Coursework representation Analysis
Writing
Style Analysis Parts
In this Investigation, I will be
analysing how my chosen 2 programs, 'Sun, Sex, and Suspicious Parents' and
'Shoplife', infuences the audiences judgements/conceptions of young
adults, and explain how the Cultivation Theory, along with Jaques Lacan's Gaze
Theory and the development of this, Laura Mulveys Gaze theory. I aim to explain
how these theories apply to the texts and explore how the representation of
young people, portrayed through these 2 programs, shapes these perceptions.
The History of Reality TV is something
which has crept into our national culture and rooted itself in the domain of
national identity, with endless formats and ideas thrown about and watched by
Millions of the British public.
Reality TV, or similar forms, can be dated back to 1940. 'The American Family',
a 12 part docuentary, focussed on the marital tensions and issues experienced
in family. Coupled with the fact that this was revoloutionary in media terms,
it expressed the first forms of hybridity, acting also as a documentary,
which is echoes in modern time with examples being my chosen texts.
It is evident now that reality television has
slithered into our. Whether it's our fascination with the "Bachelor"
or "Mob Wives," reality TV dominates our lexicon, our water-cooler gossip
and even the way we dress.
It is obvious that this influence on our lives
has demonstrated the cultivation theory. Invented by Professor George Gerbner, who began the 'Cultural Indicators' research project in the mid-1960s,
to study whether and how watching television may influence viewers' ideas of
what the everyday world is like. HE found that people
who watch a lot of television are likely to be more influenced by the ways in
which the world is framed by television programmes than are individuals who
watch less, especially regarding topics of which the viewer has little
first-hand experience. Linking
to my chosen texts we can see how this theory can apply to the audience of
‘Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents’ and ‘Shoplife’, who without experience of
growing up in the past 10 years make judgements based the dominant Ideology and
their perceived views collected from watching such reality TV. Further
enforcing the view of Culitivation was Baudrillard, who argued that reality in
the modern world canot exist. The media saturation of society means that ll
presentations of truth or facta re actually representations that are mediated
selected and filtered. This leaves us in the Hyperreality, where what
Whilst
Reality TV has captured the nations viewing habits and interests,
the representations of its participants have evolved, particularly young
people. The representation in these shows, in specific, Sun, Sex, and
Suspicious Parents, are overwhelmingly derogative and like a leech saps all
credibility from the young people of today. Reality
TV of this sort furthermore demonstrates the way in which the Gaze Theories,
most prominently Jaqques Lacan. His theory encapsulates why we have the
fascintion with tv and television represention, and aprminent elemt to this
theory was the ‘Mirror Phase’. He suggested that when a small child sees
his/herself in a mirror, what it sees is the perfect being, and his translates
to our fascination and idolization of realty TV stars, who we see as the
‘Perfect Beings’. This then leads to people emulating and acting as the program
presents its protagonist. Hyper-Reality is now the phenomenom we are
experiencing, where what we see on TV is barelt a copy of reliaty whichwe
mirror, therefore we end up emulating a hypothetical world on TV which we
perceive as reality. This theory as much can apply to the influence that Sun,
Sex and Suspicious parents has on young people in particular, by glorifying and
focusing on cheap alcohol fuelled holidays we being to emulate this.
1. One could say that toung adults are represented in sun
sex and suspicious parents as being stereotypically lazy, being over-cared for
by their parents and lacking the independence they need to progress into adult
life. With my chosen text particularly depicting a young male as particularly
dependant.
However there is evidence for this
statement, a investigation done by BPHS in 2008 found “For young adults completing full-time education, it
has become commonplace to return home. More specific to males they found that
‘Men remain more likely to be living in the parental home than women’.
It is visible to see that sun
sex and suspicious parents’ representation complys to this stereotype, and this
is proven by a scene in which we see the young male character Ronnie summon his
mum to cut his toe nails whilst in the bath, and the narrator also back this
view by saying “the only downside (referring to going on holiday), is leaving
his doting mum”.
2. A further representation
generated by Sun Sex and suspicious parents would be the sexual nature and the
importance of Sex in young peoples culture and identity. We are shown images of
various sexual acts being performed between boy/girl, and are constantly
reminded that this is the reason, predominantly boys, go on holiday. The Girls
are seen as over suaxual, aiming to appease the boys by wearing skimpy
revealing outfits.
One quote explains this
representation and enforces the stereotype of young adults being sexually
obsessed. When questioned
by his parents, he spoke out for his ‘generation’, claiming “I’m just doing
what every lad does…This is what people our age do.” - http://www.concrete-online.co.uk/sun-sex-and-suspicious-parents/
. However it
is not just the males stereotype which is reinforced, the subject of teenage
sexuality is equally as discussed. In an
article written, ‘Why do teenage girls dress so provactively?’, the author
wrote…’They want to cut a slit in
their t-shirts so that their cleavage shows. Girls want to cut holes in
their jeans to show a little skin or a trace of their underwear.’ http://www.chicagonow.com/good-bad-parents/2012/01/why-do-teenage-girls-dress-so-provocative/
It is evident that the male
and female characters overwhelmingly comply with the stereotypes. It is proven
by one scene in which we see Sophie, the female character, saying how she
refused to allow her mum to repack her suitcase due to the fact she had hidden
condoms in the bottom. This proves the representation the program aims to create
of teenage empahasis on sex. Another piece of prrof to back this statement is a
short shot of one of Ronnies friends humping his bed, stimulating sex. Overall,
from the vidence we can see clearly that this represenatation has a solid
foundation and is proven to be reinforced.
3. One huge issu/representation
that featres massively in the construction of the program is teenage drinking.
As soon as the credits orll we ar lambasted with images of drunken misbehavior,
and copious images of alcoholic beverages. This is a stereotype which has been
developed and exploited by programs as such, and whether this representation is
wholly true or only partly is irrelevant to the producers; tey want to present
teenage drinking in its most prominent and irresponsible forms.
Statisticas gathered from a website called ‘Teenage
binge drinking’ back up this idea of xtreme alcohol consumption within young
adultsn and the fact that ‘90% of the alcohol consumed
by teens is consumbed in the form of binge drinking.’ Reinforces the
representation. Statistics also found that On average, young people have about
5 drinks on a single occasion, which can be considered binge drinking.
One of our first insights intp
the girls holiday experience is when they have just unaced in the paartmeant,
and Sophie is heard saying, “ I aven’t even been here 10 minutes and already I
want to go out and just drink some cocktails”, and late on she is quoted saying
“ I wan to get fucked”. The theme of drinking also relates to the boys, and
inparticular we are shown a shot of Ronnie taking a shot of liquer up his nose.
4. However the antics displayed
in Sun Sex and Suspicious parents cannot be applie to Shoplife, which gives a
much better representation of the same age group. Th stereotype of teenage over
depedance and binge drinking is not highlighted in Shoplife instead we witness
a struggle in which young people are desperately trying to find employment or
trying to increase their employability in some cases.
