Module 6 essay
Using the comparison of these two tests as your starting point, explore the media issues and debates which they raise
In your answer you will need to address
Key Concepts
Contextual Factors
Media Theory
Both text 1 and text 2 suggest that we live in a patriarchal society where the male dominates the female and can be seen as the hegemonic gender. In text 1, the female is stereotyped as she is shown as being domesticated and weak in her position. In the clip of text 1, the female is located in the kitchen and serving people with food, which can be linked to the idea of women being set in the home being housewives. The fact that the woman is working can be linked to the fact that this text was set in the second world war, and that the zeitgeist is presented as women had started to get more and more jobs as men were sent off to war as soldiers and these women were needed to fill the jobs and carried them on when the war was over. Basil Fawlty is shown as more powerful then his wife in this text as he makes her do things and she quickly listens without questioning him, although this could be seen as humorous as this sitcom was shown at 8.30pm on BBC, to entertain its audience.
In text 2, the new pupil is shown as the object of the male gaze, according to Laura Mulvey, who stated that females are shown to be made seductive in order to be gazed upon by their male counterparts as well as the male audience and also the constructed male audience. When Marilyn arrives, all the boys “yabba” over her and fall for her attractiveness. This could be seen as a negative thing as this comic is targeted at young children and therefore according to the effects theory, it is hammering into their heads that relationships are based upon the outer beauty and not inner beauty, which could be seen as destructive for the young minds. There is also a “tomboy” in this comic, but it is the pretty girl who gets the attention which implies that girls have to be pretty to gain any attention from boys.
Both of these texts present to the audience socially segregated people in society which can link to stereotyping. Text 1 is set in the post-colonisation time period and therefore to emphasise this, it includes a black character. Normally, as Stuart Hall suggests, there are three ways in which black people are typically represented in the media; as the trouble maker, as the entertainer or as being dependent. He also suggests that the origins of racist ideology lie in colonialism which represented the blacks as “primitive” and “savage” and whites as “civilized” and “developed”. This text however subverts these representations as we have an authoritative figure, the doctor, who is played by the black character. This can be linked to the success of the civil rights movements, and aims to laugh at the people who are racist.
