used just to create humour, to make us understand each other in a relaxed and informal way.

“Digital media have in many ways changed how we consume media products”. Who do you think benefits the most- audiences or producers?

New and digital media has had a major impact in various different areas in our society. Institutions with old media products such as print news and TV broadcasting, have had to adapt to the new platform; e-media, in order to obtain and increase the amount of consumers. Not only are consumers consuming media, but the existence of e-media and web 2.0 has allowed them to become producers, creating user generated content, or UGC. Common critical issues and debates concerning new and digital media, is whether institutions of old media can survive on the e media platform when it’s being bombarded with thousands of pages from normal people; so who can really benefit most from the changes?

The impact of digital media on TV broadcasting has lead to the availability of TV content on the internet, which makes consuming TV products much easier for audiences. Audiences no longer need to stick to the rigidness of scheduling and therefore do not have to be overpowered with control from the institution. Much of the TV content is now available on the internet, either from the broadcasting institution’s own website or other hosting sites. For example, Channel 4’s TV shows are available on channel4.co.uk/shows or even hosted by YouTube, PlayStation 3, Virgin Media and more recently BBC iPlayer. This content is available to audiences all the time and due to the convergence of technology, they can now consume with their portable product such as a mobile or tablet almost anywhere in the world. As a result this widely and easily accessible content means viewing TV content can happen where and whenever audiences choose to consume.

As TV content is free online, many assume audiences always expect free content and will do things like opt out of the license fee so institutions like the BBC will lose out, but that isn’t always the case and there are possible opportunities for the institution to benefit from it. Micropayment is a small business for paying small fees for TV content, which has often been criticised as audiences are too comfortable with watching free content. However, according to the entertainment company, Freemantle Media, their research says audience are “willing to pay small amounts for on-demand TV programmes from 5p up to as high as £2”. This infers that pay-walls and micropayments could have a successful place online because the institutions will benefit from the audience who are willing to pay for an online service. This has been a similar idea of Rupert Murdoch who has added a pay-wall for his successful and well regarded online version of the news newspaper, The Times (thetimes.co.uk/tto/news). The success of the pay-wall hasn’t been fully analysed but the institution expected a loss of 90% of consumers, but so far has only lost a third. Therefore, if institutions decide to put up a pay-wall for TV it would be beneficial as it is clear that audiences are happy to pay for TV if they choose not to stick to scheduling.

Due to the introduction of web 2.0, audiences are able to be more involved with creating and sharing information which has had an impact on news. Consumers are becoming more active and want to have an input in what they and others consume. As a result, the Guardian newspaper online (theguardian.co.uk) has a section called “comment is free” where audiences can comment on articles and create their own discussions. This shows how the institutions are willing to adapt to audience’s needs and therefore benefit both consumers and themselves.

Some argue that institutions are losing out due to citizen journalism, but it can benefit both the consumer and the producer. When audiences share on the internet, it seems news is beginning to lose its place in terms of its importance. Audiences trust citizen journalism as much as news institutions as they provide different accounts and angles of an event. That’s why the journalist researching the Ian Tomlinson case was successful because he embraced the “mutualisation of news. The guardian journalist, Paul Lewis, came across someone who had filmed Tomlinson getting beaten up by the police and later that day Tomlinson died of a heart attack. Without the user generated content from the citizen journalist, the police wouldn’t have discovered what had happened to Tomlinson, which shows that new and digital media can be benefit both producers and consumers.

The Mutualisation of News

Newspapers use to "operate a "tablet of stone" model of journalism". This is where the journalists present their own information and ideologies with very limited input from the reader

Due to the introduction of the internet, "citizen journalism" has allowed equality of production between journalists and readers.

Journalists are said to be struggling with the lack of power they get from shared production, but institutions are now trying to create a community of producers and consumers can work together.

They want to encourage people to consume more as well as produce.

Social networking sites such as twitter enable people to create media outside the organised media such as newspapers.


The Guardian has "682,000 followers on Twitter " which is double the print consumers, showing the importance of citizen journalism and the role of the internet in modern society.

There are some negatives with citizen journalism; there is no way to monitor information produced and published. This means that journalist can only use citizen journalism as a primary source that has to be verified.

An example of citizen journalims benefiting the news is the Ian Tomlinson case. Journalist Paul lewis wasn't convinced by the cause of Ian's death stated by the police, so decided to investigate on his own. After searching, he came across someone who filmed the assult on Ian by the police and was published online.

12. Relevant Theories to TV Broadcasting

Consider the theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new and digital media in TV broadcasting.

Marxism

This theory applies because the TV broadcast instituions are trying to obtain their power as media institutions by presenting broastcasted TV shows on E Media as well as Broadast.

Globalisation

Again, these institions are using new technologies to broadcast their shows to make consumption for audiences easier. This seems to be applicable to other countries around the world as other TV broadcast instituions are using the e media platform to broadcast their tv shows. For undeveloped countries, they are unable to use and share this use of technology to enhance audience consumption of TV broadcast.

Pluralism

This idea that institutions create fixed ideas for audiences isnt true and makes the new and digital changes in TV broadcast pluralistic for audiences. Audiences can consume what they want, when they want and take from it what they please: this shows how active audiences are.

10. Media Effects, Regulation and Censorship

What issues may there be regarding media effects, regulation or censorship as a result of changes due to new a digital media?

Regulation and censorship

They need to verify the audience's age for particular shows

e.g. BBC iPlayer- when playing a programme with adult content it asks for age to be 16+ and audiences have to agree their age is suitable.

There is also the oppotunity for parent lock, where a password is needed to watch adult content shows. This however only relies on audiences to sign up to it.

8. Political and Social Implications

What are the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption?

To regulate the sutability of shows for audiences, they verify the audience's age

e.g. BBC iPlayer- when playing a programme with adult content it asks for age to be 16+ and audiences have to agree their age is suitable.

There is also the oppotunity for parent lock, where a password is needed to watch adult content shows. This however only relies on audiences to sign up to it.

7. Concerns and considerations

What concerns/considerations are there (if any) for the media institutions involved in your case study as a result of the impact of new and digital media?

Losing TV audiences to Online TV- This could result in people not paying for TV licence. The BBC would lose out on funding!

TV broadcasters have to consider the needs of target audience, in order to appeal to them.

E.g. Audiences are expecting the things they consume to be more interactive

BBC's solution: Add a chat service to BBC iPlayer to make viewing programmes more of a social experience.

E.g. Audiences want to consume texts easily, whenever they choose

Institutions solutions: Their shows are available on the offical websites and other websites

6. Audience Response

How have the audience responded to changes? Is there more customer choice? Is there evidence of a more pluralistic model? What evidence do you have to support this?

All three insitutions provide more viewing choices for audiences. After the deregulation of TV, more channels have become more available and the BBC, ITV and C4 have taken advantage of the available channels. This provides more choice for audiences as they can view an excessive range of broadcasted shows when they choose to.

ITV

ITV1
ITV1 HD
ITV1 +1
ITV2
ITV2 +1
ITV3
ITV3 +1
ITV4
ITV4 +1

BBC

BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three
BBC Four
BBC One HD
BBC HD

Channel 4

Channel 4
4 HD
Channel 4 +1
E4
E4 HD
E4 +1
More 4
4Music
Film 4
Film 4 HD
Film 4 +1

There is more of a pluralistic model because audiences consume media texts as they choose as audiences are becoming more active. They also choose what gratifications they take from the text too. As audiences are more demanding, in terms of what they consume, this oppotunity to consume what they want means there is a positive response to changes.

4. Audience size

Is the size of the audience any different now than before the impact of new and digital media in TV broadcasting?

Due to the fact that audiences have a lot more control over what they consume and when they consume it, it has arguably widened the audiences, as scheduling limited audience viewing times.

3. Distribution and exhibition

What impact has there been on how TV broadcaster have to produce, distribute and exhibit texts? Refer to case study example.

Production:

Distribution and exhibition: Shows are being distributed to more institutions and exhibited by them. This allows the tv broadcaster to keep in contact with their audiences, fulfilling their needs on the platfom they desire, such as broadcast or E media.

Case Study: Channel 4
Channel 4 distribute and exhibit their shows to other institutions such as YouTube, tvcatchup.com etc

2. Audience consumption

What impact has there been on the way in which the audience now consume TV broadcasted shows? How does it differ from the past?

Social: Societies needs to consume things when ever they please comes from the interative nature of the internet e.g. Web 2.0. Audiences are becoming more active in what they consume and now produce.

Historical: Audiences use to stick to the scheduling set by the institution, but now catch up services allow audiences to consume TV texts whenever they please- usually within 30 days of it broadcasting on TV.

There is even more flexibility with PRVs as audiences can now consume what they what, when they want and can access them for as long as they want e.g. recording a film on TV means audiences dont have to buy it but can view and record it onto a disc if they choose to.

Economical: The internet allows things to be accessed for free. Audiences are becoming use to it and expect things for free. This is having a negative impact on TV broadcasting and more and more people are relying on broadband to give them free content rather than digitial TV.

BBC iPlayer

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/guides/online-tv/bbc-iplayer/

You can download and watch shows on iPlayer up to seven days after they air on TV
Using BBC iPlayer. BBC iPlayer is the most well known online TV on-demand service.

You can catch up with BBC programmes from the past week that you've missed or want to watch again. The iPlayer incorporates a media player, and an electronic programme guide (EPG).

It's also available to Virgin Media customers who can access BBC iPlayer on their TV by pressing the red button while watching any BBC channel, and on some Freesat set-top boxes and PVRs in a similar manner.

Ways to watch BBC iPlayer
There's a variety of ways to watch online TV with BBC iPlayer. If you're in the UK with an internet connection you can do the following:

1. Watch shows from the past seven days on the iPlayer website through Click to Play (streaming);

2. Download TV programmes and store them on your computer for up to 30 days;
access BBC iPlayer on certain mobile phones

3. Load downloaded shows onto compatible portable media players;
watch and download HD programmes;

4. Watch all the BBC channels live online.

HD TV using BBC iPlayer

The BBC's iPlayer is the first free online TV service to offer high-definition (HD) TV programmes. Viewers with an HD television or PC monitor can watch streamed HD content online or download HD programmes to watch later.

Virgin Media customers can also view BBC iPlayer HD content through the television if you have a Virgin Media V+ HD box and an HD-ready TV.

HD download dangers

HD files are larger than standard-definition programmes, so experts are warning consumers to be careful that they don't exceed any download limits set by their broadband provider.

Which? has surveyed thousands of broadband customers about their service – find the best packages and compare download limits in our broadband review.


iPlayer users can access a full range of BBC TV channels
What you can watch with BBC iPlayer online TV
The iPlayer shows programmes from each of the BBC's terrestrial and Freeview channels over the internet, including BBC1, BBC2 and CBBC.

Users can download and watch TV shows for up to seven days after they air on TV. Downloaded TV programmes can be stored and watched for up to 30 days if your computer supports the BBC iPlayer desktop.

As with rival broadcasters, some BBC TV content such as films, music and sporting events are not available to watch using the iPlayer because of rights issues. But the majority of BBC-made or commissioned television, such as soaps and drama series, are available.

BBC iPlayer social features
The BBC iPlayer has had of a facelift, with new features added. Two of these encourage connecting with your friends whilst watching BBC shows, making using the player a less insular experience.

Viewers can now recommend shows to their friends via social networks such as Facebook, adding personalised comments.

If you fancy watching shows with your friends, you can use the new messenger widget, which incorporates Windows Live Messenger.

This allows viewers to message their friends in real time as they watch the show, commenting on what's happening on screen. To use this function, it is necessary to have a Windows Live Messenger account.

These new features are currently only available in the beta version of the site, which can be found here on the BBC website.

How to watch BBC iPlayer on the go

iPhone 3G users can watch streamed iPlayer content online

Online TV programmes can also be downloaded from BBC iPlayer to a range of portable media players and mobile phones for viewing on the move. You can play iPlayer downloads on mobile gadgets supporting Windows Media digital rights management (Windows DRM).

Compatible devices for iPlayer downloads include the Nokia N96 mobile phone and Apple's iPhone 3G, Sony Walkman E and S series, and the Archos Internet Media Tablet. You can download TV content directly onto an internet-capable device or onto your PC before side-loading it on to a compatible portable media player.

To find out if your mobile device can play BBC iPlayer TV programmes, check the manufacturer’s manual. You can also find a list of compatible devices here on the BBC website.

Apple iPhone users can watch streamed BBC iPlayer content online when connected via a broadband Wi-Fi connection.

BBC iPlayer on Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3: In November 2009, the BBC iPlayer launched on the Wii in the form of a dedicated Wii channel. Connect your Wii to the internet and you can download the BBC iPlayer from the Wii Shop Channel.

The BBC iPlayer service is also available on Sony's Playstation 3. You can't download programmes, but you can stream them.

Broadband: Online TV, channel 4 on Demand

Channel 4's 4oD service offers a range of free content

Channel 4's 4oD online TV service allows you to watch most Channel 4 shows from the previous 30 days free of charge. There's also a range of older shows available from the Channel 4 archive, such as classic episodes of Brookside.

4oD is also available through some digital TV providers including BT Vision and Virgin Media.

As the shows are streamed directly to your PC as you watch, your broadband connection will have to be fast and reliable.

4oD is now available on YouTube, via their dedicated channel. The shows are sorted into their specific categories, such as comedy, drama and documentaries.

We've surveyed thousands of broadband customers about their service so to find the best package for you check out the Which? broadband review.

4oD on the PlayStation 3

In December 2010, 4oD was launched on the PlayStation 3. Owners can now watch content from the service free of charge on their console.

4oD can be accessed by signing into a Playstation Network Account, and selecting the TV icon on the Xcross Media Bar.

What you'll need to watch Channel 4oD online TV

To stream TV programmes to watch from a PC or laptop, you'll need a broadband internet connection and the following:

The latest version of Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X
A recent version of a recommended browser: 4oD recommends Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, or the latest versions of Firefox or Safari
An up-to-date version of Flash to view the shows: Adobe Flash 9.0.124 or higher. Mac users will need Adobe Flash 10.
Most PC, Mac and Linux users can access streamed online programmes using 4oD Catch-Up.

Demand for 5p online TV shows

UK consumers would be willing to pay up to £2 to watch TV programmes online, according to entertainment company FreemantleMedia.

Consumers would be happy to pay a small fee to watch TV programmes online, according to the entertainment company behind shows such as The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and The Bill. FreemantleMedia claims its research demonstrates that viewers are willing to pay small amounts for on-demand TV programmes from 5p up to as high as £2. “Micropayments as an online business model have often been attacked as unworkable because internet users are used to free content,” said Tony Cohen, chief executive at Freemantle. “But while online viewers have a huge appetite for programming many would use legal services if they were available.” The recent Digital Britain report said the Technology Strategy Board is to work with industry partners such as Freemantle and ITV to research the feasibility of a low-cost on-demand pay-per-view model. "For micropayments to work, we need to provide a pain-free, one-click service for users," added Cohen. "Freemantle, together with others in the sector, is funding a usability study for such a service and we should have the results in the autumn." How much would you pay for TV programmes online? Have your say in the Web User Forums

Video-on-demand to be regulated

Ofcom has announced that from December video-on-demand content such as iPlayer and 4oD will be subject to the same regulations as television broadcasts.

Video-on-demand (VoD) services will be subject to the same regulations as regular television broadcasts by 2010, Ofcom has announced.

This means that the BBC's iPlayer, SkyPlayer, ITV Player, MSN Video, Demand Five and the soon-to-be-launched UK version of Hulu will be regulated by 19 December 2009 in order to comply with EU rules.

Industry regulator Ofcom has announced that legislation will require VoD services to ensure that material doesn't break rules about discrimination and advertising, for example.

"Ofcom proposes that VoD services are regulated by the industry body, the Association for Television On Demand (ATVOD), and that advertising included in those services, is regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)," Ofcom said in a statement.

One service that will not come under the remit of the new regulations will be YouTube, which Ofcom defines as a site that hosts "unmoderated user-generated material".

However, several major broadcasters have official channels on YouTube, so the site doesn't purely host unmoderated material.

Ofcom is currently running a consultation on its proposals, which will conclude on 26 October.

BBC bids for online catchup service for UK's radio stations

• 'Radio Plus' could offer pre-record services
• Idea part of BBC's effort to help out struggling rivals

Jane Martinson The Guardian, Monday 23 March 2009 Article historyWant to know whether the love-lorn listener got lucky on Flirty at 8.30 this morning? Or would you like to series link every episode of the Archers from your car? Frustrated radio listeners may soon be able to access nearly every radio station in the country via a single online service under plans being drawn up by the BBC.

After meetings between senior executives at the corporation and in commercial radio, Tim Davie, the BBC's head of audio and music, believes an online radio player open to all broadcast radio providers could be available within the year. So, instead of consumers having to search for commercial stations such as Capital Radio or Heart FM on individual websites, they will be able to find them on something similar to iPlayer, the hugely popular online service which offers a 7-day catch up for all BBC output.

Longer term proposals would see a common standard - dubbed "Radio Plus" - that works across digital devices to offer the sort of pre-booking services found on Sky Plus and other personal video recorders. "Why shouldn't we be able to live pause, put it on hard drive, grab stuff from the past seven days and pre-book on radio as well as TV," says Davie, a former marketing executive who took over BBC Radio's most senior editorial job last September.

The preliminary proposals, which would need approval from the BBC Trust, would align the radio sector with the television industry, which already offers catch-up TV and the ability to pre-record programmes from both commercial and BBC channels.

They are also part of a BBC effort to prove that it can help out its cash-strapped rivals by sharing its technology and software and work on a common standard.

Such proposals - which include plans to work with rival ITV on regional news - are all part of the corporation's policy of promoting partnerships which it hopes will deflect from recent calls for its £3.5bn annual licence fee to be frozen or cut.

Davie says open access will avoid "bespoke solutions" and will help UK plc. His boss, BBC director general Mark Thompson, indicated that the BBC's commercial rivals needed help given the dire economic conditions of much of the ad-supported industry: "Is the BBC going to stand by or take tangible, measurable steps to partner, support and share some of its advantages to other media players?" he said.

The BBC move to partner old rivals is understood to have received tacit backing from the government. Communications minister Stephen Carter is keen to promote digital radio, which has failed to make a viable return for most commercial operators.

Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of Radio Centre, the trade body which acts for more than 90% of all radio stations, has been involved in early meetings with the BBC and welcomes the development. He also downplayed competition concerns, saying that the plan was for a standard that would not be closed to small players, unlike the Kangaroo project recently rejected by competition authorities. "The concept for this is entirely open access and will showcase all UK radio," he said.

Catch-up services account for 78% of online TV viewing

29 January 2009 By Danielle Long

Massive growth in traffic to broadcasters' on-demand sites partly comes from new web users attracted by online catch-up

Some 78% of online TV viewing is by people looking to catch up on missed broadcast TV, according to research by TV body Thinkbox.

The survey for the TV marketing body, conducted by Work Research, found UK broadcasters' online TV services, such as the BBC iPlayer and 4oD, were seeing strong growth in user numbers as people looked to catch up on linear TV programmes.

In total 64% of people had watched TV or video content on a computer and 44% had accessed online TV content recently.

While 58% of those who watched TV online were people who use the internet at least once a day at home, broadcaster services were attracting people new to the internet.

Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox, said,"These services from trusted brands are helping to persuade people who may have been reluctant to go online."

She said that while services such as ITV Player had seen significant growth, non-broadcaster sites such as Joost and Videojug had only received minimal users, with just 2-3% of people using them.

"There has been significant growth across all the online TV sites," said Alps. "The broadcasters are sizeable businesses and can run major marketing campaigns. Other players find it quite hard to get audiences." The research found BBC iPlayer was the most popular of the online TV services attracting 75% of viewers, followed by YouTube and ITV Player. Demand Five saw strong growth, overtaking Sky Player.

It also revealed that online TV viewers expect to receive advertising around content, with sponsorship and pre-roll ad formats gaining the highest recall at 53% and 34% respectively, well ahead of in-skin (14%) and live buys (5%).

The majority of online viewing is in the home, but watching at work and on mobile has doubled in the last six months to 6% and 10% respectively.

Alps said that while audiences welcome the convenience of viewing programmes online, they prefer to watch on TV, which is seen as more comfortable and sociable. She predicted there would be more IPTV services like the iPlayer and ITV Player on Virgin Media.

"While 2008 showed phenomenal growth for web-based TV services, it's still growing and I think it will be interesting to see where on-demand will end up," she said.

The online TV research coincides with further Thinkbox findings that reveal broadcast TV viewing i 2008 increased by nearly an hour a week.

1. Ownership and Control

1. Has new and digital media had an impact upon ownership and control of institutions involved in TV broadcasting?

ITV Digital

A digital terrestrial Tv broadcaster
It was launched by Carlton and Granada, independent TV companies
The ITV Digital failed to launch and in 2002, the two companines were forced to merge
Granda owns 2/3 of the company which became ITV plc

ITV and Social networking

ITV bought Friends Reunited in 2005 for 175m
In 2009 it sold it for 25m- a loss of 150m
Sold to Brightsolid Limited- owned by DC comic publishers

Channel 4 and Music channel

Channel 4 teamed up with EMAP to provide a TV music channel- 4Music
They have a revenue f 28m from the team up

Case Study Choice

The impact of new and digital media on TV broadcasting

Text choices:

ITV- commercial channel

BBC- Public Service broadcaster

Channel 4- Public Service Broadcaster

The Impact of New and Digital Media Theories

Hegemony

"Gramsci used the term hegemony to denote the predominance of one social class over others"

"This represents not only political and economic control, but also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those who are subordinated by it accept it as 'common sense' and 'natural'"

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism10.html

Hegemony refers to the winning of popular consent by the ruling group largely through media representations of the world and its social institutions, such as education, work and the family.

http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/understanding-ideology/

Marxism

"Marxist theorists tend to emphasize the role of the mass media in the reproduction of the status quo, in contrast to liberal pluralists who emphasize the role of the media in promoting freedom of speech"

"Marxists view capitalist society as being one of class domination; the media are seen as part of an ideological arena in which various class views are fought out, although within the context of the dominance of certain classes; ultimate control is increasingly concentrated in monopoly capital"

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism10.html

Pluralism

"A pluralistic media -- marked by a variety of outlets with diverse ownership and viewpoints, independence and transparency -- is generally believed to contribute to a press that honors the ideals of democracy and reflects diversity within society."

http://ijnet.org/community/groups/10189/media-pluralism-divisive-or-democratic

Cultural Imperialism "accused western powers (mainly the United States and Britain) of maintaining an imbalance in the flow of information from the First World to the Third World. This western dominance of indigenous cultures was a form of ‘coca-colonialism’ designed to maintain western power, prevent development, exploit resources – generally to ‘McDominate’ "

http://www.britishcouncil.org/history-why-cultural-imperialism.htm

Post-colonialism

"Post-colonialism" loosely designates a set of theoretical approaches which focus on the direct effects and aftermaths of colonization"

"Post-colonialism forms a composite but powerful intellectual and critical movement which renews the perception and understanding of modern history, cultural studies, literary criticism, and political economy."

http://www.semioticon.com/virtuals/postcol.htm

Globalisation

"Technological, political, and economic changes which they believe make the world
function in a different way from the way it did twenty or thirty years ago"

"Computers, cell phones, and internet have brought about major changes in world communication. Not only is it easier to communicate across the globe, but countries and regions without access to this new technology are excluded from world developments"

"Over the last thirty years some countries have not only successfully adapted to globalization but they have become the key drivers of the process. The United States, Western Europe and Japan are today the key beneficiaries and leaders of the globalised world. Their historical status as colonial powers, with industrialized societies gave them a significant edge"

http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/development/globalisation.html

Studying TV sitcoms

Tackling the exam

This topic is new to OCR AS level Unit 2731: Textual Analysis, as an optional topic on Section B. The first exam session in January 2003 for this year’s AS students.

Exam requirements

• Choose two specific episodes from two different sitcoms on British television (so this includes US sitcoms shown on British TV – you could do one of each)

• Study how gender is represented in the two programmes

• Compare the similarities and differences between the gender representation in two programmes.

• The OCR specification lists the following possible areas for questions:

Representation of the construction of gender in characters; construction of characters by appearance and dialogue; the characters’ function in the themes and narratives of the programmes; stereotypes and archetypes; casting issues; characters’ values and beliefs and how they are positioned by the narrative and preferred reading of the programme.

Top tips for the exam

• You need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the processes of representation in media texts: do this by comparing the messages, values and social signification, in respect of gender, in two texts (you can choose US or British programmes, or a combination of the two).

• Be clear about what the concept of representation is, and how you can analyse it in television texts.

• You can study the institutional, social and cultural contexts of the TV sitcom as part of your preparation for this topic, but don’t get too bogged down in this – remember that you need to focus your answers firmly on a comparison of two texts and on demonstrating your conceptual knowledge and understanding.

• Study a variety of programmes at home (on terrestrial TV, or on Paramount Channel and UK Gold – many are on VHS and DVD and available in local libraries) but (if your teacher hasn’t already done this for you) choose two episodes to study in depth for the exam answer. You can briefly mention other programmes – as long as you answer the question.

• Be thoroughly prepared for the demands of timed answers (45 marks in 45 minutes) and on structuring an answer to an exam question. Address the key words in the question straight away in the first paragraph and ‘touch base’ in each paragraph, finishing with a conclusion which refers to the specific wording of the question.

• An answer on the history of the sitcom or a summary of TV gender representation through the decades will not earn you marks, no matter how good it is. Answer the question set and offer lots of examples to back up your points.

• Bear in mind that characters in sitcoms are the result of a variety of processes of construction – ideological, institutional and production processes (such as in the writing, casting, acting, direction, narrative, mise-en-scène, including costume, make-up, audience interpretations etc.) and are not self-determining entities. No matter how strong a star persona might be, they are following a script and are directed by a director – so beware of producing character sketches or descriptions of characters as if they were real people!

• You need to research and provide the following details in your answer, to show attention to detail:

– title of each programme and date or title of episode
– names of writer, director, producer, main actors’ names (previous roles where relevant)
– production company name and other programmes made by them, if relevant to your point
– channel of broadcast and time in schedule (original or subsequent)
– names of any writers whose critical work is quoted and their sources.

• Don’t be deceived by the comic aspect of the topic into using slang or a casual mode of address. Write formally and attend to issues of presentation, spelling, grammar, punctuation and so on.

Vivienne Clark is Principal Examiner for the Textual Analysis paper for OCR Media Studies

Studying the Simpsons: Gender, sitcom, satire

Whether you’re studying gender and sitcom for OCR, researching your Med5 Independent Study or your WJEC ME4 essay, The Simpsons will tell you everything you need to know. Rob McInnes shows you how to unpick the magic and mechanics of the world’s favourite TV family.

One of the challenges to Media Studies students is to find your way through a warren of indigestible ‘theory’ while being required to produce coherent exam responses. For the Textual Analysis Paper of OCR’s AS Media exam, you will need to demonstrate an understanding of the mechanics of media texts. For example:

– You will have to study two complete episodes of two situation comedies.
– In the exam you do not have to discuss the history of situation comedy, or generalise about the nature of the genre.
– The exam question will ask you to focus only on the ways in which each programme constructs its representations of males and females, although it may ask you to relate this to other elements of the sitcom, such as ideas about comedy or narrative.

A long time ago, on a TV set far away…

Forget M*A*S*H, Frasier and Friends, it is The Simpsons that is well on the way to becoming the longest running sitcom ever. It is already the longest running prime-time animation television series – although it wasn’t the first. That achievement belongs to another half-hour ‘family’ comedy first produced by independent studio, Hanna-Barbera, over forty years ago: The Flintstones, the first animated sitcom to be broadcast in prime-time (between 6.00 and 10pm), the most competitive period of American network scheduling. Back in 1960, the year it was first broadcast, The Flintstones had been seen as a risky venture, having been rejected by every network and many advertising sponsors before eventually finding a home on ABC – one of the USA’s three main television networks. The success of the show for adult audiences is probably down to its use of the already well-established format of the sitcom.

Take a successful formula…

By the end of the 1950s sitcoms such as I Love Lucy in the USA and Life with The Lyons in the UK had helped establish a successful formula based on familiar characters in predictable settings, recorded in confined studio sets, with a small audience providing immediate responses to the gags. The characters of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Barney and Betty Rubble were based on The Honeymooners, two neighbouring couples featuring in long sketches on The Jackie Gleason Show. A year or so later, Hanna and Barbera used the same technique with Top Cat, modelled on Sgt. Bilko and other characters in The Phil Silvers Show. The ‘limited animation’ technique permitted many more minutes of animation to be produced than before and was essentially what made the Hanna-Barbera shows financially viable for television. By animating as few frames as possible, and by utilising stock expressions, a growing library of familiar sound effects, repetitive musical cues and by imitating conventional studio camera angles (together with the artificial laugh track that came to be known as ‘canned laughter’), television animation could bring something new to the sitcom genre.

Massive marketing to multiple audiences

Years after Hanna-Barbera had proved that prime-time animation could rework the sitcom format as a cartoon, few people could have anticipated the impact, influence and resonance of the series that grew from the crudely-realised quickie sequences created by Matt Groening as ‘bumpers’ (between the ad breaks and the sketches) for The Tracy Ullman Show. The Simpsons was one of the first big successes for the new American Fox network, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation; and the company immediately picked up on the show’s appeal and marketed it aggressively. Similarly in Britain, the programme spearheaded the launch of the new Sky One satellite channel (also a part of the Murdoch media empire) where for some time it was the only place to see it; this helped lend it early cult status. However, both Fox and the show’s writers carefully cultivated a range of target audiences, from the youngest children who were attracted to the bright colour palette, slapstick visuals and prominence of Bart (an anagram of ‘brat’) to the sophisticated media-literate college students who were provided with an apparently endless stream of in-jokes and layered pop culture references to movies, comics and old TV series.

Add everybody’s favourite family guy

The breadth of the show’s appeal has led to some interesting critics and surprising champions. Famously, George Bush Snr. publicly expressed his desire for American families to be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons. Conversely, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Wales has more recently described the programme as:

one of the most subtle pieces of propaganda around in the cause of sense, humility and virtue.

Like Williams, psychologists and sociologists across the western world have been drawn to the family’s almost mythological ordinariness, frequently focusing on the character of Homer himself. Over the years, the programme’s storylines have featured Homer increasingly heavily, perhaps because he so readily embodies the concept of the ‘everyman’, an ordinary blue-collar (working-class) character whose motives for any action are always self-serving and built upon a sound basis of laziness and stupidity. In an early episode in which he thinks he is dying from poisoned fish, Homer shares the totality of his wisdom with his son:

Bart, I want to share something with you – the three little sentences that will get you through life. Number One, ‘Cover for me’. Number Two, ‘Oh Good idea boss.’ Number Three, ‘It was like that when I got here.’

Yet despite his less-than-conscientious attitude to life and work, Homer also manages to appear a loyal and loving husband and father, whose lack of self-awareness prevents him from ever seeming really dislikeable.

A recipe for trash – or insightful social satire?

The Simpsons might be said to be guided by a ‘trash aesthetic’ that mocks both ‘high art’ and celebrates and revels in popular culture. The caricatured nature of the inhabitants of Springfield provide the programme’s writers with a constant flow of opportunities for satire and parody. Subsidiary characters often provide either joke-driven cameos or the motor for an entire story. Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders together are used to lampoon attitudes to religion, in ways that other USA television series rarely attempt. Comic Book Guy and Professor Frink demonstrate the show’s preoccupation both with obscure movie parody and the obsessive nature of movie, TV and comic fans. But however delightful these incidental pleasures may be, the show’s major satirical concerns are reserved for its primary characters.

The eighth season episode ‘Homer’s Phobia’ is an interesting example of mainstream television’s potential to explore controversial subject matter. The episode has been amongst the most controversial of the show’s run to date (see side-bar on page 24).

Case study: ‘Homer’s phobia’

The family befriend John, the owner of ‘Cockamamie’ a store in the Springfield Mall full of camp and nostalgic merchandise. John is voiced by film director John Waters, famous for both low-budget ‘trash’ movies and mainstream features such as Hairspray. Blissfully ignorant of John’s sexuality (‘Doesn’t he seem a little … um, festive to you?’ Marge quizzes Homer early on), Homer enjoys his company without realising that John is attracted to the family’s ‘camp’ virtues; their kitchen décor, their record collection, etc. Homer’s usual simpleton persona is morphed into bigot for the purposes of the episode’s satirical tone. On learning from Marge that John’s ‘family won’t be coming over’ he retreats into an absurd caricature of homophobic extremism and refuses to join Bart, Lisa and Marge on their trips out to visit the dark, sordid underbelly of Springfield’s society. However, worse is to come – Homer imagines that Bart is displaying signs of gayness and in keeping with many bigoted perceptions of homosexuality as a pathological problem or disease, becomes totally pre-occupied with ‘curing’ him.

Homer then attempts to ensure Bart does not ‘turn’ by sitting him in front of an roadside billboard depicting scantily clad women advertising Laramie cigarettes for two hours; he then takes him to a steel mill, only to discover that the entire workforce are gay and spend their rest breaks platform dancing (‘We work hard – we play hard!’). Drowning his sorrows at Moe’s, Homer is reassured by Moe and Barney that today’s society has a ‘swishifying effect’ on the young and that the only way to ‘cure’ him of queer tendencies is to take him hunting (‘Shooting a deer will make him a man.’). In locating this scene in the bar, ‘Homer’s Phobia’ takes the series’ traditional settings (the Simpsons’ kitchen and the bar) and reminds us how conventionally they represent male and female environments. The audience has to confront and question its own assumptions about gendered behaviour, and indeed about representation itself. Homer’s hunting trip almost ends in disaster as, failing to find a deer in the wild, Bart is taken to a reindeer enclosure and expected to shoot a captive animal. When the animals stampede, they all end up having to be rescued by John with the aid of a miniature robot Father Christmas – ‘the reindeer’s cruel master’. John adds:

Well, Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life. Now if every gay man could just do the same, you’d be set.

The episode hints at the difficulties of confronting deep-rooted prejudices, but offers the hope that exposing those prejudices may eventually break them down. In America, homophobia still remains an ‘acceptable’ prejudice among many sectors of society, not least fundamentalist religious groups. This contrasts interestingly with racism which, after decades of civil rights lobbying and consciousness-raising, is now unacceptable and condemned. Try comparing homophobic and racist issues in your own school or college environment. How much more common is homophobic bullying than its racist counterpart? Gay issues have recently taken centre stage in the States with a legal battle raging in California where San Francisco judges granted marriage licences to gay and lesbian couples. Earlier this year, President George Bush stepped in, threatening a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.

And satire is …?

‘Homer’s Phobia’ raises the issue of homophobia in a satirical way; that is, it holds a mirror up to human behaviour in order to illustrate our weakness and contradictions. The best satire can sometimes be so subtle it’s barely noticeable. For example, in 1729, in his short publication A Modest Proposal author Jonathan Swift argued that eating children would solve most of the problems of poverty in Ireland. He subtitled the piece:

A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public.

A self-contained essay, it contains few hints that the idea might not be serious, or that his ‘proposal’ was asking its readers to question the notion that logic and reason should entirely govern human behaviour. Reading it now, you might be forgiven for thinking it a product of some deranged eighteenth-century proto-fascist; its internal logic is so well-structured and its arguments made to sound so reasonable.

Swift demonstrated that for satire to be effective it has to risk both offending and outraging people and being misunderstood. Above all it has to encourage the reader/viewer/audience to think for themselves, rather than accept its apparent, superficial principles.

However, satire on television is trickier, due to the weight of audience numbers, the large sums of money involved and the vested interests and political agendas of media owners. Mike Scully, executive producer of The Simpsons for many years, notes how the programme makes regular jokes at the expense of the Fox network that produces and distributes the show:

We have a tendency to bite the hand that feeds us. But they understand that it’s part of the fun of the show.

Scully says The Simpsons is unique for an American network programme in that it is rarely interfered with:

… on most shows you have to accept the input of the network and the studio, their notes on the things they want to be changed. Normally there would be around 12 people going over your script, telling you what’s wrong with it and how to fix it, and we don’t have that. We’re completely autonomous.

However, the ‘Homer’s Phobia’ episode had:

probably the most censor notes of any show we’ve had – two solid pages of single spaced notes. But most of the edge of the show was still there.

Is satire dangerous? Till Death Us Do Part

A satire invariably requires key characters to behave in necessarily negative ways. This often provokes conflicting audience reactions, particularly towards a popular character. This problem is exaggerated when a character is perceived as a role model. Debates about how far The Simpsons provide negative role models will draw upon viewers’ responses to the programme’s representations and values. They certainly echo earlier debates around programmes such as Till Death Us Do Part which featured an irascible bigot, Alf Garnett who, in 1960s’ Britain, prompted serious controversy about his depiction of bigotry and intolerance on-screen. In that programme his character was frequently shown to be the ‘loser’ in most arguments and his views were counter-balanced by the remainder of the regular characters, particularly his daughter and her fiancé. The problem was that Garnett (played by Warren Mitchell, who periodically revives the character) simply had all the funniest lines. The humour could therefore easily be seen as celebrating the very thing that it condemned. The BBC and writer Johnny Speight defended the programme but when a more conservative Director General arrived at the BBC, the series was taken off-air for some years.

As with Till Death Us Do Part, ‘Homer’s Phobia’ deliberately accentuates its central character’s ignorance and prejudice at the risk of alienating some of its Homer fans and of confirming the prejudices already held by some viewers. Certainly, websites such as ‘The Simpsons Archive’ reveal some dramatically differing readings of the episode. Some posts praise the episode for the very reasons others condemn it.

‘Homer’s Phobia’ demonstrates both how effective television comedy can be at revealing social attitudes towards gender and sexuality and how intricate are the processes of constructing representations in a medium that is too often considered throwaway and superficial. Time for homework, anyone?

Rob McInnes if Head of Media Studies at Forest Hill School, South London.

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 10, December 2004