WEEK 8 : Ideology, Discourse and Power

In week 8 we focused on Ideology, Discourse and Power in the media and spoke about sexuality, race and many other different things which cause divides and issues in media. The lecture covered dominant discourses and representations and spoke about the fact that all representations in media cannot be taken seriously as they are all unrealistic.

In the first set reading by Long and Wall they focused on discourses in the media and issues that surround it. When speaking about sexual discourse they mention that ‘it was the Victorian period that there was an explosion in ways of speaking about and defining sex’[1] (Long & Wall 2012:365), this shows us that up until just over 100 years ago sex and sexuality was barely touched upon and was a taboo subject. Because it has become a new concept it means that now it is less frowned upon to speak about in everyday life and also in the media, such as film and television shows.

A television show where we see the subject of sex and sexuality touched upon a lot is the show ‘The L Word’ in which it focuses around the lives and relationships of lesbians and those around them. Faye Davies mentions that lesbian representations have become more prominent in media since the 1990’s and quotes that ‘lesbian identity is shown as a status that can be liberating and positive’[2](Faye Davies 2007:181) showing us that because the characters in certain films and television shows show positive representations of gay characters it means that the audience would also view them in real life as positive, as they should be doing anyway. Davies also states that ‘in The L Word there is a subjective supremacy of gender created through sexual practice.’[3](Faye Davies 2007:188) This could be interpreted as Davies trying to say that because sexuality is not a taboo subject in this television show the use of sexual practice emphasis the normality and natural element of it.

Machin and Mayr talk about in the second set reading about the discourse of immigration, along with other subjects. Focusing on the discourse of immigration is very fitting in to this time as it is a massive discourse in media at the moment. They quote that ‘in Britain evolving multicultural make-up and the diversity of ways of life and cultural values have been present based around social class, regional and other groupings’[4] (Machin & Mayr 2012:20) showing us that the changes in views of immigration has changed in groups and the diversity of thoughts towards it is usually split up in to groups such as social classes.