[5.1] What Are Media Representations

[5.2] Representations of Gender, Race, and Class

[5.3] Representations of Different Cultures

[5.4] Studying Media Representations

[5.5] Teaching Analysis of Media Representations

[5.6] Representation and Censorship

[5.7] Representations and Idealization

[5.8] Studying Representations of Social Types or Groups

[5.8a] Representations of Femininity

[5.8b] Masculinity

[5.8c] Masculinity and Sports

[5.8d] Gays / Lesbians

[5.8e] Racial and Ethnic Groups

[5.8f] Class

[5.9] Families and Age Groups

[5.10] War

[5.11] Political Parties and Organizations

[5.12] Counter-Representations

[5.13] Additional Web Resources

[5.14] Teaching Activities

Powerpoints

[5.9.1] A study by Professor Katharine Heintz-Knowles for Children Now of the representation of children on television found that children are often portrayed as motivated primarily by peer relationships, sports, and romance, and least often by community, school-related, or religious issues.

[5.9.2] Another study by Professor Dale Kunkel, also for Children Now, on the types of issues covered by news about children indicated that the primary focus of the coverage was on crime and violence — about half of all television news stories, and about 40% of all newspaper articles.

Adolescents are often portrayed in being in a crisis state, without providing them with tools for critically analyzing reasons for their problems. In the following three sites, David Considine, argues that the media present adolescents with a lot of consumer options and portrayals of substance abuse, but do not provide any critical analysis of these options/abuse or strategies for coping with them:

[5.9.3] Teaching Media Literacy through the Teen-Screen
[5.9.4] Teens as Targets? Adolescent's Media Tastes and Preferences
[5.9.5] Media Literacy: And Middle Grade Students: A Rationale.

Children are also represented in television commercials in ways that socialize them to become active consumers with defined needs for various consumer products at an early age:

[5.9.6] Sharon Beder: Marketing to Children
[5.9.7] Caught in the Web: Online Advertising Targets Kids

[5.9.8] New York Times lesson: Annissa Hambouz and Javaid Khan, “Media Babies: Considering the Effects of Electronic Media on Infants and Toddlers”

[5.9.9] The trailer for the film The Goonies contains a number of stereotypical group representations.

[5.9.10] Film Education unit: Representations of Youth

[5.9.11] A study sponsored by Children Now of prime time television programs in the Fall of 2000 found that only 3% of the characters were 70 and older, and only 13% fell between the ages of 50 and 69, in contrast to the reality that 9% of the American population is over 70 and 28% are over 50. There was also a gender bias; only 19% of women were over age 40.

[5.9.12, 5.9.13] Web sites for AARP and The National Council on Aging present the elderly in a very different, more positive light.

[5.9.14] However, an analysis of the representations of the elderly over 65 in prime time television commercials did not find evidence of negative representations.