Crystal Alicia Campbell

Q.2 how does your media product represent particular social

groups?

Think about age, gender, social class, ethnicity, disability

etc. how does your front cover, contents page and double
spread relate to a particular social group. Consider Emos,
Goths, gangster, etc.

How my media product represents social class

The media plays significant roles in shaping reality of the various social classed
which are in society and thus media helps to foster peoples concepts of class,
wealth and poverty, the media always tend to focus on areas of society whom
are wealth/privileged and also the media provides information on various
individuals who are successful or have been hurt or killed in order to keep us
updated on the current affairs of the world and to also allow us to keep updated
with the latest gossip and news of the world. My media product represents the
working class people because it is a magazine devoted to the sorts of simple
music which the working class may listen to and also some of the middle class if
they may be having a relaxed day there is always some room to listen to a Bob
Marley song to get motivated. My magazine is mainly aimed at the working class
due to the price of it being 2.50, it is affordable because the working class
people work harder for their money and in order for them to spend it on a
magazine it needs to be worthwhile.
How my media product represents age and gender
The media representation of age is based on various age groups in society such
as children, adolescents and the elderly people whose representations are also
based on stereotypes. Children within the media are portrayed as victims, little
devils, accessories or active modern consumers whereas teenagers are seen as
social problems depending their cultures at times where they may exhibit certain
behaviours whereas elderly people are often portrayed as conservative,
dependent and often people become very worried about elderly people as their
age begin to increase. Within my magazine I think that gender is represented but
of teenagers going into adult years because that is the time where their media
knowledge is at its optimum and they ill begin to explore and listen to various
things more and also read upon the things which they find interesting.
Gender is also important because within the media there are certain feminine
and masculine roles which are portrayed. Men are considered to be masculine
and are emotionally vulnerable at times, they are very worried at times about
appearance and men should treat women as equals however these stereotypes
are not always portrayed properly within the media and men can b seen as
keeping their emotions bottled up. Within my magazine I think it appeals to both
women and men because women within the social media are portrayed as
models, role models and are successful in what they do e.g. R&B artist Rihanna

Crystal Alicia Campbell

or reggae artist Spice. Both sexes would read my magazine because the articles
are not specifically just aimed at one group of people, it is aimed at all.
How me media product represents ethnicity
Media plays an important role is the representation of ethnic groups, the ethnic
group which is being represented within my magazine is black people because to
me black people are ethnic minorities that can be portrayed within the media as
criminals because they are often found in the main media coverages. A key
researcher names Van Dijk found that black people tend to be portrayed as
criminals especially within he media and at times are shown to be gangsters and
tokenisms within the media. Ethnic minorities within society are often treated as
a threat to the majority of society whom are white, some social medias can
portray other ethnic groups as immigrants and asylum seekers, however over
the years media outlook has become less stereotypical and various ethnic groups
are put into the media spot light for different reasons. Overall I think that my
magazine expresses the soft side of the Caribbean culture with the type of music
genre which has been expressed through the magazine.
How my media product represent disability
Disability is shown in the media because it helps to represent people who may
not be seem as normal, they may be seen as a burden but there are various
areas within society which are set into place to help them to not be pitted but
treated correctly and within my magazine, individuals with disabilities are not
represented, because I has not taught about them whilst making my magazine,
which could be something to have in mind next time, because I am aware there
are ways in which people with reading difficulty can understanding words when
they are ina different formatted form of language.