We have each a system of rules that tells us which characteristics go with other characteristics.
We categorise people into types (e.g. workaholic, feminist etc.) to simplify the task of person perception
Once we have in our minds a set of linked traits which seem to us to go together, they form a pattern of connections that can be called a prototype. In other words the mix of traits that we may consider "typical" of feminists are a prototype of what a feminist is like to us.
If we encounter someone in reality or in the media who seems to fit neatly into a prototype, we feel reassured. It confirms our stereotyped view- we do not need to think further.
Also once a few of the traits seem to fit our prototype, we will immediately bundle onto the person the rest of the traits from the prototype even if we do not know if they fit them in reality.
Research has shown that if we find people who do not fit into our prototypes, we will form very strong often impressions of them- it is surprising to us and disconcerting- it forces us to think more deeply.
On the other hand, if it is at all possible, we will try to twist the truth to fit in with our prototype, often ignoring traits which do not fit into our neatly imagined pattern of characteristics. This will particularly happen as time passes and we have time to forget things that do not fit in. This can lead to enormous differences between our perceptions of people and the reality.
All of this distortion happens naturally in our minds before the media have had their chance to simplify and distort. We do a lot of the business of stereotyping ourselves. It is almost as if we conspire with the media to misunderstand the world
So stereotyping is something that we all do- a natural part of the way our minds work and not in itself necessarily a bad thing. If, for example, you were a teacher attempting to plan out a course which would be suitable for your class, you would need to work from the basis of a kind of stereotype of the needs of "typical" students. Having said this, even in cases where stereotypes are valuable like this, the good teacher would have then tried to go beyond the stereotype and looked for exceptions.
This is probably something we should all do when we encounter stereotypes- be aware that just as with the process of mediation the stereotypes involve selection, organisation and focusing of the complicated reality.
The four parts of a media stereotype
How can the media build a stereotype?
With any group of people, there will obviously be an enormous number of things that can be used in a stereotype, but because stereotyping is a form of simplification, normally the most obvious things are used. These are:
1. Appearance- this can include, physical appearance and clothing as well as the sound of the voice. e.g. "all teachers wear dreadful old clothes"
2. Behaviour - typical things that people in this group might do. "Grannies like to knit"
These first two features of media stereotypes are the same when we make our own stereotypes. They simply involve us thinking of something that may be true of some of the group in question and applying it to all.
The third feature of media stereotyping is peculiar to the media:
3. The stereotype is constructed in ways that fit the particular medium
This is more difficult to understand but it is crucial for you to look for it. If you watch a film such as Silence of the Lambs and then look at the tabloid coverage of Fred West, you are seeing the same stereotype ( the typical Serial Killer) being used, but there are obviously big differences which will depend on the specifics of the media used:
The film will use close ups of the killer's leering face, soundtrack music and reaction shots of terrified victims to create their version of the stereotype.
The newspaper will use emotive headlines, blurred pictures of victims and police mug-shots of the killer along with shocking text and interviews with survivors.
In each case the text will create a stereotype which it's audience will find familiar, but it will do it in very different ways.
4. There will always be a comparison whether real or imaginary with "normal" behaviour.
The features which make up a stereotype are always those which seem somehow different from every-day behaviour. In fact you could almost start any stereotyped description by saying: "this group are different because they……."
Of course the idea of what is normal in any society is an absurdity and therefore in order to make it clear to us that the stereotyped characters are not behaving "normally" there will frequently be "normal" people used to act as a contrast to them.
So, to use my earlier example, Jodie Foster is used in Silence of the Lambs to give the audience someone to compare Lecter's behaviour with. On the news, tales of striking workers (another stereotype) are always contrasted with interviews with "normal" people who are suffering as a result of their actions.
The normal person will act as a representative of us in the text- at the same time reflecting what we might feel, or telling us what to feel depending on your point of view.
Let's look at how this works in practice:
TASK
Get hold of an edition of the Daily Mail. Have a good look at any article that includes representations of young people- what stereotypes are present?
1. List briefly the stereotypes of youth behaviour
2. Make a list of what you think are any key words which have strong connotations that fit this stereotype.
3. Who have the journalists talked to about the young people.
4. How have the journalists used the conventions of a tabloid newspaper to focus our minds further on the young people's behaviour?.
5. Is there a "moral" to the story- an ideology about how teenagers should behave.
How the audience responds to this
Let's try to relate the articles you have just looked at to the ideas we have covered already.
Mediation:
Selection- there were probably many other things that happened on the day you looked at that could equally well have gone in the newspapers; some of these things may have involved teenagers behaving well.
There were possibly other people who were interviewed or who could have been who would have had other things to say about the events- they have been selected out.
Organisation- each of the articles has probably been structured in the typical manner of a tabloid report with a dramatic headline followed by a scene setting first paragraph and then some interviews with experts ending with some kind of suggestion of why things have hone wrong or maybe how they might be better in the future.
Focusing- All of this results in our minds being focused on the teenagers as a problem which may be sorted out or may not. If you have done film narrative yet, you could even talk about them being the problematic in the narrative of the article.
The four parts of a media stereotype
1. Appearance-
You may have found yourself struggling to find examples of this in the newspaper articles - it is obviously much more a feature in more visual media like TV, but that does not mean they aren't there. Remember back to implicit personality theory: if some of the behaviour of these young people fits our prototype of teenage thugs, then we will make up the rest of it ourselves. The readers of the Daily Mail don't actually need to have it spelt out for them what the teenagers look like- they can imagine them clearly enough in their heads anyway
2. Behaviour
This is probably at the centre of your examples- the young people are being stereotyped by a careful selection of behaviour.
3. The stereotype is constructed in ways that fit the particular medium
THUGS…..UNRULY…..RAMPAGE…….HAMMER ATTACK………JUVENILES……..EMBEDDED IN HIS SKULL etc.
This is typical tabloid language- the words used are emotive (intended to shock or upset us) and they are also interesting because of the associations they have. The word "juvenile", for example, sounds as if it should be followed by "delinquent" . In fact, most of them sound as if they come from the language of crime and so they make the link between young people and criminals even stronger
In other tabloid accounts of young people, more use would be made of headlines and pictures, in TV news close-ups of sneering faces while in a film you could expect to hear lots of swearing and loud music- all in their different ways reinforcing the same stereotype.
4. There will always be a comparison whether real or imaginary with "normal" behaviour
In newspaper articles the comparison tends to be imaginary- they are written in a way that assumes that the reader will be shocked by the teenagers' behaviour. However, the voices of frightened teachers and other adults are often used to stand for the feelings of the "normal" readers.